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JAPAN
Mar 6, 1997

Land-mine conference gets under way

A two-day international conference to address the problem of antipersonnel land mines kicked off Mar. 6 in Tokyo with participation of officials from 38 countries and 11 international organizations, including the United Nations.
JAPAN
Mar 5, 1997

Izu tourism begins to tail off

Almost 12,000 people have canceled reservations at hotels and inns in the hot spring resort city of Ito, Shizuoka Prefecture, due to the series of earthquakes that has been shaking the Izu Peninsula since Mar. 3.
JAPAN
Mar 5, 1997

Japan Red Cross in hot water over waylaid donations

KOBE -- Neither Australian nor British Red Cross officials were told by the Japan Red Cross that some of the more than 20 million yen they donated to victims of the Great Hanshin Earthquake would not be given directly to those in need but would instead be set aside to build future disaster facilities....
JAPAN
Mar 4, 1997

Japan to help fund Indochina road plan

In the first application of its new aid policy, Japan will provide official development assistance to help finance a major road project linking Thailand, Laos and Vietnam to promote the development of the greater Mekong subregion, Foreign Ministry officials said Mar. 10.
JAPAN
Mar 4, 1997

Abe pleads not guilty as HIV trial gets under way

Takeshi Abe, the nation's leading hemophilia expert, pleaded not guilty Mar. 10 to professional negligence in connection with the 1991 death of a hemophiliac.
JAPAN
Mar 3, 1997

Ambulance crews hassled by youths

The Tokyo Fire Department said Mar. 3 there have been 13 recent cases of youngsters confronting or attacking members of ambulance units rushing to emergencies in entertainment districts.
JAPAN
Mar 3, 1997

Women take the fight to Girl's Day

About 100 female activists on Mar. 3, Girl's Day, formed a human chain and surrounded the Labor Ministry building in Tokyo to demand equal rights.
JAPAN
Mar 3, 1997

QE2 receives regal greeting during visit to Kobe

KOBE -- The British luxury liner Queen Elizabeth 2 arrived at Kobe port Mar. 3, marking her first visit to the city since the Great Hanshin Earthquake crippled the major shipping center.
JAPAN
Mar 3, 1997

Fledgling paper demonstrates how sometimes less is better

HAKODATE, Hokkaido -- Lacking a thing or two can sometimes have a positive side. A freshly born newspaper in Hakodate is in the works of proving it.
JAPAN
Mar 3, 1997

The Date 'miracle' is acceptance

DATE, Hokkaido -- Some people refer to this city as "Japan's miracle." Not because of its splendid weather or beautiful scenery, but because someone like Takako Nagahama can lead a comfortable life here.
JAPAN
Feb 28, 1997

Unorthodox barber doesn't do dos

Kuniyoshi Konishi has struck gold with his new barbershop venture -- by adopting such oddball ideas as vacuuming the heads of customers after cutting their hair.
JAPAN
Feb 28, 1997

Osaka government to repay misused funds

OSAKA -- The Osaka Prefectural Government will comply with the prefectural audit committee's recommendation that its officials return about 157 million yen they had channeled from public funds and pooled at liquor shops to fund wining-and-dining expenses, it was learned Feb. 28.
JAPAN
Feb 28, 1997

Cultist says Asahara ordered killing of Sakamoto

A former Aum Shinrikyo follower who has admitted being involved in the killing of an anti-Aum lawyer said Feb. 28 he believed at the time that cult founder Shoko Asahara had ordered the man to be killed.
JAPAN
Feb 27, 1997

Pair denied return of plots trickily taken in Tanaka era

The Supreme Court upheld on Feb. 27 a high court ruling that denied two men the right to recover plots of land they sold to a company affiliated with the late Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka.
JAPAN
Feb 27, 1997

Asahara continues antics in court

Aum Shinrikyo founder Shoko Asahara mumbled throughout his 27th hearing Feb. 27 as police testified about their investigation into the 1989 murder of a Yokohama lawyer and his family.
JAPAN
Feb 27, 1997

U.S. student visas become increasingly elusive

Yumiko Hara, a 29-year-old insurance company employee, decided recently that she needed to study English to advance her career.
JAPAN
Feb 26, 1997

Video game makers fight a battle over hardware

There is a lesson to be learned from how VHS overthrew Sony Corp.'s Beta system and Microsoft Corp.'s Windows has nearly finished off Apple Computer Inc.'s Macintosh. Now it is being taught in the home video-game market. The lesson: To survive, forming alliances is essential.
JAPAN
Feb 26, 1997

Chain stores call for more freedom

As a government review of the Large-Scale Retail Store Law looms, an association of chain stores called Feb. 26 for greater freedom in choosing closing times, business days and opening new stores.
JAPAN
Feb 26, 1997

Osaka clears way to hire non-Japanese

OSAKA -- An interim report released by the Osaka Prefectural Government on Feb. 26 said that 53.5 percent of its workers do not exercise public authority.
JAPAN
Feb 25, 1997

Okinawans to get U.S. education

The government will establish a program to send high school students from Okinawa to study in the United States, Education Minister Takashi Kosugi said Feb. 25.
JAPAN
Feb 25, 1997

Areas damaged by spill to get 2 billion yen

The government will provide about 2 billion yen in subsidies to local governments in areas affected by oil spilled from the wrecked Russian tanker Nakhodka, Transport Minister Makoto Koga said Feb. 25.
JAPAN
Feb 25, 1997

Sato to carmakers: don't cut export prices

The nation's automakers should refrain from cutting export prices even if the yen falls against the dollar, trade chief Shinji Sato said Feb. 25.
JAPAN
Feb 25, 1997

Gang member arrested in Tamagotch extortion

OSAKA -- A Yamaguchi-gumi gangster from Settsu, Osaka Prefecture, was arrested Feb. 25 on suspicion of extorting 5 million yen from a trader who failed to make good on a promise to ship him 200 of the best-selling Tamagotch virtual pets, they said.
JAPAN
Feb 21, 1997

Number of high school dropouts rises to 98,179

The number of high school dropouts rose slightly to 98,179 in fiscal 1995 but remained within the fluctuating range of the past decade, according to an Education Ministry report released Feb. 21. The dropout ratio from all public and private high schools was 2.1 percent, up 0.1 percentage point from...
JAPAN
Feb 21, 1997

Japan offers special fish quota to EU

In a bid to avert a possible legal battle with the European Union at the World Trade Organization over fish imports, Japan has informally proposed granting the 15-nation union a special import quota for certain fish like mackerel and horse mackerel, government sources said Feb. 21.
JAPAN
Feb 21, 1997

Garuda pilot details Fukuoka crash

The captain of Garuda Indonesia Flight 865, which crashed at Fukuoka airport last June, said he aborted takeoff because he thought the aircraft might hit objects or buildings nearby if he continued, according to the draft of a report released Feb. 21 by the Transport Ministry's Aircraft Accident Investigation...
JAPAN
Feb 20, 1997

Chinese community grieves Deng Xiaoping

People in Yokohama's Chinatown, the largest Chinese community in Japan, and elsewhere around the country grieved over the death Feb. 20 of Deng Xiaoping.
JAPAN
Feb 20, 1997

Group advises on rent discrimination

A human rights group representing Korean residents will set up a three-day hotline next week to provide support and advice to foreigners facing discrimination in trying to find apartments.
JAPAN
Feb 19, 1997

Financial leaders play down worries, give support to banks

Financial authorities continued Feb. 19 to play down concerns that the nation's financial system is in dire straits, stressing that they will support banks while urging them to continue restructuring efforts.
JAPAN
Feb 18, 1997

Kobe budgets 200 billion yen to rebuild

KOBE -- The Kobe Municipal Government has allocated about 200 billion yen of its fiscal 1997 budget to help its citizens rebuild their lives in the wake of the Great Hanshin Earthquake.

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