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JAPAN
Oct 14, 1997

Japan and Mercosur agree on economic cooperation

Delegates from Japan and Mercosur, the South American common market that includes Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, agreed Oct. 14 to promote further economic cooperation as they recognized the potential to further develop trade and investment between the two regions."The Mercosur side remarked...
JAPAN
Oct 9, 1997

Thai leader calls on Japanese ventures to boost exports

While committing to improve the investment environment in his country, Thai Prime Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyuth urged Japanese business leaders to promote exports from their industrial ventures in the ailing Southeast Asian economy.Chavalit requested such efforts particularly in the automobile, automotive...
JAPAN
Oct 9, 1997

Mayor has high hopes for Tokyo-Berlin ties

Despite being continents apart, Berlin and Tokyo have much to learn from each other, Berlin Mayor Eberhard Diepgen said on a recent trip to Tokyo.In an interview with The Japan Times, Diepgen said he expects the Berlin-Tokyo relationship, unofficially established in 1985 and later formalized in a friendship...
JAPAN
Oct 6, 1997

Product test-recognition talks with EU set to restart

Staff writerAfter a 16-month hiatus, Japan and the European Union will resume negotiations next week on an agreement to mutually recognize test results for certain industrial products, government officials said Oct. 6.The fourth round of talks on the mutual recognition agreement will be held in Brussels...
JAPAN
Oct 6, 1997

Aoshima signs cooperation agreement with Berlin mayor

Berlin Mayor Eberhard Diepgen, who is visiting Japan through Oct. 8, paid a courtesy call Oct. 6 on Tokyo Gov. Yukio Aoshima and signed an agreement to cooperate in sewage and fiber-optic cable projects.Berlin and Tokyo are proceeding with a project to lay fiber-optic cables along sewage facilities....
JAPAN
Oct 6, 1997

Maverick assemblyman fights dress code, graft

MISAWA, Aomori Pref. -- The city assembly here has attracted nationwide attention, not for its legislating, but for a member who was punished for his casual attire.He claims his dressing down symbolizes his crusade against corruption. "I know it all looked like a kindergarten-level farce," said Yuki...
JAPAN
Oct 3, 1997

Reduced ODA will still travel far, white paper says

Although the amount of Japan's official development assistance is on the decline, such aid will continue to play an important role in combating environmental destruction and poverty in developing countries, an ODA white paper released Oct. 3 says.Japan needs to aggressively tackle these issues through...
JAPAN
Oct 2, 1997

WebTV to offer Net access via television

WebTV Networks K.K., a wholly owned subsidiary of WebTV Networks, Inc. of the United States, announced Oct. 2 that it will provide an easy-to-handle television Internet access service starting Dec. 1.By connecting the WebTV Internet Terminal that has been specially developed by Sony Corp. to a television...
JAPAN
Oct 1, 1997

SESC criminal complaints hit new high

Reflecting an increase in crimes involving financial firms, the nation's securities watchdog filed a record five criminal complaints during the year up to June, according to the annual report released Oct. 1 by the Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission.The cases brought to prosecutors include...
JAPAN
Oct 1, 1997

Nation's first brain research center opens

The first institute in the country specializing in cerebral research, the Brain Science Comprehensive Research Center, has been established within the Institute of Physical and Chemical Research in Wako, Saitama Prefecture, the institute announced Oct. 1.The institute began cerebral research nine years...
JAPAN
Sep 29, 1997

NPA vows to help crime victims gird for reprisals

The National Police Agency pledged Sept. 29 to step up efforts to protect crime victims from retaliation after the people who victimized them are released from prisons, NPA sources said.
JAPAN
Sep 25, 1997

Green conference to be held in Ube

An international symposium on the preservation of the world's environment will be held Oct. 17 in Ube, Yamaguchi Prefecture.
JAPAN
Sep 19, 1997

Osaka to promote business through 'ambassador' plan

OSAKA -- The Osaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry created a "business ambassador" system Sept. 19, in which selected businesspeople travel abroad and promote Osaka and the Kansai region to foreign firms.
JAPAN
Sep 18, 1997

Pioneering life of missionary remembered

A three-day international conference opened Sept. 24 at the United Nations University in Tokyo to mark the 400th anniversary of the death of Luis Frois, a 16th century Jesuit who lived in Japan for 34 years until his death in Nagasaki.
JAPAN
Sep 17, 1997

Recruit's Ono given suspended sentence

Toshihiro Ono, the former chief of Recruit Co.'s presidential secretariat, was given a two-year prison term Sept. 17, suspended for three years, for selling unlisted Recruit Cosmos shares to two Diet members from 1985 to 1986.
JAPAN
Sep 16, 1997

Gays win lodging discrimination suit against Tokyo

A group of gay and lesbian activists was awarded compensation by a high court Sept. 16 for the Tokyo Metropolitan Government's refusal to let them use public accommodations in Fuchu, west Tokyo, in 1990.
JAPAN
Sep 9, 1997

Ethics questions linger over Izui affair

Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto indicated Sept. 9 that there may be lingering ethical concerns over donations allegedly made to six Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers by an oil wholesaler now on trial for fraud and tax evasion.
JAPAN
Sep 8, 1997

Indian Embassy taking condolences for Mother Teresa

A condolence book will be kept open at the Indian Embassy in Tokyo Sept. 9 and Sept. 10 for those wishing to pay homage to the late Mother Teresa.
JAPAN
Sep 8, 1997

Experts make appeal over greenhouse issue

KOBE -- A two-day environmental conference for the Asia-Pacific region ended late Sept. 8 after an appeal was made to advanced countries to take initiatives in substantially reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
JAPAN
Sep 5, 1997

Legal war on 'sokaiya' planned

The government has decided on a set of legal measures to root out "sokaiya" corporate racketeers and to have stricter penalties imposed against them, officials said Friday.
JAPAN
Sep 3, 1997

Free passage for Korean wives seen as economic issue

Staff writer
JAPAN
Sep 3, 1997

Police release photos of suspect in rape-robberies

Tokyo police released on Sept. 3 photos of a man wanted in connection with a series of rapes and robberies.
JAPAN
Aug 29, 1997

Singapore values U.S. in Asia, Goh says

Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong said August 29 that his country supports the Japan-U.S. security treaty because it values the presence of the U.S. in the region and sees the review of the Japan-U.S. defense guidelines as beneficial in securing transparency.
JAPAN
Aug 27, 1997

Parties agree on limit of Japan's wartime assistance to U.S.

Minesweeping activities will be among the 42 proposed steps that Japan would take to assist U.S. forces in case of war in Asia now that the ruling parties have reached a consensus.
JAPAN
Aug 26, 1997

MITI requesting 923 billion yen for '98 budget

The Ministry of International Trade and Industry will request 922.8 billion yen for its fiscal 1998 general accounts budget, ministry officials said August 26.
JAPAN
Aug 22, 1997

Division of posts ministry proposed by reform council

The Administrative Reform Council has proposed privatizing the life insurance business operated by the Posts and Telecommunications Ministry and placing two of its other major operations -- postal savings and delivery -- under a new governmental agency.
JAPAN
Aug 20, 1997

Talks likely to progress over wives' Japan visits

Japan and North Korea are expected to take steps Aug. 21 in Beijing toward allowing Japanese women living in the Stalinist state to visit their homeland.
JAPAN
Aug 20, 1997

NGOs to focus on global warming

KYOTO -- Nongovernmental organizations from eight prefectures are organizing events between Aug. 23 and Aug. 31 to raise awareness of global warming as a precursor to December's third Conference of Parties (COP3) of the Framework Convention on Climate Change in Kyoto.
JAPAN
Aug 19, 1997

Ministers slam panel's reform proposals

Key members of Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto's Cabinet lashed out Aug. 19 against proposals being discussed by a blue-ribbon panel headed by Hashimoto to reorganize the ministries under their charge.
JAPAN
Aug 19, 1997

Consortium offers building owners energy-savings windfall

Staff writer

Longform

A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami