In the United States, our foremost challenge was to improve new sales growth through better execution on the distribution side of our business model. We remain convinced there are tremendous opportunities for our business in both markets. Last year, I said that I believed we could do better. And in 2005, we did. Both Aflac Japan and Aflac U.S. achieved their sales and financial targets. In the process, Aflac Incorporated had another record year.

Total revenues surpassed the $14 billion mark, and net earnings were a record $1.5 billion, or $2.92 per diluted share, in 2005. Net earnings for the year benefited from the strong underlying growth of our operations and an unusually high level of realized investment gains, compared with 2004. Most importantly, we again met the primary financial objective we use internally to assess the growth of our business. We have consistently defined that objective as the growth of net earnings per diluted share, excluding items that are inherently unpredictable. We feel this objective is a valuable measure for judging the effectiveness of management. And we believe achieving our objective is the primary driver of shareholder value.

Consistently repurchasing our shares and increasing cash dividends are also components of improving value for our shareholders. Using excess capital to buy our shares has been a good investment that has enhanced our per-share results. Since initiating our share repurchase program in 1994, we have bought shares every quarter. In 2005 we purchased 10 million shares, bringing the total number of shares we have acquired to more than 187 million since the program's inception. We also increased the cash dividend in 2005, marking the 23^rd consecutive year of cash dividend increases. Cash dividends paid per share in 2005 were 15.8% higher than in 2004.

Aflac Japan was an important contributor to our record year. We achieved our sales target, and the persistency of our business was even better than in 2004. Premium income, net investment income and therefore, revenues, surpassed our expectations. In addition, Aflac Japan's benefit ratio continued to improve as we expected, producing higher margins and solid earnings growth in 2005.

Japan's insurance market has continually evolved since we entered the country in 1974. Once a market geared to traditional life insurance coverage, several factors have caused the demand for our type of products to emerge as the fastest growing category in the insurance industry. As a result, more companies have recognized the opportunities we have seen for decades, particularly in the medical insurance area. Although the market has become more crowded with supplemental insurance products, we believe our products represent a great value to consumers.

To stand out even more in Japan's competitive market, we introduced two new medical products as well as a new cancer product in 2005. These new products energized our sales force, engaged more consumers, and helped us reach our sales target by offering new benefits to the market. Our sales efforts in Japan also benefited from aggressive television advertising. Our advertising continued to feature the Aflac Duck and focus on our position as the number one seller of medical insurance. We believe that consumers prefer to purchase products from a company that is the leader in its market. That number one status, combined with new products and our reputation for innovation and affordability, led to a 27.1% increase in medical sales for the year.