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JAPAN

Dec 29, 1999

Fukaya to join last stage of Saudi oil talks

Trade chief Takashi Fukaya said Wednesday that he will visit Riyadh in mid-January in a bid to resolve the now-stalled negotiations over the renewal of Arabian Oil Co.'s drilling rights in the Khafji oil field in Saudi Arabia. The Ministry of International Trade and Industry made the decision following...

JAPAN

Dec 29, 1999

Chronology of cultists' legal battles

The following is a 1999 chronology of trial proceedings and other developments involving key Aum Shinrikyo defendants: Feb. 16: The Tokyo District Court sentences Hisako Ishii, 39, a close aide of cult founder Shoko Asahara, to 44 months in prison for abetting the flight of three cult fugitives wanted...

JAPAN

Dec 28, 1999

50-year-old art exchange emerges from Montana

By Junko Takahashi

Staff writer Koichi Ogawa encountered a surprise during a two-month tour across the United States with two other Japanese earlier this year. Ogawa, 61, was visiting a friend in California who told him that an acquaintance from Montana would come down with some artwork. Ogawa was expecting to meet someone...

JAPAN

Dec 28, 1999

Ex-Yakult exec indicted second time

The Tokyo District Public Prosecutor's Office on Tuesday again indicted former Yakult Honsha Co. Vice President Naoki Kumagai, this time for allegedly violating the Commercial Code through aggravated breach of trust and by putting company assets in danger. The 69-year-old Kumagai has already been indicted...

JAPAN

Dec 28, 1999

Taiwan opts for Japan's bullet trains

TAIPEI -- A Japanese consortium has been awarded priority negotiation rights for contracts involving the construction of a high-speed railway between Taipei and Kaohsiung, the Taiwanese builder of the rail system announced Tuesday. The announcement by Taiwan High-Speed Rail Corp. could pave the way...

JAPAN

Dec 28, 1999

Tokyo approves heliport relocation; time limit unresolved

The government Tuesday formally gave the green light to a plan to relocate the U.S. Marine Corps heliport now at the Futenma Air Station to the Henoko district of Nago, Okinawa Prefecture. Endorsing the project at a Cabinet meeting, the government adopted a basic policy on the relocation, including...

JAPAN

Dec 28, 1999

Full-time jobs still on the decline

The nation's unemployment rate improved in November to 4.5 percent from 4.6 percent in October, though the number of people holding full-time jobs fell for the 23rd consecutive month. Data released Tuesday by the Management and Coordination Agency showed the full-time picture is being obscured by the...

JAPAN

Dec 28, 1999

Corruption in local government back on the rise

A total of 127 cases of corruption at 111 organizations within local government offices were reported in fiscal 1998, involving 156 civil servants, the Home Affairs Ministry said Tuesday. Compared with fiscal 1997, the latest figures show an increase of 22 cases at 18 organizations, the report says....

JAPAN

Dec 28, 1999

Joyu might disband Aum in order duck new law: expert

By Kanako Takahara

Staff writer After he is freed today from a Hiroshima prison, senior Aum Shinrikyo member Fumihiro Joyu will probably announce the voluntary dissolution of the cult, according to a freelance journalist who has extensively covered the sect. It would be a move to avoid a new law designed to curb the cult's...

JAPAN

Dec 28, 1999

Police preparing for release of Aum No. 2 leader Joyu

Hiroshima Prison officials announced Tuesday that a prisoner -- assumed to be Fumihiro Joyu, the second-in-command of Aum Shinrikyo -- was to be released at 6 a.m. this morning. Hiroshima Prefectural Police will deploy about 150 officers in the area around the prison and Hiroshima Airport to prevent...

JAPAN

Dec 28, 1999

Bungling bureaucrats just another day at work for Ishihara

By Mayumi Negishi

Staff writer The harried city official sighs as he looks at a poster designed to promote the Year 2000 countdown celebrations in Tokyo's Odaiba district. "He didn't like it," the Port and Harbor Bureau official says, bewildered. "He said we should think it out more, be more creative." A little while...

JAPAN

Dec 28, 1999

Venezuela requests disaster aid

The Venezuelan Embassy in Tokyo is accepting donations to provide relief for survivors of recent floods and landslides caused by two weeks of torrential rain in Venezuela. In the nation's most severe disaster, which cost an estimated 30,000 lives, approximately 150,000 people lost their homes and more...

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Dangami House is a 180-year-old former samurai residence of the Kato clan, who ruled over Ozu, Ehime Prefecture, until the Meiji Restoration.

A house, a legacy and the quiet work of restoration in rural Japan

By Hanako Lowry

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Smile! It’s ‘Sanrio Time,’ now and ever after

Smile! It’s ‘Sanrio Time,’ now and ever after

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