TOKYO (AP) -- Mizuho, Japan's No. 2 banking group, took a beating from the U.S. credit problems, reporting on Thursday a 50 percent drop in profit for the fiscal year.

Mizuho Financial Group Inc. recorded 311.22 billion yen (US$2.97 billion) in profit for the fiscal year ended March 31, down 49.8 percent from 620.97 billion yen the previous year.

Fiscal year operating revenue climbed 10.3 percent to 4.524 trillion yen (US$43.2 billion), said the Tokyo-based bank. It did not break out its quarterly numbers.

Expectations had been high that subprime-linked losses at Mizuho might be the worst among Japanese lenders after it drastically reduced its fiscal year forecast last month. The bank said its money-losing Mizuho Securities Co. had been hit hard by U.S. credit woes.

Mizuho said trading losses on securitized products at Mizuho Securities totaled 413 billion yen (US$3.94 billion) for the year ended March 31.

Compared to U.S. financial groups, the exposure of Japanese banks to the U.S. subprime mortgage problem has been relatively small.

Mizuho shares rose 3.9 percent in Tokyo to 537,000 yen (US$5,128). Its earnings were announced about an hour after trading ended.

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TOKYO (AP) -- Japanese shares rose Thursday, lifted by an overnight gain on Wall Street and Sony Corp.'s upbeat earnings.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index climbed 133.19 points, or 0.9 percent, to 14,251.74, marking its fourth consecutive gain.

"The market was supported by positive factors both at home and abroad. One good external factor was the U.S. stock performance yesterday," said Kazuhiro Takahashi, general manager at Daiwa Securities SMBC.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 0.51 percent Wednesday to 12,898.38 after a better-than-expected report on U.S. consumer prices eased some of the market's concerns about inflation.

Apart from the U.S. factor, sentiment turned upbeat in Tokyo due to Sony's swing to a profit in the January-March quarter compared with a loss in the same period a year ago.

Sony said Wednesday its fourth-quarter result helped lift it to a record profit of 369.4 billion yen (US$3.5 billion yen) for the financial year through March.

"Investors were heartened by Sony's strong earnings results, prompting buying across the board," Takahashi said.

Sony rose 8.7 percent to close at 5,270 yen.

Shares in NEC Electronics jumped 14 percent to 2,475 yen. As the market closed, the chips maker's parent computer and network equipment maker said its profit for the fiscal year through March more than doubled on year.

Shares in the parent, NEC Corp., rose 5 percent to 551 yen.

Meanwhile, Japan's top automaker Toyota Motor Corp. rose 1.9 percent to 5,380 yen and Nissan Motor Co. gained 2.3 percent to 982 yen.

The Topix index of all the Tokyo Stock Exchange First Section added 19.83 points, or 1.4 percent, to 1,392.87.

In currencies, the dollar was quoted at 104.90 yen midafternoon in Tokyo, compared with 105.06 yen in New York late Wednesday. The euro stood at US$1.5490, up from US$1.5464 late Wednesday in New York.

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TOKYO (AP) -- Toyota's Prius started out a decade ago as a risky experiment in green technology. Today, it's the world's first mass-produced gas-electric hybrid vehicle to hit the one million mark in sales.

The Prius, which went on sale in Japan in 1997, has been a big hit with drivers around the world and is now sold in 40 countries and regions. And its popularity is going strong amid surging gas prices and growing concerns about the environment.

A cumulative 1.028 million Prius vehicles have been sold globally as of the end of April, Toyota Motor Corp. said Thursday.

Toyota, Japan's top automaker, sells other hybrid models, but the Prius has been by far the most popular model. Toyota has said it plans to sell a million hybrids annually sometime in the few years after 2010.

When including the other hybrid models, Toyota's cumulative overall sales of gas-electric vehicles total 1.46 million, according to Toyota, which also makes the Camry sedan and Lexus luxury cars.

Toyota said introduction of the Prius has resulted in 4.5 million metric tons less of global warming gases compared with having standard gas engine cars on the road instead of the hybrid.

Of the more than one million Prius sales worldwide, nearly 592,000 were sold in North America and 315,000 in Japan, Toyota said.

A hybrid delivers a cleaner, more efficient ride by switching between a gas engine and an electric motor at different speeds, and by recycling the energy the car produces as it moves.

The latest Prius is estimated to deliver 48 miles a gallon (20 kilometers per liter) in city driving and 45 miles a gallon (19 kilometers per liter) on highways. Unlike standard cars, hybrids generally provide better mileage in stop-and-go city driving.

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TOKYO (AP) -- NEC Corp.'s profit for the fiscal year through March more than doubled from the previous year as the Japanese electronics maker's mobile phone and computer-chip businesses swung to profit.

NEC, which did not provide numbers for the quarter, reported Thursday a 22.68 billion yen (US$216 million) profit for the fiscal year ended March 31 -- a dramatic rise from 9.13 billion yen profit the previous year.

Fiscal year sales inched down 0.8 percent to 4.617 trillion yen (US$44 billion) from 4.653 trillion yen.

The Tokyo-based maker of computer and network equipment is projecting a continuing recovery for the fiscal year through March 2009.

NEC expects profit for the year to surge 54 percent to 35 billion yen (US$333.3 million) and sales to climb 4 percent to 4.8 trillion yen (US$45.7 billion).

NEC shares rose 5 percent to 551 yen (US$5.2) Thursday in Tokyo. Earnings were announced shortly after trading ended.

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Crewmembers of a Japanese research whaling ship are accused by Greenpeace Japan of stealing a large amount of whale meat they caught off Antarctica.

The environment group is poised on Thursday to file accusations with law enforcers against 12 crewmembers of the Nisshin Maru, a Japanese whaling research ship, on suspicion of embezzlement in the conduct of business.

Greenpeace Japan said it has seized one of the packages that the crewmembers were sending home via a delivery service upon returning to Japan. Members of the group found 23.5 kilograms of whale meat in the package, which is worth 100,000 yen to 300,000 yen.

The 12 crewmembers belong to Kyodo Senpaku Kaisha, Ltd. based in Tokyo, which is commissioned by the Institute of Cetacean Research to carry out whaling research in waters off Antarctica. Greenpeace Japan said it was not sure what the crewmembers were going to do with the whale meat after sending it home.

The environment group said it has checked the shipping vouchers with company registry of the 12 crewmembers and confirmed that they sent out 47 boxes after returning to Japan.

Whales that are caught during research whaling are typically slaughtered aboard the ship, and the edible parts are sold on the market by Kyodo Senpaku. The sale of whale meat is used to cover part of the approximately 6 billion yen in annual expenses for whaling research.

"Taking home whale meat is an open secret among those concerned (with whaling research)", said Junichi Sato of Greenpeace Japan during a press conference in Tokyo on Thursday.

Sato defended the way his group snatched one of the parcel packages sent out by one of the crewmembers without obtaining permission from the delivery company. "It's not a problem as we did it to obtain evidence on the embezzlement."

Meanwhile, a representative of Kyodo Senpaku said, "There have been cases in which whale meat was given to crewmembers when they left the ship, but we cannot think of any illicit acts taking place such as selling whale meat on the black market."

The Fisheries Agency, which provides about 530 million yen as subsidies to the Institute of Cetacean Research, said it will look into the incident.

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A television reporter was arrested for flashing his private parts on a Tokyo street in the early hours of Thursday, police said.

Mitsunori Shimamoto, 29, a reporter at TV Asahi's city news department, stands accused of indecent exposure.

The broadcaster has apologized over the incident. "It's indeed regrettable that a journalist has been arrested for such an incident," said an official at the network's public relations division.

Shimamoto exposed his private parts to a woman in her 20s near the Omotesando Intersection in the Minami-Aoyama district of Minato-ku in the early hours of Thursday, investigators allege. Police officers who were on patrol overpowered him at the scene.

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A high court on Thursday upheld a life prison term handed down on a woman for setting fire to four discount stores in Saitama in 2004, killing three people.

The Tokyo High Court dismissed an appeal filed by Noriko Watanabe, 50, against the sentence handed down on her by the Saitama District Court in March 2007.

The appeal court rejected the defense counsel's request that her prison term be reduced because she was suffering from slight dementia at the time of the incidents and cannot be held fully responsible for her crimes.

"The defendant can be held fully responsible for the crimes," Presiding Judge Toshio Nagai said as he handed down the ruling. "She committed the arson attacks to vent her frustration with not being able to meet her boyfriend. There is no room for leniency."

Watanabe set fire to seven locations at four outlets of the Don Quijote discount store in Saitama between Dec. 13 and 15, 2004, burning three employees to death, according to the ruling. She was also found guilty of stealing approximately 600,000 yen worth of goods from the four outlets.

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KUMAMOTO -- A farmer arrested for drinking beer while driving on an expressway complained during questioning that he was taken into custody even though he did not cause an accident, investigators said.

Kiyohiko Takahara, 48, a resident of Kuroki, Fukuoka Prefecture, is accused of driving under the influence of alcohol.

"I never caused an accident, so what's the problem?" he was quoted as telling investigators during questioning, while admitting to the allegations against him.

Takahara left home in his car at around 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday and drove onto the Kyushu Expressway from Yame Interchange. Another driver spotted him drinking beer while at the wheel, and alerted police.

In response, officers at a checkpoint near Ueki Interchange ordered Takahara to stop. They arrested him after a breath test found that he was driving under the influence of alcohol, prefectural police said.

The officers subsequently found two empty 350-milliliter beer cans and four unopened cans of beer in Takahara's vehicle.

He was quoted as telling investigators that he had drunk five cans of beer at home between 12 and 3 a.m. on Tuesday.

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NARITA, Chiba -- An unemployed man standing trial for a sex-related crime faces rape charges after he lured a 12-year-old girl into having sex with him at a hotel, police said Thursday.

Local police are poised to serve a fresh arrest warrant, accusing the 52-year-old resident of Narita of rape. Investigators will grill the man, whose name was not immediately disclosed, over allegations that he was involved in other similar crimes.

In February this year, the man asked a girl who is a member of a social networking service to introduce a friend to him, according to local police. At his request, the girl, an acquaintance of his, posted a message on the site's bulletin board saying, "I know a man who is willing to give you money."

The suspect took a 12-year-old girl, who sent an e-mail to his mobile phone after seeing the message, to a hotel where he paid her tens of thousands of yen to have sex with him, investigators allege.

Under the Penal Code, sexual contact with girls aged below 13 constitutes rape regardless of whether they consent to such acts.

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JONAN, Kumamoto -- A local government employee has been suspended for failing to process family registries, including a birth report, local officials said.

The Jonan Municipal Government has announced it has suspended the 47-year-old male employee from work for six months after he neglected his duties between fiscal 2004 and 2006.

The local government is in discussion with the local legal affairs bureau of the Justice Ministry over how to deal with the unprocessed family registration cases.

"We wonder if he was too busy to deal with the registrations. He seems unaware that he failed to process them," said a representative of the municipal government.

The employee, who belonged to the family register section, failed to process nine family registration reports -- including those on birth, death, marital status and nationality, city officials said.

His delinquency surfaced after he was transferred to another section in April and his successor discovered unprocessed documents while sorting out papers.

In the case of a boy whose birth report had not been processed, his parents were later forced to change one of the Chinese characters in his name after the employee had mistakenly told his parents that the use of the original character was permitted without confirming when his birth report was filed.

The parents of the boy were reportedly shocked at the decision, saying, "Our son has used the name for over two years."

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MITO -- Two junior high school boys are accused of fatally hitting eight birds including swans near a lake here late last month, police said.

Local police have sent an investigation report to prosecutors, accusing a 15-year-old, third-year junior high school student living in Mito of violating the Wildlife Protection and Hunting Law. The other, a 13-year-old, second-year student, has been reported to a child consultation center.

They admitted to the allegations during questioning. "It was a thrill to kill the birds as they resisted by spreading their wings," one of them was quoted as telling investigators.

The two brutally hit eight birds, including swans, to death along the north shore of Lake Senba in Mito between 1 and 2:30 a.m. on April 28, investigators allege.

They also admitted to killing seven other birds near the lake on April 17, but police will not file accusations against them over that case for lack of evidence.

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TOKYO (AP) -- Japan agreed Thursday to dispatch an emergency relief team to help China deal with its devastating earthquake, officials said, in what appeared to be Beijing's first acceptance of foreign aid since the disaster struck.

Japan, which earlier announced its willingness to help, was to send a group of about 50 rescue workers and medical experts after China made an official request, Foreign Ministry official Masahiko Mitsumoto said.

The team would include firefighters, rescue workers from the Fire and Disaster Management Agency, doctors, nurses and officials from the National Police Agency, the Coast Guard, the Foreign Ministry and a relief agency, Mitsumoto said.

The Japanese government announced Wednesday it would provide 500 million yen (US$4.76 million) in emergency grants and relief supplies such as blankets and tents.

"We are scrambling to gather people, equipment and relief supplies so that we can send them as soon as possible," Mitsumoto said.

The initial team, however, will not include Japanese troops or earthquake experts because China did not ask for them, he said. Japan's disaster agency this week had a team of 17 rescuers standing by but canceled the planned dispatch after the Chinese government declined to accept them.

Experts say the first 72 hours are critical to survival in disasters, meaning that calling in outside help at this point could be far less effective.

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YATSUSHIRO, Kumamoto -- A man has been arrested for fatally hurling his 2-month-old son onto the floor, police said.

Shingo Hayano, 22, a temporary worker, stands accused of inflicting bodily injury resulting in death.

He admitted to the allegations during questioning. "I was irritated with his crying," he was quoted telling investigators.

Investigators are grilling him over allegations that he had regularly abused his son Yuto since late April. His wife was reportedly unaware that he abused the victim.

Hayano hurled Yuto onto the floor at their home in Yatsushiro at around 9:10 p.m. on May 3, local police said. Hayano took him to a local hospital after he fell unconscious. Two hours later, Yuto was pronounced dead.

A doctor who treated the victim suspected that he had been abused, and alerted police.

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Five men suspected of swindling dozens of people out of 55 million yen by pretending to refund their taxes were arrested Thursday, police said.

Takeru Sakamoto, 26, an unemployed man from Tokyo's Adachi-ku, and four others stand accused of computer fraud. All the suspects have denied the allegations, according to investigators.

In the specific case for which the suspects were arrested, Sakamoto and his accomplices called a 65-year-old woman from Toyota, Aichi Prefecture, in February and falsely told her, "We will give you a refund because you paid too much tax."

The woman then transferred about 330,000 yen to an account operated by the ring through a credit union ATM, police said.

Investigators suspect that the five swindled about 50 people out of approximately 55 million yen between July last year and March this year.

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ITAMI, Hyogo -- A needle was found in a negligee item sold at a store here, police said.

The Itami branch of Nishimatsuya Chain, a children's product shop based in Himeji, Hyogo Prefecture, reported to police on Thursday that a needle may have been deliberately stuck into a negligee sold at the store.

A female customer in her 20s from Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture, found the needle -- about 2 centimeters long -- in a pocket on the right side of the negligee when she wore it on April 21. She didn't sustain any injuries, police said.

According to Nishimatsuya Chain, the mother of the woman bought the negligee in mid-March. After her daughter found the needle in late April, the mother reported it to the store. The negligee was made in China.

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On April 5 Hideo Tsuchiyama, 83, was at a memorial service held at a Nagasaki funeral hall for former Mayor Itcho Ito, slain a year earlier while campaigning for re-election.

"As a politician, he was always open to other people's ideas," said Tsuchiyama. Ito's sudden death, at the hands of an assassin with underworld ties, left Tsuchiyama bereft. An assault upon an electoral candidate is an assault upon democracy; and a murderous assault with a deadly weapon like a gun violates everything the pacifist Tsuchiyama stands for.

At the funeral hall Ito's widow Toyoko, 62, enclosed Tsuchiyama's hand in her own. When her husband was alive he spoke of Tsuchiyama often, she said.

"Do take care of yourself," she urged.

"Thank you."

They stood together for nearly a minute, his hand in hers. Gazing at the photograph on the altar of a smiling Mayor Ito, Tsuchiyama said, "This has left a great void in my heart."

In 1996 Nagasaki's municipal government floated a plan to remove the obelisk marking the precise epicenter of the atomic blast. Residents responded with outrage. Finally, after 10 months of heated but inconclusive confrontation, Ito asked Tsuchiyama's advice.

"Mr. Mayor, you are wrong," Tsuchiyama told him bluntly. "A politician should recognize when he's made a mistake."

"Well, I'll think it over," said Ito.

Days later, the plan was withdrawn.

Some time afterwards Ito met Tsuchiyama again and, smiling, said to him, "Thank you very much for your advice that time." Thereafter, Ito frequently sought Tsuchiyama's counsel on matters concerning peace.

A week after the memorial service, on April 12, Tsuchiyama gave a lecture in Nagasaki on "the current state of nuclear weaponry and the Non-Proliferation Treaty." He addressed his audience of about 50 in his usual calm tone, but at one point in his speech, briefly, he raised his voice.

"Nuclear weapons," he said, "represent humanity's greatest crime." In fact he detests not only nuclear weapons but weapons of all kinds -- including one that claimed the life of Ito.

Recalling Ito's smiling face and unshakeable will, Tsuchiyama was once again overcome by sadness.

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GIFU -- An Air Self-Defense Force (ASDF) officer was slapped with a wage cut on Thursday for drinking beer during a drill, force officials said.

The ASDF Gifu base cut the wage of the 54-year-old major by 10 percent for one month on disciplinary grounds. The base has withheld his name.

The major drank two 350-milliliter cans of beer during his lunch break on Sept. 5, 2006, while he was participating in a drill with five subordinates, according to the base's public relations division. The five were also reprimanded for drinking beer.

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TOKYO (AP) -- Japan's key stock index rose to its highest in five months Wednesday as investors welcomed the dollar's stability and upbeat earnings reports from telecommunications giant NTT and other companies.

The Nikkei 225 index climbed 164.82 points, or 1.18 percent, to 14,118.55 points on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, its highest finish since Jan. 10.

The dollar's strength against the yen pushed up exporter issues, while the market welcomed results from some leading companies such as Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp., which Tuesday reported a 32 percent jump in profits.

Amid lingering concerns about the health of the U.S. economy, however, "investors don't want to take a big risk at this point," said Yasuyoshi Shizuma at BNP Paribas.

In currencies, the dollar traded at 104.88 yen midafternoon in Tokyo, up from 104.74 yen late Tuesday in New York. In March, the dollar fell below 100 yen.

Automakers Honda Motor Co. surged 3.11 percent, while Mazda Motor Corp. roe 1.32 percent, while electronics maker NEC gained 0.96 percent.

Mining shares gained after base metals on the London Metal Exchange mostly gained overnight, especially zinc on reports about smelter shutdowns in China after a strong earthquake. Toho Zinc gained 3.5 percent and Nippon Mining Holdings added 4.2 percent.

Electronics maker Pioneer nose-dived 18 percent on disappointing earnings reports and a forecast for a fifth consecutive year of losses amid a difficult business environment on costly restructuring in its TV operations.

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TOKYO (AP) -- Toyota Motor Corp. said Wednesday it is considering building a new plant to make low-cost, small cars for emerging markets.

The automaker, which has announced plans to open a small-car plant in India, is in the early stage of planning for a second factory in an emerging country, a company spokeswoman said on condition of anonymity, citing policy.

Toyota has not decided details such as the location, production capacity and the timeline for the plant, she said.

The Tokyo Shimbun regional newspaper reported Wednesday that Toyota is eyeing a factory in Brazil for a launch in 2011 for the fast-growing auto markets in South America.

Toyota plans to invest tens of billions of yen (billions of dollars) in the plant, which would have a production capacity of about 150,000-200,000 units a year, the newspaper said. The small sedan and hatchback models would be priced at around 1 million yen (US$9,540), the paper said.

Other top carmakers, including General Motors Corp. of the U.S. and Nissan Motor Co., are also working on cheap cars targeting India and other emerging markets.

The Renault-Nissan French and Japanese auto alliance said Monday it's forming a joint venture with Bajaj Auto Ltd. of India to develop, make and sell an inexpensive car there with a starting price around US$2,500).

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TOKYO (AP) -- Sony says it made 29 billion yen (US$277 million) profit in the January-March quarter.

The reversal from a loss of 67.6 billion yen during the same period the previous year came as it trimmed losses in its struggling PlayStation 3 video game business.

Sony said Wednesday that it expects profits in coming months to dwindle because of a strengthening yen.

Sales were solid in liquid-crystal display TVs, digital cameras and Vaio computers, the Tokyo-based manufacturer said. But sales of mobile phones, old-style picture tube TVs and PlayStation 2 machines declined during the quarter ended March 31.

Quarterly sales dropped 6.5 percent to 1.95 trillion yen (US$18.6 billion), Sony said.

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TOKYO (AP) -- Drivers in Japan can check on their pets, turn lights off and on and lock their front door -- all from inside their cars -- with a new car navigation system from Panasonic.

The 354,900 yen (US$3,400) Strada F-Class guides drivers with maps to destinations like regular car navigation.

The gadget also links to your home through an Internet-linking mobile phone. It is set to go on sale in Japan June 13 and was shown to reporters in Tokyo Wednesday. No overseas sales plans are set so far.

All you need to do is touch icons on the touch-screen panel of the car navigation system, such as "turn off the light" or "lock the door."

The catch is you need a special Internet-linking home with its own server that hooks up gadgets and lighting to work with mobile phones and products like Strada F-Class.

Only about 2,000 homes in Japan have such Net-linking systems so far, said Panasonic official Naohisa Morimoto.

To see an image of your pet or other still shots of your home, you need a special camera that has Net-linking features. You need a special lock to take advantage of the locking feature.

The systems aren't cheap, costing about 200,000 yen (US$1,900), although cheaper ones are available. They even require additional construction costs.

Panasonic, a brand of Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., has its own businesses of setting up Internet servers in homes, as well as a home-building unit.

The Strada F-Class can't do much more than turn lights and air conditioning off and on. But Morimoto said consumers may seek to ward off burglary by putting on an appearance of being home by turning lights off and on while they're away.

Panasonic plans to sell about 8,000 of the Strada F-Class navigation machines a month in Japan.

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TOKYO (AP) -- Yokozuna pair Asashoryu and Hakuho both made quick work of their opponents Wednesday on the fourth day of the Summer Grand Sumo Tournament.

Hakuho toppled fellow Mongolian Kyokutenho with a powerful overarm throw that sent the No. 2 maegashira tumbling onto the ring.

The yokozuna improves to a perfect 4-0 in his quest for his seventh title victory, and looks to avenge a final-day loss in March to archrival Asashoryu at the Spring Grand Sumo Tournament. Kyokutenho fell to 1-3.

Russia's Wakanoho had a shot at pulling off another upset against Asashoryu, but the Mongolian executed an aggressive, well-timed armlock throw at the edge of the ring against the No. 2 maegashira.

Despite a shocking opening-day loss, the confident Asashoryu improved to 3-1 in his march toward a 23rd Emperor's Cup. A victory would move him into fourth place on the all-time title list.

Kotooshu, who must post a winning record at the 15-day meet to maintain his ozeki status, gained more momentum with a victory over winless Kokkai of Georgia. With a frontal push down from the left, the Bulgarian rammed the No. 1 maegashira into the clay.

Kotooshu is now 4-0, sharing the early lead with Hakuho and Toyonoshima.

Kotomitsuki rebounded from a loss the previous day by outlasting Baruto of Estonia, who succumbed to an inner thigh twist down. The ozeki improves his record to 3-1, while Baruto remains winless.

It was a bad day, however, for the two other ozeki-ranked wrestlers.

No. 3 maegashira Miyabiyama handed veteran Kaio his third straight loss with a slap down near the edge of the ring. Kaio and Miyabiyama are both at 1-3.

Chiyotaikai was forced out of the ring by Asasekiryu of Mongolia, sliding to 2-2 for the tournament.

In other bouts on day four, Ama had Kisenosato under control but victory slipped away after the sekiwake fell over the edge at the last second. Ama of Mongolia dropped to 2-2, while komusubi-ranked Kisenosato improved to 3-1.

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A potential hormone-damaging chemical used in plastic products could affect fetuses and newborn babies even though it meets safety standards, a study has found.

Researchers at the National Institute of Health Sciences have found the chemical substance -- bisphenol A -- could disrupt the central nerve system of fetuses and children, after they conducted experiments on rats.

The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare is looking into consulting the Food Safety Commission of the Cabinet Office over the finding.

According to researchers at the institute, they administered different amounts of bisphenol A to five groups of mother rats every day since the sixth day of their conception until 20 days after they gave birth to baby rats.

They then compared the estradiol cycle of their offspring with their counterparts born from rats that were not administered with bisphenol A to see how the chemical substance affected baby rats through the placenta and breast milk of the mother rats.

Researchers found that offspring that were born to mother rats that had been administered with bisphenol A in volumes of 0.05 and 0.005 milligrams per kilogram of body weight, and a higher amount of bisphenol A, continued to be in estrus when they reached an adult age of seven months old.

With humans, 0.05 milligrams of bisphenol A per kilogram of body weight is the maximum acceptable daily intake of the substance under current safety standards.

"It can be thought that the abnormality in the estradiol cycle (of the offspring) was triggered after bisphenol A exerted an influence on their central nerve system. Adult bodies can ignore such influences, but with fetuses and children who are in the course of development, even a small amount of bisphenol A could affect their central nerve and immune systems, which could trigger abnormalities," said Jun Kanno, a researcher at the institute.

The Ministry of the Environment in 2004 acknowledged that bisphenol A is thought to have endocrine disruption effects on fish but not on humans.

However, the U.S. government filed a report in April this year that said there is a possibility that bisphenol A could affect the nerve system and behavior of children and fetuses and bring about early puberty among girls.

The Canadian government has also announced a plan to ban the import, sales and advertisement of baby bottles that contain bisphenol A.

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AOMORI -- A couple has been arrested after the male driver killed a pedestrian because he took his eyes off the road while the woman passenger fed him a chocolate from her mouth to his, Aomori District Public Prosecutors Office said.

Hiroyoshi Oyama, 47, a company employee from Aomori, was arrested for negligent driving resulting in the death of a 69-year-old male pedestrian.

An unnamed woman in her 20s who was in the car with Oyama at the time of the fatal crash was arrested for aggravated negligence resulting in death. It is extremely rare for vehicle passengers to face charges in connection with a road accident.

Both admit to the allegations facing them.

Prosecutors said the nature of the accident meant both the driver and passenger should face criminal charges.

"We decided they have a significant criminal responsibility to pay considering somebody died in this case," a prosecutor said.

Prosecutors said that while Oyama and the woman were driving through Noheji, Aomori Prefecture, on the afternoon of Dec. 28 last year, the company employee took his eyes off the road as the woman mouth-fed him a chocolate and he slammed his car into the old man, killing him.

Immediately after the crash, Oyama told investigators the woman was only a passerby and tried to avoid getting her involved. Police sent documents to prosecutors accusing Oyama of negligent driving resulting in death on April 4. Prosecutors arrested Oyama on April 7 and the woman two days later.

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A yakuza gang boss and his South Korean cohort were Wednesday given life sentences, fined and ordered by the Tokyo District Court to pay an additional penalty of nearly 1 billion yen for smuggling a massive cache of speed into Japan from North Korea.

Katsuhiko Miyata, 60, the boss of a gang affiliated with the Kyokuto-kai yakuza syndicate, and Tokimitsu Woo, 61, unemployed, were found guilty on a variety of charges including breaking the Stimulants Control Law.

Presiding Judge Masaki Tsunoda ordered the pair to each serve life imprisonment, fined them 10 million yen apiece and ordered them to pay an additional penalty of 961.75 million yen.

"This was a highly organized operation planned and carried out on a massive, international scale and is worthy of strong criticism," Tsunoda said.

Court records showed that on two occasions in 2002 the pair collected about 230 kilograms of stimulants a North Korean cargo ship dropped off into the Sea of Japan and smuggled the drugs into the country through a coastal drop-off point in Shimane Prefecture.

During the trial, prosecutors pointed out that a North Korean ship that sank itself off the coast of Kagoshima Prefecture after a gunfight with the Japanese Coast Guard in December 2001 had been carrying drugs to Japan to be collected by Miyata's yakuza syndicate.

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Figurines of comic character Fujiko Mine from "Lupin the 3rd" clad only in a skimpy negligee will be made available as prizes in arcade games from later this month, manufacturer Banpresto Co. said.

Fujiko is a sexy young woman who sometimes helps and other times betrays Lupin, the thief who is the star of the long-running comic, and his companions.

Fujiko figurines are 16-centimeters tall and clad in negligees of either pink or black and are targeted at Lupin fans and women in their 30s.

A woman designer at Banpresto came up with the figurines, aiming to reproduce sexiness that would appeal to men and cuteness that women would like to come up with a look that is "erokawa-sekushii," or erotic, cute and sexy.

She studied women's poses, gave the doll seductive eyes, a provocative look on its face and a sultry side-on lie that implies defenselessness.

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SHIMOTSUMA, Ibaraki -- Local officials were shocked to find large fields in a flower festival being held in a park here were actually illegal opium poppies.

Several hundred thousand opium poppies illegal under the Opium Law were ripped out of the ground and burned after they were found to be growing at the Flower Festival being held at the Kokaigawa Fureai Park in Shimotsuma.

Prefectural government officials suspect an accident.

"I'd say the opium poppies have been mixed in somehow with the imported poppy seeds," a prefectural government official said.

City officials were surprised.

"We thought they'd be red flowers, but turned out to be a light purple. I thought they were a little ugly, but didn't realize it was opium," a spokesman for the municipal government section looking after the festival said. "We had the same flowers growing here a few years back, too."

Police said that they noticed the opium poppies growing in the field during a routine patrol of the festival on Sunday. Police narcotics experts were sent to examine the flowers on Monday and discovered that about one-fifth of the 5-hectare poppy field was opium poppies.

City officials pulled the opium poppies out on Tuesday and burned them.

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TSUKUBA, Ibaraki -- A ramen noodle restaurant operator awaiting a sex crime trial was slapped with further charges after he posed as a lawman to lure a young woman into his clutches, police said.

Tetsuya Nakano, 39, was arrested on charges of abduction of a minor and illegal confinement after he allegedly lured a 19-year-old university student into his car and held her for about 30 minutes.

Several similar incidents have been reported in the area recently and Nakano, the ramen restaurant operator from Chikusei, Ibaraki Prefecture, is suspected of involvement.

Police said on the afternoon of Feb. 26, Nakano approached the student, told her he was a police officer and that he needed to inspect her bicycle because it had been reported as stolen.

Police said Nakano bundled the young woman into the back of his stationwagon and held her captive as he drove her around Tsukuba for about 30 minutes.

The young woman escaped when Nakano got out of his vehicle to visit a convenience store.

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Actress-model Yu Yamada -- already in the news after it was revealed she is dating heartthrob actor Shun Oguri -- released her debut album on Wednesday called "Myusic," filled with songs about being in love.

The 23-year-old Yamada apparently sings about her passionate feelings for the 25-year-old actor in a new song, "Holla!," with lyrics like "I can't take my eyes off you" and "make me burn with love."

The album consists of 12 tracks, including five singles previously released, such as the debut song "Real You" (released in September 2006), which is an insert song for the movie "Akihabara @ Deep" starring Yamada, and "Fiesta, fiesta" (September 2007), the fourth single produced by popular singer Toshinobu Kubota.

The limited edition album, containing a DVD of music videos of the five singles, is priced at 3,990 yen. The regular edition without the DVD costs 3,150 yen.

MISAWA, Aomori -- A U.S. serviceman arrested on suspicion of indecently assaulting a Japanese woman has been referred to public prosecutors on suspicion of driving while intoxicated, law enforcers said.

Misawa police referred the 22-year-old serviceman, James Littlejohn, to the Hachinohe branch of the Aomori District Public Prosecutors Office on Tuesday on suspicion of violating the Road Traffic Law. He has reportedly admitted to the allegations.

Investigators accuse Littlejohn of driving under the influence of alcohol on a prefectural road in Oirase, Aomori Prefecture, at about 4:50 a.m. on May 2, while he was on the run from an incident in which he allegedly indecently assaulted a woman, groping her breasts and buttocks.

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FURUKAWA, Miyagi -- A woman has been arrested for forging divorce papers, possibly to avoid a new baby being recognized as the child of her ex-husband, police said.

Maki Horiguchi, 36, of Kami, Miyagi Prefecture, was arrested for forgery and use of official documents.

Police said that during December 2006, Horiguchi filed documents with the Osaki Municipal Government using a forged signature of her husband at the time. The husband had refused to formally end the marriage, but when he saw his family register marked him as divorced, he complained to the police.

Horiguchi re-married and had a child with her current husband last year. She formally married her current spouse in January.

Under Japanese law, the paternity of any child born within 300 days of a divorce is automatically recognized as the previous spouse's. Police believe Horiguchi may have forged the divorce papers to avoid having her former spouse being the legal father of her youngest child.

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OSAKA -- A beer garden is attracting customers to the rooftop of Hankyu Railway's Umeda Station building with a unique Osaka flavor in its dishes including a dish using blackened Chinese noodles to resemble an old lady's permed hair.

Other unusual dishes include octopus balls that roll through sauce, and huge "okonomi-yaki" Japanese-style pancakes as big as the size of a tatami mat.

"We'll bring the 'smile to Osaka' that the governor pledged to bring about," a representative of the establishment said, referring to newly elected Gov. Toru Hashimoto.

The beer garden, which seats 900 people, opened on May 9. It is offering 30 types of all-you-can-eat dishes to go with the beer.

The theme at the beer garden changes every year. Past themes include "Hawaii" and "cheergirls."