Horie alleged to have had 30 mil. yen sent to senior LDP lawmaker's son
February 15, 2006Former Livedoor Inc. President Takafumi Horie instructed in a company e-mail message that 30 million yen be sent to the son of a senior ruling party lawmaker as a fee for electoral consultancy work, an opposition lawmaker told a parliamentary panel Thursday. Horie, former head of Livedoor, a Tokyo company being investigated on suspicion of accounting fraud, has been indicted along with three other executives for alleged violations of securities market regulations.
Baseball: Ohka agrees to 1-year, $4.53 mil. deal with Brewers
February 15, 2006Japanese right-hander Tomokazu Ohka reached a one-year deal with the Milwaukee Brewers on Wednesday, one day shy of a scheduled arbitration hearing, the National League club announced. Brewers Executive Vice President and General Manager Doug Melvin made the announcement.
Olympics: Ueno fails to medal in men's moguls
February 15, 2006Japanese freestyle skier Osamu Ueno missed out on his shot at glory with a lackluster performance in the men's moguls final at the Turin Olympics on Wednesday. Ueno, who came 15th in qualification, paid for two costly errors as he tried to negotiate the moguls under the floodlights at Sauze d'Oulx, leaving him with a sub-par score of 19.54 to finish last in the 20-man field.
Olympics: Japan's Ueno solid to reach moguls final
February 15, 2006Japan's Osamu Ueno made an impressive start in the men's moguls to qualify for the final at the Turin Olympics on Wednesday. Ueno was first out the gate at Sauze d'Oulx, making a clean run with some solid turns to finish with a score of 23.03 in booking his spot in the final in 15th, but Japan's two other moguls skiers could not cut the mustard against an insanely strong field.
Olympics: High winds force cancellation of Nordic combined
February 15, 2006The Nordic combined team event at the Turin Winter Olympics was postponed on Wednesday because of strong winds in the ski jumping leg in the Italian Alps. The German team of Jens Gaiser, Bjoern Kircheisen, Ronny Ackermann and Georg Hettich led after the first round of jumps. The results will stand and the competition will start from the second round, which will now be held on Thursday.
Olympics: Japan falls to Norway for 2nd loss in women's curling
February 15, 2006Japan suffered a setback in its bid for a place in the semifinals with a 9-4 loss to Norway in the preliminary round of the Turin Olympic women's curling tournament on Wednesday. A misplaced shot in the fourth end by skip Ayumi Onodera proved costly as Japan failed to recover from an early deficit and conceded the match after nine ends, dropping its record to 1-2 after three matches in the 10-team round robin.
Motor Racing: Sato, Ide to drive for Super Aguri
February 15, 2006New Japanese Formula One team Super Aguri on Wednesday announced it has signed former BAR Honda driver Takuma Sato and Yuji Ide for 2006. Sato, who left BAR Honda (now Honda Racing F1) at the end of last season, was widely tipped to become the No.1 driver at Super Aguri after motor racing's world governing body FIA last month confirmed the Honda-backed team as a new entrant for the coming season.
M'bishi UFJ group posts net profit of 615 bil. yen in April-December
February 15, 2006Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. said Wednesday its group net profit came to 615.37 billion yen in the nine months through December. The figure was up 116.5 percent from 284.20 billion yen marked in the same period of 2004 by Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group Inc., which merged with UFJ Holdings Inc. on Oct. 1 and became the world's largest financial group by assets.