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JAPAN
Oct 29, 1998

LDP tax panel prepares to dig up more tax cuts

A tax panel of the Liberal Democratic Party is set to begin work to overhaul the nation's tax system in an attempt to help generate lasting economic growth.Attention is focused on how much more the LDP's Tax System Research Commission, chaired by former Finance Minister Yoshiro Hayashi, can add to planned...
JAPAN
Oct 27, 1998

Tsukiji to reveal fish market's inner sanctum

The Tsukiji Market in Tokyo's Chuo Ward will fully open to the public for the first time ever during a two-day event offering fish and produce at bargain prices.The event, to take place on Nov. 6 and 7 from 6 a.m. to 1 p.m., will provide the public with a rare chance to enter the inner market, which...
JAPAN
Oct 27, 1998

10 trillion yen emergency stimulus due Nov. 16

The government will draw up an emergency economic stimulus package worth more than 10 trillion yen by Nov. 16 as the major pillar of the third supplementary budget for fiscal 1998, the Cabinet agreed Tuesday.The third extra budget for the current business year will be submitted to an extraordinary Diet...
JAPAN
Oct 27, 1998

Ratio of job offers to seekers hits new low

The number of job offers to job seekers hit a postwar low in September, dropping to 0.49 from 0.50 in August, the Labor Ministry said Tuesday.With only 49 job offers for every 100 people looking for work, the seasonally adjusted ratio gauging labor demand continues a steady decline that began when the...
JAPAN
Oct 23, 1998

Ostracized burakumin leather tanners faced with new threat

The biggest victim of a leather products trade dispute between Japan and the European Union may turn out to be the hisabetsu buraku — the ostracized hamlets where many of Japan's social outcasts earn a living tanning leather.
JAPAN
Oct 21, 1998

Action agenda for Africa targets poverty, illiteracy

African countries and their development partners pledged Wednesday to attempt to halve the extreme poverty on the continent and achieve universal elementary school education by 2015.To this end, Japan pledged 90 billion yen, mostly grants for educational and health facilities."The ultimate objective...
JAPAN
Oct 21, 1998

Annan hears Obuchi action program pledge

Japan will assist Africa by implementing the action program adopted at the second Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD-II), Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi told U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan Wednesday, according to Foreign Ministry officials.Obuchi told Annan, a participant in...
JAPAN
Oct 20, 1998

Seoul set to lift ban on most Japanese films, comics, videos

SEOUL -- South Korea announced on Tuesday that it will remove a decades-old ban so that international prize-winning Japanese films and others jointly produced by the two countries can legally be shown in the country.In announcing the decision to lift the longtime ban on Japanese cultural items, Shin...
JAPAN
Oct 19, 1998

Japan commits to African development

Japan, despite its economic difficulties, will continue to support development in Africa, Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi pledged Monday.Addressing the opening session of the Second Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD-II), Obuchi also said Japan would take measures to push for so-called...
JAPAN
Oct 19, 1998

960 million yen ready for Aum claimants

About 1,200 people seeking compensation for crimes allegedly committed by Aum Shinrikyo, which has been declared bankrupt, will soon receive some 960 million yen, a group of lawyers handling the cult's bankruptcy administration said Monday.Head lawyer Saburo Abe said the distribution of the money, about...
JAPAN
Oct 15, 1998

Nonaka scolds Kishi's resistance to bank bill

Banks should expedite their restructuring efforts and get a better understanding of their responsibility in the nation's financial system, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiromu Nonaka said Thursday.Nonaka's remarks were directed at a comment made earlier in the day by Satoru Kishi, chairman of the Federation...
JAPAN
Oct 15, 1998

Immigration to ease rules on re-entry permits, Australians

Justice Minister Shozaburo Nakamura on Thursday announced a set of changes to immigration policies, including extending the period for re-entry permits and eliminating a visa requirement for short-term visitors from Australia.Nakamura told a news conference that the changes are part of the nation's...
JAPAN
Oct 15, 1998

Expert calls for overhaul of emergency medical system

Staff writerThe nation's emergency medical system should be greatly improved before organ transplants from brain-dead donors are promoted, said one veteran doctor who specializes in emergency care.Yuichi Hamabe, director of the Tokyo Metropolitan Bokuto Hospital's Life Support Emergency Center in Sumida...
JAPAN
Oct 14, 1998

Corporate failures in first half surge to postwar high

The number of corporate bankruptcies with debts of more than 10 million yen each totaled 10,034 during the first half of fiscal 1998 -- the April to September period -- major corporate research firm Teikoku Databank said Wednesday.It was the first time in 14 years the figure has exceeded 10,000 during...
JAPAN
Oct 13, 1998

Tax evasion, bribes earn Izui two years in prison

The Tokyo District Court sentenced oil dealer Junichi Izui to two years in prison Tuesday for tax evasion and bribery, and acquitted him on a fraud charge over a series of oil deals involving Mitsui Mining Co. and other firms.Presiding Judge Kohei Ikeda also levied 80 million yen in fines against the...
JAPAN
Oct 13, 1998

TV, photo ban nearly over for sworn Diet testimony

The Lower House voted unanimously Tuesday on a bill to lift the ban on photographing and televising people giving sworn testimony before the Diet.All political parties in the chamber supported the bill, which would revise the Diet Testimony Law, during a plenary session. The bill was immediately sent...
JAPAN
Oct 9, 1998

President Kim greets fellow Koreans in Kansai

After arriving in Osaka from Tokyo on Friday afternoon, South Korean President Kim Dae Jung and his wife, Lee Hee Ho, met Korean residents of the Kansai region at an Osaka hotel.In front of more than 700 participants, Kim thanked Korean residents for the help they offered when the country was hard hit...
JAPAN
Oct 8, 1998

Highlights of Kim-Obuchi declaration

The following are highlights of the joint declaration announced Thursday by Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi and South Korean President Kim Dae Jung:1) Obuchi and Kim expressed their shared determination to build a new partnership toward the 21st century.2) Obuchi expressed keen remorse and apologized for...
JAPAN
Oct 8, 1998

Leaders sign wide-ranging action plan

Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi and South Korean President Kim Dae Jung signed during their summit meeting Thursday a 43-point joint action plan aimed at enhancing ties toward the next century.The paper covered a wide range of topics for the two countries to pursue together and covered five major areas...
JAPAN
Oct 7, 1998

'Microcreditor' not for privileged

Staff writer Muhammad Yunus is not your typical banker. You won't catch him traipsing around in designer suits or marching briefcase in hand through the corporate halls looking for new clients.No, this simply dressed Bangladeshi banker marches to a different beat: he strives to lend money to the poor...
JAPAN
Oct 7, 1998

Housing deregulation said essential to boosting demand

Housing deregulation is critical for Japan to stimulate its stagnant domestic demand, Kent Calder, special adviser to the U.S. Ambassador to Japan, said Wednesday.Speaking at the Japan National Press Club in Tokyo, Calder pointed to the need to improve transparency, performance-based standards and the...
JAPAN
Oct 6, 1998

Japan extends China additional flood aid

Japan will extend 250 million yen in emergency aid to China, which was hit hard by massive flooding, so the country can purchase medicine and medical equipment to deal with epidemics, Foreign Ministry officials said Tuesday.Japan already extended about 250 million yen in emergency aid to China from...
JAPAN
Oct 6, 1998

EPA reverses forecast to 1.8% negative growth for '98

With amazing foresight, the Economic Planning Agency said Tuesday that the nation's economy will probably shrink by an inflation-adjusted 1.8 percent in fiscal 1998, reversing its initial projection of 1.9 percent growth for the current year.The contraction, which would be the largest one ever recorded...
JAPAN
Oct 5, 1998

Investment firm puts trust in disclosure

18th in an occasional series on financial deregulationStaff writerAlliance Capital Investment Trust Management Inc. of Tokyo is attempting to calm anxious customers by fully explaining how their funds have been hurt amid global financial instability, company President Takahiro Fujino said.The severe...
JAPAN
Oct 2, 1998

ODA reduction requires greater efficiency: white paper

Reform of Japan's official development assistance is needed to achieve efficient and effective ways of extending foreign aid, an ODA white paper released Friday says."Japan's ODA in the current fiscal year, which ends March 31, 1999, has been cut by 10.4 percent. ... Therefore, efficiency and effectiveness...
JAPAN
Oct 1, 1998

NGOs urged to play role in fighting human rights abuses

KOBE -- Nongovernmental organizations can play an important role in preventing human rights abuses of refugees by providing care and necessary materials and influencing the international community, an officer with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees said Thursday.Milton Moreno, an external...
JAPAN
Oct 1, 1998

Endocrine disrupters causing alarm

Staff writerA team of scientists in Tokyo announced last weekend that it has found eggs in the spermaries of three out of 20 male flounder caught in the sea near the Kanto region.The scientists said the abnormality may have been caused by suspected endocrine disrupters, chemicals believed to disrupt...
JAPAN
Oct 1, 1998

Kim visit may pave Emperor's way to Seoul

Japan hopes that South Korean President Kim Dae Jung's visit next week will pave the way for the Emperor to visit South Korea, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiromu Nonaka said Thursday.The government's chief spokesman made the remarks in reference to media reports that the president, during his four-day visit...
JAPAN
Sep 29, 1998

Social tyranny keeps Japan far from U.N. rights ideals: expert

Staff writer
JAPAN
Sep 25, 1998

Special asylum-seeker permits may signal policy shift

Staff writer

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Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.