TOKYO --The telecom ministry said Tuesday Japan intends to hold talks with the United States in Washington on Monday over a U.S. demand to have Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp (NTT) cut hookup fees charged on non-NTT carriers.

"We would like to hold talks in Washington early next week," Kaoru Kanazawa, vice minister of the Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications, told a news conference.

I guess the US-based international long distance carriers complained. Or maybe the US doesn't want its telecom companies to get any big ideas about higher hookup fees. Who knows? I don't and I'm really confused about why the US government thinks it can make requests like this--they don't even own any telephone companies anymore.

But I shouldn't complain. I've benefited from their last intervention with NTT. Internet access in Japan is superfast and very cheap because the US bitched about NTT rates being prohibitive to broad acceptance of the 'Net by regular folk. So now I pay monthly fees of only 3,700 yen to NTT and 2,300 to my ISP for 8 Mb ASDL! Cheaper than in the US, and faster, too.