Search - people

 
 
JAPAN
Jan 19, 1999

Failed futures firm execs arrested in trading scam

Police arrested eight people Tuesday linked to a defunct Tokyo-based commodity futures trading firm on suspicion that they swindled three company executives out of about 135 million yen, officials said.
JAPAN
Jan 15, 1999

New adults view romance, marriage differently

Seventy-eight percent of men and 92 percent of women who celebrated their coming of age Friday agreed they would not want to continue married life "if it didn't work out," according to a recent poll by a Tokyo marriage counseling company.
EDITORIALS
Jan 12, 1999

More than just a lot of hot air

Last month, we became accustomed to seeing daily more riveting images of a huge, upside-down-pear-shaped bag: now rising from the Moroccan desert, now sailing over the Himalayas, now poised photogenically above Mount Fuji.
JAPAN
Jan 11, 1999

Sapporo suicide cyanide, drug buyers identified

Police have tracked down all eight people who sent money to a 27-year-old Sapporo man suspected of selling them cyanide capsules and other drugs via the mail, police sources said Monday.
JAPAN
Jan 11, 1999

Winter, jobless chill descends upon Osaka's homeless

"As things stand now, I have no way but to die by the roadside. Even if I get a job, I'm too weak to work," said a 60-year-old former day-laborer who has been homeless for five months.
JAPAN
Dec 30, 1998

Film director Keisuke Kinoshita dead at 86

Renowned movie director Keisuke Kinoshita died of a stroke early Wednesday at his home in Tokyo's Minato Ward, his family said. He was 86.
JAPAN
Dec 22, 1998

Tax cuts in sight, public now worried by huge budget

With a record 81.86 trillion yen budget for fiscal 1999, the government is determined to put an end to the prolonged economic slump. But both the general public and those in the business community still worry about the nation's fiscal health.
JAPAN
Dec 9, 1998

Masumi Hayashi held in Wakayama curry killings

WAKAYAMA -- Police served Masumi Hayashi with a warrant Wednesday, charging her with murdering four people and attempting to kill 63 others by poisoning a vat of curry served up during Wakayama's Sonobe district summer festival.
JAPAN
Dec 7, 1998

Students' Global Society opens forum for development issues

HIROSHIMA -- A group of students and scholars at Hiroshima University have formed Global Society, which they hope will be one of Japan's leading international research bodies for overseas development activities.
JAPAN
Dec 7, 1998

Hayashi apologizes for sarin deaths

Former Aum Shinrikyo member Yasuo Hayashi apologized during testimony Monday at the Tokyo District Court to the families of eight people who died after he released nerve gas on the Tokyo subway in March 1995.
JAPAN
Dec 7, 1998

Ailing Chubu localities won't say where cash went

OKAYAMA -- Nationally and internationally, Japan's banking mess has received a lot of press coverage and is generally considered by politicians, media pundits and business leaders to be the nation's most urgent problem.
JAPAN
Dec 4, 1998

Recovery signs flickering amid gloom: Obuchi

Although many economic index figures still are troublesome, signs of economic recovery are appearing, Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi reckoned Friday.
JAPAN
Dec 3, 1998

Guru counsel's nitpicking hit in 100th session

The defense counsel for Aum Shinrikyo founder Shoko Asahara drew flak from the judge for asking a National Police Agency scientist questions that went into too much detail Thursday as the guru's trial marked its 100th session after 2 1/2 years of deliberations.
JAPAN
Dec 3, 1998

Wakayama residents stressed by media presence

A national institute on mental health has warned the media that coverage of the mass poisoning in a residential community of Wakayama this summer has doubly hurt local people already suffering due to the crime.
JAPAN
Nov 16, 1998

Government unveils 24 trillion yen stimulus

The government on Monday unveiled a 24 trillion yen economic stimulus package -- its largest to date -- aimed at posting a positive economic growth in fiscal 1999 and creating 1 million new jobs.
JAPAN
Nov 13, 1998

Justice continues to break refugee asylum record

The Justice Ministry granted refugee status to three Myanmar residents Friday, bringing the total of foreigners given political asylum this year to 11.
JAPAN
Nov 12, 1998

LDP outlines latest stimulus plan

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party drew up an outline Thursday for a new economic stimulus package worth more than 10 trillion yen aimed at realizing positive growth in the next fiscal year and putting the nation's economy back on a path to sustainable recovery within two years.
JAPAN
Nov 3, 1998

Lower costs fuel boom in exotic, quirky overseas weddings

Regional correspondent
JAPAN
Oct 30, 1998

Poisonings uncover lax sodium azide controls

KYOTO -- The nation's latest poisoning case has exposed the lax controls over sodium azide and the inadequate records laboratories keep of its use.On Wednesday, eight doctors at Utano Hospital in Kyoto's Ukyo Ward became dizzy or vomited after drinking coffee and tea made from hot water drawn from an...
JAPAN
Oct 30, 1998

Global satellite phone systems prepare to power up

Staff writerA new global satellite phone system that promises to release users from the fetters of conventional, bulky and cumbersome mobile phones currently in use begins service Sunday amid mixed expectations regarding its success.Nippon Iridium Corp.'s new Iridium service will provide customers with...
JAPAN
Oct 23, 1998

Death sentence 'a matter of course,' court says

Staff writerFriday's ruling that sentenced to death former Aum Shinrikyo senior figure Kazuaki Okazaki is widely viewed by legal experts as "a matter of course," considering the heinous nature of the crimes.Explaining the reasons for capital punishment, presiding Judge Megumi Yamamuro at the Tokyo District...
JAPAN
Oct 20, 1998

Pension premium hike in April may be shelved

The government is considering scrapping a scheduled April premium hike in the national pension plan for self-employed people, to keep from further dampening consumer spending, Health and Welfare Minister Sohei Miyashita said Tuesday.At a news conference following a Cabinet meeting, Miyashita revealed...
JAPAN
Oct 20, 1998

Good governance urged for Africa

Democratization and good governance in Africa are essential to promoting economic development, participants in a three-day international conference on African development agreed Tuesday, according to Foreign Ministry officials.The agreement was reached on the second day of the second Tokyo International...
JAPAN
Oct 19, 1998

Shiga rail crash hearings come to end

OSAKA -- The Osaka District Court concluded hearings Monday in a civil suit filed by relatives of some of the 42 people killed and 614 hurt in a head-on train collision in 1991 in Shigaraki, Shiga Prefecture.A group of 23 plaintiffs, relatives of nine of those killed, demanded a total of 1.14 billion...
JAPAN
Oct 16, 1998

Hyogo quake-housing tenants starve to victory

Staff writerKOBE -- A four-day hunger strike against Hyogo Prefecture's public housing policy helped survivors of the 1995 Kobe earthquake still living in temporary housing score a major victory recently when prefectural officials agreed to the protesters' major demands."Finally, officials realized...
JAPAN
Oct 16, 1998

Ghana's first lady commends NGOs for progress

OSAKA -- Governments and nongovernmental organizations in Africa have been building better relations by increasing their mutual knowledge and understanding, Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings, the first lady of Ghana, said at an international symposium held here Friday.Addressing about 150 participants in...
JAPAN
Oct 13, 1998

Jiang to hear war apology during visit

Tokyo plans to express "remorse and apology" to China in a joint statement the two countries will issue when Chinese President Jiang Zemin visits Japan, Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura hinted Tuesday.Jiang hopes to visit Japan later this year, according to ministry officials.Komura told a news conference...
JAPAN
Oct 6, 1998

Discrimination case against jewelry store owner begins

HAMAMATSU, Shizuoka Pref. -- Japanese should not discriminate against foreigners just because they're different, a Brazilian woman suing a jewelry store owner here for alleged racial bias told reporters Tuesday."Japanese society will have to coexist with an even greater variety of people in the future....
JAPAN
Oct 6, 1998

Half of arrested Wakayama duo admits keeping arsenic

WAKAYAMA -- A former Wakayama termite exterminator arrested with his wife on Sunday over alleged insurance fraud has dropped his denials and admitted to police he once kept arsenic, police sources said Tuesday.The lethal substance -- the same as that used in a fatal curry poisoning that killed four...
JAPAN
Oct 2, 1998

Justice Minister gets tough on illegal aliens

Justice Minister Shozaburo Nakamura said Friday that he has instructed ministry bureaucrats to revise the immigration law to toughen penalties against foreigners who have entered Japan illegally.In a regular news conference, Nakamura said he wants the Immigration Control and Refugee-Recognition Law...

Longform

An illustration features the Japanese signs for "ganbare" (good luck) and the Deaflympics, which will be held between Nov. 15 and 26.
A century of Deaf sport finds its moment in Tokyo