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JAPAN
Apr 19, 2001

Upper House resolves to pursue Kyoto pact

The House of Councilors unanimously resolved in a plenary session Wednesday to strive for international agreement on ratifying the 1997 Kyoto Protocol aimed at curbing global warming.
JAPAN
Apr 19, 2001

Ministries clash over immigration staff boost

The Public Management Ministry is strongly resisting a Justice Ministry demand to increase the number of immigration officers in a bid to better crack down on illegal aliens in Japan, according to government sources.
JAPAN
Apr 19, 2001

Diet minutes to go online Friday

All the minutes of the Diet since the first parliamentary session in 1947 will be going on the Internet on noon Friday.
EDITORIALS
Apr 19, 2001

Beyond the textbook controversy

A junior high-school history textbook edited by a nationalist group continues to stir controversy and provoke anger, especially in South Korea. The textbook in question, written by the Japanese Society for Textbook Reform, which calls existing history textbooks "masochistic," recently cleared censorship...
JAPAN
Apr 19, 2001

Horiuchi faction backs Hashimoto for LDP leadership

The Liberal Democratic Party's fourth-largest faction, led by ex-Trade Minister Mitsuo Horiuchi, said Wednesday it will back Ryutaro Hashimoto in the four-way race for the party presidency.
BUSINESS
Apr 19, 2001

Long-neglected shares see long margin positions up

The balance of long margin positions turned higher last week as buying spread to long-neglected shares.
JAPAN
Apr 19, 2001

Mori to quit in bid to boost faith in LDP

Finally announcing his resignation to the public, Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori said Wednesday he is leaving office so his Liberal Democratic Party can win back the public's trust after a string of embarrassing scandals and his own gaffes.
BUSINESS
Apr 19, 2001

Dollar will not test 130 yen while economy OK

The dollar has taken a breather, slipping slightly against the yen. I predicted in this column a month ago that the dollar would hit 130 yen in a month or two. My prediction has turned out to be wide of the mark. Having hit 126 yen early this month, the dollar is now hovering around 123 yen.
BUSINESS
Apr 19, 2001

Chemical giants set merger target for 2004

Sumitomo Chemical Co. and Mitsui Chemicals Inc., which last year announced plans to merge under a joint holding company in October 2003, have agreed to let the holding firm absorb all entities in their groups by April 2004 to become a single company, company officials said Wednesday. The merger will...
JAPAN
Apr 19, 2001

Residential, factory sites yield 117 soil pollution cases

Government inspections uncovered 117 cases of soil contamination at former factory sites and residential areas across Japan in fiscal 1999, according to the Environment Ministry.
COMMENTARY / WASHINGTON UPDATE
Apr 19, 2001

Bush's mettle gets put to test

Chinese pilot Wang Wei gave U.S. President George W. Bush his first critical foreign-policy test. Wei's collision over the South China Sea with a Navy reconnaissance plane, which dropped 24 U.S. military personnel into the hands of the Chinese military on Hainan Island, provided an excellent course in...
JAPAN
Apr 19, 2001

Hatoyama taking DPJ delegation to Seoul to meet Kim

Yukio Hatoyama, leader of the Democratic Party of Japan, will lead a delegation to South Korea from May 1 to 4 for talks with South Korean President Kim Dae Jung.
JAPAN
Apr 19, 2001

LDP race: popular appeal vs. vote machines

Garnering support in the Liberal Democratic Party for former Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto before Tuesday's LDP presidential poll was no easy task for staffers.
JAPAN
Apr 19, 2001

Legality of foreigner fingerprinting upheld

OSAKA -- The Osaka High Court on Wednesday upheld a 1998 lower court ruling confirming the legality under the Constitution of fingerprinting foreigners, a practice that has since been scrapped.
JAPAN
Apr 19, 2001

LDP hopefuls stick to the game plan

In what is believed to be their last joint news conference before next week's LDP presidential election, the four candidates on Wednesday debated topics ranging from economic policy to social welfare at the Japan National Press Club in Tokyo.
JAPAN
Apr 19, 2001

'Gyudon,' PCs, phone fees tossed into new CPI mix

The government will soon add mobile phone fees, personal computers and "gyudon" beef bowls to items monitored when compiling monthly consumer price indexes as part of a reshuffle of the gauges' components, government officials said Wednesday. The new items will be used to calculate the CPIs starting...
BUSINESS
Apr 19, 2001

LDP tax panel plans breaks for firms using 'treasury stock' system

The tax panel of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party agreed Wednesday to introduce a tax break for firms using the so-called treasury stock system when the ban on such securities is lifted.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 19, 2001

Mideast raids fuel fear of regional conflict

BEIRUT -- It has long been feared that the Palestinian intifada would widen into a regional confrontation, and that South Lebanon would be the flash point from which it does so. With Israel's first deliberate attack on a Syrian military target in Lebanon since its 1982 invasion of the country, that confrontation...
JAPAN
Apr 19, 2001

Ministry flooded by inquiries under new disclosure law

The Foreign Ministry has written to nearly 100 people who are seeking information under a new disclosure law, saying it is postponing a decision on their requests due to a deluge of applications regarding a recent embezzlement scandal, ministry sources said Wednesday.
ENVIRONMENT / IN BLOOM
Apr 19, 2001

Yae-zakura (Double cherry blossom)

"As for cherry blossoms, the single-petaled variety is preferable. The double-cherry trees formerly grew only at the capital in Nara, but lately they seem to have become common everywhere. The cherry blossoms of Yoshino and the 'left guard' tree of the palace are all single. The double-petaled cherry...
BASEBALL / MLB
Apr 19, 2001

Taiho a scoring machine as Drags keep pace with Giants

Yasuaki Taiho hit a pair of homers and accounted for all of Chunichi's scoring Wednesday as the Dragons kept pace with the Yomiuri Giants in the Central League with a 3-1 win over the Hiroshima Carp.
BUSINESS
Apr 19, 2001

Singapore and Japan to hold new trade talks

Japan and Singapore will hold a second round of negotiations on a bilateral free-trade agreement for four days starting Tuesday in Tokyo, the Foreign Ministry said Wednesday.

Longform

The students at Mitaka Municipal No. 7 Junior High School have access to various cooling devices for when they play sports.
Japan's extreme heat is causing a rethink of school sports