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JAPAN
Jun 26, 2001

Will LDP groundswell extend beyond Tokyo?

Despite the Liberal Democratic Party's resounding victory in Sunday's Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly election, experts said it remains unclear whether the groundswell will mean very much in the Upper House election next month.
JAPAN
Jun 26, 2001

Japan to cohost tourism summit as industry lags

Japan will cohost the 14th World Tourism Organization general assembly with South Korea this fall, at which it will look for ways to revive its own sluggish tourism industry.
COMMENTARY
Jun 25, 2001

Another blast from Mr. Bix

To more than 80 percent of Japanese voters, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi looks like a populist reformer. But to the American winner of the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for non-fiction, Koizumi is a "rightwing nationalist."
JAPAN
Jun 25, 2001

Tanaka to shake up Foreign Ministry after G8 summit

Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka is planning a major reshuffle of senior ministry personnel — including the ministry's top bureaucrat — after the July 20-22 Group of Eight summit in Genoa, Italy, ministry sources said.
JAPAN
Jun 23, 2001

Tanaka fails in bid to limit rival's question time

Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka threw the Lower House Committee on Foreign Affairs into turmoil Friday after requesting that scheduled questions by Muneo Suzuki, a rival politician within her Liberal Democratic Party, be limited.
JAPAN
Jun 23, 2001

State panel to review support for A-bomb survivors

Health minister Chikara Sakaguchi said Friday he plans to set up a panel of legal, health and welfare experts to consider revising the law on support for survivors of the 1945 atomic bombings.
JAPAN
Jun 23, 2001

Task force OKs overhaul of 157 public corporations

A state task force on Friday approved a plan calling for the thorough review of 157 government-affiliated corporations in an attempt to save 1 trillion yen in government expenditures.
JAPAN
Jun 23, 2001

Report urges capture of insulator CFCs

A system is urgently needed to prevent ozone-depleting gases contained in insulation material being released into the atmosphere, the Environment Ministry said Friday.
JAPAN
Jun 22, 2001

Koizumi's reform blueprint promises pain before gain

A key panel headed by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Thursday unveiled a sweeping reform program aimed at fixing the bad debt-crippled economy in two to three years.
JAPAN
Jun 22, 2001

Public firms approach day of reckoning

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi may be on the verge of opening a Pandora's box in his drive to pursue government reforms.
BUSINESS
Jun 21, 2001

Diet paves way for public entities reform

The Diet on Wednesday enacted a law aimed at reforming public corporations and government-authorized nonprofit bodies.
JAPAN / INTERNATIONAL RATIONALE
Jun 21, 2001

Localities approach foreign firms to raise tax base

With the economy in the doldrums, cash-strapped local governments have begun warring with each other to attract foreign businesses and the jobs and tax revenue they bring. Touting tax incentives, lower land prices and proximity to factories in related industries, they are encouraging foreign firms to...
JAPAN
Jun 20, 2001

Koizumi to commemorate Okinawa battle

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will visit Okinawa Prefecture on Saturday to attend ceremony marking the 56th anniversary of the end of the Battle of Okinawa between U.S. and Japanese forces, the government's top spokesman said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Jun 20, 2001

Japan urges China to drop special tariffs

Japan urged China on Tuesday to retract a decision to slap special tariffs on cars, mobile phones and air conditioners imported from Japan in retaliation for emergency curbs imposed by Japan on Chinese farm imports.
COMMENTARY
Jun 19, 2001

Three challenges for Koizumi

Approximately 50 days have passed since the Cabinet of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi was sworn in. Various opinion surveys have shown that its public approval ratings have climbed to nearly 90 percent from around 80 percent at the time of its birth, defying the usual pattern of approval rates declining...
JAPAN
Jun 19, 2001

Mori tapped to attend U.N. AIDS meet

The government hinted Monday that it would send former Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori to the U.N. Special Session on HIV/AIDS to be held June 25 to 27 at the U.N. headquarters in New York, sources said.
JAPAN
Jun 16, 2001

Japan won't sign U.S.-less Kyoto: Tanaka

Japan will not ratify the 1997 Kyoto Protocol to curb global warming if the United States stays out of it, Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka said Friday.
JAPAN
Jun 16, 2001

Missile plan, Okinawa top Tanaka trip agenda

Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka heads for Washington today with the U.S. missile defense plan and issues related to the U.S. military presence in Okinawa topping the agenda for talks to be held on Monday.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 16, 2001

Time for the suits to make way for dresses

CAMBRIDGE, England -- Japan is going through an interesting period of political change. Or is it? A Japanese colleague in Cambridge who was in Tokyo a couple of weeks ago came back to say that it was only an interlude and that the government of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi would only last a few months,...
JAPAN
Jun 15, 2001

870,000 subscribers make Koizumi e-zine No. 1?

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Thursday launched the inaugural edition of his e-mail magazine, which, with more than 870,000 subscribers, perhaps makes it one of the largest e-mail magazines in the world. The number of subscribers is ballooning by the minute, the government's public relations division...
JAPAN
Jun 15, 2001

Ministry has wine bonanza on public funds

The Foreign Ministry spent around 30 million yen on 4,427 bottles of wine in the three years beginning fiscal 1997, according to documents revealed by the ministry Thursday.
COMMUNITY
Jun 15, 2001

You're not leaving the table till you finish those vegetables

Some nights, I drift off to sleep feeling as smug as if I'd just outwitted the devil. My husband has clued in to my little G spot of contentment, so when he wants to get on my good side, he knows to whisper: "Rio ate lots of vegetables today."
BUSINESS
Jun 15, 2001

Keidanren backs Koizumi's reform initiatives

The Japan Federation of Economic Organizations (Keidanren) pledged its "full support" Thursday for Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's structural reform initiatives, even if such steps bring a negative impact on the economy.
JAPAN
Jun 14, 2001

Launch date for spy satellites delayed until July 2003

The government decided Wednesday to postpone the launch of two of four domestically developed reconnaissance satellites by five months until July 2003, due to delays in parts procurement.
BUSINESS
Jun 14, 2001

Yamasaki to ask BOJ for even easier money

Taku Yamasaki, secretary general of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, said Wednesday he will ask Bank of Japan Gov. Masaru Hayami to ease monetary policy further to prevent the economy from decelerating.
JAPAN
Jun 13, 2001

Long road ahead for planned judicial reform

Following Tuesday's proposals by the Judicial Reform Council, which came after two years of strenuous deliberations, attention has shifted to how the government will introduce the sweeping changes in cooperation with judicial parties.
JAPAN
Jun 13, 2001

Kajiyama left behind 400 million yen estate

Former Chief Cabinet Secretary Seiroku Kajiyama, who died last June at age 74, left behind about 400 million yen in taxable assets.
BUSINESS
Jun 13, 2001

Low growth is the price of reforms

Japan will have to endure low economic growth over the next two to three years as the nation undergoes radical reforms, a key government economic panel said in the draft of a reform blueprint to be released later this month.

Longform

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.