Japan weighs cutting regulationsIn its first effort to...

Japan weighs cutting regulations

In its first effort to reduce the government's power over Japan's minutely regulated economy, a commission appointed by Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa yesterday called for the elimination or easing of 475 regulations governing the nation's legal and economic systems.

The proposals, which were in an interim report hastily prepared so that Mr. Hosokawa can present it to President Clinton this month at a meeting in Seattle, were ambitious but conspicuous in their lack of details.