Mainichi Daily News articles from May 2001

Mainichi Daily News archives from May 2001

Jobless rate hits 4.8%.
May 31, 2001... Japan's jobless rate rose to a seasonally-adjusted 4.8 percent last month, an increase of 0.1 of a point from the month earlier, the government said Tuesday. This is the first time in three months that the nation's unemployment rate has...

Gov't admits forcing abortions on lepers.
May 31, 2001... Government officials Tuesday admitted publicly for the first time that lepers quarantined in sanatoriums were "basically forced" to have abortions. Hideo Shinozaki, head of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare's Health Bureau, made...

TEPCO quits MOX project.
May 31, 2001... The president of Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) and the Kariwa mayor, shocked at the objection Kariwa voters showed against the use of plutonium-uranium mixed oxide fuel (MOX) in Sunday's plebiscite, agreed Tuesday to put off the project....

PM to visit US in June.
May 31, 2001... Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will visit the United States in late June to hold his first summit talks with U.S. President George W. Bush, the top government spokesman said Tuesday. Koizumi will leave Tokyo on June 29 for Washington...

Fraud Tomobe must quit Diet.
May 31, 2001... A swindling legislator is set to lose his job after the top court dismissed an appeal Tuesday against a 10-year prison sentence for defrauding investors out of hundreds of millions of yen. The Supreme Court upheld lower court rulings that...

Millennium deportees top 50,000.
May 31, 2001... Japan deported about 51,400 foreigners last year for illegal entry or overstaying visas, Justice Minister Mayumi Moriyama said Tuesday. The figure represents a decrease of 3,700 from the year earlier. The period when the government denies...

Makiko Cabinet's cash queen.
May 31, 2001... Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka boasts the deepest pockets and Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi ranks only 13th in assets among Cabinet ministers, a list released Tuesday night shows. Tanaka, who was born with a silver spoon in her mouth...

Mizushima digs deep to pay off Sogo debts.
May 31, 2001... Former Sogo Co. Chairman Hiroo Mizushima will use his private assets to help reconstruct the collapsed department store, lawyers for the disgraced executive said Tuesday. Saburo Abe, one of the lawyers, said that he talked with Mizushima...

Bikers busted over crime spree.
May 30, 2001... NEYAGAWA, Osaka -- Twelve of a group of 17 mostly teen bikers have been arrested for a violent orgy of crime in April that left in its wake five casualties and a mountain of damage, police said. Upon his arrest for attempted murder, a...

PM's popularity at a record.
May 30, 2001... Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's Cabinet is enjoying a record 87 percent support rate thanks to a recent decision not to appeal a court ruling against the government for isolating Hansen's disease patients. The record popularity rating...

US scientist says public has right to know about tobacco.
May 30, 2001... "You have a right to the public to reveal faulty products," Dr. Jeffrey Wigand, the man whose anti-tobacco campaign was featured in the U.S. film "Insider," told the Mainichi Daily News (MDN). Wigand, a former research and development...

More charges for ministry bilker.
May 30, 2001... Disgraced former Foreign Ministry official Katsutoshi Matsuo will face further charges for pocketing 200 million yen from expenses involved in late Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi's overseas trips, officials said Monday. National Police...

S. Korean lawmakers to sue over history textbook.
May 30, 2001... SEOUL -- A group of four South Korean parliament members have decided to sue a Japanese publisher of a controversial history textbook that "glorifies" Japan's wartime aggression, it was reported here Monday. The intra-party group,...

Pervert judge faces impeachment.
May 30, 2001... The Supreme Court on Monday requested a special Diet committee to send a disgraced justice, detained for hiring a 14-year-old prostitute, to the Judges Impeachment Court. Since the Judges Indictment Committee has no apparent reason to refuse...

The Return Of Common Sense.
May 30, 2001... Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has been in office for only a month, so the direction of many of his reforms remains unclear. But some of the political changes that he promised during the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) presidential election...

PM pleads for nuke future.
May 30, 2001... Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi asked Japanese to understand the country needs nuclear energy Monday, the day after residents of a Niigata village dealt a savage blow to the government's energy policies. During a Sunday plebiscite,...

Bikers busted for crime orgy.
May 30, 2001... NEYAGAWA, Osaka -- Fourteen of a group of 17 mostly teen bikers have been arrested for a violent orgy of crime in April that left in its wake five casualties and a mountain of damage, police said. Upon his arrest for attempted murder, a...

Spy network accused of violating human rights.
May 30, 2001... EXCLUSIVE BRUSSELS -- A spy satellite network maintained by English speaking countries violates human rights and companies and individuals should take steps to protect themselves, a European Union (EU) committee has found. Echelon, a...

Worries spark teen arsonist.
May 30, 2001... NIIGATA -- A 14-year-old boy caught early Monday trying to torch the home of an acquaintance said he did so because he was worried about the way he looked, police said. The teen, whose name cannot be disclosed under the Juvenile Law, was...

Embezzler snares cool half billion.
May 30, 2001... A man who could have siphoned off 540 million yen from the Tokyo printing company where he once worked has been arrested for embezzlement, police said. Ikuo Nakayama is suspected of having secreted away company funds on over 100...

DHC boss sues weekly over sex with workers story.
May 30, 2001... Yoshiaki Yoshida, president of cosmetics giant DHC Corp., Monday sued publisher Bungei Shunju Ltd. seeking 1 billion yen in compensation for a defamatory story that appeared in the Shukan Bunshun weekly. In a suit filed at the Tokyo...

Internet rapists get 10 years.
May 30, 2001... YOKOHAMA -- A perverted duo who raped a number of women after joining a sex attack scheme publicized on the Internet were sent behind bars for more than 10 years each Monday by a Yokohama court. Serial gang rapists, Kazuhide Hirose and...

Robbers nabbed after multiple heists in Kawasaki.
May 30, 2001... KAWASAKI -- Two men grabbed some 600,000 yen in 15 minutes by robbing four locations in quick succession Monday, but were nailed 10 minutes after the last heist while they were stopped at a traffic signal, police said. The...

Hayami's waffling.
May 29, 2001... The reports that Bank of Japan Gov. Masaru Hayami wants to step down first circulated at the end of April. But this week, Hayami announced that he intends to remain in the post. When asked whether he would serve out his term, which expires...

Japan's overseas assets up 57%.
May 29, 2001... The outstanding balance of Japan's net overseas assets at the end of 2000 was 133.04 trillion yen, a 57 percent increase from 12 months earlier, the Finance Ministry said Friday. Corresponding figures from major industrial nations are yet...

O'zack Frankenfood pulled from shelves.
May 29, 2001... Outlets across Japan removed O'zack potato chips from their shelves Friday following the disclosure that they had been made using genetically modified potatoes. House Foods Corp. ran advertisements in newspapers nationwide apologizing...

Koizumi says sorry to isolated Hansen's disease patients.
May 29, 2001... Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi offered an apology on Friday to Hansen's disease patients for the government's failure to scrap a controversial law that incarcerated them into sanatoriums for decades. Koizumi made the apology to further...

Woman dies in 2.85 million yen rice shop robbery.
May 29, 2001... KONOSU, Saitama -- A 68-year-old woman died and her husband was injured after four men who robbed the pair's store of 2.85 million yen Friday bound them with adhesive tape, police said. The woman, Fumi Higuchi, was rushed to hospital...

Ehime teacher nabbed for taking photos up girls' skirts.
May 29, 2001... UWA, Ehime -- A teacher at a school for disabled students was arrested on Friday for secretly taking photos up girls' skirts, police said. The educator, Osamu Yakushiji, 57, was arrested for violating a prefectural ordinance that bans...

Court team: Ax hooker-hiring judge.
May 29, 2001... A disgraced Tokyo High Court judge detained for hiring a 14-year-old prostitute should be banished from the judicial world for good, an in-house high court probe team recommended Friday. Judge Yasuhiro Muraki, 43, submitted a letter...

The Ford-Firestone war.
May 29, 2001... Bridgestone/Firestone Inc., the wholly owned U.S. and Latin American unit of Japanese tire maker Bridgestone Corp., announced it was terminating its business relationship with Ford Motor Co. The two companies have been locked in a...

Tokyo-Mitsubishi bank's bad data spooks experts.
May 29, 2001... The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi Ltd.'s revelation that its outstanding bad loans ballooned 1.61 trillion yen from last fiscal year has set off alarm bells throughout the banking industry. Because bad loans the bank, the flagship firm of...

Shamed ex-Sogo chief arrested.
May 29, 2001... Disgraced former Sogo Co. Chairman Hiroo Mizushima has been arrested, police said. Mizushima, 89, was arrested in his hospital room late Friday night for obstruction of official duties. His arrest comes about 10 months after the...

Man throws neighbor to death.
May 29, 2001... KYOTO -- A man has been arrested after throwing his neighbor from a second-floor balcony, causing his death because he spoke too loudly, police said Saturday. Kiyoshi Nomura, 53, unemployed of Kyoto, is currently being held for attempted...

Disabled Sendai woman strangled.
May 29, 2001... SENDAI -- A disabled woman has been found strangled in her apartment, police said Saturday. Eiko Hattori's body was discovered lying in the living room of her apartment Friday. Though the door to her apartment was not locked, nothing...

Sewerage worker fatally stabbed.
May 29, 2001... MAEBASHI -- A man has been stabbed to death in his apartment here, police said Saturday. Toshihiko Hara was found dead in his home late Friday night with multiple stab wounds. Investigators do not yet have any leads into the killing,...

Man dies, 8 others hurt in huge pile-up.
May 29, 2001... SHIZUOKA -- A drunken trucker who spilled his load caused a crash among 10 vehicles that killed one man and resulted in another eight casualties early Saturday, police said. Yoshikazu Maekawa, the trucker, was arrested for breaking the...

E-mail lovers in suicide pact.
May 29, 2001... NAGOYA -- A young man died and the teen-age lover he met through exchanging e-mail remains critically injured Saturday after they jumped from a building because their parents refused to permit their marriage, police said. The 21-year-old...

Foreign bandits raid Chiba sex shop.
May 29, 2001... ICHIKAWA, Chiba -- Three foreign men robbed a sex shop here Saturday morning, binding, gagging and blindfolding workers and employees before making their escape, police said. Two of the seven people bailed up by the bandits sustained...

Gov't urges economic reform over growth.
May 29, 2001... Structural reforms to Japan's economy should be carried out even if negative economic growth results, a government report recommends. A report to be compiled by the government's Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy (CEFP) next month,...

Isuzu to whittle down work force by one-quarter.
May 29, 2001... Isuzu Motors Ltd. has decided to slash 9,000 jobs -- nearly one-quarter of staff -- under a three-year business reconstruction plan. The move, to be officially announced on Monday, is part of Isuzu's plans to help the firm recover from...

Sewage firm boss found stabbed dead at home.
May 29, 2001... MAEBASHI -- A sewage cleaning company president suffered a vicious assault before he was stabbed to death in his apartment here, police said Saturday. The corpse of Toshihiko Hara was found tied up in his home late Friday night, and was...

Osaka drug dealers nailed over rival's murder.
May 29, 2001... Three Osaka drug pushers were busted Saturday for fatally bashing a fellow dealer last year in the city's Nishinari district, police said. Hisashi Hosaka, 48, of Nishinari, is accused of beating Takaji Morii to death in his apartment on...

Beefed-up business results.
May 29, 2001... Most companies have now issued their results for fiscal 2001. With the start of new accounting standards calculating assets at market value and including detailed schedules for pension expenses, Japanese companies' results can now be more...

Woman cut up in parking-lot stabbing.
May 29, 2001... MISHIMA, Shizuoka -- A woman was seriously injured after a man slashed her in a parking lot here Saturday evening, local police said Sunday. The knife-wielding man cut the woman, Sumie Sato, 42, a Mishima resident, in the neck and other...

Packed train sparks fatal bashing of commuter.
May 29, 2001... A student has turned himself into police for bashing a railway commuter to death after the two got into a fight over space on a crowded train. The commuter died hours after the Saturday afternoon attack, and news reports of the brawl...

Serial-rapist charges hang over ex-teacher.
May 29, 2001... KUMAGAYA, Saitama -- A former school teacher was facing accusations of being a serial rapist after prosecutors indicated Sunday they would slap charges on him over the rape of four women. The latest allegations to hit Toshifumi Horiguchi,...

Koizumi does the right thing.
May 28, 2001... Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi decided on Wednesday not to appeal a court ruling that ordered the government to compensate Hansen's disease patients it had segregated. The prime minister opted to place priority on providing timely relief to...

Boy knifes schoolmate.
May 28, 2001... NISHISONOGI, Nagasaki -- A 14-year-old boy who knifed a 13-year-old girl from the junior high school he attends here has been arrested, police said Thursday. The boy, whose identity cannot be disclosed under the Juvenile Law, was...

Lost adventurer's corpse found.
May 28, 2001... MATSUYAMA -- The body of missing adventurer Hyoichi Kono has been found in the Arctic, support staff here said Thursday. Kono's remains were found Thursday morning Japanese time near a sled and equipment ditched some 90 kilometers north...

Molesting medico busted.
May 28, 2001... A doctor at a hospital affiliated with a prestigious women's university has been arrested for molesting a schoolgirl on a packed commuter train, police said Thursday. Shinichi Nishihara, the doctor, was arrested for indecent assault...

Woman unconscious after lightning strikes hairpin.
May 28, 2001... SETAKA, Fukuoka -- A woman remains unconscious in hospital Thursday hours after lightning struck her hairpin, police said. Ikuko Shimokawa was found Wednesday night lying on a road between ride paddies with massive burns along the right...

Abusive father gets 10 years.
May 28, 2001... NUMAZU, Shizuoka -- An "unforgivable" man who bashed one of his twin girls to death because she refused to clean up after eating dinner was Thursday sentenced to 10 years in jail. Naoki Aizawa was convicted by the Numazu Branch of the...

Frustrated pen pusher films up woman's skirt.
May 28, 2001... SOKA, Saitama -- A publicly funded cow inspector who filmed up women's skirts to relieve stress caused by kowtowing to central government representatives was arrested, police said Thursday. Toru Nakamura was arrested for breaking a...

Smash into sign pole kills 2.
May 28, 2001... SAKU, Nagano -- Two people were killed here early Thursday when their car veered to the side of a road and smashed into a sign pole, police said. Police identified the victims as Seiji Nomura, a 21-year-old company employee, of Komoro,...

Gas-spreading robber makes off with booty.
May 28, 2001... CHIBA -- A man robbed a 7-Eleven convenience store here of 90,000 yen Thursday after sprinkling what appeared to be gasoline on the floor of the shop, police said. Police said the man entered the store, in Chiba's Midori-ku, at about...

Single mother sues Osaka assemblyman for sexual harassment.
May 28, 2001... A woman sued an elderly Osaka Prefectural Assembly member Thursday, accusing him of sexual harassment and discrimination against her because she is a single mother. In a suit filed at the Osaka District Court, Reiko Tokito is demanding...

Yakuza gunned down in Ibaraki.
May 28, 2001... HASAKI, Ibaraki -- A gang boss died after being shot several times while in his car on a secluded road here Thursday, police said. Hiroshi Shirato, 54, had been fired upon through the door of his car on numerous occasions, leaving him...

American busted for growing dope in Okinawa.
May 28, 2001... GINOWAN, Okinawa -- An American who grew a marijuana plant on the balcony of his apartment has been arrested here, police said Thursday. Thomas Michael Weidner, 38, a marketing manager for Pacific Stars and Stripes, the U.S. military's...

Koizumi scuttles demand to dump factions.
May 28, 2001... Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Thursday called off his demand that Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) candidates in the upcoming House of Councillors race quit their factions. The backdown came after two factional bigwigs of the LDP,...

Strange bedfellows.
May 25, 2001... The ruling Liberal Democratic Party's (LDP) political program has been undergoing a makeover since Junichiro Koizumi was elected prime minister -- and Komeito is finding itself increasingly at odds with the new Cabinet's policies. ...

PM to meet Hansen's disease patients tonight.
May 25, 2001... Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is to hold a meeting this evening with Hansen's disease patients who won a suit in which they claimed the government violated their personal rights by isolating them, a government spokesman said. However,...

Tokyo police to crack down on corporate racketeers.
May 25, 2001... The Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) established a task force Wednesday to crack down on corporate racketeers as 950 companies are scheduled to hold their shareholder meetings simultaneously in late June in Tokyo, officials said. The...

Police raid disgraced Sogo ex-chairman's home.
May 25, 2001... After weeks of speculation, law enforcers on Wednesday raided the home of the former chairman of Sogo Co. who is suspected of hiding his assets when the department operators collapsed last July. Hiroo Mizushima withdrew some 55 million...

Gangsters nabbed sitting watch on rival's home.
May 25, 2001... Police were on Wednesday grilling Tokyo gangsters arrested outside the home of a rival over their alleged involvement in shooting incidents that erupted in the last few days. The Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) suspects that Mitsuji...

Koizumi finally confronts leprosy sufferers.
May 25, 2001... Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has finally talked with Hansen's disease patients demanding that the government dump its resistance to a ruling accusing it of violating their rights. The meeting was held at around 4 p.m. Wednesday, hours...

Cops net 3 more over loan-system scam.
May 25, 2001... Three people were arrested Wednesday for illegally altering a Tokyo printing company's accounts to help the firm land a 50 million yen loan from a government-supported lender. The three, company employee Yoshihisa Ishiguro, 53, a relative...

Speed-using MSDF officer admits guilt.
May 25, 2001... SHIMONOSEKI, Yamaguchi -- A former female Maritime Self-Defense Force (MSDF) officer charged with possessing stimulants pleaded guilty to taking the speed as her trial opened Wednesday. "There is no doubt about what I did," former...

Transmitter loophole prompts stalker warning.
May 25, 2001... OTSU -- Stalking victims are being warned to watch out for signaling devices planted on their personal belongings after a recent stalking case in Shiga Prefecture revealed it is perfectly legal to do so in Japan. A loophole in the law...

Wakayama bureaucrat faces heat over booze-fueled crash.
May 25, 2001... WAKAYAMA -- A municipal government official faces charges of causing a car crash after he had been drinking, local police said Wednesday. Wakayama Prefectural Police are poised to send an investigation report to prosecutors on the...

Gov't dumps bid to appeal leprosy ruling.
May 25, 2001... BREAKING NEWS The government finally decided Wednesday to give in to Hansen's disease patients who demanded that it drop its resistance to a ruling accusing it of violating their rights. "The government has decided not to appeal the...

Pensioner poisons dog over poop.
May 25, 2001... Too much doggy poop in a field pushed an aged Osaka man over the edge, prompting him to kill a canine with poisoned instant noodles last month, police said Wednesday. Jobless Yoshikazu Yaegaki was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of...

Blackout knocks out Disneyland.
May 25, 2001... Major entertainment facilities including Tokyo Disneyland were plunged into chaos due to a momentary power outage, officials have said. Switch-system troubles at the Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s (TEPCO) substation in Tokyo's Koto-ku blacked...

Top shipping firm busts barrier on day-care centers.
May 25, 2001... A major shipping business will open a day-care nursery at its Tokyo headquarters, breaking into a new frontier for major Japanese firms. Announcing the plan on Wednesday, Nippon Yusen K.K. officials said that employees had put the idea...

Gov't set to appeal Hansen's disease verdict.
May 23, 2001... The state must appeal against a district court decision ordering it to pay Hansen's disease patients 1.8 billion yen in compensation, Welfare Minister Chikara Sakaguchi will tell Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi next week. Officials say...

Snow Brand to close 3 more plants, cut 1,000 jobs.
May 23, 2001... Financially troubled Snow Brand Milk Products Co. will shut down three more plants to counter the 58.9 billion yen deficit it suffered last fiscal year, officials said Friday. The company, still suffering from a consumer backlash after...

Tanaka won't visit Yasukuni Shrine as foreign minister.
May 23, 2001... Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka, in sharp contrast to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, said Friday that she would not make an official visit to Yasukuni Shrine as the head of the nation's foreign service. "I don't plan to make a visit to...

Disgraced Sogo chairman says he did nothing wrong.
May 23, 2001... Hiroo Mizushima, former chairman of the failed Sogo Co., has been under investigation on suspicion of hiding his assets, apparently to avoid them being seized by creditors. Police are said to be ready to pounce on him as early as next...

Family sue over girl's death.
May 23, 2001... SAITAMA -- Relatives of a girl who died after being given an excessive dose of cancer-treating drugs Friday sued the Saitama Medical College for 230 million yen in compensation. Fumiaki Furudate, his wife, Mieko, and their surviving...

Top gang boss faces arrest for fraud.
May 23, 2001... The Metropolitan Police Department has obtained an arrest warrant for the leader of the Sumiyoshi-kai, one of Japan's top designated crime syndicates, investigative officials said Friday. Syndicate head Hareaki Fukuda, 57, is accused of...

Chinese sought in Hachioji bashing.
May 23, 2001... A Chinese man with a criminal history is being sought in connection with the shocking attack on a man in the western Tokyo suburb of Hachioji earlier this month, police said Friday. Fingerprints belonging to the Chinese man were detected...

Picking new politicians.
May 23, 2001... As the Liberal Democratic Party adjusts its strategy for this summer's House of Councillors election, it may consider endorsing more candidates with star power and backing multiple candidates in local election districts. But we would also...

6 die in horror blaze.
May 23, 2001... SHIZUOKA -- Six members of the same family were killed and another seriously injured by a fire that gutted their family home here early Friday morning, police said. Screams of terror and cries for help could be heard piercing through the...

Robber makes off with millions.
May 23, 2001... KYOTO -- A robber bearing Molotov cocktails made off with 3 million yen in cash after striking a credit union here Friday, police said. The robber smashed three bottles filled with a flammable liquid across the Fushimi-ku offices of the...