CHRONOLOGY NOVEMBER 2 Agreement is reached for the Yomiuri Shimbun to take over the operating rights and assets of financially ailing Chûô Kôron Sha by February 1999. The highly respected book-and-magazine publisher will continue operating as Chûô Kôron Shinsha, a wholly owned Yomiuri subsidiary. 4 The Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan is placed in state control under the presidency of former Bank of Japan Executive Director Anzai Takashi. The nationalized bank will continue to supply credit to several large debtors who are facing serious business difficulties. 6 The cabinet decides to develop and launch four information-gathering satellites with reconnaissance capabilities by 2002. The satellites will collect information on natural disasters, smuggling activities, and illegal immigration. The decision was motivated in part by North Korea’s firing over Japanese airspace of a rocket, which Tokyo claims was a multistage ballistic missile. 7 Two parties backed by the lay Buddhist group Sôka Gakkai—Shintô Heiwa (New Peace Party) and Kômei—reunite as New Kômeitô after a four-year separation. The merger creates Japan's second largest opposition party with 65 seats in the National Diet. 12 In a summit in Moscow, Prime Minister Obuchi Keizô and Russian President Boris Yeltsin agree to set up two subcommittees under the joint peace treaty committee—one to pursue demarcation talks and the other to study joint economic activities in the Northern Territories, a group of disputed islands off Hokkaidô. The leaders sign a declaration the following day urging that a peace treaty be concluded by 2000, the first time a specific date has been officially set in a document. 16 The government announces its largest-ever economic stimulus package, totaling ¥24 trillion; it earmarks ¥8 trillion for infrastructure improvements and calls for ¥4 trillion in income tax cuts. The stated aim of the emergency package is to create job opportunities for 1 million workers, achieve a positive growth rate in fiscal 1999 (April 1999 to March 2000), and set the economy on a solid path to recovery in fiscal 2000. 19 Prime Minister Obuchi, in his capacity as president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, signs an agreement with Liberal Party leader Ozawa Ichirô to jointly formulate the fiscal 1999 budget and create a coalition government prior to the start of the 1999 Diet session in January. 20 While endorsing Tokyo’s ¥24 trillion stimulus package, U.S. President Bill Clinton urges Prime Minister Obuchi to make further efforts to revive the Japanese economy and open its markets wider in a summit meeting at the Akasaka State Guesthouse in Tokyo. The two leaders agree to initiate a three-way forum with South Korea for working-level talks on the security threat posed by North Korea. 24 Fifteen of the nation’s 18 leading banks announce their intention to apply for public funds to shore up their equity capital under the new bank recapitalization law. Their funding requests total about ¥5.8 trillion. 26 In a summit in Tokyo, visiting Chinese President Jiang Zemin stresses the need for dialogue on the two countries’ past, while Prime Minister Obuchi offers his “deep remorse and heartfelt apologies” for Japan’s wartime aggression. They issue a declaration calling for a “partnership of friendship and cooperation,” although they express differences on the declaration’s wording. 28 Eleven Japanese and South Korean ministers—including Prime Minister Obuchi and South Korea’s Prime Minister Kim Jong-pil—gather in Kagoshima to exchange views on a broad range of issues. The bilateral forum, based on an agreement reached during the October visit by South Korean President Kim Dae-jung, produces a new fishing treaty and an investment pact. DECEMBER 8 The Economic Planning Agency issues its December economic report, stating that the economy remains in a deep freeze, although it also notes optimistically that “signs of change” are appearing. 9 Former life insurance agent Hayashi Masumi is issued an additional arrest warrant on charges of murder and attempted murder for lacing a pot of curry with arsenic at a local summer festival in the city of Wakayama. Four people were killed and 63 others developed arsenic poisoning symptoms. 13 The government declares Nippon Credit Bank insolvent under the new financial revitalization law and orders the bad-loan-laden bank to be placed under temporary state control. The authorities guarantee that all deposits and debentures of the long-term credit bank will be paid in full. 25 The Management and Coordination Agency reports that Japan's jobless rate hit an all-time high of 4.4% in November, up from already high levels in the three preceding months. The cabinet approves the final draft of the fiscal 1999 budget. With ¥81.9 trillion in the general account, it is the largest initial budget ever, up 5.4% from the initial fiscal 1998 budget of ¥77.7 trillion. © 1999 Japan Echo Inc. |