Japan donates musical instruments to Kosovo orchestra

Japan donates musical instruments to Kosovo orchestra

VIENNA, Austria - Japanese Ambassador to Austria Makoto Taketoshi (L center), who doubles as envoy for Kosovo, hands a violin to Kosovo Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports Memli Krasniqi, during a ceremony in the Kosovo capital Pristina on March 19, 2014, to mark the donation of around 100 violins and other musical instruments to the Kosovo Philharmonic. The donation is part of the Japanese government's support for the restoration of the country's cultural heritage following ethnic clashes there in the late 1990s.

Ex-Labor Minister Murakami on parole from prison term

Ex-Labor Minister Murakami on parole from prison term

UTSUNOMIYA, Japan - This undated file photo shows former Labor Minister Masakuni Murakami, who was released on parole on Oct. 28, 2009, before the end of his 26-month prison term for taking bribes in the late 1990s from a mutual aid organization for small and midsize businesses.

N. Korea isolated abductee Hasuike from society in late 1990s

N. Korea isolated abductee Hasuike from society in late 1990s

KASHIWAZAKI, JHapan - Kaoru Hasuike, one of five abductees repatriated from North Korea, speaks with reporters in his hometown of Kashiwazaki, Niigata Prefecture, on May 25. Hasuike said he was kept isolated in the North during the late 1990s when the abduction of Japanese citizens was becoming an increasingly important issue in Japan.

(1)SkynetAsia launches Tokyo-Miyazaki flights

(1)SkynetAsia launches Tokyo-Miyazaki flights

MIYAZAKI, Japan - SkynetAsia Airways executives cut the tape in a ceremony at Miyazaki airport Aug. 1 to mark the airline's inaugural flight to Tokyo's Haneda airport. Miyazaki-based SkynetAsia is the first newcomer airline offering domestic flights to and from Tokyo's busy Haneda airport since Skymark Airlines and Hokkaido International Airlines launched Tokyo-Fukuoka and Tokyo-Sapporo services, respectively, in the late 1990s.

China faces difficult trade year: minister

China faces difficult trade year: minister

BEIJING, China - China's Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation Minister Shi Guangsheng speaks at a news conference at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on March 12. He said China faces an ''extremely difficult'' trade year with the external environment being worse than during the late-1990s Asian financial crisis,

(3)File photos of Princess Sayako's fianc Kuroda

(3)File photos of Princess Sayako's fianc Kuroda

TOKYO, Japan - Yoshiki Kuroda stands beside his car in Tokyo in a photo taken in the late 1990s. (Kyodo)

China faces difficult trade year: minister

China faces difficult trade year: minister

BEIJING, China - China's Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation Minister Shi Guangsheng speaks at a news conference at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on March 12. He said China faces an ''extremely difficult'' trade year with the external environment being worse than during the late-1990s Asian financial crisis,

N. Korea isolated abductee Hasuike from society in late 1990s

N. Korea isolated abductee Hasuike from society in late 1990s

KASHIWAZAKI, JHapan - Kaoru Hasuike, one of five abductees repatriated from North Korea, speaks with reporters in his hometown of Kashiwazaki, Niigata Prefecture, on May 25. Hasuike said he was kept isolated in the North during the late 1990s when the abduction of Japanese citizens was becoming an increasingly important issue in Japan. (Kyodo)

(1)Saddam Hussein

(1)Saddam Hussein

TOKYO, Japan - Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is shown drinking tea during a visit to an Iraqi family. The photo was probably taken in the late 1990s. (Kyodo)

Aging H-bomb victim lobbies to bring antinuke monument to Tsukiji

Aging H-bomb victim lobbies to bring antinuke monument to Tsukiji

People visit an antinuclear "Tuna Memorial" next to a Tokyo museum exhibiting the Japanese tuna fishing boat Fukuryu Maru No. 5, which was contaminated with radioactive fallout from a 1954 U.S. hydrogen bomb test in the Pacific, in April 2016. Former Fukuryu Maru crew member Matashichi Oishi, who led a fundraising campaign in the late 1990s to erect the monument, hopes to transfer it to the Tsukiji fish market site. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

Former "comfort women" come to life in gripping documentary

Former "comfort women" come to life in gripping documentary

Japanese freelance journalist Toshikuni Doi speaks in an interview with Kyodo News on June 10, 2015. In his documentary titled "Living with Memories," Doi interviewed six women in the mid to late 1990s living in a common shelter in Seoul designated for former Korean "comfort women," the term used in Japan to describe those who worked in wartime Japanese military brothels. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

Ex-Labor Minister Murakami on parole from prison term

Ex-Labor Minister Murakami on parole from prison term

UTSUNOMIYA, Japan - This undated file photo shows former Labor Minister Masakuni Murakami, who was released on parole on Oct. 28, 2009, before the end of his 26-month prison term for taking bribes in the late 1990s from a mutual aid organization for small and midsize businesses. (Kyodo)

(1)SkynetAsia launches Tokyo-Miyazaki flights

(1)SkynetAsia launches Tokyo-Miyazaki flights

MIYAZAKI, Japan - SkynetAsia Airways executives cut the tape in a ceremony at Miyazaki airport Aug. 1 to mark the airline's inaugural flight to Tokyo's Haneda airport. Miyazaki-based SkynetAsia is the first newcomer airline offering domestic flights to and from Tokyo's busy Haneda airport since Skymark Airlines and Hokkaido International Airlines launched Tokyo-Fukuoka and Tokyo-Sapporo services, respectively, in the late 1990s. (Kyodo)

Ex-bank execs found guilty of capital falsification

Ex-bank execs found guilty of capital falsification

TOKYO, Japan - Shoichi Osada (L, file photo), former chairman of the failed Tokyo Sowa Bank, and former President Mizuho Kojima (R, file photo), were among five former bank executives found guilty on Feb. 18 of falsely making it appear that the bank had adequate capital reserves in the late 1990s. (Kyodo)