Mitsubishi

‹ Quick Facts:

l The Mitsubishi Group consists of more than 160 corporations, employing over half a million people.

l In 1995 the Mitsubishi Corporation, the group's general trading company or Sogo Shosha, was ranked by Fortune Magazine as the largest corporation on the planet, with revenues topping $175 billion.

l Mitsubishi is one of the main companies involved in the current construction of Fast Breeder Reactors (FBR) Monju and Rokkasho, which are both reprocessing plants. Thus, Mitsubishi is providing Japan with the reprocessing technology to make missiles through the extraction plutonium. Japan, however, does not possess nuclear weapons, at the moment because Article 9 of their constitution prevents them from doing so.

l Mitsubishi is Japan's number one defence contractor – no small market, considering that Japan's "non-offensive" military's budget is already the world's third largest.

l The majority of business involving Mitsubishi is done on behalf of the Japan Defence Agency, with such projects as the F-2 close support fighter, which is being developed in conjunction with Lockheed Martin Corp. as a successor to the F-1 fighter.

l Mitsubishi has its head office in Tokyo with 32 other locations in Japan. It has offices in Mexico, China, Indonesia, Taiwan and India with representatives in South America, Moscow, Istanbul, Pursan, Bangkok and Ho Chi Min City, with dozens of overseas subsidiaries.

l Mitsubishi won the CorpWatch Greenwash award of the Month in 1995 as The Most Environmentally Destructive Corporate Force on Earth.

l CorpWatch quarterly Greenwash Award goes to the Mitsubishi Group of Companies for its ceaseless efforts to portray its various businesses--some of the most destructive on earth--as environmentally friendly.

‹ The Dirty they Make

Mitsubishi has been engaging in nuclear business for more than three decades. Since commencing research into and devleopment of nuclear power generation in the 1950s, Mitsubishi has taken part in the design, manufacture and construction of a large number of very successful power plants. An extensive nuclear plants manufacturer within Japan, Mitsubishi is engaged in the supply of fuel cycle-related equipment and the implementation of research and development programs. These include ways of storing spent nuclear fuel and the development of new types of nuclear power plants like the fast breeder reactor, the high temperature gas cooled reactor, and the nuclear fusion reactor. Thus, Mitsubishi activities lie in close proximity to the manufacturing of nuclear weapons. They have been directly involved with manufacturing missiles and nuclear energy using plutonium.

Mitsubishi makes helicopters, rockets, missiles, torpedos, nuclear power plants, aircraft and military space equipment.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is Japan's number one ship and rocket builder, gas, oil, coal-fired and nuclear power plant maker, and heavy machinery producer. Mitsubishi Heavy, which builds patriot missiles, is also Japan's number one defense contractor--no small market, considering that Japan's "non-offensive" military's budget is already the third largest in the world. (www.corpwatch.org/trac/feature/planet/japan_mit.html)

In December 1998, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in Japan and Ratheon in the US were the defence contractors involved with the Japan's and the US joint research plan for the Theatre Missile Defence (TMD). A memorandum of understanding (MOU) was signed on August 16, 1999 outlining the direction the plan would take. Japan plans to spend $280 million over the next six years on the Theatre Missile Defence.

‹ Mitsubishi's Subsidiaries and Industry

l Main Companies

The core Mitsubishi companies are global leaders in most key economic sectors and are involved in a vast array of activities ranging from making chopsticks to building sophisticated defence weaponry and systems.

There are several divisions within the Mitsubishi Corporation. Many of these Mitsubishi Companies are leaders in their fields both nationally and internationally. Some of them are: Mitsubishi Bank, Mitsubishi Chemical, Mitsubishi Oil, Mitsubishi Electric, Mitsubishi Motors Corporation, Mitsubishi Corporation in Europe and The Middle East, and Kirin Brewery of America.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd (MHI) is one of the world leading manufacturers of heavy industry and is working in several areas incuding, nuclear power, machinery, defense, civil aircraft, and space related business. MHI is located in Tokyo, Japan. It is active in efforts to export nuclear power materials to Asia. Mitsubishi has exported a pressure vessel to China's Qinshan nuclear plant and has supplied a turbine for Taiwan's No.4 (Lungmen) Nuclear Plant.

MHI includes several smaller subdivisions which are divided into more concentrated groups. For example, Mitsubishi Nuclear Fuel Co. is concerned with the manufacture of nuclear fuel. The Nuclear Development Corporation does research and development on fuel and fuel cycle. These two related companies and others from the Mitsubishi Nuclear Organization, which is one of Japan's leading nuclear power providers.

‹ Mitsubishi Patnerships

For the purpose of expanding business and widening the product line-up, Mitsubishi have "aggressively" made alliances with other companies. In the aerospace department, they exchanged memorandums in May 2000 with the Boeing Company so that they can establish a relationship in more areas, agreeing to strengthen the relationship concerning the operation and utility of the International Space Station.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is the key Japanese industry participant in developing a sea-based theater missile defense system that Washington and Tokyo agreed to research in mid-August of 1999. This system's intended use will be to detect the launch of enemy missiles. MHI is working with Raytheon, the prime contractor for the Navy's Theater Wide system, on this project. The five-year or six-year transpacific project will focus on an improved version of the SM-3 missile used in the U.S navy's Theatre Wide missile defense program. MHI has already received an $8.3 million U.S. government contract keyed to Japan's part of the program. Their main role is to develop various high-tech equipment that will be of use in the missile defense system. Japan plans to spend $280 million over the next six years on the project.

Nuclear connections: The Nuclear Energy Systems Headquarters of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. acts as a focal point for contact with customers and controls the various nuclear energy departments of the Mitsubishi Group.

Related Companies are: Nuclear Development Corporation research & development of fuel and fuel cycle, Mitsubishi Nuclear Fuel Co., Ltd., Nuclear Power Training Center, Ltd, Nuclear Plant Service Engineering Co., Ltd.

Mitsubishi is involved with the Japan Nuclear Cycle Development Institute (JNC). There has been a high percentage of temporary transfers of employees from Mitsubishi to JNC.

‹ Dirty Quote by Mitsubishi

"Contributing to the community through philanthropic activities goes naturally with contributing through business activities at the Mitsubishi companies" (www.mitsubishi.or.jp/e/p/phil.html)

‹ Key Sources

1. Mitsubishi web site: www.mitsubishi.com

2. CorpWatch www.igc.org and www.corpwatch.org

3. Joshua Karliner, "The Corporate Planet: Ecology and Politics in the Age of Globalization," (Sierra Club Books, 1997)

4. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries: www.mhi.co.jp/

5. Hoovers Online: www.hoovers.com

This fact sheet was prepared by Mikele Aboitiz, Sheri Gibbings and Felicity Hill of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, United Nations Office in New York.

For More Profiles:

Alliant
Bechtel Inc.
Boeing
British Aerospace Electronics (BAE Systems)
British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL)
General Dynamics
IBM
Lockheed Martin
Raytheon
Siemens
TRW
University of California

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