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JAPAN
Apr 18, 1997

NGOs offer North Korea food aid

The alleged abductions of Japanese by North Korean agents has partly made Tokyo reluctant to extend food aid to the famine-threatened nation. However, this has not stopped some Japanese and Korean residents here from offering help, mainly through nongovernmental organizations.
JAPAN
Apr 18, 1997

JR firms doing just fine without government

Masatake Matsuda, president of East Japan Railway Co., recalls how his company, along with Central Japan Railway Co. (JR Tokai) and West Japan Railway Co., rejected the government's plan in December to have the three JR group firms shoulder a greater financial burden for building new bullet train lines....
JAPAN
Apr 18, 1997

WTO sought on Indonesia car row

Japan has initiated procedures to file a request with the World Trade Organization to set up a dispute settlement panel to examine Indonesia's national car policy, according to the Ministry of International Trade and Industry.
JAPAN
Apr 17, 1997

Havana willing to grant asylum to Peruvian rebels

Cuba is willing to grant asylum to Peruvian rebels holding 72 hostages at the Japanese ambassador's residence in Lima, Cuban Foreign Minister Roberto Robaina Gonzalez reaffirmed April 17 in Tokyo.
JAPAN
Apr 16, 1997

Aid views: 'Abductions a frame-up; food comes first'

Allegations that North Korean agents have abducted Japanese are a frame-up and Tokyo should pledge money to the United Nations to help the state's starving citizens, according to a former senior U.N. official who teaches at Saitama University.
JAPAN
Apr 16, 1997

Komei rep open to Shinshinto-LDP alliance

Tomio Fujii, a representative of Komei, a political party consisting of Upper House members and about 3,000 local assembly members, indicated on April 16 that the party would accept a possible alliance between Shinshinto and the Liberal Democratic Party if it is formed to carry out economic reforms and...
JAPAN
Apr 16, 1997

G-7 may use Internet to publicize green efforts

The top leaders from the Group of Seven major industrialized economies and Russia are considering using the Internet at their June summit in Denver to appeal for more efforts at all levels to preserve the environment, Japanese government sources said April 16.
JAPAN
Apr 16, 1997

Aid views: 'Aid just props up regime of oppression'

Japan should not send food aid to North Korea unless Japanese citizens allegedly abducted by the country's agents are freed and a perfect system to monitor the distribution of food to civilians is in place, according to one of Japan's most vocal critics of the communist country.
JAPAN
Apr 16, 1997

Interviews to set reform blueprint

An administrative reform panel decided April 16 to interview representatives from each government ministry and agency on the possibility of integrating some organizations and entrusting some ministerial tasks to independent agencies or private firms. The interviews will start next month.
JAPAN
Apr 16, 1997

Criminal charges sought against PNC, officials

The Science and Technology Agency has asked police to take criminal action against Power Reactor and Nuclear Fuel Development Corp. and some PNC officers over a series of accidents and ensuing coverup attempts at its atomic facilities, agency chief Riichiro Chikaoka said April 16.
JAPAN
Apr 15, 1997

Japan to finance Egypt bridge project with 12 billion yen

Japan will provide Egypt with about 12 billion yen in grant-in-aid to help the Middle East nation build a bridge across the Suez Canal as part of its efforts to develop the Sinai Peninsula, government officials said April 15.
JAPAN
Apr 14, 1997

Korean war laborers sue for apology, 60 million yen

NAGASAKI -- Two South Korean women on April 14 filed a lawsuit with the Shizuoka District Court demanding that an official apology and restitution totaling 60 million yen be made by the central government for forcing them to labor at a Shizuoka Prefecture yarn factory during World War II.
JAPAN
Apr 14, 1997

Serial child-killer Miyazaki gets death sentence

Print shop worker Tsutomu Miyazaki, 34, was sentenced to death April 14 for the abduction and murder of four girls in Tokyo and Saitama prefectures in 1988 and 1989 in a serial killing spree that shocked the nation.
JAPAN
Apr 14, 1997

Crime spree nets laborer 17 years

A 38-year-old construction worker was sentenced April 14 to 17 years in prison at hard labor for committing a number of crimes, including taking a 2-year-old girl hostage and wounding her after a 1995 Tokyo robbery.
JAPAN
Apr 11, 1997

SDP duo break ranks on base bill

Former Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama and Katsuhiko Yokomitsu, both Social Democratic Party members in the Lower House, did not oppose a government-proposed bill to empower the government to continue leasing, even forcibly, land for U.S. military facilities in Okinawa Prefecture, despite the party's...
JAPAN
Apr 11, 1997

Osaka opens more jobs to foreigners

OSAKA -- The Osaka Prefectural Government has drawn up a report to allow about 70 percent of jobs related to civil engineering, architecture and hygiene engineering in the prefectural government to be opened to long-term non-Japanese residents.
JAPAN
Apr 11, 1997

Saito denies buying Diet seat

Real estate company chief Mamoru Saito, who is allegedly involved in the Orange Kyosai Kumiai mutual aid society fraud, repeatedly denied Friday that he distributed money to politicians to buy a Diet position for Upper House member Tatsuo Tomobe.
JAPAN
Apr 11, 1997

Aoshima qualifies scope of disclosure

Tokyo Gov. Yukio Aoshima unveiled a new set of guidelines Friday to widen information disclosure on wining and dining expenses at meetings, but said he will exclude names of metropolitan assembly members from the disclosure for three months -- in an apparent bid to save them from being affected in the...
JAPAN
Apr 11, 1997

Man held for blackmailing molestation, stalking victim

OSAKA -- Police on Friday arrested a 33-year-old man from Ibaraki, Osaka Prefecture, on suspicion he that tried to blackmail a woman into going out with him after repeatedly molesting on crowded trains.
JAPAN
Apr 11, 1997

Okinawa activists protest base lease bill

Following the Diet's passage Friday of a controversial bill designed to allow the central government to legally renew Okinawan land leases for U.S. military forces, several Okinawan lawmakers and grassroots activists protested what they claim is a "violation of Okinawans' human rights."
JAPAN
Apr 11, 1997

Fatal stabbing in Ashiya investigated

KOBE -- Police on Friday began investigating the fatal stabbing the previous night of a company president in Ashiya, Hyogo Prefecture. According to police, Akitoshi Hashimoto, 48, was stabbed in the back outside his home at around 8:10 p.m.
JAPAN
Apr 11, 1997

Osaka delegation to visit sister cities

OSAKA -- Osaka Mayor Takafumi Isomura will lead a 15-member delegation to San Francisco next week for an eight-day trip to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Osaka-San Francisco sister city relationship.
JAPAN
Apr 10, 1997

Killing suspect mum on motive

OSAKA -- A man arrested April 9 in connection with the fatal stabbing the same day of an 8-year-old girl refuses to elaborate on a motive for the attack, investigators said April 10.
JAPAN
Apr 10, 1997

Spill from tanker wreck hits shores of Tsushima

NAGASAKI -- Crude oil apparently spilled from a sunken South Korean tanker was seen washing ashore April 10 on the northwestern and eastern shores of Tsushima Island, Nagasaki Prefecture.
JAPAN
Apr 10, 1997

Banned candidate to run from adjacent constituency

AOMORI -- A candidate banned from running in his constituency after being found guilty of a guilt-by-association clause in a revised Public Office Election Law will run in the neighboring district in the next prefectural assembly poll, it was learned April 10. Isamu Moriuchi, 59, is the first candidate...
JAPAN
Apr 10, 1997

Ota 'respects' heliport study

NAHA, Okinawa Pref. -- Okinawa Gov. Masahide Ota said April 10 that he would respect a decision by the municipal government of Nago to approve a feasibility study for a new offshore heliport for the U.S. Marines in northeastern Okinawa.
JAPAN
Apr 10, 1997

Top officials back yen; currency's fall halted

Mindful of U.S. warnings against the recent rise in Japan's surpluses, high-ranking financial officials April 10 launched a sudden tirade of comments that the recent fall of the yen is excessive and hinted at corrective action. Their remarks effectively halted the yen's plunge against the dollar, pushing...
JAPAN
Apr 10, 1997

LDP, allies agree on Okinawa aid plan

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its two smaller non-Cabinet allies agreed April 10 on a program designed to promote the economic development of Okinawa Prefecture and help it achieve financial independence. The program suggests that a large part of the island prefecture be turned into a free-trade...
JAPAN
Apr 9, 1997

Biker embroidery gets sewer in jam

OSAKA -- Police have sent to prosecutors papers regarding a 60-year-old embroidery artist who is suspected of helping several biker groups violate the Road Traffic Law.
JAPAN
Apr 9, 1997

Japan Times opens window on past

OSAKA -- An exhibition commemorating the 100th anniversary of The Japan Times started April 9 at the Big Man square near Hankyu Umeda Station here in Kita Ward.

Longform

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