Yeltsin’s visit and the outlook for Japanese-Russian relations

The article clarifies a major misunderstanding prevalent among Americans, who tend to regard Japan’s request for the return of the Northern Territories as a narrow-minded, national-egoistic demand. Instead, the issue has become a global one. The author evaluates Yeltsin’s December 1992 visit to Tokyo, which has set a basic framework for further negotiation over the territorial disputes. Predicting optimistically the possible resolution of the dispute in the future, the author proposes concretely what may be done by the Japanese and the Russians. serves as first vice president of the International Council for Central and East European Studies (ICSEES). Dr. Kimura’s publications includeBeyond Cold War to Trilateral Cooperation in the Asia-Pacific Region: Scenarios for New Relationships Between Japan, Russia, and the United States (Cambridge, MA, 1992).     

An autopsy case of imipramine poisoning

We present a fatal imipramine poisoning. Quantitative analysis of imipramine and its metabolite, desipramine, was performed by high-performance liquid chromatography. The concentrations of imipramine and desipramine were 18.67 microg/mL and 6.21 microg/mL in heart blood and 6.90 microg/mL and 1.77 microg/mL in the femoral venous blood, respectively. We concluded that the cause of death was due to imipramine poisoning.     

A new retrieval system for a database of 3D facial images

A new retrieval system for a 3D facial image database was designed and its reliability was experimentally examined. This system has two steps, firstly to automatically adjust the orientation of all 3D facial images in a database to that of the 2D facial image of a target person, and then to identify the facial image of the target person from the adjusted 3D facial images in the database using a graph-matching method. From the experimental study [M. Yoshino, K. Imaizumi, T. Tanijiri, J.G. Clement, Automatic adjustment of facial orientation in 3D face image database, Jpn. J. Sci. Tech. Iden. 8 (2003) 41-47], it is concluded that the software developed for the first step will be applicable to the automatic adjustment of facial orientation in the 3D facial image database. In 28 out of 110 sets (25.5%), the 3D image of the target person was chosen as the best match (from a database of 132 3D facial images) according to the similarity of the facial image characteristics based on the graph matching. The 3D facial image of the target person was ranked in the top of 10 of the database in 75 out of 110 sets (68.2%). These results suggest that this system is inadequate for the identification level, but may be feasible for screening method in a small database. It will be necessary to further pursue the possibility of realization of a facial image retrieval system for a large database such as suspects' facial images in future.     

Trial for the geographical identification using JC viral genotyping in Japan

Despite progress in methods of scientific investigation, the increasing number of unidentified cadavers is a growing problem world-wide. We performed detailed statistical analysis based on reported data for Japanese JC virus (JCV) genotype distribution, and obtained two curves showing a marked north-south difference in the JC viral genotype, in spite of the frequent movement of people in Japan. This suggested the possibility of determining the origin of unidentified cadavers numerically, thus making the police investigation of unidentified cadavers much more economical and efficient. If the distribution of JC viral genotypes could be investigated in detail, it would be possible to obtain geographic information about unidentified cadavers even in a certain area.     

Evidence of hexavalent chromium ingestion

We describe the application of histochemical demonstration of chromium in a case of fatal ingestion of potassium dichromate in a suicide attempt. Using 2-(8-quinolylazo)-4,5-di-p-tolylimidazole (QTI), we could demonstrate chromium in the erythrocyte of the victim, in situ. This finding provides a means of proving the hexavalent chromium ingestion.