Search - about-us

 
 
JAPAN
Jun 12, 1998

Ticketless Cup fans still have high hopes

As hundreds of tourists left for France with hopes of attending Japan's World Cup opener, travel agencies on Friday continued to face difficulty securing tickets.
JAPAN
Jun 12, 1998

Economy shrank 0.7% in fiscal 1997

The economy shrank by an annualized 5.3 percent during the last three months of fiscal 1997 compared with the previous quarter, leading to the nation's first annual economic contraction in 23 years, according to figures released Friday.
JAPAN
Jun 11, 1998

Peace Boat to take antinuclear messages to India, Pakistan

Staff writer
JAPAN
Jun 11, 1998

Insurance market has U.S. anxious

The United States expressed concern over the progress of Japan's deregulation of its insurance market, during a high-level bilateral meeting Thursday in Tokyo.
JAPAN
Jun 11, 1998

World Cup fans leave for France as ticket woes continue

As confusion continued Thursday over a massive shortage of World Cup tickets for Japan matches, 319 soccer fans left Narita airport for Paris aboard a special Japan Airlines flight.
JAPAN
Jun 11, 1998

BOJ official admits taking bribes, denies leaking bank info

A fired senior Bank of Japan official pleaded guilty Thursday to accepting 4.3 million yen in bribes from two banks but denied leaking vital BOJ information in exchange for the lavish favors.
JAPAN
Jun 10, 1998

EU may file WTO complaint over Japan's leather quota

Staff writer
JAPAN
Jun 10, 1998

Bilateral insurance talks heat up

Disagreements flared Wednesday as Japanese and U.S. officials entered their second day of talks to discuss the progress of bilateral insurance agreements.
JAPAN
Jun 10, 1998

Sumitomo Life banks future on asset-managing affiliate

Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. will increase its capital stake in its affiliated asset management company, turning it into a subsidiary and making it the largest asset management firm in Japan, company sources said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Jun 10, 1998

U.S. agriculture group hosting trade fair

OSAKA -- A two-day trade fair designed to introduce and promote U.S. agricultural products in the Kansai region opened Wednesday at Osaka MyDome, beside the Osaka Chamber of Commerce building.
JAPAN
Jun 9, 1998

Tokyo upset with canceled visit of North Korea wives

Tokyo expressed displeasure Tuesday with Pyongyang's announcement that Japanese women living with their North Korean husbands in the reclusive state "canceled" applications to visit their homeland.
JAPAN
Jun 9, 1998

Spaces for subcompacts to be required in January

More cities will require drivers of subcompact cars, or "kei-jidosha," to register parking spaces starting in January, according to a parking ordinance revision approved at Tuesday's Cabinet meeting.
JAPAN
Jun 9, 1998

Flight crew unions back ANA pilots in ongoing wage feud

The Japan Federation of Flight Crew Unions issued a statement Tuesday supporting the crew union of All Nippon Airways in its ongoing dispute with management.
JAPAN
Jun 9, 1998

Japan makes first demands in bilateral insurance talks

Japan and the United States each made their points known Tuesday, the first day of bilateral follow-up talks in Tokyo over their insurance markets.
JAPAN
Jun 9, 1998

Ford not raising stake in Mazda yet, Miller says

The president of Mazda Motor Corp. on Tuesday denied media reports that Ford Motor Co. plans to increase its equity stake in the Japanese automaker.
JAPAN
Jun 9, 1998

Hashimoto's administrative reform bill clears Diet

A government-proposed bill that will serve as the framework for Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto's plans for a slimmer administration -- one of his six major reform goals -- cleared the Diet late Tuesday afternoon.
JAPAN
Jun 9, 1998

Endocrine disrupters catch attention of academia

Experts from a number of fields related to endocrine disrupters set up an academic society Tuesday in Tokyo to help the nation combat the chemical substances whose effects on humans remain unknown.
JAPAN
Jun 8, 1998

Tokyo temple offers Zen with an American touch

Staff writer
JAPAN
Jun 8, 1998

Tokai professor optimistic economy will pick up soon

Despite the dire predictions of some pundits, Japan's economy will defy the naysayers and recover from its sluggishness within the year, Tokai University Professor Hajime Karatsu predicted Monday.
JAPAN
Jun 8, 1998

Works kickbacks seen from small contractors

The Construction Ministry is looking into reports that small and medium-size contractors are charging commissions by "subcontracting" public works projects they can't handle to major construction firms, it was learned Monday.
JAPAN
Jun 8, 1998

MITI recommends easing of oil industry rules

The government should scrap measures designed to balance supply and demand of petroleum products in nonemergency situations, the Petroleum Council, an advisory body to the minister for international trade and industry, said Monday.
JAPAN
Jun 8, 1998

Father of missing Japanese urges tough Lebanese approach

Megumi Yokota's father believes Japan should follow the example of the Lebanese government, which in 1979 repatriated its citizens who had been abducted to North Korea, after tough, behind-the-scenes negotiations with the communist government.
JAPAN
Jun 8, 1998

Keidanren chairman responds to criticism

The Japan Federation of Economic Organizations (Keidanren) is not currently soliciting political donations from its member companies, the new head of Keidanren said Monday.
JAPAN
Jun 8, 1998

Dollar tops 140 yen in Tokyo trading

For the first time since June 1991, the yen Monday dropped to a seven-year low against the dollar in Tokyo on indications that the strong U.S. economy would continue and the anemic Japanese one would get worse before getting better.
JAPAN
Jun 5, 1998

Twins get death, life for S&M club killings

The Tokyo District Court sentenced a man to death and his twin brother to life imprisonment Friday for robbing and killing the owner and the manager of a sado-masochist club in Tokyo's Shinagawa Ward in 1995.
JAPAN
Jun 5, 1998

Mechanical failure cited as cause of '95 chopper crash

The fatal June 1995 crash off Sagami Bay of an antimine helicopter belonging to the Maritime Self-Defense Force was caused by a mechanical malfunction in the rotor controls, MSDF officials said Friday in its final report on the case.
JAPAN
Jun 5, 1998

Izui donation was legitimate, lawmaker says

In a closed Diet session viewed as an LDP gesture to draw the curtain on a money scandal before the July Upper House elections, the party's policy head said Friday that he received 225 million yen from an oil dealer as legitimate political donations.
JAPAN
Jun 5, 1998

APEC to survey impact of trade liberalization

Staff writer
JAPAN
Jun 5, 1998

Insurance market talks get under way

Japan and the United States will hold working- and high-level talks next week in Tokyo to follow up on a 1996 bilateral agreement that aims to promote deregulation of the Japanese insurance market and protect U.S. insurers operating here.
JAPAN
Jun 5, 1998

Report says Japanese lifestyle unsustainable

Efforts to create an environmentally sustainable society in Japan have only just begun, according to the white paper on the environment for 1998.

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