Ryutaro Hashimoto, the prime minister and the leader of Liberal Democratic Party, expressed his intention to resign in the afternoon of July 13th, 1998. The successor from the same party is to be nominated on July 21st. No LDP candidate was elected for metropolitan areas such as Tokyo and Osaka. Foreign exchange laws were changed on April 1st, 1998. Some stores and restaurants in major cities like Tokyo started accepting payments by U.S. dollars.
Japanese people can open accounts with foreign banks and invest.
The number of banks which dealt with foreign exchange was limited in the past but more and more banks and their branches are going to do it. They felt fainted, ached in the head or eyes, and some were hard to breathe. People concerned said that the scene with many flashes was made with ordinary procedure, they didn't do nothing special. TV Tokyo, a.k.a. They also asked video shops not to rent Pokemon videos.