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JAPAN
Jun 29, 1998

Narita airport to hand out more weekly flight slots

The Transport Ministry will allot 202 extra landing and takeoff slots a week for regular flights this winter at Narita airport, starting Oct. 25, ministry officials announced Monday.
JAPAN
Jun 26, 1998

Ailing LTCB moves toward merger with Sumitomo Trust

The Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan, suffering a battering in the market over its financial problems, seeks to merge with Sumitomo Trust & Banking Co. in what is largely seen as its de facto absorption, industry sources said Friday.
JAPAN
Jun 24, 1998

Ex-health vice minister sentenced to two years for bribery

A former top bureaucrat at the Health and Welfare Ministry was sentenced to two years in prison Wednesday and fined 63.69 million yen for bribery in connection with the construction of special subsidized nursing homes.
JAPAN
Jun 19, 1998

Foreign teachers union announces strike over mistreatment

A union of foreign teachers at a public university in Kumamoto announced Friday it will launch a one-day strike against the school Wednesday over its allegedly unfair treatment of foreign staff -- a strike they claim is the first among public school teachers in Japan.
JAPAN
Jun 18, 1998

Tokyo to host emergency meeting to deal with Asian crisis

The government will host an emergency meeting Saturday in Tokyo with representatives from 18 economies to discuss the Asian economic crisis, a senior Finance Ministry official said Thursday.
JAPAN
Jun 17, 1998

MITI body launches one-year coal study policy

The Coal Mining Council, an advisory body to the minister for international trade and industry, convened Wednesday to start a one-year study of the government's coal policy.
JAPAN
Jun 16, 1998

Partyspeak: Hata asks voters to rout out the LDP

First in a series Staff writer
JAPAN
Jun 16, 1998

Stimulus plan at risk if downturn continues, BOJ report says

The boost expected from the government's 16 trillion yen economic stimulus package may be weakened if the downturn in employment and income continues to hurt overall economic activity, the Bank of Japan warned Tuesday.
JAPAN
Jun 16, 1998

Bad-loan task force mulls alternative lending laws

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party's task force on bad loans held by banks convened its first hearing Tuesday to discuss a new kind of lending that would make corporate fundraising easier.
JAPAN
Jun 15, 1998

Lower House approves supplementary budget for fiscal '98

The Lower House approved a general account supplementary budget worth 4.65 trillion yen for the current fiscal year Monday afternoon, compiled to support the government's economic stimulus efforts.
JAPAN
Jun 12, 1998

Man can still claim smallpox vaccine damages: supreme court

The Supreme Court on Friday overturned a high court ruling that rejected a damages claim by a 46-year-old man who suffered brain damage as a result of an inoculation required by the state, and remanded the case to the Tokyo High Court.
JAPAN
Jun 12, 1998

Ticketless Cup fans still have high hopes

As hundreds of tourists left for France with hopes of attending Japan's World Cup opener, travel agencies on Friday continued to face difficulty securing tickets.
JAPAN
Jun 12, 1998

Economy shrank 0.7% in fiscal 1997

The economy shrank by an annualized 5.3 percent during the last three months of fiscal 1997 compared with the previous quarter, leading to the nation's first annual economic contraction in 23 years, according to figures released Friday.
JAPAN
Jun 11, 1998

Defense execs to serve alongside SDF field ranks

To facilitate better understanding between civilian and uniformed officials, the Defense Agency is planning to assign would-be executive officials to local officer posts in the Self-Defense Forces, Vice Defense Minister Masahiro Akiyama said Thursday.
JAPAN
Jun 11, 1998

MITI team to probe state oil firms

The Ministry of International Trade and Industry will set up an internal team to probe the finances of 122 oil exploration firms under the Japan National Oil Corp., MITI Vice Minister Osamu Watanabe said Thursday.
JAPAN
Jun 11, 1998

World Cup fans leave for France as ticket woes continue

As confusion continued Thursday over a massive shortage of World Cup tickets for Japan matches, 319 soccer fans left Narita airport for Paris aboard a special Japan Airlines flight.
JAPAN
Jun 11, 1998

BOJ official admits taking bribes, denies leaking bank info

A fired senior Bank of Japan official pleaded guilty Thursday to accepting 4.3 million yen in bribes from two banks but denied leaking vital BOJ information in exchange for the lavish favors.
JAPAN
Jun 10, 1998

U.S. agriculture group hosting trade fair

OSAKA -- A two-day trade fair designed to introduce and promote U.S. agricultural products in the Kansai region opened Wednesday at Osaka MyDome, beside the Osaka Chamber of Commerce building.
JAPAN
Jun 9, 1998

Hashimoto's administrative reform bill clears Diet

A government-proposed bill that will serve as the framework for Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto's plans for a slimmer administration -- one of his six major reform goals -- cleared the Diet late Tuesday afternoon.
JAPAN
Jun 8, 1998

Public works strategy hit by corporate execs

The government should not use public works projects to help stimulate the dormant economy, and the process of implementing such projects should be reformed substantially to make them more transparent, the Japan Association of Corporate Executives (Keizai Doyukai) said Monday.
JAPAN
Jun 5, 1998

'Big Bang' package receives Upper House approval

A package of four laws for sweeping financial reform was enacted Friday at a plenary session of the Upper House.
JAPAN
Jun 1, 1998

Hotel opens on Tokyo waterfront

Le Meridien Grand Pacific Tokyo opened in Tokyo's Daiba waterfront district in Minato Ward on Monday.
JAPAN
Jun 1, 1998

Hokkaido Feature: Museum shows Cape Erimo's elemental ties

ERIMO, Hokkaido -- Even on a sunny day in early summer, cold, strong gusts blowing off the Pacific chill tourists who come from around the country to see Hokkaido's famous cape.
JAPAN
Jun 1, 1998

Yamaichi reports capital deficit of 22.5 billion yen

Yamaichi Securities Co. formally announced Monday that its liabilities exceeded its assets by 22.5 billion yen as of the end of March, contradicting earlier expectations by the collapsed brokerage and the Finance Ministry.
JAPAN
May 27, 1998

Japan to fully fund U.N. drug abuse project

Staff writer
JAPAN
May 26, 1998

Task force targets youths' narcotics use

The government unveiled a five-year plan Tuesday to crack down on drug abuse, targeting mainly minors, including high school students.
JAPAN
May 25, 1998

Boosting ties in every area best road to treaty: Panov

Unless Japan and Russia boost efforts to improve relations in every possible field, the two countries may not be able to attain their goal of signing a peace treaty by the end of 2000, Russian Ambassador to Japan Alexander Panov said Monday.
JAPAN
May 21, 1998

Economy weak, not deflating, BOJ says

The domestic economy is currently not on the verge of entering a deflationary spiral, Bank of Japan Gov. Masaru Hayami said Thursday, adding that he will monitor the effects of governmental pump-priming efforts.
JAPAN
May 20, 1998

Suharto considers plea to use utmost restraint

In a message sent to Tokyo on Wednesday, Indonesian President Suharto said Jakarta will seriously consider Japan's request for the Indonesian government to exercise the maximum restraint in dealing with its political crisis.
JAPAN
May 18, 1998

First evacuee charter planes return from Indonesia

The first four commercial planes sent to help evacuate Japanese nationals from riot-torn Indonesia arrived Monday at Narita airport in Chiba Prefecture, carrying about 1,000 people.

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past