BEIJING (AP) -- Satoshi Ishii won Japan's fourth gold medal as the Olympic judo competition ended Friday, defeating Uzbekhistan's Abdullo Tangriev in the men's over 100-kilogram division.

Ishii, making his Olympic debut, went ahead on points and held on to the bell as Tangriev fought a defensive match and failed to mount any serious offensives.

Ishii took the lead with a koka point, and nearly ended it with 1 minute, 30 seconds left when he executed a sweep that narrowly failed to fall his opponent. He got a yuko to widen the margin and Tangriev could find no room to fight back.

Winning bronze were Cuba's Oscar Brayson, who defeated Mohammad Reza Rodaki of Iran, and France's Teddy Riner, who pinned Georgia's Lasha Gujejiani.

Judo awards two bronze medals in each weight class.

Copyright 2005-2006 THE MAINICHI NEWSPAPERS. All rights reserved. Mainichi features the best news in Japan, current news in Japan, Japan news in English, Japan business news, Tokyo Japan news, and Japan entertainment news. Mainichi News is syndicated in accordance with editorial regulations: personal and noncommercial purposes.

BEIJING (AP) -- Tong Wen of China came through with a big throw in the closing seconds to defeat Maki Tsukada of Japan and take the women's over 78-kilogram gold on the final day of the Olympic judo competition Friday.

Tsukada, the Athens champion, took the lead two minutes into the bout with a leg sweep that sent Tong to the mat. Tong, a three-time world champion who has beaten Tsukada repeatedly, took a koka point to narrow the gap. With just 16 seconds left, Tong found her opening and threw Tsukada to the mat.

Slovenia's Lucijia Polavder defeated South Korea's Kim Na-young by a point to win bronze. The second bronze went to Cuba's Idalys Ortiz, who flipped Mongolia's Tserenkhand Dorjgotov with a match-ending throw.

Judo awards two bronze medals in each weight class.

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The government will consider presenting swimmer Kosuke Kitajima with the People's Honor Award for his tremendous achievement of winning two gold medals in two consecutive Olympic Games, the top government spokesman said on Friday.

"Kitajima's performances were outstanding. As other (Japanese) athletes are also striving hard right now, we should look at giving out the award after all the events are over (at the Beijing Olympics)," Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura told a press conference on Friday morning.

The government will make a final decision on the award after the Olympics is over, taking into consideration Kitajima's thoughts on the matter and the performance of other Japanese athletes.

Kitajima clinched gold medals in both the men's 100-meter and 200-meter breaststroke events at the Beijing Olympic Games. He won the same events at the Athens Olympics.

The People's Honor Award was established in 1977 by then Prime Minister Takeo Fukuda, father of incumbent Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda. The first award was presented to former pro baseball player Sadaharu Oh, who achieved a world record for the number of homeruns he hit.

To date, 15 Japanese athletes have been honored with the award, including marathon runner Naoko Takahashi. However, baseball star Ichiro declined to accept the award in 2001 when informally sounded out, saying that he was still developing as a player. Ichiro also declined to accept the award in 2004 for similar reasons.

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Controversial visits to Yasukuni Shrine by former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi while he was in office have made it difficult for his successors to pay visits to the shrine, say observers.

The move has forced Nippon Izokukai, a major group for the bereaved families of the war dead, to reconsider its campaign to urge an incumbent prime minister to pay an official visit to the shrine each year on Aug. 15 -- the anniversary of Japan's defeat in World War II.

Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda announced before he took office that he would not visit the shrine, where Class A war criminals are enshrined along with the war dead. Ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) Secretary-General Taro Aso, who is reportedly aspiring to become the next prime minister, has also refrained from visiting the shrine.

Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who has insisted that prime ministers should visit Yasukuni, abandoned doing so while he was in office to improve Japan's relations with China, which had been chilled by Koizumi's visits. Abe paid a visit to the shrine on Friday, the 63rd anniversary of Japan's defeat in World War II, after he had resigned as prime minister.

Aso proposed that Yasukuni be stripped of its title as a religious corporation. "If a prime minister pays a visit despite opposition, Yasukuni will develop into a political issue and lead to a vicious circle," he says.

The LDP's chief election strategist Makoto Koga, who heads Nippon Izokukai, hinted that the organization should reconsider its policy. "I wonder if we should maintain the same approach, 'Making sure a prime minister pays an official visit,' " he said.

Nippon Izokukai had thought that if a prime minister paid an official visit to the shrine on Aug. 15 each year, the public would recognize the shrine as a public facility, laying the groundwork for placing the facility under state protection.

In 1985, however, an official visit by then Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone to Yasukuni Shrine stirred protests from China and other Asian neighbors, forcing him to abandon visiting the shrine the following year. Moreover, the shrine refused to be placed under state protection.

The organization welcomed Koizumi's visits to the shrine from 2001 to 2006. However, his visits stirred controversy over the enshrinement of Class A war criminals.

To break the deadlock over its campaign, Koga has proposed that Class A war criminals be separated from the other war victims, an idea rejected by the shrine.

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NAGASAKI -- Six high school "peace ambassadors" will travel to the United Nations Europe headquarters in Geneva to present the signatures of about 80,000 people calling for the elimination of nuclear weapons.

Three high school students from Nagasaki Prefecture left Nagasaki on Friday and will join three others from other prefectures in Fukuoka, where they will leave for Geneva on Saturday.

The six high school students will be accompanied by Sakue Shimohira, 73, a hibakusha, or atomic bombing survivor, and leader of a group of bereaved families of Nagasaki atomic bombing victims.

"We feel a sense of responsibility to convey the feelings of the citizens of Nagasaki, a city that was hit by an atomic bomb, to the United Nations," one of the three members from Nagasaki said.

The six will deliver speeches in English, appealing for the eradication of nuclear weapons, while Shimohira will talk about her experiences as an atomic bombing survivor. Moreover, they will show a DVD recording of hibakusha talking about their atomic bombing experiences.

The signatures were collected by members of Kokosei Ichimannin Shomei Katsudo, a group of high school students who had aimed to collect signatures from 10,000 people calling for the elimination of nuclear arms.

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Banned beef filet has been found among a batch of pork bones that a Tokyo-based trading company imported from Sweden, the government has announced. The product was not distributed on the market.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries has banned the import of all products from the Skara factory of Scan AB in Sweden, which shipped the beef filet to Japan.

The ministry has asked the Swedish government to find out the cause of the blunder.

According to the ministry, beef filet was found among pork bones that a Tokyo-based meat importer, Agri Trade Co., imported from Sweden. Agri Trade had ordered 2,400 boxes of pork bones (about 24 tons). But when the shipment arrived and was inspected at Tokyo Port on Monday, it turned out that there were 2,402 boxes.

One of the two extra boxes contained beef filet (about 8 kilograms) and the other box had pork ham (about 8 kilograms) inside -- neither of which had been ordered. The ministry instructed Agri Trade to inspect all the boxes that arrived that day.

Since 2001, the import of beef from European Union member countries, including Sweden, has been banned, following a series of cases of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in the late 1990s and 2000.

One BSE case emerged in Sweden in 2006, but the country was recognized as having an extremely low risk of BSE by an international organization in May this year.

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KYOTO -- Red pine trees in a national forest that were damaged after being eaten by weevils will be used for the annual Great Bonfire here, organizers say.

Firewood for the bonfire has traditionally been secured from a forest owned by members of a nonprofit organization (NPO) that organizes the event.

However, the number of mature trees that are suitable for burning has been decreasing.

After learning of a shortage of firewood, the local office of the Forestry Agency offered to sell wood from red pine trees that were badly damaged by weevils at a cheap price. The NPO decided to buy the wood at a price about 10 percent of that of ordinary firewood.

The wood from damaged red pine trees is expected to account for roughly 10 percent of firewood to be used in the event this year.

The Great Bonfire is lit on a mountain in Kyoto in the shape of the Chinese character for "big." The bonfire, whose origin is unknown, is a ceremony that has been observed on Aug. 16 each year over many centuries to send the souls of ancestors, which are supposed to come home during the obon period in mid-August, back to heaven.

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As Japan melts under the scorching summer heat, more youngsters on the streets of Tokyo have been reaching for American frozen yogurt to help cool off.

A string of America's West Coast-based frozen yogurt stores have opened in Tokyo this year and have been gaining in popularity with young people.

Golden Spoon, a major frozen yogurt chain in America, opened its first store in Japan in front of the Tokyo Midtown shopping complex in Roppongi in March, followed by new stores on Enoshima Island in Fujisawa, Kanagawa Prefecture, and in Osaka. The chain is aiming to open 100 shops in Japan in three years.

"Customers can enjoy yogurt just like ice cream," says a spokesperson for Golden Spoon. The chain offers 15 frozen yogurt flavors and a selection of toppings including fruit. "Thanks to this summer being hotter than we expected, our products are selling very well."

The reason for the growing demand for frozen yogurt, however, is not just because of its cold, refreshing taste. Known as a low calorie, almost non-fat sweet, frozen yogurt is apparently appealing to health-conscious consumers.

For instance, Golden Spoon's regular flavor "Old Fashion Vanilla" has no fat and only 123 kilocalories per 100 grams. All flavors are available in a "mini size" (100 grams) priced at 320 yen, and cost and additional 50 yen for each topping.

Pink Sweet Berry is another American-style frozen yogurt brand that launched its first store in Tokyo's Shibuya in May. The store offers only one frozen yogurt flavor and focuses on fresh fruit toppings. In addition to six regular toppings, two kinds of "special toppings of the month" -- pear and Kyoho grape for this month -- are available. A small portion (120 grams) is priced at 380 yen and larger sizes are also available, with extra charges for additional toppings.

The Pink Sweet Berry store, which has recently started a takeout service, is planning to add new items to its lineup.

A Pink Sweet Berry spokesperson is confident the chain's frozen yogurt will be popular. "Since it became hot, we've been enjoying great sales. Our products are gradually becoming more familiar to consumers." Pink Sweet Berry also aims to open 20 stores in Japan this year.

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JapaNavi, a new Internet shopping portal created by Japan Post Service Co. and China Post, is set for launch on Monday in a new drive to expand the market for Japanese products in China.

The shopping site -- the first endeavor of its kind by Japan Post Service, and part of a tie-up between the two companies inked in July 2007 -- will offer products from Japanese companies including department stores Daimaru and Mitsukoshi, gift company Sanrio and baby wear chain Akachan Honpo, in both Chinese and Japanese.

Aside from expanding the market for Japanese goods to China, Japan Post Service hopes to profit from increased international postage between the two countries, and plans to follow the launch with a reciprocal site selling Chinese products in Japan. The company is also considering whether to expand their lineup to include Western goods.

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It is 63 years since the summer when Hiroshima and Nagasaki became fields of atomic destruction. Nations with nuclear power still flex their muscles; nuclear disarmament is, at most, a very distant possibility. Domestically, there have been some legal victories in the struggle to win compensation for all atomic bomb survivors, but the reality remains that the state is not ready to offer relief to all who need it.

The hibakusha of today live with the fear that the experience of the bomb will erase itself from our collective memory with the passing of every additional month and year. And yet another piece of sad news must be passed on: Seiko Komatsu passed away on July 29. We mourn his passing and take this opportunity to relay to you some of the voices of the hibakusha.

This year, the mayor of Nagasaki quoted the words of Dr. Takashi Nagai in his Peace Declaration on Aug. 9, the 63rd anniversary of the atomic bomb attack on the city. This year also marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Nagai (1908 - 1951), a physician who cared for A-bomb survivors and who is famous for books such as "The Bells of Nagasaki" (Nagasaki no kane) and "Leaving These Children Behind" (Konoko wo nokoshite), in which he tried to describe the tragedy of the bomb.

Nagai spent the last years of his life in a hut he called "Nyoko-do" (located in Ueno-machi, Nagasaki), where he received many visitors. People who knew him personally grow fewer with every passing year. Sakue Shimohira* (73), chairman of the Association of Bereaved Families of Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Victims, is one of them.

"Strong-willed people like her (Shimohira) will pave the road to peace. I wish I could have lived longer to support her." Dr. Nagai said these words to a close relative shortly before he died. Shimohira says she was greatly surprised when the relative first relayed them to her. This is because her memories of Nagai at Nyoko-do were dominated by images of disagreement and conflict.

Shimohira became acquainted with Dr. Nagai in 1949, when an essay of hers was chosen to be included in a collection of writings by young children that Nagai was putting together, called "Living Beneath The Atomic Cloud" (Genshi-gumo no shita ni ikite). "I was in the first year at Yamazato Middle School at the time. All of us at Yamazato Elementary School and Middle School were told to write essays about our atomic bomb experiences. So I did, and mine was chosen for the collection."

She visited Nyoko-do fairly often after that, but the visits usually ended in standoffs with Nagai.

"I always objected to Dr. Nagai's saying that the bomb was an 'ordeal given to us by God.' I still can't forgive him," she says.

Badly injured himself, Nagai worked desperately to help other victims and talked to them about "divine providence." Ground zero in Nagasaki was Urakami, an area with many Christian residents, and the doctor's words brought them a measure of spiritual comfort in their suffering.

The idea of divine providence was also convenient for the GHQ, which meant that it later came under attack as an attempt to obscure the fact that the bombing was essentially an act of genocide.

"That's ridiculous," Shimohira would say. But Dr. Nagai would go silent and refuse to answer.

This year, when the decision was made at a drafting committee meeting to include Nagai's words in the Peace Declaration to be read by the mayor of Nagasaki at the Peace Memorial Ceremony, Shimohira (a committee member) asked for one condition to be met: "Don't make a saint of him. Just let people know that he was a loving and ardent man."

"I'm a weak person. I hope you understand that." It seems to me that it is these words of Dr. Nagai that make it possible for Shimohira to say this to us. (By Kazuki Kuraoka, Mainichi Shimbun)

* Sakue Shimohira: 73 years old. Fifth year student at Shiroyama Elementary School in Nagasaki at time of attack. Was in bomb shelter ca. 800 meters from ground zero. Lost three family members, including mother.

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BEIJING -- Gymnast Kohei Uchimura captured the silver medal in the men's individual combination at the Beijing Olympics on Thursday, becoming the first Japanese medalist in the event in 24 years.

Uchimura, 19, achieved the feat in his first ever Olympics following Koji Gushiken, gold medalist in the event at the Los Angeles Olympic Games in 1984 and the current manager of the Japanese men's gymnastics team.

Although Uchimura fell twice during the pommel horse, he recovered in the later components and performed perfectly on the horizontal bar.

"I kind of thought that I might get a medal, but I cannot believe (that I really did)," said the boyish Uchimura.

"Sooner or later, Uchimura will have his era, not only in Japan, but also in the world," said Mitsuo Tsukahara, general manager of the Japanese gymnastics team and an Olympic gold medalist.

Uchimura started gymnastics at age 3. He became a member of Japan's national team when he was a high school student and is participating in the Olympics as a sophomore at Nippon Sport Science University.

While more gymnasts in the world nowadays have given up on mastering every aspect and concentrate on particular components, Uchimura said, "I want to stick to the six components. From now on, I want to lead Japan's gymnastics."

Japan's favored gymnast in the men's individual combination, Hiroyuki Tomita, finished a disappointing fourth.

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SAPPORO -- Seiji Aochi, a bronze medalist ski jumper and member of the "Rising Sun Air Squadron" -- a trio of Japanese athletes who dominated the podium in the ski jump event at the Sapporo Winter Olympics -- has died of gastric cancer. He was 66.

Born in the western Hokkaido city of Otaru in June 1942, Aochi attended Meiji University before joining Snow Brand Milk Products Co.

At the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo, he won a bronze medal with a jump of 70 meters in the Normal Hill event, and was joined on the podium by fellow countrymen Akitsugu Konno (silver) and fellow Meiji alumnus Yukio Kasaya (gold). They were dubbed the "Rising Sun Air Squadron" by the press.

Protege and ski jump gold medalist Masahiko Harada, now coach of the Snow Brand Milk ski club, said of his former mentor: "It came so quickly. I'll miss his energy and advice."

"I have one memory in particular of him telling me to give my best for the ski club, and also of him saying to become a good man," he recalled.

The funeral service for Aochi will be held at 9 a.m. on Sunday, at Aoyagi Ceremony Hall in Higashi-ku, Sapporo.

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TOKYO (AP) -- Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group said Thursday that there is no immediate change to its plans to fully acquire UnionBanCal but it is willing to negotiate after the U.S. bank rejected its buyout offer.

The largest Japanese bank, also known as MUFG, offered earlier this week to buy the remaining shares it doesn't already own in San Francisco-based UnionBanCal Corp. in a planned tender offer worth an estimated US$3 billion.

"We are willing to engage in discussions with (UnionBanCal's) special committee, which has been our policy all along and there is no change to that," said MUFG spokesman Hideki Furumoto.

He refused to discuss further details. He said the dates and other conditions of the planned tender offer remain unchanged.

The Japanese bank already owns a 65.4 percent stake in UnionBanCal and wants to buy the remaining interest at US$63 a share through a tender offer beginning Aug. 18 through September 15.

The U.S. bank Wednesday rejected the proposal, saying the tender offer, which represents an 8 percent premium over the stock's Monday closing price of US$58.18, was too low.

Richard D. Farman, chairman of the U.S. bank's special committee weighing the proposed deal, said it "substantially undervalues UnionBanCal."

Japan's leading business newspaper, The Nikkei, said Thursday that UnionBanCal's rejection "is seen as an attempt to raise the price of the tender offer."

Shares of UnionBanCal spiked to 52-week high of $65.50 on Tuesday, and gave up 50 cents to close at $65 on Wednesday. Earlier in the session, the stock hit another new 12-month peak of US$66.18.

MUFG shares fell 2.5 percent Thursday to 820 yen.

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BEIJING (AP) -- The silver medal around Kohei Uchimura's neck might seem misplaced to many Japanese. They likely expected that Hiroyuki Tomita, the team's top all-around gymnast, would be the countryman up on the Olympics podium.

Tomita, the 2005 world champion, finished fourth, while his teenage teammate with little international experience wound up second to China's Yang Wei.

Although the margin between Yang and 19-year-old Uchimura was the gymnastics equivalent of a canyon -- 2.6 points -- that doesn't detract from Uchimura's performance.

Uchimura built up to the silver after a horrendous pommel horse routine earned him just 13.275 points, by far his lowest mark. That score was almost a point lower than what he managed in Saturday's qualifying.

"I think I was in a very bad situation," he said through a translator. "I thought, `I won't be able to get a medal.' Therefore, at that moment, I didn't think anything except for continuing the competition."

Which he did stylishly. And steadily, until he had overcome South Korea's Yang Tae-young and Russia's Sergei Khorokhordin to grab the silver by nailing his parallel bars and high bar routines.

"Now that I've won the silver medal," he said, "I feel very happy."

His parents left Wednesday and missed his big day. But it was no less exciting.

"Whether my parents are here or not, it will not affect my performance," he said.

Uchimura has never even been to a world championships. The youngest member of the team, he was second in the Japanese nationals this year.

By contrast, the veteran Tomita won a team gold medal with Japan in 2004 and also was second at the 2006 worlds to Yang. He clearly seemed the strongest medal threat from Japan when the games began.

Asked if he would like to succeed Tomita as Japan's leader and become a role model in his nation, Uchimura smiled widely.

"I'm only 19 years old," he said.

"He is my idol. He is very strict with himself during training and he won't give up easily on small details. He will try his best to overcome his obstacles.

"I adore him."

And all of Japan will surely now adore Uchimura.

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BEIJING (AP) -- Japan crashed out of the gold-medal contention in judo on Thursday after a disastrous preliminary round, with Athens Olympic champion Keiji Suzuki and 2007 world silver medalist Sae Nakazawa both losing their first fights.

Suzuki, moving down to 100-kilograms for Beijing, was thrown to an ippon loss against Mongolia's Tuvshinbayar Naidan, who grabbed his legs, lifted him off the mat and drove him down to his back.

The loss was another huge disappointment for Japan's men, who had pinned their hopes on Suzuki, but have won only one gold medal after six days. In Athens, the Japanese team won a record eight golds, five of them were from women.

The reigning world champion also fell to his back _ twice.

Henk Grol of the Netherlands, who is making his Olympic debut but has won 22 of 24 bouts internationally this year, went ahead early with a waza ari throw against Luciano Correa of Brazil, the 2007 world champion, in their opener. He unleashed the winning throw with just under two minutes left in the bout.

Grol earned his semifinal ticket by throwing Poland's Przemysiaw Matyjaszek about 30 seconds into their match. He will face off with Kazakhstan's Askhat Zhitkeyev.

The second semifinal match will be between Azerbaijan's Movlud Miraliyev and Naidan, who scored a late yuko to defeat South Korea's Jang Sung-ho.

The women's preliminaries were also laden with upsets.

After a first-round bye in the women's 78-kilogram division, Nakazawa, the 2006 Asian Games champion and 2007 silver medalist at the world championships, trailed going into the final minute of her second-round match. With seconds remaining, Italy's Lucia Morico added a yuko to finish it off.

Nakazawa was making her Olympic debut. Japan was hoping she would bring a third gold, after Masae Ueno and Ayumi Tanimoto defended their titles.

In another upset, Russia's Vera Moskalyuk, the 2006 European champion, lost her first fight to Spain's Esther San Miguel. Miguel, a three-time Olympian, went ahead with two points and Moskalyuk couldn't come back.

To the delight of the screaming home-country fans, China's Yang Xiuli flipped all of her opponents en route to her semifinal berth, where she will meet San Miguel.

Heide Wollert of Germany, the 2008 European champion, fell to a throw by South Korea's Jeong Gyeong-mi with just over two minutes left in her quarterfinal.

Jeong fights Cuba's Yalennis Castillo in the semis.

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Koishi Kimi (80) is a grand old man of the comedy world in Kansai. What many people don't know -- because he doesn't talk about it much -- is that he is a survivor of the atomic bomb attack on Hiroshima. "I don't like to talk about the bomb. I feel guilty towards the people who died. It seems inexcusable that I'm still alive." So confided Koishi after finally acceding to our request for an interview following a year of persuasion. Sixty-three years after the atomic bomb and he still suffers from the painful struggle of trying to break free of the catastrophe.

Koishi was an enlisted soldier in the former Imperial Army. That day, he was on the second floor of the army barracks near Hiroshima Castle, wearing only a loincloth and eating his breakfast. "I saw a flash of light. And I remember running downstairs." Then he lost consciousness. It was past noon when they pulled him out from under the beam that had struck him in the abdomen.

"I looked up and there was no castle. I thought it must have been a direct hit."

They gave him first aid and laid him on the riverbank. Feeling thirsty, he crawled down to the waterside. "There were all these bodies floating around. I thought maybe the water had been poisoned." Later, they put him in a truck to take him to the port at Ujina, where they were loading the injured to be cared for on the nearby island of Ninoshima. He will never forget what he saw along the way.

"I saw people walking around with faces half burned off and their skin in tatters. A woman was lying there, and a breath of wind came along and blew her hair off like a scrap of trash ..."

Koishi's gravelly voice is matter-of-fact as he recounts these horrors, until one moment, when it breaks down in sudden grief. This is when I show him a book from the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. It is a photo taken at Ninoshima, showing a man with burns all over his body. "This ..., oh, this ..." That is all he can say.

It was about two weeks after the termination of the war that Koishi finally made it back to the apartment in Osaka where his parents and his elder brother Itoshi Yumeji (who died in 2003 at the age of 73) lived. His family had heard about "the complete destruction of Hiroshima" and had had a Buddhist memorial tablet made for him. August 6 was set down as his "death anniversary"; it also happens to be his birthday.

Koishi and Itoshi later formed a chatty comedy duo that won them great popularity and an unshakeable position in their field. "Well, I tried to forget about the bomb. It doesn't really fit into the world of comedy."

He didn't even talk to his family about the bomb. He visited the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum several decades ago, but "I walked in and I walked right out." He has never applied for an A-bomb survivor's certificate. "These things have a way of sticking to you like a burr for the rest of your life," he explains.

Koishi has been a man of the people for these many years and there is something he has learned from experience that he finds disquieting: "The force of the masses can be scary. You're standing on a stage, someone yells 'Aw, shut up!' and suddenly the whole audience is yelling the same thing. The people in power need to do their jobs properly. It's pretty easy for things to fall apart, you know." The old man of comedy twists his brow in apprehension at the ways of the world. (By Nobuo Tateishi, Mainichi Shimbun)

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Experts largely attribute fencer Yuki Ota's clinching of a silver medal at the Beijing Olympics to a 500-day training camp at new facilities.

The fact that an athlete in a minor event won a medal as a result of an intensive training program has provided inspiration as to ways to train athletes for other minor events, say experts.

"We asked (businesses) for donations to finance his training by promising to clinch a medal. I thought I wouldn't be able to go back to Japan if he didn't win a medal," said Atsushi Harinishi, senior managing director of Japan's fencing association.

Ota's 500-day intensive training program, proposed by Harinishi, was made possible as a result of the completion of the Japan Institute of Sports Sciences and the National Training Center (NTC) in January.

"South Korea is currently ranked No. 3 or 4 in terms of the number of gold medals its athletes have won at the Beijing Olympics. Their success is due to their good use of South Korea's NTC. Japan's NTC helped athletes in minor events improve their performances," said Tomiaki Fukuda, leader of Japan's Olympic team.

"The NTC would be meaningless if athletes can't use it. After Beijing, it's an urgent task to improve the intensive training of athletes with help from public funds," Fukuda said.

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OSAKA -- A 71-year-old man has a message that he wants to pass down to younger generations who have never experienced war.

"It's always the children who are subject to the most misery in war. I don't want my grandchildren to undergo such hardships," says Masaaki Tada.

A former company president from Osaka, Tada's early life was just like the brother and sister who are war orphans in the animation film, "Hotaru no Haka" (Grave of the Fireflies, 1988), directed by Isao Takahata. The real life version of the film was released this summer.

Tada's family was living happily in Osaka. His father was operating a tailor shop, but one day in 1944, a draft card arrived for him.

"What would become of my family?" wondered Tada, the eldest son and a lower-grade school boy at the time.

After his father served in the war, Tada's mother suffered a liver ailment and became bed-stricken.

"When your father makes a triumphant return, make sure you hand this to him," his mother told Tada, passing him a small Hinomaru flag.

She died 20 days before the war ended, and his sister -- three years younger than Tada -- cried her eyes out.

Tada and his sister were taken care of at their paternal grandparents' home in Nara Prefecture, while their infant brother was placed at their maternal grandparents' home.

It hurt Tada when a relative complained that Tada and his sister were an extra burden on their finances.

When the war finally ended, Tada and his sister were waiting for their father to pick them up. But he never came back and nothing was ever heard of him. During the school athletics festival, Tada envied his friends who shared lunch with their parents.

Looking at the sunset in the evening was the only solace for him. He missed his hometown in Osaka across the mountains. When owls cried at night, he felt all the more lonely and missed his parents.

"Why could this happen only to me?" Tada thought. He desperately devoted himself to study, and started working after graduating from high school. He later established a paint company at age 45.

Tada never fails to pay his respects to his parents' graves during the obon and ohigan (equinoctial week) periods. He laments that the world today is still not free of war. "War never resolves anything. So why in the world do human beings repeat the same things?" Tada fumes.

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Kosuke Kitajima's success in winning two gold medals in two consecutive Olympic Games is a tremendous achievement as its takes a huge amount of determination to maintain one's mental and physical condition for four years, say experts.

"I'm a bit disappointed that I failed to set a world record, but I'm glad that I won. I'm grateful to everybody as I can stand on the highest platform," Kitajima said following his victory in the 200-meter breaststroke event on Thursday.

The 25-year-old swimmer won gold medals in the 100-meter and 200-meter breaststroke races at the 2004 Athens Olympics when he was a university student.

But his coach, Norimasa Hirai, who has trained Kitajima since he was 14 years old, told him to seek further glory at Beijing.

Hirai cited baseball star Ichiro Suzuki as a role model for Kitajima. "He (Ichiro) is a professional who continues to perform at the highest level," said the coach.

Hirai expressed regret at Kitajima's failure to set world records in the two events in Athens, and expected the swimmer to do his best to set new global marks in Beijing.

However, it is difficult to maintain one's physical and mental condition once they peak.

Kitajima has a great deal of concentration, but admits that he cannot maintain it for a long time. "My problem may be my inability to maintain focus," the swimmer said.

This is reflected in his poor form over a two-year period following the Athens Olympics. He was not even selected to represent Japan in the World Swimming Championships in 2005 and finished fourth in the Japan swimming championships the following year.

His poor mental condition adversely affected his physical condition. He repeatedly suffered injuries and developed a high fever shortly before important races.

Hirai told himself, "Everybody goes through these periods. I have no choice but to wait."

Last year, Kitajima repaid his coach for his patience and regained top form.

"That experience made me what I am now," Kitajima recalls.

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Airlines in Japan are struggling to secure enough pilots as baby-boomers have begun to retire and the demand for flights is showing signs of growing, say industry insiders.

Approximately 6,200 pilots -- captains and co-pilots -- are currently working at airlines in Japan. However, baby-boomers began to retire in the business year of 2007. Over the next five years, about 200 pilots are expected to annually reach the mandatory retirement age.

Considering the potential increase in demand for flights, airlines will be required to hire a combined 400 to 450 new pilots a year over the next five years, according to the Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ministry's Civil Aviation Bureau.

The completion of another runway at Haneda Airport in Tokyo in 2010 will increase the annual slots at the airport from the current 296,000 to 407,000. Moreover, the extension of the second runway at Narita Airport in the same year will increase the slots by 20,000 to 220,000 a year.

Demand for civil aviation is expected to sharply increase in China and India as they are both enjoying rapid economic growth, as well as in Middle East countries that are profiting from oil money, according to All Nippon Airways (ANA).

Two major airlines -- Japan Airlines (JAL) and ANA -- have launched efforts to develop pilots on their own.

ANA is supporting the Tokai University School of Engineering's pilot training course by dispatching retired captains as professors and supplying the same textbooks as those used in its own pilot training program. A total of 118 students including three women are now undergoing training through the course.

JAL has helped Obirin University launch a pilot training course through a business tie-up.

Newly launched airlines are having difficulties in securing enough pilots as they cannot afford to pay the same high wages as major airlines like JAL and ANA.

In June this year, the resignation of two captains from Skymark Airlines forced it to cancel more than 600 flights.

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Eating vegetables and fruit help men drastically reduce the risk of suffering esophageal cancer, a Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry research team has found.

The team surveyed about 39,000 men aged between 45 and 74 living in eight prefectures in 1995 and 1998 about their dietary habits. Roughly 80 percent of esophageal cancer patients are believed to be men.

Of the respondents, 116 had been diagnosed as suffering from squamous cancer, a typical esophageal cancer, by 2004.

After analyzing their dietary habits, the team concluded that the risk of suffering from esophageal cancer among those who eat an average of 544 grams of vegetables and fruit a day is only 52 percent of that among respondents who eat only 170 grams a day.

The survey has also suggested that those who drink alcohol or smoke can reduce their risk of suffering from esophageal cancer by eating a larger amount of vegetables and fruit.

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The number of annual near misses in the medical field topped 200,000 for the first time in 2007, with more than 3,000 of them having been capable of turning fatal, a survey has found.

The survey, which was announced by the Japan Council for Quality Health Care, also found that more than one fourth of the cases concerned prescriptions and other pharmaceutical mistakes.

"There were many cases in which similar accidents were repeated after we released medical information to raise awareness about safety. We urge medical institutions to make more use of information on medical accidents," said a representative of the Japan Council for Quality Health Care, which is an affiliate organization of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.

According to the survey, there were 209,216 cases that came close to becoming medical accidents at 240 hospitals across the nation in 2007, an increase by 13,607 from the previous year.

Among them, 27 percent involved prescriptions and preparations of drugs; 17 percent had to do with the use and management of medical equipment; and 9 percent concerned caretaking in medical treatment.

Those who were primarily involved in the near misses were nurses, comprising 73 percent.

Among the overall cases, 3,689 could have turned out fatal if mistakes remained overlooked. Of them, 1,059 had to do with medical prescriptions. The remaining cases, at 65 percent, involved mistakes that did not pose a danger to patients.

The causes of medicine-related cases included mistakes in identifying the names or the amount of drugs to be administered to patients, as well as errors in setting the rates for intravenous drips.

"The intricate segregation of roles among pharmacists, nurses and doctors makes it easier for mistakes to happen," said a representative of the Japan Council for Quality Health Care.

In 2007, there were 1,266 medical blunders at 273 hospitals across the nation, down 30 from the previous year. Of them, 142 were fatal.

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An executive of a Foreign Ministry-related organization accused of hiding consultation fees he received from a scandal-tainted defense contractor has been hit with a new arrest warrant for evading further income tax, prosecutors said.

The new arrest warrant accuses Naoki Akiyama, 58, a senior managing director of the Japan-U.S. Center for Peace and Cultural Exchange, of evading about 26 million yen in income tax in 2006. It brought the total amount of income taxes he is accused of evading to nearly 100 million yen.

Akiyama concealed approximately 73 million yen in income -- most of the consultation fees he received from Yamada Corp. in 2006 -- by transferring the money to a U.S. company he is linked to, thereby evading about 26 million yen in income tax, prosecutors said.

He has also been indicted for hiding his personal income totaling some 241 million yen between 2003 and 2005, and evading about 73 million yen in income tax.

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BEIJING -- Kosuke Kitajima won the gold medal in the men's 200-meter breaststroke at the Beijing Olympics on Thursday, becoming the first Japanese swimmer to win two breaststroke events in consecutive Olympic Games.

His victory came three days after winning the 100-meter breaststroke event on Monday. The 25-year-old swimmer finished 2 minutes, 7.64 seconds in the final of the 200-meter breaststroke on Thursday. His victory brought the total number of gold medals that Japanese athletes have won at the Beijing Olympics to five.

He became the first Japanese athlete to win two gold medals in the same events in consecutive Olympic Games, following his victory at the 2004 Athens Olympics.

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BEIJING -- Fencer Yuki Ota won the silver medal in the men's individual foil at the Beijing Olympic Games on Wednesday, bringing Japan its first ever Olympic medal in fencing.

Ota, 22, beat favored Europeans in the early rounds, defeating Germany's Peter Joppich 15-12 in the quarterfinal and Italy's Salvatore Sanzo -- the silver medalist at the 2004 Athens Olympics -- 15-14 in the semifinal before achieving the historic feat.

He lost to Germany's Benjamin Kleibrink -- the bronze medalist in the World Fencing Championships in 2007 -- 9-15 in the final.

Before Ota's success, Japan's best fencing record in the Olympics had been fourth prize in the men's team foil at the Tokyo Olympic Games in 1964.

During his high school days, Ota achieved a record three-straight wins in the inter-high school championships. He finished ninth at the 2004 Athens Olympics.

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A Russian man has been reported to prosecutors for engaging in espionage in Japan by posing as a Japanese man who went missing in 1965, Tokyo police said.

The Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) has sent an investigation report to prosecutors accusing the Russian national of Asian descent of violating the Passport Law. His name and age remain unknown.

The suspect, who has been missing since he left Japan in 1995, obtained a passport in the name of Ichiro Kuroba at the Japanese Embassy in Austria in June 1992, according to investigators. He entered Japan in February 1994, using the passport, and left the country in February 1995, the MPD alleges.

The MPD's Public Security Bureau learned of his engagement in espionage in 1997. Investigators raided his home in Nerima-ku, Tokyo, and confiscated a radio set among other items.

The bureau asked a then first secretary at the Russian Embassy in Tokyo to turn himself in for questioning, suspecting that he was involved in the incident, but he refused to cooperate. The diplomat subsequently returned home.

In July 1997, the bureau obtained an arrest warrant for the man without confirming his identity, and placed him on an international wanted list.

The whereabouts of Kuroba, a dental technician, has been unknown since he went missing in Koriyama, Fukushima Prefecture, in 1965 when he was 35.

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TOKYO (AP) -- Japanese shares fell sharply Wednesday, following an overnight fall on Wall Street and a report that Japan's economy shrank sharply in the second quarter.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average shed 280.55 points, or 2.11 percent, to 13,023.05. The broader Topix index lost 1.96 percent to 1,246.48.

The Dow Jones industrials lost nearly 140 points Tuesday as downbeat news from JPMorgan Chase & Co. and other financial companies lifted the market's anxiety about the continuing impact of the credit crisis on the economy.

And earlier Wednesday, the Cabinet Office reported that Japan's gross domestic product, or the total value of the nation's goods and services, dropped at an annual pace of 2.4 percent in the April-June period, a marked downturn from a 4.0 percent rise registered in the January-March period.

Although the GDP results came within market expectations, the numbers weren't good, said Yoshinori Nagano, senior strategist at Daiwa Asset Management in Tokyo.

"They certainly didn't serve as a buying cue," said Nagano.

Stocks fell almost across the board, with banks, brokerages and insurance companies taking big hits.

Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Inc. lost 3.23 percent to 690,000 yen, Nomura Holdings, Inc. slid 4.38 percent to 1,505 yen, and Sompo Japan Insurance, Inc. tumbled 5.50 percent to 928 yen.

A stronger yen also dampened the mood with major exporters losing ground. Toyota Motor Corp. fell 1.20 percent to 4,960 yen, and Sharp Corp. declined 4.30 percent to 1,423 yen. A stronger yen reduces the value of overseas earnings when they are repatriated to Japan.

The dollar was trading at 108.78 yen Wednesday afternoon in Asia, down from 109.31 yen late Tuesday. The euro gained slightly against the greenback at US$1.4969, compared with US$1.4887.

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TOKYO (AP) -- Japan's economy shrank for the first time in a year in the second quarter, the government said Wednesday, but officials -- joined by many economists -- denied the downturn heralded a return of the "lost decade" economy of the 1990s.

Hit by faltering exports and wilting consumer demand, the world's No. 2 economy, which until now had managed to power forward, is beginning to succumb to the onslaught of rising commodities prices and global economic turmoil.

Whether Japan has indeed entered recessionary territory remains up for debate, but economists generally agree that the current downturn won't be as deep or as long as the economic malaise that crippled the country in the 1990s. They cite healthier fundamentals than in the past, when Japan faced excess debt, labor and capacity.

Japan's gross domestic product, or the total value of the nation's goods and services, dropped at an annual pace of 2.4 percent in the April-June period, a marked fall from a 4.0 percent rise registered in the January-March quarter.

The new numbers -- the first negative reading in four quarters -- bolstered growing evidence that Japan's six-year expansion was over.

Glen Maguire, chief Asia economist for Societe Generale, said Japan is "tracking to a lower growth profile," but stopped short of calling it a technical recession -- commonly defined as two straight quarters of contraction.

"I don't think the numbers are signaling the type of deep recessions we saw in the late 1990s and early 2001," Maguire said. "Any slowdown in the Japanese economy is likely to be relatively modest."

On a quarterly basis, GDP contracted 0.6 percent, after a 0.8 percent increase in the January-March period, the Cabinet Office said in its preliminary report. Private consumption, which accounts for more than half of real GDP, dropped 0.5 percent from the previous quarter. Housing investment was down 3.4 percent.

Two main drivers of Japan's six-year economic recovery -- business investment and exports _ also deteriorated. Corporate capital investment in factories and equipment fell 0.2 percent from the previous quarter, while overall exports of goods and services slid 2.3 percent -- lower for the first time in 13 quarters.

While acknowledging the "downward risks" facing the economy, Economy Minister Kaoru Yosano told reporters that the contraction is unlikely to be a long-term trend and should be evaluated "optimistically."

The latest figures, which had been widely expected, followed a series of recent sluggish economic indicators.

The government's monthly economic report for August released last week described the economy as "weakening." Although the Cabinet Office refrained from using the term "recession," it left out any reference to an economic "recovery" for the first time in more than six years.

Industrial production was down 2.2 percent in June from the previous month, and slowing demand overseas is battering Japanese exporters.

In data released separately Wednesday, Japan's current account surplus -- the widest barometer of its trade with the world -- plummeted 67.4 percent from a year earlier to 493.9 billion yen (US$4.52 billion) as exports declined and higher oil prices pushed up the import bill.

The country's top automaker, Toyota Motor Corp., said last week its fiscal first-quarter profit plummeted 28 percent, and the automaker stuck to its forecast that full-year profit will fall for the first time in seven years as it faces more problems from a weakening North American market and rising material costs.

Domestically, rising inflation is sapping consumer sentiment, with July's consumer confidence index falling to its lowest level since the government began tracking the data in 1982.

Takehiro Sato, chief economist at Morgan Stanley in Tokyo, expects personal consumption to bounce back in the current quarter, as hot weather spurs sales of summer-related products.

But slowing exports will continue to weigh on the Japanese economy in the months ahead, he said, predicting flat or negative growth in the October-December and January-March quarters.

"The recession has only begun," Sato said.

Japanese officials scrambling to control the fallout on Monday released a draft framework of an emergency economic stimulus package designed to help the country cope with high fuel and commodity prices.

Measures include financial assistance for small and midsize firms, subsidies for industry to improve energy efficiency and highway toll discounts. It did not provide further details, including the scale and total value.

But leaders of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition partner Komei party agreed Wednesday to work to submit a draft of a large-scale supplementary budget at the next parliamentary session, expected to begin in September, according to Japanese media reports.

Citing some in attendance, public broadcaster NHK said the supplementary budget could be as much as 1 trillion yen (US$9 billion).

More certain are the Bank of Japan's plans, which many economists agree are likely to factor in the slowing economy more so than rising inflation. When the central bank policy board meets next week, it is expected to keep its key interest rate unchanged at 0.5 percent.

Japanese stocks fell sharply following the release of the GDP numbers in the morning. The benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average lost 2.21 percent, and the broader Topix index closed down 1.96 percent.

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SHENYANG, China (AP) -- Gerald Sibon converted a second-half penalty kick Wednesday to give the Netherlands a 1-0 win over Japan and a spot in the Olympic quarterfinals.

A pre-tournament favorite, the Dutch finished second in Group D with five points. Nigeria advanced to first place after beating the United States 2-1.

Sibon scored the winner in the 74th minute after Ryan Babel was fouled inside the area to prompt the penalty call. Sibon fired a low shot in the middle of the net as Japan goalkeeper Shusaku Nishikawa dived to his right.

The goal kept the Netherlands from being eliminated without a win in its three matches.

Despite needing a two-goal victory to advance without depending on the Nigeria-U.S. match, the Netherlands was not able to put any pressure on Japan until the second half at the Shenyang Olympic Stadium.

The team's lone chance in the first period was Sibon's bicycle kick in the 44th, which just missed after deflecting off a defender.

Midfielder Jonathan de Guzman came close with a free kick saved by goalkeeper Nishikawa in the 49th. Royston Drenthe also had a chance on a set piece in the 52nd.

Japan's most dangerous opportunity was in the 60th when Masato Morishige's right-footer from long range struck the crossbar as Dutch goalkeeper Kenneth Vermeer could only watch.

Veteran Dutch striker Roy Makaay, who returned to the squad after missing most of the team's previous match due to a right foot injury, failed to threaten Japan's goal.

A two-time defending European under-21 champion, the Netherlands arrived in China as one of the top title contenders, but struggled in a 0-0 draw against Nigeria in its opener and a 2-2 draw against the U.S. last Sunday.

Japan entered Wednesday's matches with no chance of advancing. It lost 1-0 to the United States in the opener and 2-1 to Nigeria on Sunday.

The Netherlands is participating in the Olympic football tournament for the first time since 1952.

Japan and the Ivory Coast are the only two teams without overage players in their roster. The tournament is for under-23 squads, but each nation was allowed to summon three players older than 23 if wanted.

It was the fourth time in eight Olympic showings that Japan failed to advance past the group stage. It won bronze at the 1968 games in Mexico.

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BEIJING (AP) -- Masae Ueno won Japan's third gold medal in judo on Wednesday, defending her 2004 Olympic title with a match-ending throw less than a minute into her final with Anaysi Hernandez of Cuba in the women's 70-kilogram class.

Winning bronze were Ronda Rousey of the United States, who scored early with a yuko and held on to defeat Germany's Annett Boehm, and Edith Bosch of the Netherlands with an ippon throw over Spain's Leire Iglasias.

Rousey's bronze was the first Olympic medal in women's judo for the U.S. since the event was put on the official schedule in 1992.

Judo awards two bronze medals in each weight class.

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