+SONY SAYS SOLD 500K PSPS IN TWO DAYS IN N. AMERICA

(Reuters, April 7th) Sony Corp. sold 500,000 units of its PlayStation Portable handheld video game device in the first two days after its North American release. The $249 PSP Value Pack came out March 24 in the United States. There were mixed reactions to the early sales, with some analysts saying the device was not selling as fast as some large chains might have expected. But Sony said the PSP generated a total of $150 million in first-week sales at North American retailers. The PSP came out late last year in Japan and has sold more than 1 million units there to date. Sony postponed the European launch of the.

+MARCH CONSUMER CONFIDENCE DECLINES TO 45.2

(Bloomberg, April 15th) Consumers grew more pessimistic for the first month in three, suggesting that household spending may not support a recovery. Confidence among households with two or more people fell to 45.2 from 47.6 in February. The Index reached a 13-year high in August last year of 49.2. In Tokyo, home to one in 10 Japanese, confidence fell to 47 from 47.5. Exports rose at the slowest pace in more than a year in February as shipments of electronic equipment declined, casting doubt on the strength of the recovery. Exports rose 1.7 percent from a year earlier, a government report showed March 23. In January and February the economy added 190,000 jobs and the unemployment rate has dropped to 4.7 percent from a record 5.5 percent in January 2003.

***TECHNOLOGY NEWS***

+SONY UNVEILS IPOD RIVAL WITH 20-GIGABYTE HDD

(Kyodo, April 7th) Sony Corp on Wednesday unveiled a digital music player to compete with Apple Computer Inc's popular iPod in the portable music market. Slightly smaller than a cigarette pack, the new product will go on sale in Japan on April 21 for about 35,000 yen. The Network Walkman NW-HD5 has a 20-gigabyte hard disk drive capable of recording up to around 13,000 tracks of music, according to the leading consumer electronics maker. In the area of battery life, the NW-HD5 can continuously play music for a maximum of 40 hours.

+CARBON FIBER PANELS FOR CARS

(nikkei.co.jp, Apr 22nd)Toray Industries says that it has developed a new process to mass produce an ultra-lightweight carbon fiber and resin compound, for use in making auto panels in place of sheet steel. The new material is 50% lighter than steel and yet five times stronger which means both improved performance and fuel efficiency. Toray will start supplying the material to carmakers for use in doors and car bodies, in 2008.

+NEW ADHESIVE SHEET REMOVES OLD PAINT

(nikkei.co.jp, Apr 8th)Sliontec Corp. has created a sheet of adhesive that can be used to peel off old paint simply by applying it to a painted surface. The new material is applied to the painted surface for 10-20 hours, and the adhesive softens the paint then strips it off. Given how time consuming and messy it is to remove paint at present.

***LIFE SCIENCES AND ENVIROMENT NEWS***

+JAPANESE, MONACO WOMEN HAVE LONGEST LIFE SPAN AT 85 YEARS

(Kyodo April 7th) Japanese women have the longest life expectancy in the world with an average of 85 years, tying with women in Monaco, according to a report by the World Health Organization. The average life span of a Japanese person in 2003 was 82, also the world's longest, with Japanese men reaching 78 years, tying with their counterparts in Switzerland and Sweden, the report shows.

+NEW PROTEIN BIOCHIP

(nikkei.co.jp, Apr 15th)The National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) has announced a new biochip which can analyze up to one million drug samples per day, to help automate lab and patient testing. The new chip is essentially a wafer of glass carrying a dense grid of microscopic enzymes which react to drug samples and show up under fluorescent beams emitted by the chip.

+GOZUKON ENHANCES IMMUNE SYSTEM

(nikkei.co.jp, Apr 15th) Japanese research has confirmed that traditional Japanese fermented foods, such as fermented sesame, soybeans (Nato), and seaweed, assist in boosting the human immune system. The researchers conducted tests on 41 human subjects, divided into test and control groups, and found that a plant lactic bacteria called Lactobacillus pentosus, nicknamed "Gozukon", increased the occurrence of natural killer lymphocytes in the test group subjects by up to 40%. The researchers hope to use Gozukon for sufferers of allergies.

+KONICA MINOLTA TO RELEASE WRISTWATCH-SIZE PULSE OXIMETER IN MAY

(JCNN, April 11th) Konica Minolta announced that it will launch the Oxygen Saturation Monitor PULSOX-300, a wristwatch-type pulse oximeter. The new lightweight pulse oximeter can measure arterial oxygen saturation and pulse rates while the user wears it on the wrist. It is suited for medical care at home. The suggested retail price is 126,000 yen ($1,170). This product will initially be introduced in the domestic market and later overseas.