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JAPAN
Apr 29, 2002

Nonpublic officials take more honors

The government on Monday announced recipients of its biannual awards, with nonpublic officials accounting for a record high 35 percent of the 4,624 Japanese honored.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 24, 2002

LDP acquiesces on bills for postal deregulation

The Liberal Democratic Party on Tuesday backed down from its crusade to block a package of bills on postal services deregulation, saying it would approve the legislation's submission to the Diet.
BUSINESS
Apr 11, 2002

Government sees economy approaching bottom

The economy is showing increasing signs of bottoming out, the government said Wednesday, upgrading its assessment for the second straight month.
BUSINESS
Mar 12, 2002

Machinery orders dive 15.6%

Japan's core private-sector machinery orders fell a seasonally adjusted 15.6 percent in January to 763.8 billion yen, due to a sharp fall in orders from nonmanufacturers, the Cabinet Office said Monday.
JAPAN
Feb 27, 2002

Poll eyes wages of people forced to seek new jobs

People who have taken between one and six months to secure employment after being laid off have generally managed to maintain their pay levels in their new jobs, according to the results of a Cabinet Office poll.
COMMENTARY
Feb 19, 2002

Koizumi fast losing his luster

The entire affair involving Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's dismissal of Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka on Jan. 29 reminded me of an old saying that "nothing is predictable in politics." Following Koizumi's move, his government's public-approval rating plummeted to about 50 percent after remaining...
BUSINESS
Feb 6, 2002

Shiokawa says pressure likely at G7

Japan will probably come under pressure to fix its economic problems, including its dismal bad-loan situation, when top financial ministers and officials of the Group of Seven industrial powers gather in Ottawa for a two-day meeting, Finance Minister Masajuro Shiokawa said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Feb 1, 2002

Finance Ministry tries to regain past clout

The Finance Ministry, which once enjoyed the prestige of being the nation's top bureaucratic body but saw its power and influence erode in the late 1990s in a series of scandals, appears to be aligning with Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's political initiatives to regain its former status.
BUSINESS
Nov 8, 2001

Shiokawa repeats budget vow

Finance Minister Masajuro Shiokawa reiterated his view Wednesday that it would be ineffective to compile a second supplementary budget to finance pump-priming stimulus measures.
JAPAN
Nov 7, 2001

Surname law now said out of sync

After years of debate and shifting social trends, legislation that would allow Japanese married couples to keep separate surnames may finally hit the Diet floor.
JAPAN
Nov 3, 2001

Tanaka faces fresh hailstorm

Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka attracted another barrage of criticism from across the political spectrum Friday after she pushed back a meeting with a foreign dignitary by 40 minutes the night before.
BUSINESS
Oct 6, 2001

Key economic health gauge hit zero in August

The key gauge of economic health came to zero in August, remaining well below the boom-or-bust line of 50 percent for the eighth straight month, the government said Friday in a preliminary report.
JAPAN
Sep 29, 2001

Tanaka to return 250,000 yen over latest ministry scandal

Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka said Friday she will return 50 percent of one month's salary, or 250,000 yen, to the government to take responsibility for the latest scandal involving a former ministry official in a fraud case.
BUSINESS
Sep 14, 2001

State maintains dismal view of economy

The government on Thursday left its dismal view of the Japanese economy unchanged for the second straight month but slashed its outlook for the global economy due to the U.S. slowdown.
BUSINESS
Sep 4, 2001

State to prioritize targets of Koizumi's reforms

The government decided Monday to compile a list of priority items under Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's structural reform program, government officials said.
JAPAN
Aug 1, 2001

Shiokawa set to cut public works 10%

Five Cabinet members spoke out Tuesday on economic matters, with two, including Finance Minister Masajuro Shiokawa, calling for a reduction in public works for fiscal 2002, and the others discussing the need for a supplemental budget for the current fiscal year.
JAPAN
Jun 15, 2001

Economy downgraded for fifth month

The economy is deteriorating and may be slipping into recession due to sluggish personal consumption and business investment, the government said Thursday, downgrading its assessment for the fifth straight month.
JAPAN
Jun 8, 2001

Tanaka-bureaucrat standoff yet to let up

Despite the announcement Wednesday of Foreign Ministry reform plans and the lifting Monday of a "freeze" on personnel transfers, the standoff between Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka and senior bureaucrats is showing no signs of abating.
JAPAN
May 26, 2001

Koizumi issues state apology for Hansen's victims' abuses

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi issued a statement of apology Friday to former Hansen's disease patients for a government policy that forced them into decades of isolation.
JAPAN
May 21, 2001

Tanaka hit for alleged remarks on Lee's visa

Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka came under fire over the weekend from both her ruling Liberal Democratic Party colleagues and opposition leaders over allegations that she told China earlier this month that Japan will not again issue an entry visa to former Taiwanese President Lee Teng-hui.
COMMENTARY / World
May 9, 2001

Maverick Koizumi set to buck the system

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is committed to breaking up factions in his Liberal Democratic Party. "You'll see that I'm determined to eliminate the factions," he told reporters immediately before he started forming his Cabinet. He had just reshuffled the lineup of party executives by appointing men...
JAPAN
May 8, 2001

Koizumi vows no sanctuaries from reform

The Prime minister's main policy points (Full text) The following is the gist of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's policy speech delivered Monday in the Diet.
JAPAN
Apr 27, 2001

Koizumi chooses his top party officials

Junichiro Koizumi, the newly elected Liberal Democratic Party president, set about putting the party's house in order Wednesday by selecting the three lawmakers who will hold the top LDP slots.
JAPAN
Apr 24, 2001

Koizumi vows to destroy forces blocking reforms

Garnering a whopping 87 percent of the local vote in the LDP's presidential primaries, maverick reformer Junichiro Koizumi on Monday vowed to "destroy" forces standing against his reform agenda and launch a Cabinet free of the party's factional shackles.
JAPAN
Apr 7, 2001

Hashimoto, Koizumi eye No. 1 spot

The race for the next Liberal Democratic Party president heated up Friday as both Ryutaro Hashimoto, minister in charge of administrative reform, and former posts minister Junichiro Koizumi indicated that they are ready to run.
EDITORIALS
Mar 19, 2001

Mr. Sharon goes to work

After nearly a month of negotiations, Israel's new prime minister, Mr. Ariel Sharon, has cobbled together his "unity Cabinet." It may represent a broad spectrum of political opinion, but it is unlikely to be united for long. Once Mr. Sharon gets down to resuming peace talks with the Palestinians -- his...
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 10, 2001

Timetable for a departure

On March 5, the Lower House voted down an opposition-sponsored no-confidence motion against the Cabinet of Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori. Theoretically, the apparent vote of confidence for the Mori Cabinet should have restored a semblance of political stability, but things do not work that way in Japanese...
BUSINESS
Mar 10, 2001

Aso attacks Hayami for weak yen

Taro Aso, minister for economic and fiscal policy, said Friday that he does not advocate promoting a weak yen to boost the economy -- a negative reference to remarks made Wednesday by Bank of Japan Gov. Masaru Hayami.
JAPAN
Mar 6, 2001

Mori survives ouster vote

Beleaguered Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori survived his second no-confidence motion Monday, but his coalition partners wasted no time urging him to step down voluntarily.
BUSINESS
Feb 17, 2001

Japan's economy downgraded; U.S. slowdown blamed

The government downgraded its monthly assessment of the economy Friday, saying the pace of recovery has slowed in the face of rapidly slackening economic growth in the U.S. The downward revision was the first in three months.

Longform

A mushroom cloud from the atomic bombing on Hiroshima taken from a U.S. military aircraft on Aug. 6, 1945. Copying the photo without permission is prohibited.
80 years on, a Japanese American hibakusha recalls the day the bomb dropped