PACIFIC RIM TRADE : Profiles : For Asian Tycoons, Success Is a Matter of Seizing Initiative : Whether manufacturing toys or exporting rice, these business leaders have prospered by knowing when to make their moves. : MINORU MUROFUSHI, 62, <i> Japanese trade mogul</i>

Minoru (Jack) Murofushi, president of Itochu Corp., made an offbeat request last January in his annual New Year’s speech to staff: He asked the huge trading firm’s employees to clean their desks.

“Don’t simply clear out unwanted items . . . but instead take a more radical approach,” he urged. “Empty the contents of your desk onto the floor, and then pick out only those things which will be useful in bringing profits in the future.”

Itochu itself--known outside Japan until 1992 as C. Itoh & Co. Ltd.--would take the same approach, Murofushi, 62, declared.

“A ‘scrap and build’ mentality is required,” he explained. “We should free up resources by scrapping unproductive projects, and then invest those resources in new and profitable areas.”

Murofushi’s demanding vision is rooted in a belief that Itochu--one of the biggest firms in the world in terms of sales--is positioned to prosper despite fierce competition and a lingering recession.

He exudes not only optimism but the easygoing manner of someone who has absorbed much from many years of work in the United States, where the business culture is far more casual than in Japan.

He joined the firm in 1956, immediately after graduating with a bachelor’s degree in law from Tokyo University, the most prestigious school in Japan.

“At that time, I had no idea what a trading company was. I just wanted to see the world. I know in many countries people joined the armed forces for that purpose, but in Japan in those days that was not an option,” Murofushi said with a touch of deadpan humor in a speech to the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan.

At the age of 31, Murofushi was sent to Itochu’s New York office, where he spent the next 10 years.

During this time he developed a comfortable familiarity with the English language and U.S. culture that is still rare among the very top level of Japanese corporate leaders.

“Working in America gave me a new perspective on life,” he said. “It’s a country that is both open and fair. In America, if a person has ability, then he can get ahead regardless of background or age.”

Murofushi became president and chief executive of Itochu in 1990, and since that time has become increasingly prominent as a spokesman for Japan’s business community.