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EDITORIALS
Sep 30, 1999

Russia's Chechen scapegoat

A wave of terrorist bombings in Moscow is pushing Russia once again toward war. No government can permit its citizens to be terrorized, and the scale of the recent attacks suggests that a formidable enemy is at work. Still, Moscow's response to the bombings seems ill-planned and desperate. Just as troubling...
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 30, 1999

More reform needed to underpin Japan's economic recovery

Japan has made important progress in recent years in the area of regulatory and other structural reforms, but there is an urgent need for further and more rapid progress to strengthen future Japanese growth and prosperity.
JAPAN
Sep 30, 1999

Y2K info on yearend flights on ministry Web site

The Transport Ministry today will begin posting information on foreign countries' Y2K preparations for New Year's flights on its Web site, amid high expectations of computer problems during the annual changeover.
JAPAN
Sep 30, 1999

Chinese students embrace lessons of Japanese advertising

Staff writer
JAPAN
Sep 30, 1999

State reinsurance clause needs review, panel says

The government, nonlife insurance companies and traffic accident victims need to further discuss whether the state reinsurance provision of the compulsory automobile liability insurance system should be abolished before the system is revised, a Transport Ministry panel said in a report submitted Thursday...
JAPAN
Sep 30, 1999

Cut in broker commissions to bring unheralded competition

Staff writer
JAPAN
Sep 30, 1999

Tokai nuclear accident goes critical; remains out of control

A nuclear accident at a uranium-processing plant 125 km northeast of Tokyo on Thursday reached criticality, injuring three and pushing radiation levels up to 20,000 times beyond normal in Tokai, Ibaraki Prefecture.
JAPAN
Sep 30, 1999

Campaign for Anti-Aum law to continue

The government remains committed to its plan to draw up a new law to specifically restrict the activities of Aum Shinrikyo, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiromu Nonaka said Thursday.
JAPAN
Sep 30, 1999

Pressure on Jakarta urged to head off Timor debacle

Regional correspondent
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Sep 30, 1999

Iron stomachs and chefs give it their all

Japan has produced a fair number of marathon stars. It's an achievement that probably has less to do with genetically bound physical attributes than with culturally bound psychological ones. The "gambaru" mentality that governs so many endeavors in Japan, especially in the world of sports, is central...
JAPAN
Sep 30, 1999

Aum cultist given death sentence for part in subway attack

A senior Aum Shinrikyo member was sentenced to death Thursday for releasing deadly nerve gas on the Tokyo subway system in March 1995 and for illegally manufacturing a rifle.
JAPAN
Sep 30, 1999

Obuchi cancels Cabinet reshuffle

Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi decided to delay the reshuffling of his Cabinet on Thursday due to the unfolding nuclear crisis in Tokai, Ibaraki Prefecture, although most of his picks were to be appointed today.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 30, 1999

Washington consensus cracks, but what is next?

WASHINGTON -- Is the so-called Washington consensus coming to an end?
JAPAN
Sep 30, 1999

Green Cross execs face bars over HIV scandal

OSAKA -- Prosecutors Thursday demanded prison terms of between 2 1/2 and three years for three former presidents of Green Cross Corp. for alleged professional negligence that resulted in the deaths of patients who were administered HIV-tainted blood products produced by the company.
JAPAN
Sep 30, 1999

Parties agree to tackle redenomination of yen

As part of their policy arrangements for launching a new coalition government, the Liberal Democratic Party, Liberal Party and New Komeito on Thursday agreed to consider redenominating the yen, beginning early in the 21st century.
JAPAN
Sep 30, 1999

Japan to tighten ties with Libya, send ambassador

Staff writer
JAPAN
Sep 30, 1999

Workers said exposed to A-bomb level radiation

The amount of that three of 14 workers irradiated in a nuclear accident at uranium-processing firm JCO Co. were exposed to is estimated to have been at least eight sievert, doctors said Thursday evening.
EDITORIALS
Sep 29, 1999

Japan's binding promise to the G7

At the G7 conference of finance ministers and central bank chiefs that was held in Washington over the weekend, the delegates from other member nations agreed to adopt a read-between-the-lines statement in which the world's top financial managers shared their worry over the recent sharp rise of the yen....
JAPAN
Sep 29, 1999

Hatoyama to name Kan as DPJ policy chief

Naoto Kan, former leader of the Democratic Party of Japan, will be appointed as the party's policy chief under new party leader Yukio Hatoyama, party sources said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Sep 29, 1999

Parties agree to expand SDF reach to U.N. missions

The three would-be coalition partners agreed Wednesday to allow the Self-Defense Forces to fully participate in United Nations-led peacekeeping operations, and to draw up further legislation that will enable Japan to engage in other types of U.N. efforts.
JAPAN
Sep 29, 1999

Aum followers held in raid; confinements alleged

A current and former member of Aum Shinrikyo were arrested Wednesday on suspicion of detaining a female follower who attempted to escape from a cult facility in Kiso-Fukushima, Nagano Prefecture, police said.
JAPAN
Sep 29, 1999

Computer grandmas enter digital age at jijibaba.com

Staff writer
JAPAN
Sep 29, 1999

'Charisma beauticians' under fire

In response to the large influence wielded by trendy but unlicensed beauticians working in Tokyo, the Health and Welfare Ministry has instructed municipalities to check the licenses of those applying to open beauty parlors.
JAPAN
Sep 29, 1999

Industrial output rose 4.6% in August

Industrial output rose 4.6 percent in August from July, marking the first increase in two months and the biggest rise since January 1997, due to strong demand for electronics, automobiles and electricity, according to a preliminary report issued Wednesday by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry....
JAPAN
Sep 29, 1999

Teacher acquitted third time in 21-year murder trial

OSAKA -- For the third time in an unprecedented trial that has lasted more than 21 years, and a quarter-century after the alleged crime, a former nursery school teacher was acquitted Wednesday of murdering a 12-year-old boy in 1974.
JAPAN
Sep 29, 1999

Kabutoyama called case of judicial shame

The Kabutoyama case, an unprecedented trial in which a former nursery school teacher has stood in the shadow of suspicion for a quarter of a century over the death of one of her mentally disabled charges, is an open invitation to harsh criticism.
JAPAN
Sep 29, 1999

Miyazawa defends use of public funds in LTCB sale

Finance Minister Kiichi Miyazawa on Wednesday defended the planned use of additional public funds to sell Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan to a consortium led by Ripplewood Holdings L.L.C. of the United States, calling the burden nothing new.
JAPAN
Sep 29, 1999

Keidanren pushes safety net for bank deposits

The Japan Federation of Economic Organizations (Keidanren) on Wednesday urged the government to establish a new financial safety net before rescinding full guarantees for bank deposits on April 1, 2001.
JAPAN
Sep 29, 1999

Japan Telecom units pick same name

Nine cellular phone carriers affiliated with Japan Telecom Co. will use J-Phone as their unified brand name for their companies and services starting Friday, the companies announced Wednesday.
JAPAN
Sep 29, 1999

NPA Secretariat hits Kanagawa cops

Measures taken by the Kanagawa Prefectural Police that could be seen as attempts to cover up wrongdoing in its ranks were "inappropriate" and the responsibility of those in charge is grave, the head of the National Police Agency Secretariat acknowledged Wednesday.

Longform

A sinkhole in Yashio, which emerged in January, was triggered by a ruptured, aging sewer pipe. Authorities worry that similar sections of infrastructure across the country are also at risk of corrosion.
That sinking feeling: Japan’s aging sewers are an infrastructure time bomb