CHRONOLOGY

MARCH – APRIL 2001

MARCH

2 A survey by the Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts, and Telecommunications shows that the jobless rate in January stayed at a record high of 4.9% for the second straight month. The Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare, meanwhile, announces that the ratio of job offers to job seekers fell for the first time in 20 months, to 0.65.

5 NTT DoCoMo announces that the number of subscribers to its i-mode service, which provides Internet connectivity to cellular phones, had topped 20 million as of the day before.

10 The Metropolitan Police Department arrests former Foreign Ministry logistics chief Matsuo Katsutoshi on charges of swindling a total of about ¥42 million in secret diplomatic funds in connection with three overseas trips by the prime minister.

16 At a monthly meeting of economic ministers, State Minister for Economic and Fiscal Policy Asô Tarô notes that “the Japanese economy is in a state of mild deflation” in the first official acknowledgment of deflation by the government since the end of World War II.

17 A government mission to North Korea reports that Pyongyang places the number of North Korean survivors of the 1945 atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki at 1,353, of whom 928 are alive, and that the survivors have demanded compensation by the Japanese government.

19 The Bank of Japan adopts a policy of quantitative monetary relaxation, effectively reviving its zero-interest-rate policy. It announces it will continue with the approach until Japan is free of the current state of deflation.

22 The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport releases a report on listed land prices as of January 1, showing that the nationwide average fell for the tenth year running, both for residential and commercial land. The price falls were similar to year-ago figures: 4.2% for residential land and 7.5% for commercial land.

25 Former upper house member Dômoto Akiko wins the Chiba gubernatorial race, defeating four other first-time candidates. Running without the backing of a major political party, she rides the wave of alienation from party-supported candidates, which also swept independent candidates into the governor's office in Nagano and Tochigi. Chiba is the third prefecture after Osaka and Kumamoto to have a female governor.

30 The cabinet agrees on a three-year deregulation plan to be launched in fiscal 2001 covering 554 items in 17 areas, including information technology, the environment, and education. Reform of NHK and the NTT group was toned down from earlier proposals.

The Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts, and Telecommunications Ministry announces that the fiscal 2000 average for the consumer price index in Tokyo’s 23 wards dipped 0.8 points to 100.8, compared to the 1995 base of 100. It is the greatest fall since comparable statistics began to be compiled in 1971 and the first consecutive decline.

TOP

APRIL

3 The Education Ministry announces the screening results for elementary and middle school textbooks to be used from spring 2002. The ministry authorizes a middle school history textbook that has been criticized since the application stage by China and South Korea as distorting history.

6 At a meeting of cabinet ministers, Prime Minister Mori Yoshirô officially voices his intention to resign, saying, “I have decided to step down, as I believe we need to tackle the various domestic and international tasks under a new government.”

The government adopts an emergency economic package centered on measures to hasten banks’ write-offs of bad loans and the creation of a government-backed corporation to purchase bank-held shares.

10 South Korean Ambassador to Japan Choi Sang-yong temporarily returns to Seoul for consultations on measures regarding Japan’s textbook issue. South Korean foreign ministry sources call it a “de facto recall.”

In response to a surge in imports mainly from China, the cabinet approves the temporary invokement of import curbs on leeks, shiitake mushrooms, and tatami straw. Restrictions will apply for 200 days from April 23, and the tariffs are raised to a maximum of 266%.

20 The government grants a short-term-stay visa to former Taiwanese President Lee Teng-hui following Lee’s agreement to limit his activities during his stay in Japan to receiving medical treatment and not engage in political activity. China’s foreign ministry strongly protests the Japanese government decision.

26 Following the Mori cabinet’s resignation, both houses of the Diet hold elections, and new Liberal Democratic Party President Koizumi Jun’ichirô is named prime minister. Koizumi steers clear of factional politics in forming his cabinet, with a record-high five female ministers, including Tanaka Makiko as foreign minister, and a large number of younger Diet members and nonpoliticians.

© 2001 Japan Echo Inc.