Since 1992 various ministries of the Japanese government, including the Ministry of Health and Welfare of Japan and the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, have sponsored comprehensive research to uncover the molecular mechanisms of fatigue. Recently a study group of Japanese investigators from various fields have been investigating CFS specifically. The following information is from studies into various treatments for CFS (adapted from the book Fatigue Science for Human Health by Yasuyoshi Watanabe, MD, PhD). A report on their research into the cause of CFS was published in the summer 2008 issue of the CFIDS Chronicle.
http://www.cfids.org/bonus/japantreat.asp