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| 1992, Jan. 21 |
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| The speaker of the lower house of the Diet, Sakurauchi Yoshio, claimed that U.S. workers were “too lazy” to compete with Japan and that half of them were illiterate. | 1 |
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| Feb. 4 |
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| Prime Minister Miyazawa said that the U.S. “might lack a work ethic,” implying that the economic problems in the U.S. were fundamental to the country and its people, not the result of unfair Japanese trade or business practices. | 2 |
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| March–April |
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| There were continuing signs of a slump in the Japanese economy. | 3 |
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| June 16 |
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| The Diet passed a bill allowing Japanese “peacekeeping forces” overseas under UN control, the first time since World War II that Japanese troops might go abroad. | 4 |
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| Oct. 15 |
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| Kanemaru Shin, a leader of the LDP, resigned from the Diet under an immense cloud of corruption, subsequently substantiated. He was later brought to trial. | 5 |
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