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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

The Aum Trials: Appeal rejected for sarin-truck maker

The Tokyo High Court on Tuesday rejected an appeal by a senior member of Aum Shinrikyo, upholding a lower court decision that sentenced him to eight years in prison for modifying a van so it could be used for spraying sarin and building a plant to produce the deadly nerve gas.Wakashio Togasi, 38, was...
JAPAN
Oct 20, 1998

Standards urged for 'barrier-free' goods

Staff writerImagine an Othello game designed so that its black and white pieces can be distinguished by touch, enabling visually impaired people to play.This is one proposed "barrier-free" product, an item that facilitates the lives of people with disabilities.Beer cans with tiny protrusions on their...
JAPAN
Oct 20, 1998

Ninth Nissan Sunny makes debut

Nissan Motor Co. on Tuesday unveiled the ninth-generation models of its popular Sunny series, constructed on a platform that is to be shared by a number of cars to substantially cut development costs.Nissan, which has been plagued by dwindling profits and weak consumer spending, plans to reduce the...
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

Smoke-billowing ship sparks toxin-leak scare

Smoke billowed from a chemical-carrying Panamanian containership berthed at a Tokyo pier Monday, raising fears of a possible leak of toxic gases and other substances, the Tokyo Fire Department said.The smoke from the 16,584-ton Uni Vital may have been caused by a chemical reaction between air and about...
JAPAN
Oct 19, 1998

Sickly students schooled in food, exercise in Izu

ITO, Shizuoka Pref. -- On a recent sunny Sunday morning, loud cheers filled a school playground, encouraging elementary students as they ran toward the finish line of a 1-km race."I made it!" a 10-year-old boy cried just after crossing the line. "My shoes almost came off when I was running, but I finished!"...
JAPAN
Oct 19, 1998

Small firms get tips on coping with credit crunch

Managers from about 250 small and medium-size companies based in Tokyo gathered Monday for advice on coping with the worsening credit crunch.The Tokyo Chamber of Commerce hosted the seminar as many smaller firms are finding it difficult to obtain loans from Japanese financial institutions. Participants...
JAPAN
Oct 19, 1998

Atami's fortune no longer springs eternal

Staff writerATAMI, Shizuoka Pref. -- This used to be one of the most popular spa resorts in Japan, with streets packed with yukata-dressed tourists and hotel rooms fully booked for company parties.But such memories have been fading in Atami. Hard-hit by earthquakes and the recession, the city's central...
JAPAN
Oct 19, 1998

It's definite: LTCB in capital deficit

The Financial Supervisory Agency has decided that the Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan was in capital deficit as of Sept. 30, the end of the first half of this fiscal year, FSA officials said Monday.The FSA audited LTCB's books by measuring its securities and real estate assets at market value instead...
JAPAN
Oct 19, 1998

Small firms slow to face Y2K bug

Not even a third of Japan's small and medium-size firms have begun to face the millennium bug problem out of a lack money or knowledge, the Small and Medium Enterprise Agency said Monday.The agency sent out surveys to about 10,000 small and medium-size companies in September, to which 2,026 companies...
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 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

Nose high-school students tested for dioxin

OSAKA -- A high school in the town of Nose, Osaka Prefecture, began conducting blood tests on its students Friday following the discovery in April of high levels of dioxin in the soil around a local garbage incinerator.The school, which has a training farm for students near the incinerator, is offering...
JAPAN
Oct 16, 1998

The Aum Trials: Niimi, Endo refuse to testify against guru

Two Aum Shinrikyo figures accused of being involved in the 1994 Matsumoto sarin gas attack took the witness stand for prosecutors at the trial of Aum founder Shoko Asahara Friday, but both refused to testify.Tomomitsu Niimi, 34, a key cult figure, said he cannot testify because he refused to comment...
JAPAN
Oct 16, 1998

Mahathir calls for international hedge fund controls

Staff writerMalaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, currently in Japan for a five-day visit, reiterated his criticism of hedge funds Friday and called on the international community to work out some form of measures to control their activities.In a joint interview with The Japan Times and other media...
JAPAN
Oct 16, 1998

Diversity urged for energy security ahead of APEC meet

Staff writerGINOWAN, Okinawa Pref. -- Australia must make the most of its rich natural resources and knowledge of efficient energy infrastructure to help Asia-Pacific economies meet the surging energy demands of the next century, said Warwick Parer, Australian minister for resources and energy."One...
JAPAN
Oct 16, 1998

U.S. raises concerns about new Bank law

The United States on Friday expressed concerns over whether Japan's bank recapitalization law will be effectively used to solve its banking trouble.U.S. Treasury officials raised the question at working-level talks with the Finance Ministry held in Tokyo, according to officials from both sides. The...
JAPAN
Oct 16, 1998

The Aum Trials: Inoue blames actions on loyalty

Former Aum Shinrikyo intelligence chief Yoshihiro Inoue testified in court Friday that his involvement in heinous crimes allegedly carried out by the cult derived from his loyalty toward its guru, Shoko Asahara.Inoue's defense team questioned him at his trial hearing at the Tokyo District Court to clarify...
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 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 15, 1998

Tight lending takes toll on record number of firms

A record number of small and medium-size firms are suffering from banks' tight grip on lending, according to a report released Thursday by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry.The financial institutions are reluctant to lend because they are struggling to sustain their capital-adequacy ratios...
JAPAN
Oct 15, 1998

SDF to conduct first combined drill

The air, maritime and ground units of the Self-Defense Forces will join in a tripartite exercise next month for the first time in SDF history, Defense Agency officials said Thursday.The exercise will take place Nov. 15 in and around Iojima, an uninhabited island some 1,500 km south of Tokyo, they said....
JAPAN
Oct 14, 1998

Jamaican leader joins economic chorus

Staff writerJamaican Prime Minister Percival Patterson urged Japan on Monday to make an early economic recovery because its weakness negatively impacts not only Jamaica but the international community as a whole."The problems which have occurred in the Japanese economy extend well beyond Japan itself....
JAPAN
Oct 14, 1998

Last payments set for victims of Aum

A total of 960 million yen will be paid to about 2,100 claimants for damages from Aum Shinrikyo -- many of them victims of crimes blamed on the cult -- early next week, lawyers for Aum's bankruptcy case said Wednesday at a claimants' meeting in Tokyo.Saburo Abe, a lawyer who has worked as an administrator...
JAPAN
Oct 14, 1998

Daiei reports first-half net loss of 983 million yen

Suffering from weak consumer spending and restructuring costs to close poorly performing shops, supermarket giant Daiei Inc. reported a net loss of 983 million yen Wednesday for the March-August period on a nonconsolidated basis.This is the first time the company has posted an after-tax loss in an interim...
JAPAN
Oct 13, 1998

Bank bill clears Lower House; enactment seen Friday

The new bank recapitalization bill designed to keep capital-short banks afloat cleared the Lower House Tuesday and was immediately sent to the Upper House, which is expected to enact the measure Friday.
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

Crime soars to postwar record

The number of reported Penal Code violations in 1997 hit another postwar record of 2.518 million, up some 52,600 from the year before, according to an annual government report on crime released Tuesday.The 1998 crime white paper, which includes an overview of last year's general criminal trends and...

Longform

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