CHRONOLOGY

JANUARY – FEBRUARY 2000

JANUARY

6 National Police Agency chief Sekiguchi Yûkô reveals his intention to resign. A spate of police scandals came to light last year following reports of misconduct by Kanagawa Prefectural Police, prompting measures to prevent the recurrence of similar cases, including revision of the Police Law. Sekiguchi is stepping down at this time, he says, since the measures are well on their way to being implemented.

7 Tokyo Electric Power Co. President Minami Nobuya informs Fukushima Governor Satô Eisaku that the company will delay plans to begin using mixed oxide fuel at its nuclear power plant at Ôkuma, Fukushima Prefecture, originally scheduled for early February, until the reliability of the fuel’s quality-control data is confirmed.

14 Results of a joint survey by the Ministries of Education and Labor reveal that the percentages of job-seeking high school and college students graduating in March who have secured informal employment assurances have hit record lows. As of December 1, 1999, 74.5% of college students had secured jobs, down 5.8 points from the prior year and the first-ever fall below 80% at this time of year.

19 Shares in Yahoo Japan Corp., operator of a leading Internet search site, reach a price of ¥101.4 million (against a face value of ¥50,000), up ¥2 million from the day before, becoming the first stock to top the ¥100 million mark in Japanese stock market history.

20 The 147th Diet session is convened, and both houses decide on launching constitutional review panels. The Diet will be holding constitutional debate in earnest for the first time under the current Constitution.

23 A referendum is held in Tokushima City on the Ministry of Construction’s plan to build a movable dam on the Yoshino River. The turnout reaches 54.995%, topping the 50% required for the ballots to be valid. With supporters of the plan boycotting the referendum, over 90% of the votes are against the dam.

24 The Web site of the Science and Technology Agency is discovered to have been penetrated and rewritten by hackers. Attacks to other government Web sites follow in rapid succession; by January 28, 19 institutions are reported to have been targeted, of which five suffered actual damage.

TOP

FEBRUARY

1 The Management and Coordination Agency announces that Japan’s 1999 jobless rate was a record high 4.7%, up 0.6 point from the previous record of 4.1% marked in 1998. Japan's yearly rate topped the U.S. rate, which was 4.2% in 1999, for the first time ever.

6 Osaka holds a gubernatorial election following the resignation of Governor “Knock” Yokoyama (Yamada Isamu), and independent Ôta Fusae is elected in her first run for the post, becoming the first female governor in Japan.

13 The 15-year statute of limitations expires on the last two of the 28 crimes in the Glico-Morinaga case, which lasted for 17 months from March 1984, including the poisoning of sweets and the kidnapping of confectioner Ezaki Glico Co.'s president.

17 Moody’s Investors Service announces that, in the light of Japan’s growing fiscal indebtedness, it will review and possibly downgrade the Japanese government’s long-term bonds.

21 Archaeologists have unearthed 10 pits that appear to be bases for pillars of buildings and 30 stone tools from about 500,000 years ago at the Ogasaka site in Chichibu, the Saitama Prefectural Board of Education reports. The finds rank among the world's oldest dwelling remains.

22 The U.S. space shuttle Endeavour, carrying Japanese astronaut Môri Mamoru and others, lands at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

25 Financial Reconstruction Commission Chairman Ochi Michio, who made remarks that could be taken to imply favoritism in the conduct of government bank inspections, is effectively discharged. Former Science and Technology Agency chief Tanigaki Sadakazu succeeds him.

26 Investigations by the National Police Agency reveal that, despite having received news of the January 28 discovery of a girl reported missing over nine years ago, Niigata Prefectural Police chief Kobayashi Kôji spent the evening playing mah-jongg and drinking with the agency’s Kantô Regional Police Bureau chief Nakada Yoshiaki, who was visiting on a special inspection mission. The agency and the National Public Safety Commission decide to dismiss the two; they resign on February 29.

28 Major Japanese oil producer Arabian Oil Co.’s drilling rights in the Saudi Arabian half of the Khafji oil field expire after the failure of renewal negotiations with the Saudi government.

29 A leap-day computer glitch causes minor problems, including malfunctions in 1,200 of the 25,000 automatic teller machines for postal savings accounts and in the Meteorological Agency’s weather report system.

© 2000 Japan Echo Inc.