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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.
JAPAN
Feb 18, 1997

Shinshinto postpones national convention

Shinshinto was rocked Feb. 18 by mushrooming allegations that a former member of the main opposition party at the center of a massive fraud scandal may have bought his candidacy ahead of a 1995 Diet election.
JAPAN
Feb 18, 1997

Mothers resorting to store-bought food for infants

An increasing number of mothers are feeding their infants with store-bought baby food instead of preparing the food themselves, according to a survey recently released by the Health and Welfare Ministry.
JAPAN
Feb 18, 1997

Ex-Pan Am employees announce revival in Asia

Hoping to complete an ironic twist of fortune, former employees of a U.S. airline that collapsed under deregulation in 1991 said Feb. 18 that they want to revive the carrier in East Asia -- by taking advantage of ongoing deregulation in Japan.
JAPAN
Feb 17, 1997

DPJ to submit pair of bills for more Kobe quake relief

The Democratic Party of Japan -- the second largest opposition force -- will soon submit to the Diet two bills designed to provide more financial aid to survivors of the Great Hanshin Earthquake.
JAPAN
Feb 17, 1997

TV Asahi hit over radio left at hostage site

TV Asahi came under government fire Feb. 17 for having left a radio device at the Japanese ambassador's residence in Lima for about one month in attempt to communicate with captives being held inside the compound by Marxist rebels.
JAPAN
Feb 17, 1997

Hashimoto apologizes to Ota for bullet disclosure delay

Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto apologized Feb. 17 to Okinawa Gov. Masahide Ota over the government's delay in disclosing an incident in which the U.S. military fired uranium-depleted bullets during training near the southernmost prefecture.
JAPAN
Feb 17, 1997

Tokyo ponders splitup of utility firms

That Tokyo residents have but one option for electrifying their homes has long been an accepted reality, as has been the position of Tokyo Electric Power Co. as the metropolis' supplier.
JAPAN
Feb 14, 1997

Asahara ejected again as Sakamoto testimony given

For the second day in a row, a former top member of Aum Shinrikyo testified about when, where and how Aum founder Shoko Asahara ordered his lieutenants to murder lawyer Tsutsumi Sakamoto and his family.
JAPAN
Feb 14, 1997

No decision yet on leaking sunken tanker

More than a month has passed since the Russian oil tanker Nakhodka broke apart and sank in the Sea of Japan, and the government has yet to decide what to do with the vessel's leaking stern section, which is lying on the bottom at a depth of 2,500 meters.
JAPAN
Feb 13, 1997

NPA targets gangsters' cash

A proposed revision to the Antigang Law will enable law enforcement officials to demand that designated underground organizations lodge with judicial authorities sums equivalent to amounts that victims of criminal groups claim are being extorted. The draft is being revised by the National Police Agency,...
JAPAN
Feb 12, 1997

Life term sought for gangster charged with drug dealing

Prosecutors on Feb. 12 demanded a life prison term for a 56-year-old former mob kingpin accused of engaging in the illegal trade of stimulant drugs for two decades.
JAPAN
Feb 12, 1997

Palau seeks more than money

A Japanese representative for the Republic of Palau is seeking support, both moral and financial, for the small South Pacific island country, which he said has suffered a terrible setback since the bridge connecting its two main islands collapsed in 1995.
JAPAN
Feb 12, 1997

Survivor of Nanjing Massacre describes ordeal

A 77-year-old Chinese woman who survived the 1937 Nanjing Massacre testified in court Feb. 12 that Japanese soldiers stabbed her 37 times when she resisted their attempt to rape her.
JAPAN
Feb 11, 1997

Top Japanese firms investing heavily in India

NEW DELHI -- Top Japanese firms have been announcing several high-profile investments in India, a huge market that has been widely complained about for its formidable trade barriers.
JAPAN
Feb 10, 1997

U.S. college in Kobe plans to stay

The operator of the Kobe campus of Edmonds Community College, based in the state of Washington, has denied reports in the U.S. that the school plans to shut down its Japanese branch in March due to a decline in the number of students.
JAPAN
Feb 10, 1997

U.S. was tardy reporting radioactive bullets mishap

U.S. Marine Corps jets accidentally fired 1,520 radioactive bullets near Okinawa during training exercises about a year ago, but the Japanese government was not informed until last Jan. 16, Foreign Ministry officials said Feb. 10.
JAPAN
Feb 10, 1997

Plummeting land prices drowning waterfront project

Three companies jointly founded by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and the private sector for a waterfront development project are close to financial collapse.
JAPAN
Feb 7, 1997

Yen's fall tops agenda for Japan at G-7 talks

As the finance ministers and central bankers of the Group of Seven industrialized nations meet Feb. 8 in Berlin to discuss a host of economic issues, Japan's greatest concern going into the talks is how they assess the continued fall of the yen against the dollar.
JAPAN
Feb 7, 1997

3,000 to sue U.S., Japan over Yokota takeoffs, landings

A group of about 3,000 residents in 10 cities in Tokyo and Saitama Prefecture will file a suit Feb. 14 against the Japanese and U.S. governments to seek suspension of night and early morning landings and takeoffs at Yokota Air Base, it was learned Feb. 7.
JAPAN
Feb 7, 1997

Organizers turn to safety of oil cleanup volunteers

MIKUNI, Fukui Pref. -- Five volunteers helping to clean up the oil spill on the Sea of Japan coast have died of either a heart attack or stroke, prompting the largest citizens' headquarters coordinating the operations to place increased emphasis on safety.
JAPAN
Feb 6, 1997

Confessed cop shooter fingers Inoue

The former police sergeant who confessed last spring to gunning down National Police Agency head Takaji Kunimatsu in Tokyo in March 1995 has claimed he carried out the ambush after taking a white pill given to him by Yoshihiro Inoue, a senior Aum Shinrikyo figure, police sources said Feb. 6.
JAPAN
Feb 5, 1997

Hosokawa denies taking money from Tomobe

NARITA, Chiba Pref. -- Former Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa on Feb. 5 flatly denied an allegation that he received money from Tatsuo Tomobe, a House of Councilors member who is under arrest on suspicion of fraud, to ensure Tomobe was elected in the July 1995 Upper House election.
JAPAN
Feb 5, 1997

TSE wooing foreign firms in effort to halt exodus

During the asset-inflated bubble economy of the late 1980s, when the Tokyo stock market was enjoying rocketing prices, brisk transactions and a high reputation, securities authorities did not have to worry about how to invite foreign companies to list. But times have changed.
JAPAN
Feb 5, 1997

Compensation for sex slaves pushed

Japanese lawmakers and citizens supporting efforts to win redress for former sex slaves vowed Feb. 5 to work closely with their South Korean counterparts to push for passage of a compensation law for the aging victims.
JAPAN
Jan 31, 1997

Asahara again abusive in court

Aum Shinrikyo founder Shoko Asahara disrupted his trial again Jan. 31, blurting out comments about the presiding judge, his defense attorneys and even people in the gallery.His reckless behavior had brought him to the brink of eviction Jan. 30 for a third time from the Tokyo District Court, and the...
JAPAN
Jan 31, 1997

Confessions, cooperation helped Aum evade antisubversive law

The Public Security Commission's decision Jan. 31 not to invoke the Antisubversive Activities Law against Aum Shinrikyo reflects tremendous changes the cult has gone through in the past few years, including the arrests of its key figures and fugitives and its declaration of bankruptcy.When the Public...
JAPAN
Jan 31, 1997

JR, rescuers hold underground drills

OSAKA -- About 250 railway workers, police officers and firefighters took part in a fire drill Jan. 31 at the JR Tozai Line's underground Mitejima Station, which will open March 8 to link Amagasaki, Hyogo Prefecture, and Osaka's Kyobashi district.Because a 10.2 km length of the 12.5 km train line will...

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