Japanese Government

TOKYO -- African National Congress Vice President Nelson Mandela called the $1.8 million monetary contribution of the Japanese government toward the improvement of life in South Africa "absolutely insignificant" yesterday and asked for further support from the government and citizens."

The original cherry tree planting in Washington 100 years ago was directed by Baltimore-born Col. Spencer Cosby, who helped develop Potomac Park as superintendent of the Office of Public Buildings and Grounds. Cosby worked with the Japanese government on making sure their gift of 3,000 trees arrived and passed inspection. On March 27, 1912, the first two cherry trees were planted, one by first lady Helen Herron Taft and the other by Viscountess Chinda, wife of the Japanese ambassador, according to the National Park Service.

WASHINGTON -- After years of trans-Pacific trade frictions over telephone equipment, American Telephone & Telegraph Co. announced yesterday that it had tentatively agreed to sell a dozen of its most advanced central office telephone switches to Japan's main telephone company.The deal is the first instance of AT&T's selling telecommunications equipment to Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Co., which is the world's largest local telephone company and is two-thirds owned by the Japanese government.

TOKYO -- The pro-whalers in the Japanese government have a ready answer when asked to explain why the global ban on commercial whaling should be lifted. Whaling is part of our culture, they say. They point to archaeological evidence showing that whale meat has been a staple of Japan's food culture for more than 2,500 years. Respect for the so-called "brave fish" courses through Japanese literature and paintings, they say, and has inspired folk festivals and puppet shows. Whales are so revered that the souls of the hunted and killed are commemorated in the Buddhist temples of Japan's hunting ports.

TOKYO -- The pro-whalers in the Japanese government have a ready answer when asked to explain why the global ban on commercial whaling should be lifted. Whaling is part of our culture, they say. They point to archaeological evidence showing that whale meat has been a staple of Japan's food culture for more than 2,500 years. Respect for the so-called "brave fish" courses through Japanese literature and paintings, they say, and has inspired folk festivals and puppet shows. Whales are so revered that the souls of the hunted and killed are commemorated in the Buddhist temples of Japan's hunting ports.

WASHINGTON -- The Clinton administration deferred trade sanctions against Japan yesterday after Tokyo agreed to open its public sector construction market to international competition.U.S. Trade Representative Mickey Kantor announced yesterday morning that the administration would not proceed with the sanctions, planned for Monday, because the Japanese government had promised to eliminate the practice of restricting the bidding on construction contracts to a few companies. The sanctions would have barred Japanese companies from bidding on some U.S. government construction projects.

WASHINGTON -- Japan is not carrying out its commitment last fall to buy more foreign -- mainly U.S. -- telecommunications equipment, U.S. electronics industry executives complained yesterday."

The original cherry tree planting in Washington 100 years ago was directed by Baltimore-born Col. Spencer Cosby, who helped develop Potomac Park as superintendent of the Office of Public Buildings and Grounds. Cosby worked with the Japanese government on making sure their gift of 3,000 trees arrived and passed inspection. On March 27, 1912, the first two cherry trees were planted, one by first lady Helen Herron Taft and the other by Viscountess Chinda, wife of the Japanese ambassador, according to the National Park Service.

TOKYO -- Though the Japanese government announced Nov. 26 that it would exempt Korean residents in Japan from providing fingerprints as part of their alien registration, it has made no effort to implement the policy, drawing criticism from both Japanese and Koreans.The fingerprinting issue has posed a major problem in bilateral relations between the two countries. At issue is the treatment of Koreans brought to Japan under Japanese colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula until 1945 and the treatment of their offspring.

WASHINGTON -- The Clinton administration has expressed concern to the Japanese government over a $360 million loan to help Iran build an electric-generating plant, according to administration officials.The resumption of Japanese aid to Iran comes as the United States is increasing pressure on its allies to isolate Iran because of its funding and arming of terrorists and efforts to develop nuclear weapons.Japanese officials have told the administration that the Japanese government views the financial assistance as a means of moderating the behavior of the Iranians.

TOKYO - The nephew of alleged U.S. Army deserter Charles Robert Jenkins angrily accused the U.S. and Japanese governments yesterday of keeping his uncle in isolation in a Tokyo hospital while they try to orchestrate a plea bargain that would "wash their hands" of an awkward diplomatic problem. James Hyman, who is campaigning to exonerate his uncle on charges that he defected to North Korea nearly four decades ago, told reporters that the Japanese government had blocked his attempts to visit Jenkins in the past week.

TOKYO -- The idea was simple: Shower the Japanese with free shopping coupons and they would spend some life into the economy.Not cash, which could be stashed under a futon. Not a tax cut, which would only end up in savings banks.Local shopping coupons worth $6 billion would be good for virtually anything but securities or sex. Every man, woman and child over 65 or under 15 would be given 20 coupons in easy-to-fritter denominations of 1,000 yen -- about $8.This was the opening round of the Liberal Democratic Party's grand economic stimulus package announced last fall to rekindle the consumer demand that has gone cold as this country plods through its nearly decade-long recession.

Quietly and without fanfare, Asian markets are slowly being closed to U.S. products. This is no accident. Working closely with their government, Japanese multinational firms are being cloned in other Asian countries. This has resulted in the intricate web of governmental, industrial and distribution ties called "keiretsu,", which has made Japan so difficult to penetrate, being mirrored along the Pacific Rim.Unless this trend is recognized and countered, foreign firms including U.S. companies will be at a serious competitive disadvantage with Japanese "insiders" in Asia, a region that will continue to grow steadily despite recent setbacks.

WASHINGTON -- Japan is not carrying out its commitment last fall to buy more foreign -- mainly U.S. -- telecommunications equipment, U.S. electronics industry executives complained yesterday."

WASHINGTON -- Japanese government officials might target U.S. aircraft, computer and agricultural products for retaliatory sanctions if the White House imposes steep tariffs on imported Japanese luxury cars next week, trade officials in Washington and Tokyo said yesterday.A Japanese foreign trade ministry official in a telephone interview from Tokyo said the retaliation talk is meant to go beyond short-term pressure tactics by Japan."President Clinton doesn't think we'll retaliate, but we will if we're pushed and pushed, as is happening now," the official said on the condition his name wasn't used.

TOKYO -- The third Japanese government in less than a year fell this morning, resigning minutes before almost certainrejection in a parliamentary no-confidence vote.The abrupt end to the 2-month-old administration of Tsutomu Hata merely continued the chaos that has characterized Japanese politics since last summer.The collapse comes as a potential crisis lurks just a few hundred miles away in Korea that, were it to erupt, would require numerous political decisions by the Japanese government -- including changes in law to permit full assistance for U.S. military operations.

TOKYO - The nephew of alleged U.S. Army deserter Charles Robert Jenkins angrily accused the U.S. and Japanese governments yesterday of keeping his uncle in isolation in a Tokyo hospital while they try to orchestrate a plea bargain that would "wash their hands" of an awkward diplomatic problem. James Hyman, who is campaigning to exonerate his uncle on charges that he defected to North Korea nearly four decades ago, told reporters that the Japanese government had blocked his attempts to visit Jenkins in the past week.

TOKYO -- The third Japanese government in less than a year fell this morning, resigning minutes before almost certainrejection in a parliamentary no-confidence vote.The abrupt end to the 2-month-old administration of Tsutomu Hata merely continued the chaos that has characterized Japanese politics since last summer.The collapse comes as a potential crisis lurks just a few hundred miles away in Korea that, were it to erupt, would require numerous political decisions by the Japanese government -- including changes in law to permit full assistance for U.S. military operations.

WASHINGTON -- The Clinton administration deferred trade sanctions against Japan yesterday after Tokyo agreed to open its public sector construction market to international competition.U.S. Trade Representative Mickey Kantor announced yesterday morning that the administration would not proceed with the sanctions, planned for Monday, because the Japanese government had promised to eliminate the practice of restricting the bidding on construction contracts to a few companies. The sanctions would have barred Japanese companies from bidding on some U.S. government construction projects.

RTKL Associates Inc. of Baltimore said yesterday that it has been awarded part of the second-biggest Japanese government contract ever awarded to a non-Japanese architecture firm, as it joined a venture that will design a suburban Tokyo office complex that could be worth $500 million or more."