Last month, the National Tax agency made its annual announcement of those paying more than 10 million yen in income tax and, as always, the list reflected major trends of the times.

In the year 2000, profits based on stock transactions, such as those of Son Masayoshi, Softbank president and the No. 3 taxpayer nationally, continued to replace those based on real estate and, as the Asahi Shimbun and other papers noted (May 16), the winners were those who through low prices or original ideas could manage to attract consumers during the continuing recession. Thus the president of the Internet shopping mall Rakuten ranked No. 2, the president of McDonald's Japan No. 27 and the head of the Uniqlo chain of clothing stores No. 31.

The list of the top 20 author-taxpayers is dominated by writers of mysteries and suspense, with no breakout novelists like Haruki Murakami or Banana Yoshimoto. At No. 1 for the third year in a row is Kyotaro Nishimura, author of railroad-based mysteries often made into two-hour TV dramas. Mystery writer Jiro Akagara, No. 2, has published over 400 books, according to the Asahi Shimbun, and at No. 3 is Miyuki Miyabe, whose two-volume novel about a copycat serial killer, "Mohohan," is now a best seller. New on the list at No. 9 was Yuichi Shimpo, who wrote the screenplay for "Whiteout," a hit film last year based on his suspense novel of the same title.