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JAPAN
Feb 9, 1999

Osaka releases 4.1 trillion yen budget proposal

The Osaka Municipal Government released a 1999 fiscal year budget proposal of 4.1 trillion yen Tuesday that calls for additional welfare assistance programs and 935 million yen for promoting its bid to host the 2008 Summer Olympic Games.
JAPAN
Feb 9, 1999

Hatoyama enters governor's race; LDP eyes Akashi

Kunio Hatoyama, deputy leader of the Democratic Party of Japan, ended days of speculation Tuesday by announcing his candidacy for April's Tokyo gubernatorial election.
JAPAN
Feb 9, 1999

BOJ governor opposes outright bond purchases

Bank of Japan Gov. Masaru Hayami on Tuesday came out against a proposal that the central bank expand its buying of government bonds from the market, saying such a measure would be tantamount to underwriting newly issued bonds.
JAPAN
Feb 8, 1999

Daiwa, Kinki, Osaka form strategic banking alliance

Daiwa Bank has joined midsize regionals Bank of Osaka and Bank of Kinki to form a broad alliance that may lead to a joint holding company in the future, officials from the banks said Monday.
JAPAN
Feb 8, 1999

LDP drops plan to back Hatoyama for governor

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party on Monday officially gave up its plan to join with other parties in supporting Kunio Hatoyama, vice president of the Democratic Party of Japan, even if he decides to run in the April 11 Tokyo gubernatorial election.
JAPAN
Feb 8, 1999

Cabby from China learning way around Japan

Ghost, half-human and spy — Shigeru Oyama has been called all these things growing up half-Japanese in postwar Beijing.
JAPAN
Feb 8, 1999

BOJ urged to buy bonds

Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiromu Nonaka urged the central bank Monday to step up efforts within the week to stop the rise in interest rates through such means as buying government bonds from the market.
EDITORIALS
Feb 5, 1999

Auto mergers in the fast lane

The wheeling and dealing in the auto industry has gone into high gear. Last year's megamerger of Daimler-Benz and Chrysler began the process of consolidation, but it was always just a matter of time. The world cannot support 40 automakers. Manufacturers already have the facilities to make 20 million...
JAPAN
Feb 5, 1999

Will government bonds help? It's a trick question

Debate on how Japan can pull itself out of its worst postwar economic slump has entered a new stage.
JAPAN
Feb 4, 1999

FTC alleges pipe industry collusion

The Fair Trade Commission filed a complaint with the prosecutor general Thursday against Kubota Corp. and two other water- and gas-pipe makers for allegedly arranging a cartel to fix their market shares, officials said.
JAPAN
Feb 4, 1999

Kyushu bears brunt of heaviest snow in nine years

The heaviest snow in nine years fell in the northern Kyushu area Thursday, disrupting traffic services and causing road accidents, police reported.
JAPAN
Feb 4, 1999

JOC panel to probe Nagano over Games bid

Japanese Olympic officials said Wednesday they have launched an inquiry into possible misconduct by International Olympic Committee members during Nagano's bid to host the 1998 Winter Games.
JAPAN
Feb 4, 1999

OECD drafts corporate governance guides

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development has completed a draft of international guidelines for good corporate governance that emphasizes, among other things, promotion and protection of shareholders' rights.
JAPAN
Feb 4, 1999

Fight cartels to curb 'meth' use: U.N.

Japan should crack down on international crime syndicates if it wants to curb the recent wave of methamphetamine consumption spreading through the country, a top United Nations drug control official said Thursday in Tokyo.
EDITORIALS
Feb 3, 1999

NATO's call to arms in Kosovo

The six nations that make up the Contact Group on Kosovo have demanded that the parties to the conflict attend a peace conference in Rambouillet, France this weekend. They have backed up that summons with the threat of NATO military intervention in the troubled province if the combatants fail to stop...
LIFE / Digital / CYBERIA
Feb 3, 1999

Easy money?

Have you got Net fever yet? It's hard to resist.
JAPAN
Feb 3, 1999

Komura considers Cuba visit by May

Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura is considering visiting Havana as early as May as part of diplomatic efforts to improve the hitherto estranged relations between Japan and Cuba, government sources said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Feb 3, 1999

Coalition looks past budget, peers at defense

The LDP-Liberal Party coalition on Wednesday proposed a special Diet committee to discuss bills covering the updated Japan-U.S. defense cooperation guidelines.
JAPAN
Feb 3, 1999

Sumitomo, Goodyear link to retread tire industry

Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. of the United States, the world's third-biggest tire maker, has agreed with Sumitomo Rubber Industries Ltd. to participate in a capital and business alliance that will be the largest in the industry, Sumitomo announced Wednesday.
JAPAN
Feb 3, 1999

LDP may field joint candidate in Tokyo election

The Liberal Democratic Party should cooperate with other parties to field a joint candidate for the Tokyo gubernatorial election in April, rather than nominate one from its own ranks, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiromu Nonaka said Wednesday.
EDITORIALS
Feb 2, 1999

Giving power to the politicians

The government's top priority at the moment is to resuscitate the Japanese economy by stabilizing the shaky banking sector and pushing domestic business recovery through expanded governmental and consumer spending. At the same time, as the nation is poised to enter the 21st century, the urgent need to...
JAPAN
Feb 2, 1999

Fukushima urges Japan, U.S. to talk over trade differences

Now that Washington has decided to revive the controversial "Super 301" procedure, Japan should start market-opening discussions with the U.S. to prevent trade conflicts, according to Glen S. Fukushima, a former deputy assistant U.S. trade representative for Japan and China.
JAPAN
Feb 2, 1999

JR Tokai coughs up 20.5 billion yen for JNR burden

Central Japan Railway Co. (JR Tokai) officially announced Tuesday that it will accept the additional financial burden imposed by the government in a scheme to repay about 28 trillion yen in debts left behind by the former Japanese National Railways.
JAPAN
Feb 2, 1999

Crisis may end in two weeks: Sakakibara

Japan's financial crisis will be over in a week or two if prospects for the planned bank recapitalization become solid, Eisuke Sakakibara, vice finance minister for international affairs, said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Feb 2, 1999

Credit-rating agencies, critics defend their views

Tokyo-based media recently met with rare opportunities to hear countering views on how credit-rating agencies operate and how they should operate, when officials from Moody's Investors Service defended their business and the head of a Japanese research institute detailed how it "rated" such agencies....
EDITORIALS
Jan 29, 1999

Washington's pre-emptive trade strike

As a first impression, the rumblings from Washington are worrying. In his State of the Union speech last week, President Bill Clinton indicated his readiness to mount an aggressive defense of the U.S. steel industry and singled out Japan as a prime offender among countries "dumping" steel in U.S. markets....
JAPAN
Jan 29, 1999

Kobe facility gives quake orphans place to reach out

A black rainbow drawn by a 10-year-old boy who lost his father and sister in the Great Hanshin Earthquake four years ago has become a symbol of the psychological damage suffered by child survivors of the temblor.
JAPAN
Jan 29, 1999

BOJ to pare luxuries

The Bank of Japan announced Friday it will sell all but one of the houses it maintains for its branch managers and all of its resort and golf club memberships as part of restructuring efforts.
JAPAN
Jan 29, 1999

Nagano bribe suspicions spoiling Osaka's Games plan

As the International Olympic Committee extends its investigation into allegations of bribery and corruption during Nagano's bid for the 1998 Winter Games, Osaka officials wonder what the effect will be on their bid for the 2008 Summer Games.
EDITORIALS
Jan 28, 1999

A new political map in the Middle East

Even by the standards of Middle Eastern politics, it has been a tumultuous week. Former Israeli Defense Minister Yitzhak Mordechai has been engaged in a ferocious war of words after being sacked by his boss, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. On the other side of the River Jordan, King Hussein announced...

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Once smoky, male-dominated spaces, today's net cafes, like Kaikatsu Club, are working to make their operations more attractive to women customers.
The second life of Japan's net cafes