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EDITORIALS
Feb 16, 1999

Post-impeachment Clinton

Officially, the impeachment ordeal of U.S. President Bill Clinton is over. Last Friday, the Senate -- in two bipartisan votes -- rejected both charges against the president. By a vote of 55 to 45, they threw out the first article of impeachment that alleged Mr. Clinton committed perjury when testifying...
EDITORIALS
Feb 13, 1999

The victims have rights, too

With all the attention now being focused by the government, police and judicial authorities, educators and the media on Japan's rapidly increasing juvenile crime rate and the escalating level of violence frequently involved, the rights of the victims of crimes in this country have often seemed of secondary...
JAPAN
Feb 12, 1999

Impact of new bond issues must be studied: Miyazawa

The government must consider the impact of newly issued government bonds on the financial market and is currently studying ways to tackle the problem, Finance Minister Kiichi Miyazawa reiterated Friday.
JAPAN
Feb 12, 1999

Narita officer arrested for drugs

An Immigration Office official was arrested earlier this month for possessing illegal drugs, apparently obtained through the Internet, it was learned Friday.
JAPAN
Feb 12, 1999

Kobe budget priority shifts from quake to economy

The city of Kobe announced a 1999 fiscal year budget proposal Friday of just over 2.07 trillion yen, a 2.9 percent increase over the previous year's budget of 2.01 trillion yen.
JAPAN
Feb 12, 1999

War victims unite efforts to win redress from Japan

Representatives of civic groups from Japan, South Korea and the Netherlands signed an agreement Friday to cooperate in seeking compensation from the Japanese government for their sufferings during and after World War II.
JAPAN
Feb 12, 1999

Israeli-Palestinian leadership group to visit

A delegation of 20 young Israeli and Palestinian men who are thought to have the potential to become leaders in politics, business and media in the region will visit Japan next week, the Foreign Ministry said Friday.
JAPAN
Feb 12, 1999

Rapist in murder trial faces gallows

Prosecutors demanded the death penalty Friday for a man accused of killing a woman he was convicted of raping in 1990.
JAPAN
Feb 12, 1999

Major steelmakers expect lower earnings

Plagued by dwindling demand and prices of steel products at home and abroad, major steelmakers on Friday separately announced they are significantly lowering their earnings projections for fiscal 1998.
JAPAN
Feb 12, 1999

BOJ lowers overnight call rate to unprecedented 0.15%

Amid mounting calls to curtail the rise in long-term interest rates by expanding the money supply, the Bank of Japan on Friday instead decided to confront the problem by guiding down a key short-term interest rate to an astonishing historic low.
JAPAN
Feb 12, 1999

Osaka budget plan calls for pay freeze, payroll reduction

The Osaka Prefectural Government, facing a financial crisis, announced a 3.5 trillion yen budget plan Friday for fiscal 1999 that reduces prefectural personnel costs for the first time since the Local Government Law took effect in 1947.
JAPAN
Feb 12, 1999

Celebrate the millennium bug

Japan has drawn up draft proposals for an "APEC Y2K Week" to help the 21 member economies of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, especially developing members, cope with the Year 2000 computer bug problem.
JAPAN
Feb 12, 1999

Aum regrouping for Armageddon in September: PSIA

Aum Shinrikyo followers are striving to hold together to reconstruct their cult, believing Armageddon will come this year in accordance with founder Shoko Asahara's prediction, according to a report released Friday by the Public Security Investigation Agency.
EDITORIALS
Feb 11, 1999

Hope for East Timor

East Timor has never fit comfortably within the sprawling archipelago that is Indonesia. The province was a Portuguese territory from the 17th century until 1975, when a socialist government in Lisbon abandoned the country's colonial pretensions. That triggered a struggle for control of the region. The...
JAPAN
Feb 11, 1999

Japan seeks WTO ruling on U.S. antidumping law

Japan has requested the World Trade Organization to rule on a U.S. antidumping law, charging that the law is not in compliance with WTO rules, government officials said Thursday.
JAPAN
Feb 11, 1999

Tokai Bank plans to close over half of overseas units

Chubu area leader Tokai Bank intends to close down more than half of its overseas branches, offices and subsidiaries by March 2001 to focus on domestic operations, bank sources said Thursday.
JAPAN
Feb 11, 1999

Akashi all but enters governor's race

Yasushi Akashi, a former U.N. undersecretary general, strongly indicated Thursday that he will run as the Liberal Democratic Party's candidate for the Tokyo gubernatorial election in April.
JAPAN
Feb 11, 1999

Constitution-backers protest defense guideline bills

Braving falling snow, supporters of Japan's pacifist Constitution gathered in Tokyo on Thursday to object to the revised Japan-U.S. defense cooperation guidelines set to be debated in the current Diet session and the possibility of Japan drafting emergency defense legislation.
JAPAN
Feb 11, 1999

Viagra-hawking teen hookers lead to arrests

A 37-year-old Tokyo man has been arrested on suspicion of operating a teen prostitution ring and forcing high school girls to sell the anti-impotence drug Viagra to their customers, according to police.
JAPAN
Feb 11, 1999

Nuclear sanctions debate on India, Pakistan in disarray

Officials from the Group of Eight nations and seven other countries disagreed in Tokyo on Thursday over whether to ease international economic sanctions on India and Pakistan, with some saying that the two countries have yet to demonstrate a further commitment to joining the global regime of nuclear...
JAPAN
Feb 11, 1999

Gaming fans snatch up latest Final Fantasy

Hundreds of electronic game lovers mobbed stores in Tokyo's Akihabara Thursday to snap up the latest version of Final Fantasy, a popular PlayStation computer game that went on sale in the morning.
JAPAN
Feb 11, 1999

New Komeito key player in Tokyo election

Now that the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and the largest opposition Democratic Party of Japan have picked their candidates for the Tokyo gubernatorial election in April, the two parties are waiting with bated breath to see where New Komeito will direct its support.
JAPAN
Feb 10, 1999

State ready to entertain New Komeito budget request

The government and the Liberal Democratic Party will consider rearranging the fiscal 1999 state budget plan to possibly include 2 trillion yen in tax rebates and other measures requested by New Komeito, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiromu Nonaka indicated Wednesday.
JAPAN
Feb 10, 1999

Mitsubishi firms eye largest leasing merger

Two leasing companies in the Mitsubishi corporate group are negotiating terms of a merger that may take place this fall, sources said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Feb 10, 1999

Immigration crackdown nets 27 Chinese

Immigration authorities on Wednesday placed 27 Chinese in custody on suspicion that they illegally entered and stayed in Japan by using fake certificates identifying them as offspring of Japanese women married to Chinese and left behind in that country after World War II, officials said.
EDITORIALS
Feb 10, 1999

Encouraging signs in South Asia

The world was shaken last May when India and then Pakistan conducted underground nuclear tests. Citizens of the two countries danced in the streets as the two governments declared themselves members of the nuclear club. Reaction elsewhere was just as heartfelt, but for entirely different reasons. The...
JAPAN
Feb 10, 1999

LDP counters with Akashi in race for Tokyo governor

The Liberal Democratic Party plans to field Yasushi Akashi, former U.N. undersecretary general, as its candidate for the Tokyo gubernatorial race, LDP sources said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Feb 10, 1999

Defense to file suit against Toyo Communication

The Defense Agency will ask the Justice Ministry on Friday to file a civil lawsuit against Toyo Communication Equipment Co. for failing to refund an additional 6.2 billion yen to the agency in connection with a procurement overcharge, agency officials said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Feb 10, 1999

Telecom firms form strategic alliance

Ten telecommunications carriers affiliated with power companies have formed an alliance on business strategies and infrastructure, top executives of the carriers announced Wednesday.
LIFE / Digital / CYBERIA
Feb 10, 1999

You've got e-mess!

Calling the Internet a borderless world isn't far from the truth, but try saying that every time you get an e-mail you can't read. You know, one of those buggers that is full of incomprehensible code or one that has a mysterious file attached that refuses to open no matter how hard you click it.

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