Businessweek Archives  Consumers Start Telling It To The Judge
International Business   One evening in 1990, Chisao Kaji and
his wife were watching television in their two-story, wooden
home in Osaka. As they remember it, their seven-year-old Sharp
TV suddenly let out a hiss and went blank. Baffled, Kaji's wife
unplugged the set , and the two went upstairs to bed. Minutes
later their 25-year old daughter shouted as smoke filled the
house. Kaji and his wife fled. Their daughter was found dead,
overcome by fumes.  Officials concluded that the fire stared
where the TV stood. But they added that someone might have
broken in and set the blaze. Kaji saw it differently and took a
step rare in Japan: He sued Sharp Corp. for $176,000, charging
that faulty design of the TV caused the fire. Sharp declined to
comment. However, it recalled 48,000 newer model TVs on Feb. 25
after 18 emitted smoke. Pioneer Electronic Corp. and Toshiba
Corp. have also mounted recalls.  For years, Japanese consumers
have been a docile lot. B