A woman employee of Asada Nosan Co. found the chairman, Hajimu Asada, 67, and his wife, Chisako, 64, hanged near the company's head office in Himeji, Hyogo Prefecture, at around 7:40 a.m., police said.

They said Asada and his wife hanged themselves back to back from a tree outside a poultry house. They said they found an apparent suicide note on the dining table in the couple's home.

The company's Funai farm in Tanba has come under harsh criticism for failing to report that thousands of its chickens were dying. The outbreak was about a week old when it was discovered by prefectural officials who inspected the farm on Feb. 27 following an anonymous tip.

The farm continued to sell live chickens and eggs even though chickens were dying en masse until authorities became aware of the outbreak.

The virus detected at the Funai farm and at a farm nearby is the highly contagious H5N1 strain that has been blamed for the deaths of at least 22 people in Asia.

The Japan Times Weekly: March 13, 2004
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