With friends like these, who needs Kyocera Corp is reported to be acutely embarrassed for no good reason when anyone suggests that as it dominates the market for ceramic packages for chips, some of its products must be in the guidance systems of all those missiles going bang in the Iraqi night; with Scud missiles still sporadically menacing civilian populations in Israel and Saudi Arabia, Uncle Sam would like a few more Patriot missiles like quick, but Japan, which manufactures the things under licence from Raytheon Co says no dice, our constitution doesn’t allow it – and ITN reports that even Japan’s own correspondents in the Middle East have been having to buy gas masks in London: you guessed it – Japan makes gas marks, but they are classified as weapons of war
