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Nankai Hawks pitcher Masanori Murakami

TOKYO, Japan, Sept. 4 Kyodo - Nankai Hawks pitcher Masanori Murakami (front) stretches his arm with the help of teammate Chikara Morinaka at a playfield in Sakai in Osaka Prefecture, western Japan, on Feb. 1, 1966. (Kyodo)

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Politicians pay tribute to the late JCP leader Kenji Miyamoto

TOKYO, Japan - Representatives of major political parties in Japan pay tribute to the late Japanese Communist Party leader Kenji Miyamoto at a memorial service held in Tokyo on Aug. 6. From L to R: JCP chairman Kazuo Shii, House of Representatives Speaker Yohei Kono, former JCP Chairman Tetsuzo Fuwa, Liberal Democratic Party Secretary General Hidenao Nakagawa (two persons away from Fuwa), Democratic Party of Japan Secretary General Yukio Hatoyama and New Komeito deputy leader Chikara Sakaguchi.

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Thanking Britons for help to quake-hit Japan

LONDON, Britain - Marine adventurer Chikara Nakamura (L), 60, and his brother Hidetaka, 63, who is a seaman, hold letters of thanks written by local government chiefs in northeastern Japan hit by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami inside the London city office on July 11, 2012. The brothers met with Deputy Mayor of London Victoria Borwick after crossing the Straits of Dover by sea kayak in a gesture of gratitude for the help offered by British citizens to the victims of the disaster.

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Japanese bass awarded by Russia

MOSCOW, Russia - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev (L) awards the Pushkin Medal to Japanese operatic bass Chikara Kishimoto at the presidential official residence in the suburbs of Moscow on Feb. 17, 2012.

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Japanese bass awarded by Russia

MOSCOW, Russia - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev (L) and Japanese operatic bass Chikara Kishimoto shake hands as the former awards the Pushkin Medal to the latter at the presidential official residence in the suburbs of Moscow on Feb. 17, 2012.

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Ajinomoto, Itoham Foods form operational tie-up

TOKYO, Japan - Norio Yamaguchi (L), president of Ajinomoto Co., and Chikara Kasai, president of Itoham Foods Inc., shake hands after a joint press conference in Tokyo on May 30. They announced the two companies have formed an operational tie-up for cooperation in procurement of raw materials, and in the development and marketing of products.

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Japanese adventurer takes children's paintings to China by canoe

KAGOSHIMA, Japan - Seen off by well-wishers, Japanese adventurer Chikara Nakamura heads out to sea on a solo trip to China by canoe from Minami-Satsuma, Kagoshima Prefecture on May 25. Nakamura, 56, is carrying a collection of children's paintings for display at a Japanese-Chinese exhibition at the museum in Beijing's Forbidden City, an event organized to mark the Beijing Summer Olympics. Nakamura says he plans to row to China's Qingdao city via South Korea's Jeju island, a 1,400-km trip that is expected to take a month, and then travel on to Beijing by train.

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Coffee shops becoming popular places to talk about science

TOKYO, Japan - Chikara Miyachi (C), a researcher at the National Agency for the Advancement of Sports and Health, explains movements of top athletes at a science cafe held under sponsorship of Kobe University in Kobe's Nada Ward in March.

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Ruling camp calls for 2 tril. yen tax hike in FY 2006

TOKYO, Japan - Hakuo Yanagisawa, chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party's tax research panel, speaks at a press conference as his new Komeito party counterpart Chikara Sakaguchi listens. The governing coalition unveiled its tax reform outline for fiscal 2006, calling for a 2 trillion yen tax increase in the year beginning in April while alluding to raising the consumption tax in fiscal 2007.

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(2)Tanabe wins bronze in wrestling

ATHENS, Greece - Japan's Chikara Tanabe shows off is bronze medal on the podium at Ano Liossia Olympic Hall on Aug. 28. Tanabe defeated Greece's Amiran Karntanov to claim the bronze medal at 55 kilograms in men's freestyle wrestling.

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(1)Tanabe wins bronze in wrestling

ATHENS, Greece - Japan's Chikara Tanabe (R), who won the bronze medal in wrestling at 55 kilograms, stands on podium along with gold medal winner Mavlet Batirov (C) of Russia and silver medallist Stephen Abas (L) of the United States at Ano Liossia Olympic Hall on Aug. 28.

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(2)Abas beats Tanabe in men's freestyle wrestling semis

ATHENS, Greece - American Stephan Abas (R) poses after beating Japan's Chikara Tanabe in the semifinals of the men's 55-kilogram freestyle competition at the Athens Olympics on Aug. 28.

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(1)Abas beats Tanabe in men's freestyle wrestling semis

ATHENS, Greece - American Stephan Abas (bottom) beat Japan's Chikara Tanabe in the semifinals of the men's 55-kilogram freestyle wrestling competition at the Athens Olympics on Aug. 28.

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(1)Japan's Tanabe advances to semis in wrestling

ATHENS, Greece - Chikara Tanabe of Japan attacks Kim Hyo Sub of South Korea with an ankle hold during the third-round qualification match at 55 kilograms at Ano Liossia Olympic Hall on Aug. 27. Tanabe won a berth in the semifinals after a technical-fall victory over Kim.

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(3)Japan's Tanabe advances to semis in wrestling

ATHENS, Greece - Chikara Tanabe (R) of Japan attacks Yogeshwar Dutt of India during their second-round qualification match at 55 kilograms at Ano Liossia Olympic Hall on Aug. 27.

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(2)Japan's Tanabe advances to semis in wrestling

ATHENS, Greece - Chikara Tanabe of Japan (rear) defeats Sydney Olympics gold medallist Naming Abdullayev of Azerbaijan 5-2 in their qualifying match at 55 kilograms at Ano Liossia Olympic Hall on Aug. 27. Tanabe won a berth in the semifinals after a technical-fall victory over Kim.

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Opposition to submit no-confidence motion against Cabinet

TOKYO, Japan - Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi (C) presides over a Cabinet session in the Diet building on June 15, flanked by Finance Minister Sadakazu Tanigaki (L) and Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Chikara Sakaguchi (R). The opposition bloc is set to submit a no-confidence motion against the Koizumi cabinet, but the motion is expected to be voted down by the ruling coalition.

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Sakaguchi not part of pension scheme in 1984-1985

TOKYO, Japan - Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Chikara Sakuguchi, who is in charge of Japan's pension schemes, tells a House of Councillors committee he did not participate in the national pension plan in 1984 and 1985 before lawmakers were required to join it in April 1986.

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Gov't maintains upbeat economic assessment in May report

TOKYO, Japan - (From L to R) Labor and welfare minister Chikara Sakaguchi, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and Heizo Takenaka, state minister in charge of economic and fiscal policy, attend a conference to assess the state of Japan's economy at the premier's office in Tokyo on May 21. The government left its upbeat assessment of the nation's economy unchanged in its monthly report issued the same day.

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(2)Pension bills clear Diet panel

TOKYO, Japan - Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi (R) shakes hands with Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Chikara Sakaguchi in the Diet building on April 28 after government-sponsored pension reform bills were approved at House of Representatives Health, Labor and Welfare Committee session.

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3 ministers have not paid mandatory pension premiums

TOKYO, Japan - Welfare minister Chikara Sakaguchi (C) awaits the resumption of a House of Representatives panel discussing a new pension system which was suspended after three cabinet ministers admitted the same day that they have not made mandatory payments into the national pension system despite repeated government calls on the public to pay premiums.

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(1)DPJ boycotts deliberations on pension reform

TOKYO, Japan - Welfare minister Chikara Sakaguchi (back, standing) explains a government-sponsored bill for pension reforms at a House of Representatives committee. The main opposition Democratic Party of Japan boycotted deliberations in protest against a statement by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. The premier said it is desirable that several pension programs be simplified into one system in the future, although he treated the schemes separately in the bill recently compiled by his administration.

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Diet deliberations on pension reform bill start

TOKYO, Japan - Welfare minister Chikara Sakaguchi gives a briefing on a government-sponsored bill to reform pension systems during a House of Representatives plenary session April 1.

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Gov't urges business leaders to hire more youth

TOKYO, Japan - Labor minister Chikara Sakaguchi (L) urges top business leaders Jan. 14 to hire more young people. He told them difficulties young Japanese face in finding jobs poses a threat to the future of the Japanese economy.

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Gov't, ruling parties agree on pension premium

TOKYO, Japan - Health and welfare minister Chikara Sakaguchi (R) leaves the prime minister's office on Dec. 17 after a deal was made by he government and the ruling parties to set the upper limit of employee pension scheme premiums at 18.35% of income when reforming the pension system.

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(1)Japan decides to send troops to Iraq

TOKYO, Japan - Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi (C) is flanked by Finance Minister Sadakazu Tanigaki (L) and Health and Welfare Minister Chikara Sagacuchi at a special cabinet session called Dec. 9 to endorse a plan to dispatch noncombat Self-Defense Forces troops to Iraq to assist in the country's reconstruction.

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(2)Cabinet approves basic policy for FY 2004 budget

TOKYO, Japan - Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi (C) is flanked by Finance Minister Sadakazu Tanigaki (L) and Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Chikara Sakaguchi at a special cabinet session called Dec. 5

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Gov't, ruling bloc agree to keep pensions above 50% of pay

TOKYO, Japan - Health minister Chikara Sakaguchi speaks to reporters on Dec. 3 after cabinet ministers and executives of the ruling coalition parties agreed in principle to keep future pension payment above 50% of workers' income when reforming the public pension system.

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Evans meets Sakaguchi in Tokyo

TOKYO, Japan - U.S. Commerce Secretary Donald Evans (L) shakes hands with Japanese Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Chikara Sakaguchi prior to their talks at the health ministry on Oct. 30.

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Sakaguchi remains as health minister

TOKYO, Japan - Chikara Sakaguchi speaks at a press conference at the prime minister's office in Tokyo on Sept. 22 after being reappointed as health, labor and welfare minister in the reshuffled cabinet of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.

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Gov't declares Japan free of SARS

TOKYO, Japan - Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Chikara Sakaguchi tells a press conference in the Diet in Tokyo on May 23 that Japan is basically free of SARS 10 days after a Taiwan tourist with the disease left the country.

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Japan eyes setting up task force on SARS

TOKYO, Japan - Health minister Chikara Sakaguchi (2nd from L) and other cabinet ministers meet at the prime minister's office May 1 to discuss tougher measures to counter the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) epidemic. They decided to set up a task force headed by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to fight the spread of SARS.

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Sakaguchi discusses SARS with Chinese Ambassador Wu

TOKYO, Japan - Japanese health minister Chikara Sakaguchi (L) shakes hands with Chinese Ambassador to Japan Wu Dawei at his ministry in Tokyo on April 23 prior to their talks. They discussed how to fight severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).

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Smallpox vaccine to be distributed nationwide

TOKYO, Japan - Japan's health minister, Chikara Sakaguchi, (standing) addresses the first meeting of the ministry's headquarters for issues related to Iraq in Tokyo on March 31. The ministry decided to distribute the smallpox vaccine nationwide as a precaution against possible use of the smallpox virus in terrorism in connection with the U.S.-led war on Iraq.

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Health ministry panel urges tobacco consumption cuts

TOKYO, Japan - Masaaki Terada (L), head of a government advisory panel, hands a report to Minister of Health, Labor and Welfare Chikara Sakaguchi on Dec. 25. The report urged the health minister to see reduction of tobacco consumption and reinforce measures to counter passive smoking to promote health.

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Gov't accepts ruling to help A-bomb survivors abroad

TOKYO, Japan - Welfare minister Chikara Sakaguchi speaks at a news conference on a government decision Dec. 18 not to appeal a high court ruling ordering it to pay medical allowances to Kwak Kwi Hoon, a Korean atomic-bomb survivor who left Japan to return to his home in South Korea.

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Diet approves bill to support Japanese abducted to N. Korea

TOKYO, Japan - Labor and Welfare Minister Chikara Sakaguchi (L, front) bows in the House of Councillors plenary session Dec. 4 after it passed into law a bill that will enable the government to provide financial support to Japanese nationals abducted to North Korea who return to their homeland.

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Gov't, Keidanren, Rengo agree to promote work sharing

TOKYO, Japan - Representatives from government, business and labor sectors compiled a document Dec. 4 aimed at ensuring job security in the deteriorating labor market by means such as promoting work sharing. The representatives -- (from R to L) Japan Business Federation (Nippon Keidanren) Chairman Hiroshi Okuda, Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Chikara Sakaguchi, and Kiyoshi Sasamori, president of the Japanese Trade Union Confederation (Rengo) -- held a news conference after their meeting in Tokyo.

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Sakaguchi to seek funds for employment steps in FY 2003 budget

TOKYO, Japan - Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Chikara Sakaguchi speaks at a news conference after jobless statistics for September were released Oct. 29. Sakaguchi said he will ask for more budgetary resources to fund measures to create jobs under the fiscal 2003 state budget.

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Japan's July jobless rate unchanged at 5.4%

TOKYO, Japan - Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Chikara Sakaguchi speaks to reporters at the ministry in Tokyo on Aug. 30 about the severe job situation after the ministry announced that Japan's unemployment rate remained unchanged at 5.4% in July.

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Report says downside risks to economy increasing

TOKYO, Japan - Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi (R) is flanked by Finance Minister Masajuro Shiokawa (C) and Labor Minister Chikara Sakaguchi (L) at a meeting of economic cabinet ministers at his office Aug. 8. The meeting endorsed a monthly report on the state of the economy for August. The report warned that downside risks to the Japanese economy stemming from the volatility of global financial markets are increasing.

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Vice minister Miyaji quits post over influence scandal

TOKYO, Japan - Kazuaki Miyaji (C), senior vice minister at the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry, is surrounded by reporters at the ministry in Tokyo on July 15 after informing Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Chikara Sakaguchi of his intention to step down. Miyaji allegedly used his authority to help a supporter's grandson get into Teikyo University School of Medicine.

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Miyaji quits post over influence scandal

TOKYO, Japan - Senior vice health minister Kazuaki Miyaji fields questions from reporters in Tokyo on July 15 after informing Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Chikara Sakaguchi of his intention to step down. He allegedly used his authority to help a supporter's grandson get into a medical school.

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Japan's jobless rate hits record high 5.2% in FY 2001

TOKYO, Japan - Labor minister Chikara Sakaguchi holds a news conference at the Diet on April 26 after the government reported the same day that Japan's average unemployment rate hit a record-high 5.2% in fiscal 2001, up 0.5 percentage point from the previous year.

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Musashimaru joins kindergarten children

TOKYO, Japan - Yokozuna Musashimaru (C) joins welfare minister Chikara Sakaguchi (R), kindergarten children and their mothers in pulling the rope to put up carp streamers during an event held at the ministry April 22 to mark the annual ''Children's Welfare Week'' beginning May 5.

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(2)Panel adopts final report on mad cow handling

TOKYO, Japan - Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Tsutomu Takebe (R) and Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Chikara Sakaguchi (C) bow in appreciation to Masao Takahashi, chairman of a special panel on mad cow disease, after receiving the panel's report April 2.

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Gov't, labor, management reach accord on job-sharing

TOKYO, Japan - Hiroshi Okuda (L), chairman of the Japan Federation of Employers Associations, Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Chikara Sakaguchi (C) and Kiyoshi Sasamori (R), president of the Japanese Trade Union Confederation shake hands March 29 after announcing an agreement to pave the way for introducing work-sharing amid Japan's deteriorating employment situation.

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State, CJD plaintiffs sign settlement

TOKYO, Japan - Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Chikara Sakaguchi (L) shakes hands with representatives of plaintiffs who sued the state and companies for failing to ensure the safety of human dura mater transplants at the ministry in Tokyo on March 25 after singing a settlement. Patients represented developed the fatal brain disorder Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease following transplant operations.

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Gov't accepts court settlement in CJD lawsuits

TOKYO, Japan - Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Chikara Sakaguchi announces at the Diet on March 1 that the government accepts a court-brokered settlement of lawsuits filed by on behalf of 20 people who contracted Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) from transplants of infected dura mater. The first CJD lawsuit was filed at the Otsu District Court in 1996 and the second the following year at the Tokyo District Court.

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Medical payments hike in Japan agreed upon

TOKYO, Japan - Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Chikara Sakaguchi is surrounded by reporters at a Tokyo hotel Feb. 11 after the government and ruling coalition agreed to revise the health insurance law calling for a rise to 30% from 20% in the amount salaried workers pay in fees to medical institutions from April 1, 2003.