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JAPAN
Mar 18, 1998

Ex-gangster held for sale of stimulants

A former senior gang member has been arrested for allegedly selling about 50 kg of stimulant drugs with a street value of 1.5 billion yen to the head of an underworld group in Tokyo, police said March 18.
JAPAN
Mar 18, 1998

Matsushita, Sunny launch TV recycling experiment

OSAKA -- Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. and Sunny Metal Corp. started up operations March 18 at an experimental facility to study a television recycling system in Konohana Ward here.
JAPAN
Mar 18, 1998

Matsuno tells Diet he condoned 'tobashi' option for Yamaichi

Diet testimony given March 18 by Nobuhiko Matsuno, former chief of the Finance Ministry's Securities Bureau, indicates that he may have advised a top executive of Yamaichi Securities Co. to continue dubious practices involving a "tobashi" trading-related problem with one of its client firms.
JAPAN
Mar 18, 1998

State to withdraw 400 million yen claim against Aum

The government intends to withdraw a claim for more than 400 million yen against Aum Shinrikyo, which has been declared bankrupt, Chief Cabinet Secretary Kanezo Muraoka indicated March 18.
JAPAN
Mar 17, 1998

State grills bank industry official who advised Yamaichi

Nobuhiko Matsuno, 59, vice chairman of the Regional Banks Association of Japan, was questioned by prosecutors about Yamaichi Securities Co. seeking his counseling when he headed the Finance Ministry's Securities Bureau in 1991, informed sources said March 17.
JAPAN
Mar 17, 1998

January industrial output rises 2.9%

Industrial output in January rose 2.9 percent from the previous month, remaining unchanged from the preliminary figure, the Ministry of International Trade and Industry said in a report released March 17.
JAPAN
Mar 17, 1998

Upper House panel backs soccer lottery bill

A revised version of the soccer lottery bill was approved March 17 by an Upper House panel, bringing the lucrative but controversial sports promotion legislation one step closer to enactment.
JAPAN
Mar 17, 1998

JAL's president, chairman to resign in June

Akira Kondo, president of Japan Airlines Co., and Susumu Yamaji, JAL's chairman, will step down in June to take responsibility for the carrier's poor performance, it was announced March 17.
JAPAN
Mar 16, 1998

Kansai firms to offer cable-based Internet service

OSAKA -- Kansai Electric Power Co., Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. and 16 other firms will set up a company to provide Internet service using cable TV networks in the Kansai region, it was announced here March 16.
JAPAN
Mar 16, 1998

Seoul's Park, Obuchi seeking talks

Park Jung Soo, South Korean foreign and trade minister, and Foreign Minister Keizo Obuchi agreed March 16 to hold their first meeting as early as possible, ministry officials said.
JAPAN
Mar 16, 1998

Mazda leader looking to revitalize dealerships, sales

Staff writer
JAPAN
Mar 16, 1998

Defense Agency takes delivery of biggest submarine

KOBE -- The nation's largest submarine, completed just recently at a shipyard in the area here, was officially handed over March 16 to the Defense Agency.
JAPAN
Mar 13, 1998

Economy shrinks 0.7% as recession approaches

Japan's economy shrank an annualized 0.7 percent in real terms for the October-December quarter, compared with July-September, bringing the growth rate for calendar 1997 to a scant 0.9 percent, the Economic Planning Agency said March 13.
JAPAN
Mar 13, 1998

Suu Kyi activists stage protest march through Tokyo

About 70 Myanmarese activists and their supporters marched through central Tokyo on March 13 to protest the Japanese government's recent decision to resume yen loans to Myanmar's military regime.
JAPAN
Mar 13, 1998

Mitsui Marine & Fire decides against Sanyo takeover

Mitsui Marine & Fire Insurance Co. announced March 13 that it has dropped a plan to take over part of failed Sanyo Securities Co. because it is unlikely the company will be able to make a profit.
JAPAN
Mar 13, 1998

U.N. official praises Japan on PKO role

Japan has consistently made significant contributions toward improving the problem of refugees internationally and may expand this role in the future, the U.N. Assistant High Commissioner for Refugees said in an interview March 13.
JAPAN
Mar 12, 1998

The Asahara Trial: Killing of Sakamotos baffles Aum lawyer

One-time Aum Shinrikyo lawyer Yoshinobu Aoyama testified as a prosecution witness March 12 in the trial of Aum founder Shoko Asahara, claiming he never considered Tsutsumi Sakamoto, an anti-Aum lawyer believed murdered by cultists, an obstacle to Aum.
JAPAN
Mar 12, 1998

Matsushita offers to quit for BOJ bribery scandal

Bank of Japan Gov. Yasuo Matsushita has offered to resign to take the blame for the arrest of a BOJ official who allegedly took bribes from commercial banks, Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto said March 12.
JAPAN
Mar 12, 1998

Police crackdown targets illegal foreign workers

The National Police Agency and the Justice and Labor ministries will crack down on foreigners working illegally in Japan amid the financial crisis in Asia, the three bodies' bureau chiefs decided at a meeting March 12.
JAPAN
Mar 12, 1998

Inaba urges recovery rather than fiscal reform

Kosaku Inaba, chairman of the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, called on the government March 12 to give priority to economic stimulus rather than measures to rehabilitate its national finances.
JAPAN
Mar 12, 1998

Banks' wining, dining of BOJ officials said not uncommon

The Industrial Bank of Japan and several other major banks have repeatedly wined and dined executives and other high-ranking officials of the Bank of Japan, in addition to the BOJ official arrested March 11, sources said March 12.
JAPAN
Mar 9, 1998

Chief of bookbinding firm kills self

Ryutaro Kotaki, 45, president of a Tokyo bookbinding company, took his life by driving his car into the sea off a pier in the city's Minato Ward at about 7 a.m. March 9, police said.
JAPAN
Mar 9, 1998

BOJ exec entertained by top banks

Six to seven banks spent about 7 million yen entertaining an executive of the Bank of Japan over the past five years, according to sources at the banks.
JAPAN
Mar 9, 1998

Burial mound found nearly intact

MAEBASHI, Gunma Pref. -- A circular burial mound dating back to the latter half of the fifth century has been discovered nearly intact in the village of Komochi, Gunma Prefecture.
JAPAN
Mar 9, 1998

Boy Scout leader urges knife safety

The problem with today's society is not knives and guns but the people who wield them, said Jere Ratcliffe, chief scout executive of Boy Scouts of America, in a recent speech delivered to Boy Scouts of Nippon in Tokyo.
JAPAN
Mar 9, 1998

Bolts removed from electricity tower

HIROSHIMA -- Forty bolts anchoring a pylon for high-tension lines to a concrete base in Midori, Hiroshima Prefecture, were found to have been mysteriously removed in 1994 and 1995, the Chugoku Electric Power Co. announced March 9. Removed bolts led to a similar tower to fall last month in Kagawa Prefecture....
JAPAN
Mar 9, 1998

10 trillion yen stimulus eyed

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party will call for an additional economic stimulus package of more than 10 trillion yen after the Diet approves the fiscal 1998 state budget in April, top officials of the LDP have indicated.
JAPAN
Mar 9, 1998

Bill to make wards municipalities

The Home Affairs Ministry plans to submit a set of bills to the Diet March 10 to revise laws to convert Tokyo's 23 wards into full-fledge municipalities in April 2000, ministry officials said March 9.
JAPAN
Mar 9, 1998

Kitora chamber reveals ancient planisphere

KASHIHARA, Nara Pref. -- A planisphere carved into a stone chamber inside a 1,300-year-old tumulus in the village of Asuka shows such important constellations as Ursa Major, Orion and Scorpio, an expert has found.

Longform

Passengers that were on a morning train attacked by members of the Aum Shinrikyo group wait for medical assistance outside Kasumigaseki Station on March 20,1995.
The day a religious cult brought terror to Tokyo