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JAPAN
Feb 6, 1997

Confessed cop shooter fingers Inoue

The former police sergeant who confessed last spring to gunning down National Police Agency head Takaji Kunimatsu in Tokyo in March 1995 has claimed he carried out the ambush after taking a white pill given to him by Yoshihiro Inoue, a senior Aum Shinrikyo figure, police sources said Feb. 6.
JAPAN
Feb 5, 1997

Hosokawa denies taking money from Tomobe

NARITA, Chiba Pref. -- Former Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa on Feb. 5 flatly denied an allegation that he received money from Tatsuo Tomobe, a House of Councilors member who is under arrest on suspicion of fraud, to ensure Tomobe was elected in the July 1995 Upper House election.
JAPAN
Feb 5, 1997

TSE wooing foreign firms in effort to halt exodus

During the asset-inflated bubble economy of the late 1980s, when the Tokyo stock market was enjoying rocketing prices, brisk transactions and a high reputation, securities authorities did not have to worry about how to invite foreign companies to list. But times have changed.
JAPAN
Feb 5, 1997

Compensation for sex slaves pushed

Japanese lawmakers and citizens supporting efforts to win redress for former sex slaves vowed Feb. 5 to work closely with their South Korean counterparts to push for passage of a compensation law for the aging victims.
JAPAN
Jan 31, 1997

Asahara again abusive in court

Aum Shinrikyo founder Shoko Asahara disrupted his trial again Jan. 31, blurting out comments about the presiding judge, his defense attorneys and even people in the gallery.His reckless behavior had brought him to the brink of eviction Jan. 30 for a third time from the Tokyo District Court, and the...
JAPAN
Jan 31, 1997

Confessions, cooperation helped Aum evade antisubversive law

The Public Security Commission's decision Jan. 31 not to invoke the Antisubversive Activities Law against Aum Shinrikyo reflects tremendous changes the cult has gone through in the past few years, including the arrests of its key figures and fugitives and its declaration of bankruptcy.When the Public...
JAPAN
Jan 31, 1997

JR, rescuers hold underground drills

OSAKA -- About 250 railway workers, police officers and firefighters took part in a fire drill Jan. 31 at the JR Tozai Line's underground Mitejima Station, which will open March 8 to link Amagasaki, Hyogo Prefecture, and Osaka's Kyobashi district.Because a 10.2 km length of the 12.5 km train line will...
JAPAN
Jan 30, 1997

Euro debut will not upset currency markets, EU official says

The 1999 introduction of a single currency in the European Union will not have a destabilizing effect on international currency markets, according to a senior EU official on monetary issues.Herve Carre, director for monetary matters at the European Commission's Directorate General for Economic and Financial...
JAPAN
Jan 30, 1997

Flights may go all night at Haneda

The Transport Ministry is looking at turning Tokyo's Haneda airport into a 24-hour-a-day operation, ministry officials said Jan. 30.International charter flights would be allowed once the hours of operation are extended, they said. Currently, the airport operates between 6 a.m. and 11 p.m.According...
JAPAN
Jan 29, 1997

Murderer's appeal quashed by top court

A man who has spent 27 years in jail after being convicted of poisoning his wife, mistress and three others in Mie Prefecture had his fifth appeal for a retrial rejected by the Supreme Court on Jan. 29.The court rejected the special appeal filed by Masaru Okunishi, 71, ruling that the defense had not...
JAPAN
Jan 29, 1997

'97 budget debate heats up

With the Diet expected to approve the fiscal 1996 supplementary budget Jan. 31, the focus of legislative debate will shift to the fiscal 1997 budget, the No. 1 item on the agenda for the current session.The minority government of Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto and his Liberal Democratic Party hope...
JAPAN
Jan 29, 1997

Kato expresses regret over Tomobe's arrest

Liberal Democratic Party Secretary General Koichi Kato said Jan. 29 the arrest of Tatsuo Tomobe -- coming in the year the Upper House celebrates its 50th anniversary -- was especially regrettable. "All lawmakers should make efforts to win back the public's trust in the Diet and its members," Kato told...
JAPAN
Jan 28, 1997

High court awards illegal worker lost pay

In a landmark decision, the Supreme Court on Jan. 28 awarded a foreigner 2.2 million yen in income it estimated he lost due to an injury sustained while working illegally in Japan. It was the first ruling by the top court concerning a claim for income lost by an illegally employed foreigner.Based on...
JAPAN
Jan 28, 1997

Energy-environment turf war flares

Japan, the only industrialized nation without an environmental assessment law, is finally moving toward creating one, but an ongoing tug of war between the Environment Agency and the Ministry of International Trade and Industry is casting a shadow over such prospects.The dispute centers on whether power...
JAPAN
Jan 27, 1997

Kajiyama elaborates on sex-slave comments

Chief Cabinet Secretary Seiroku Kajiyama apologized Jan. 27 to the South Korean people for his remarks concerning the "comfort women" that overshadowed the weekend Japan-Korea summit. Comfort women is the term Japan euphemistically used to refer to its wartime sex slaves.But he then repeated his earlier...
JAPAN
Jan 27, 1997

Hashimoto wants big extra budget

Despite calls by opposition parties to curb extra state spending, Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto on Jan. 27 emphasized the need to implement a proposed 2.666 trillion yen supplementary budget for fiscal 1996.Hashimoto made the remarks in the Diet after Hajime Ishii of Shinshinto, the largest opposition...
JAPAN
Jan 27, 1997

Public works budget up for review

The government's top spokesman on Jan. 27 hinted at the possibility of reviewing a plan to spend 630 trillion yen on public works projects between fiscal 1995 and 2004."As the government is now working to reconstruct the nation's fiscal situation, the government may need to delay (the implementation...
JAPAN
Jan 24, 1997

Kim-Hashimoto talks to focus on the future

South Korean President Kim Young Sam is to arrive in Japan Jan. 25 for talks with Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto, and officials are hoping the discussions will focus on the future rather than the bitter disputes over World War II-related issues.Foreign Ministry officials expect they will focus on...
JAPAN
Jan 24, 1997

LDP member hits sex-slave entries in texts

An Upper House member of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party raised doubts Jan. 24 about the government's decision to authorize junior high school textbooks that include descriptions of military "comfort women."During an interpellation to Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto, lawmaker Kiyoko Ono said teaching...
JAPAN
Jan 24, 1997

Tax Commission solicits public opinion on reform

In an unusual move, the government's Tax Commission on Jan. 24 submitted a report asking the public for its opinion on the best taxation system for the nation.Rather than simply providing its own analysis, the commission wants to get people to voice opinions on its report through mail, fax and e-mail,...
JAPAN
Jan 23, 1997

Foreign scholarships up for grabs

United World Colleges, an international nongovernmental organization of colleges, is now accepting applications for this year's scholarships.The organization was established to raise young people's awareness of other cultures by inviting students from throughout the world to study in a two-year preuniversity...
JAPAN
Jan 23, 1997

JRA jockeys cough up 220 million yen

A number of popular Japan Racing Association jockeys, including Norihiro Yokoyama, 28, have revised their income tax returns and paid a total of 220 million yen in back taxes for the three years up to 1995, tax authority sources said Jan. 23.The back taxes are a result of taxation authorities' new policy...
JAPAN
Jan 23, 1997

Weather continues to plague oil cleanup

A 20-meter section of a temporary road built to haul heavy oil extracted from the bow of the Russian tanker Nakhodka off Mikuni, Fukui Prefecture, was found Jan. 23 to have washed away.The destruction came one day after about 15 meters of the temporary road crumbled during heavy storms. The road had...
JAPAN
Jan 23, 1997

Former mayor ordered to return 60 million yen

OSAKA -- The Osaka District Court on Jan. 23 ordered a former mayor and four other senior city officials to return to the public coffers about 60 million yen of the 28 billion yen illicitly used to cover overtime payments.According to the ruling, the Osaka Municipal Government indiscriminately allocated...
JAPAN
Jan 22, 1997

Records drop as winter storm whips nation

The nation shivered Jan. 22 and transportation was hindered as the season's coldest weather and relatively heavy snowfalls hit.The temperature dropped to minus 18.5 in Asahikawa, Hokkaido, minus 9.8 in Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture, minus 5.2 in Nagoya, minus 3.6 in Osaka, and minus 1.5 in Tokyo.On Hachijo-Jima,...
JAPAN
Jan 22, 1997

Shipping lines fight sanctions over cargo dispute

The United States should immediately withdraw its proposal for sanctions against three Japanese shipping lines because the firms are not responsible for cargo handlers at Japan's ports, the head of the Japanese Shipowners' Association said Jan. 22."Japanese shipping lines have no responsibility in the...
JAPAN
Jan 22, 1997

Museum to get rare swallowtail butterfly specimens

OSAKA -- The widow of Kaoru Sumiyoshi on Jan. 24 will present 6,086 butterfly specimens left by her husband, who was known for his research on swallowtails, to the Osaka Municipal Natural History Museum.Sumiyoshi was a former professor at Hyogo Education University and passed away in September 1995...
JAPAN
Jan 21, 1997

Yen too low, finance minister says

The recent fall of the yen "has gone too far," Finance Minister Hiroshi Mitsuzuka said Jan. 21, adding that appropriate action would be taken against any extreme movements in the foreign exchange market. Mitsuzuka made the comment at a regular news conference, after the yen fell into the 118 range against...
JAPAN
Jan 21, 1997

Population's peak expected in 2007

Japanese society is aging faster than projected five years ago and will reach a significant turning point this year with people age 65 and older outnumbering those under 14, the Health and Welfare Ministry said Jan. 21.The nation's population will peak at 127.78 million in 2007 and by 2050, there will...
JAPAN
Jan 21, 1997

ANA is ordered to check security

A senior Transport Ministry official ordered All Nippon Airways on Jan. 21 to investigate how a man managed to carry a kitchen knife aboard an ANA flight from Osaka late Jan. 20 and hijack the aircraft, Transport Minister Makoto Koga said. Yukio Kusuki, deputy chief of the ministry's Civil Aviation...

Longform

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