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JAPAN
Jan 5, 1999

Century of Change: Job security feels tug of evolution

More than two decades ago — just as Japan was impressing the world by emerging from the first oil crisis with a leaner economy — Taichi Sakaiya, now head of the Economic Planning Agency, warned in a novel that the nation would face a midlife crisis before the turn of the century.
JAPAN
Jan 5, 1999

Lawyers see pain as consumers navigate investment risks

As the government's "Big Bang" financial deregulation moves into full gear, there is growing concern among lawyers that there has been one-sided emphasis on consumer responsibility for making investments at their own risk.
EDITORIALS
Jan 1, 1999

Testing times ahead for Mr. Obuchi

The administration of Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi, inaugurated just five months ago, faces in the coming year a real test of its ability to achieve its most urgent goal: lifting the economy out of two years of negative growth. A failure to meet that challenge could further erode public confidence in...
JAPAN
Dec 30, 1998

TSE ends trading year on lackluster note

The Tokyo Stock Exchange ended Wednesday, the year's last trading day, on a lackluster note amid lingering worries about bleak economic prospects.
JAPAN
Dec 25, 1998

Cabinet OKs 52.89 trillion yen 'zaito'

The Cabinet on Friday approved a 52.89 trillion yen fiscal investment and loan program, known as "zaito," for fiscal 1999, 5.9 percent more than that for the current year.
JAPAN
Dec 25, 1998

NCB chief talks of new challenge

The new president of Nippon Credit Bank, which was nationalized earlier this month, promised on Friday that the bank will strive to quickly regain financial health and shake off government control.
JAPAN
Dec 23, 1998

LTCB in trouble over hidden loan guarantees

The nationalized Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan kept off its books 62 billion yen in loan guarantees that it promised to its affiliated moneylender, in a possible violation of the Securities and Exchange Law, financial sources said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Dec 23, 1998

Hibiya stacks in danger of closing

Tokyo's 90-year-old Hibiya Library may close one year from now unless the capital's financially troubled metropolitan government comes to the rescue.
JAPAN
Dec 23, 1998

Panel suggests hiking consumption tax, sees 2% growth

The economy has the potential to achieve 2 percent annual growth, and drastic structural reforms could put it on a full-scale recovery path, according to an interim policy package announced Wednesday by the Economic Strategy Council.
JAPAN
Dec 22, 1998

Kato takes over Miyazawa faction; 15 defect

Former Liberal Democratic Party Secretary General Koichi Kato took the helm of Finance Minister Kiichi Miyazawa's LDP faction Tuesday, after 15 members departed in dissent.
JAPAN
Dec 22, 1998

Defense Agency reprimands 42 for hiding files before raid

The Defense Agency reprimanded 42 senior Self-Defense Forces officers on Tuesday for the hiding of documents by uniformed SDF personnel around the time of a September raid on the agency.
JAPAN
Dec 22, 1998

Obuchi to give back half of bonus

Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi told a regular Cabinet meeting that he plans to return half of the bonus he received earlier this month, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiromu Nonaka said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Dec 21, 1998

52.78 trillion yen 'zaito' draft targets credit crunch

The Cabinet on Monday approved a draft for a 52.78 trillion yen fiscal investment and loan program for fiscal 1999, up 5.7 percent from the current year.
JAPAN
Dec 16, 1998

LDP finalizes record 9.3 trillion yen tax cut plan

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party finalized a large package of tax revisions Wednesday allowing for a record 9.3 trillion yen in tax cuts for fiscal 1999.
JAPAN
Dec 10, 1998

Wife gets 15 years in spouse's slaying

A 41-year-old woman was sentenced to 15 years in prison Thursday for conspiring with her lover to kill her husband for insurance money.
JAPAN
Dec 10, 1998

Ex-employee's organ links Hayashi to another death

WAKAYAMA -- A deceased 27-year-old ex-employee of Kenji Hayashi, whose wife, Masumi, was served an arrest warrant Wednesday for allegedly murdering four people and trying to kill 63 others by lacing their curry with arsenic, has pointed a finger from the grave to implicate her in yet another arsenic-related...
JAPAN
Dec 9, 1998

LDP proposes housing loan tax breaks

The tax panel of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party agreed Wednesday to propose radical tax breaks for housing loans for fiscal 1999, calling the allowance "the largest issue" in the government's efforts to stimulate the moribund economy.
JAPAN
Dec 7, 1998

Norota apologizes for second batch of wandering documents

Defense Agency Director General Hosei Norota admitted Monday that some uniformed officers of the Self-Defense Forces moved procurement-related documents out of their offices prior to the September raid on the agency.
JAPAN
Dec 7, 1998

Hiroshima mayor's refusal to run laid to economic woes

HIROSHIMA -- The announcement by Hiroshima Mayor Takashi Hiraoka that he will not seek a third term has thrown next year's election into uncertainty.
JAPAN
Dec 4, 1998

Miyazawa urges speedy Diet approval of budget

The 5.677 trillion yen third supplementary budget for fiscal 1998 was submitted Friday to the extraordinary Diet session, and Finance Minister Kiichi Miyazawa called for a swift passage in his policy speech.
JAPAN
Dec 2, 1998

China remarks falsely reported, Nonaka says

Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiromu Nonaka criticized some foreign media entities Wednesday for misunderstanding and falsely reporting his remarks during Chinese President Jiang Zemin's visit last week.
JAPAN
Dec 2, 1998

Tokio Marine plans venture with Schwab

Tokio Marine & Fire Insurance Co. is planning a joint discount brokerage with Charles Schwab and Co., Tokio Marine officials said on Wednesday.
JAPAN
Dec 2, 1998

Recovery set for autumn, says Economic Strategy Council

Japan's economy seems to have hit bottom and the government's economic stimulus measures will start to be effective by next fall, the chairman of Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi's economic advisory panel said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Nov 16, 1998

Package sufficient: Keidanren

The nation's business community welcomed the latest pump-priming package Monday and renewed calls for the government to quickly decide on the particulars of planned tax cuts worth some 7 trillion yen.
JAPAN
Nov 13, 1998

Clinton visit scheduled to begin Thursday

U.S. President Bill Clinton will make a two-day visit to Japan beginning Thursday for talks with Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiromu Nonaka said Friday.
JAPAN
Nov 13, 1998

Detective agencies hit for investigating 'buraku' folk

OSAKA -- The Osaka Prefectural Government on Friday instructed two private detective agencies that violated a prefectural ban on discriminating against descendants of the "buraku" (hamlet) outcast class to refrain from doing so in the future,
JAPAN
Nov 12, 1998

Japanese-American heritage blooms in L.A. museum

The Japanese-American experience is a useful reference point in Japan's globalization efforts, but more insights await in Los Angeles, where the Japanese American National Museum is raising the profile of these people, representatives said Thursday.
JAPAN
Nov 6, 1998

Maritime transport firms enjoy buoyant first-half sales

The country's three largest maritime transport companies reported a unconsolidated sales increase for the first half of fiscal 1998 due to the weakened yen, the carriers announced Friday.
JAPAN
Nov 5, 1998

Sapporo joins Taiwanese group for restaurant venture

Sapporo Breweries Ltd., a major beer brewer, said on Thursday it has set up a joint venture in Taiwan with a local business group to run a beer restaurant chain featuring the company's draft beer products and non-Chinese dishes.
JAPAN
Nov 5, 1998

Brazil farm chief urges Japan to expand soybean buys

Francisco Turra, Brazilian minister of agriculture and supply, urged Japan Thursday to further expand its import and distribution of soybeans from his country.

Longform

Dangami House is a 180-year-old former samurai residence of the Kato clan, who ruled over Ozu, Ehime Prefecture, until the Meiji Restoration.
A house, a legacy and the quiet work of restoration in rural Japan