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JAPAN
Feb 5, 1998

Shikoku's Buddhist pilgrimage remains popular

NARUTO, Tokushima Pref. -- More than 1,100 years after the death of legendary Buddhist priest Kobo Daishi, pilgrims continue to flock to the temples he founded in Shikoku.
JAPAN
Feb 3, 1998

Illegal aliens who built Nagano Games sites facing sweep

NAGANO -- Just as some venues for the Olympics were taking shape last June, six of Ramilo DeLeon's friends suddenly ended up in police custody after a crackdown on illegal immigrants.
JAPAN
Feb 3, 1998

Dad faces prison in case of son's killing

Prosecutors demanded on Tuesday a five-year prison term for a 53-year-old man charged with killing his violent 14-year-old son as he slept by hitting him with a metal baseball bat and choking him with a rope.
JAPAN
Feb 3, 1998

Sanwa Bank chief Saeki gives Diet apology, denials

Sanwa Bank President Naotaka Saeki, who recently resigned as chairman of a banking industry federation, apologized Tuesday in the Diet over the scandal involving four major banks suspected of bribing Finance Ministry officials to obtain information about inspections.
JAPAN
Feb 2, 1998

Surveillance finds Aum back on line in big way

In the year since Aum Shinrikyo was spared disbandment under the Antisubversive Activities Law, the cult has expanded its activities by running successful computer shops and promoting its ideals on the Internet, the Public Security Investigation Agency said Monday.
JAPAN
Feb 2, 1998

Fewer foreigners studying in Japan

The number of foreign students studying in Japan declined for the second year in a row in 1997 to about 51,000, down 3.5 percent from the previous year, according to an Education Ministry survey released Wednesday.
JAPAN
Feb 2, 1998

Hamanaka betrayed Sumitomo, prosecution says

Prosecutors demanded a 10-year prison term Monday for Yasuo Hamanaka, a former Sumitomo Corp. trader, for inflicting losses of about $770 million on his firm through illicit copper trading.
JAPAN
Feb 2, 1998

Survey: Tokyo men mixed over roles of married life

About 75 percent of single men who live alone in Tokyo say that, if married, they would prefer their wives work only if it does not hinder raising children or housework, according to a poll released by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government on Monday.
JAPAN
Feb 2, 1998

Zenkoji Temple to be backdrop for CBS Games coverage

Staff writer
JAPAN
Feb 2, 1998

Arai defies LDP calls to quit party

Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker Shokei Arai, who allegedly made huge profits through questionable stock transactions, on Monday defied a party leader's demand that he leave the LDP.
JAPAN
Feb 2, 1998

USA Today going forward with paper and without

Is the deluge of Internet information having a negative impact on the newspaper business?
JAPAN
Feb 2, 1998

6 trillion yen extra budget plan mulled

Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto indicated Monday that his government will consider a proposal by a senior Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker for an extra budget of about 6 trillion yen to be compiled for fiscal 1998 to give an additional boost to the nation's fragile economy.
JAPAN
Jan 30, 1998

Osaka jet noise activists OK increase in flights

OSAKA -- Eleven municipalities concerned about jet noise from Osaka airport decided Friday at an extraordinary general meeting in Itami, Hyogo Prefecture, to condone a daily increase of 50 jet arrivals and departures.The municipalities also formally decided to accept a central government proposal for...
JAPAN
Jan 30, 1998

The Asahara Trial: Aum lawyer grilled over inconsistencies

The defense team for Aum Shinrikyo founder Shoko Asahara cross-examined a former Aum lawyer Friday on inconsistencies between his testimony and the depositions given by other cult members over events before the disappearance of a Yokohama lawyer and his family in November 1989.Yoshinobu Aoyama, 37,...
JAPAN
Jan 30, 1998

LDP's Arai admits profiting from hidden Nikko account

Shokei Arai, a Lower House member of the Liberal Democratic Party, admitted in the Diet on Friday that he made about 41 million yen through an account he asked Nikko Securities Co. to open in the name of one of his acquaintances.Arai insisted, however, that the trades were not illegal. Speaking as an...
JAPAN
Jan 30, 1998

NTT's caller ID service makes screening easier

Staff writerEver been harassed by incessant prank calls? Felt nervous about picking up the phone, not knowing who's on the other end of the line?Based on such apprehensions and other misuses of the telephone, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. has shrewdly developed a new business. Starting Sunday,...
JAPAN
Jan 30, 1998

Vice Minister Tanami wants trust in Finance restored

Newly appointed Vice Finance Minister Koji Tanami vowed Friday to put priority on regaining the public's trust in the powerful, scandal-tainted ministry.Tanami, 58, was serving as the head of the Cabinet Councilors' Office on Internal Affairs but was recalled after his predecessor, Takeshi Komura, resigned...
JAPAN
Jan 29, 1998

Taipei wants China talks held on own terms

Taipei wants to start with business-level talks with Beijing on a variety of practical, serious issues to improve the two nations' strained relations, rather than political dialogue, as China again proposed earlier this week, a Taiwan spokesman said Thursday in Tokyo.Visiting The Japan Times head office,...
JAPAN
Jan 29, 1998

Banks to be picked for 'jusen' lawsuits Sunday

The first group of banks the Housing Loan Administration Corp. may sue over the "jusen" mortgage-lending debacle will be decided upon Sunday, corporation President Kohei Nakabo said Thursday.The corporation's legal counsel feels that several banks are responsible for the expansion of problem loans at...
JAPAN
Jan 29, 1998

DDI aims for sales of 1.51 trillion yen by 2001

DDI Corp., a major long-distance telephone carrier in Japan, said Thursday that it will seek to earn group sales of 1.51 trillion yen and group pretax profits of 130 billion yen in the 2001 business year.In its medium-term management plan, the group, which posted consolidated sales of 1.02 trillion...
JAPAN
Jan 29, 1998

The Asahara Trial: Cultist didn't think Aum would kill family

One-time Aum Shinrikyo lawyer Yoshinobu Aoyama testified Thursday that he never thought the cult was involved in the mysterious disappearance of a Yokohama lawyer and his family when he first heard they were missing in November 1989.A witness for the prosecution, Aoyama took the stand in the trial of...
JAPAN
Jan 29, 1998

Rover to recycle its cars in Japan

Amid growing public awareness of the need to conserve the environment, Rover Japan Ltd. will launch a nationwide program in April for recycling its cars, the Japanese subsidiary of the U.K. automaker said Thursday.Rover's announcement follows a similar move by its affiliate BMW Japan Corp., which started...
JAPAN
Jan 29, 1998

Outline of 2001 administrative realignment approved

The government Thursday drew up the outline of new legislation that will serve as the basic law to start consolidating administrative organs in 2001.A government panel, consisting of all ministers and headed by Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto, met in the morning and decided on the outline, which mandates...
JAPAN
Jan 28, 1998

'Save the dugong' focus of Okinawan band's concert

The popular Okinawan band Kina Shokichi & Champloose will stage the "Eco Peace Concert" in Tokyo today to call for steps to be taken to protect waters off of Nago, Okinawa Prefecture -- identified as a potential site for an offshore military heliport -- so that dugongs can continue to live there.The...
JAPAN
Jan 28, 1998

U.S. wants pact on civilian-use GPS products

Staff writerThe United States has asked Japan to conclude a pact as soon as possible on civilian applications, such as car navigation, of the U.S.-developed positioning system that uses military satellites, government officials said Wednesday.The U.S. wants the proposed pact with Japan to serve as a...
JAPAN
Jan 28, 1998

U.S. files on Okinawa occupation to be released

About 3.2 million pages of documents and photographs related to the U.S. Civil Administration of the Ryukyu Islands, which governed Okinawa between 1950 and 1972, will be made public beginning this fall.The National Diet Library and the Okinawa Prefectural Archives announced that the documents will...
JAPAN
Jan 27, 1998

Specify priority ODA sectors, panel tells Obuchi

The nation needs to specify priority sectors in extending official development assistance because its resources are under restraint due to tight fiscal policy, according to a final report released Tuesday by a 10-member private consulting body to Foreign Minister Keizo Obuchi."Japan's ODA has been well...
JAPAN
Jan 27, 1998

Tax official admits guilt in taking bribes

A former tax officer pleaded guilty Tuesday to accepting 4 million yen in bribes to help an acquaintance carry out a tax-dodging scheme.Akio Tobinai, 52, formerly with the Kamakura Tax Office in Kanagawa Prefecture, pleaded guilty in his first hearing before the Tokyo District Court. According to prosecutors,...
JAPAN
Jan 27, 1998

Banker wants 'MOF-tan' abolished

Banks should consider abolishing positions specifically created to maintain close contact with Finance Ministry officials, the head of the banking industry federation said Tuesday.Naotaka Saeki, president of Sanwa Bank and chairman of the Federation of Bankers Associations of Japan, put forward the...
JAPAN
Jan 27, 1998

Competition, investment needed in Japan, EU envoy says

Staff writerGreater competition stimulated by more foreign investments is what Japan needs to revive its sagging economy, according to Jorn Keck, departing ambassador of the European Union."Japan, now more than ever, needs foreign investment in order to improve the efficiency of many areas of industry,"...

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