Two national records highlighted the first day of the Japan National Championships (Apr 18- 23).

Yasuko Tajima (98 World Championships bronze medallist) won the Women's 400IM final in 4:39.13, the fastest time in the world for the season. Her record lowered her two year - old mark of 4:39.45 . Tajima said ," My final hope is Olympic gold medal and new world record. For that purpose I will do my best".

Hideaki Hara clocked a new national record of 1:50.41 in the Men's 200 Free semi final.

Other records were Akira Hayashi's 1:01.82, Kosuke Kitajima's 1:02.07 and Ryosuke Imai's 1:02.12 in the Men's 100 Breaststroke semi final.

Both Maki Mita and Tomoko Hagiwara bettered their marks with 59.23 and 59.81 in the Women's 100 fly semi final.