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AT the recent Kyoto conference on climatic changes, the United States and Japan signed a historic agreement aimed at reducing the earth's weather temperatures to prevent global warming.
Currently, neither American public opinion nor the U.S. Senate supports the Kyoto Protocol. The Clinton administration must win public and congressional support within the next year to have the agreement ratified and enacted into law. This may not be an easy task.
Fortunately, no opposition has emanated from either the Lower or Upper House of Japan's legislature. The Hashimoto administration expresses 100 percent support for the protocol. Before the conference, Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto directed the minister of finance not to reduce the budget for global-warming projects, particularly in the areas of technological development and aid to developing countries. After the Kyoto conference, the prime minister announced that amendments to Japanese environmental laws will be adopted in the near future to comply with the pact.