Search - about-us

 
 
JAPAN
Jul 3, 1997

The Tokyo Elections: Small parties get their chance

The Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly election on July 6 is widely seen as the most important vote of the year, but it is not only a battlefield for the nation's largest parties.
JAPAN
Jul 2, 1997

High school grounds 175 students for partying

OSAKA -- A fifth of the entire student body at an Osaka prefectural high school has been grounded for drinking and smoking in parties following a recent athletic event, it was learned July 2.
JAPAN
Jul 2, 1997

U.N.'s Akashi urges nation to aid North Korea

U.N. Undersecretary General Yasushi Akashi urged Japan on July 2 to extend humanitarian emergency food aid to North Korea to ease its severe food shortage.
JAPAN
Jul 2, 1997

Major oil spill hits Tokyo Bay

A supertanker ran aground July 2 in Tokyo Bay, dumping as much as 15,000 kiloliters of crude oil in one of the worst environmental accidents in Japanese waters, the Maritime Safety Agency said.
JAPAN
Jul 1, 1997

Dutch juror throws support behind war claimants

During his teaching stint at a Dutch naval cadet school in the 1950s and '60s, Frits Kalshoven taught aspiring officers about how to fight a war as humanely as possible.
JAPAN
Jul 1, 1997

Dialogue seen as key to Russian row

Building confidence and stepping up cooperation with Russia through high-level dialogue are the keys to resolving the long-standing territorial row over Russian-held islands off Hokkaido, according to Shunji Yanai, newly appointed foreign vice minister.
JAPAN
Jun 27, 1997

Japan-Nordic summit ends with focus on environment, welfare

BERGEN, Norway -- The leaders of Japan and the Nordic countries ended their first-ever summit June 26 with a call to work together on the environment and share expertise on social welfare programs.
JAPAN
Jun 27, 1997

2,355 firms face shareholders under 'sokaiya' spectre

A record 2,355 listed and unlisted companies nationwide held their annual shareholders' meetings June 27 with 10,000 police officers mobilized to keep "sokaiya" corporate extortionists in check, the National Police Agency said.
JAPAN
Jun 27, 1997

Prosecutors widen probe into dubious DKB loans

The Tokyo District Public Prosecutor's Office questioned Tadashi Okuda, former chairman of Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank, and former consultant Kuniji Miyazaki on June 27 over the bank's alleged loans to a "sokaiya" corporate racketeer.
JAPAN
Jun 26, 1997

Russian boat shoots, wounds Japanese fishermen

A Russian patrol vessel fired on a Japanese fishing boat off Nosappu Cape in Nemuro, Hokkaido, late June 25, seriously wounding two crew members, the Maritime Safety Agency office in Nemuro said June 26.
JAPAN
Jun 26, 1997

The Asahara Trial: Hayashi admits to subway gas attack

Former Aum Shinrikyo fugitive Yasuo Hayashi admitted in court June 26 that he released nerve gas in a Tokyo subway car in March 1995, saying he could not refuse orders he believed were issued by cult founder Shoko Asahara.
JAPAN
Jun 26, 1997

JCP member wins wiretap damages against police

The Tokyo High Court upheld on June 26 a lower court ruling and ordered the national government and Kanagawa Prefecture to pay about 4 million yen in damages to a former Japanese Communist Party official for bugging his home phone in Machida, Tokyo, in 1986.
JAPAN
Jun 25, 1997

Tomobe pleads not guilty to fraud in Orange Kyosai affair

Upper House member Tatsuo Tomobe pleaded not guilty June 25 to charges of conspiring with his wife, son and political supporters to swindle depositors in a mutual aid society.
JAPAN
Jun 25, 1997

Strong earthquake strikes areas in western Japan

A strong earthquake jolted the Chugoku, Shikoku and Kyushu regions at around 6:50 p.m. June 25, registering a strong 5 on the Japanese scale of 7 in Shimane Prefecture.
JAPAN
Jun 24, 1997

Tokyo launches damage control on comments

Tokyo attempted June 24 to patch up the damage caused by Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto's remarks in New York on June 23 that sent stock prices on Wall Street into a free fall, saying his comments were taken out of context.
JAPAN
Jun 24, 1997

Hashimoto's environment statement disappoints

NEW YORK -- Many participants in the special session of the General Assembly here have expressed disappointment with Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto's statement on the environment.
JAPAN
Jun 24, 1997

Film fans bid farewell to Shintaro Katsu

Hundreds bid a final farewell June 24 to actor Shintaro Katsu, star of the "Blind Swordsman" film series, at Tsukiji Honganji Temple in Tokyo's Chuo Ward, where his funeral service was held. Katsu died of cancer June 21 at the age of 65.
JAPAN
Jun 24, 1997

Corporate Governance: Ethics charter just a start

There are ways to prevent corporate scandals, and the key to prevention is the attitude of corporate executives, according to an executive at Japan's largest economic organization.
JAPAN
Jun 24, 1997

Japan, China to discuss yen loans this fall

Tokyo will begin talks with Beijing as early as this autumn to determine the size of official Japanese yen loans to be extended to China in fiscal 1999 and 2000, government officials said June 24.
JAPAN
Jun 23, 1997

Hashimoto throws U.N. his environment pitch...

NEW YORK -- Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto on June 23 urged industrialized countries to take the initiative in combating climate change problems by creating green technologies and disseminating them to developing nations.
JAPAN
Jun 23, 1997

Wild goat herds face culling to save Ogasawaras

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government will begin thinning out wild goats on four uninhabited small islands in the Ogasawara chain, about 1,000 km south of Tokyo, to preserve vegetation, coral and bird life, officials said June 23.
JAPAN
Jun 23, 1997

Mobile network computer to take on Microsoft's Net PC

Eleven of the world's leading computer hardware and software makers have agreed on a common set of standards for building mobile network computers, lightweight mobile devices with easy access to the Internet or corporate networks, the firms announced June 23.
JAPAN
Jun 23, 1997

Corporate Governance: Firms' sense of ethics said lacking

Amid the scandals involving the nation's top companies, demands for better corporate governance have been mounting not only from the public but from business circles, according to a member of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.
JAPAN
Jun 23, 1997

Hatoyama to work on forming liberal alliance

Yukio Hatoyama, coleader of the Democratic Party of Japan, said June 23 that he will seek cooperation with former prime ministers Morihiro Hosokawa and Tsutomu Hata toward forming a liberal force to counter a possible conservative alliance between the Liberal Democratic Party and Shinshinto.
JAPAN
Jun 23, 1997

Automaker Nissan turns back on failed insurer's staff

Nissan Motor Co. threw cold water June 23 on bankrupt Nissan Mutual Life Insurance Co. by saying special treatment for Nissan Mutual employees applying to the automaker would not be provided.
JAPAN
Jun 20, 1997

Knife-wielding man assaults subway commuters

A man claiming to be a mobster under the influence of stimulants was arrested June 20 after pulling a knife and randomly assaulting commuters at a subway station in Tokyo's business district.
JAPAN
Jun 20, 1997

Government panel proposes new rules on dioxin

A government advisory panel said June 20 that high levels of dioxin, commonly detected close to waste incinerators, should be curbed under a revised administrative ordinance for enforcing the Air Pollution Law.
JAPAN
Jun 19, 1997

The Asahara Trial: Forensic officers get grilled

Defense lawyers for Aum Shinrikyo founder Shoko Asahara on June 19 cross-examined Kanagawa police forensic officers on their search for the bodies of the wife and baby of an anti-Aum Shinrikyo lawyer.
JAPAN
Jun 19, 1997

Hashimoto sets his sights on Denver, another term

Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto indicated his desire June 19 to be re-elected head of the Liberal Democratic Party and stay on for another two-year term beyond the Sept. 30 end of his current term.
JAPAN
Jun 19, 1997

Crimes targeting children rise 11.6%

As the nation continues to come to grips with the murder and mutilation of an 11-year-old boy in Kobe, the National Police Agency reported June 19 that the number of elementary school children who became victims of crimes in 1996 rose 11.6 percent from the previous year to 23,720.

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji