Inclusion Criteria:

- locally advanced or metastatic esophageal cancer precluding curative surgical
resection and recurrent esophageal cancer measurable disease by CT scan

- ECOG performance status 0-1

- 20 years and older

- Patients must have clinically documented unresectable or metastatic esophageal cancer
and histologic confirmation of the diagnosis with tumor

- Tissue from tumor must be available

- Patients must have measurable disease

- Patients may have received prior adjuvant chemotherapy; this must have been completed
at least 1 month

- Life expectancy > 3 months

- Laboratory values as follows

- 3000/mm3 < WBC < 12000/mm3

- 1500/mm3 < granulocyte count

- 8.0 gm/dl < hemoglobin

- Platelet count > 100000/mm3

- Aspartate transaminase < 150 IU/L

- Alanine transaminase < 150 IU/L

- Creatinine < 1.5 mg/dl

- Able and willing to give valid written informed consent

Exclusion Criteria:

- Pregnancy (women of childbearing potential: refusal or inability to use effective
means of contraception)

- Active or uncontrolled infection

- Prior chemotherapy or radiation therapy within 4 weeks, surgery within 3 weeks or
immunotherapy within 1 week

- Clinically significant heart disease

- Patients with a history of myocardial infarction within the previous three months

- Patients with uncontrolled diabetes mellitus or hypertension

- Presence of clinically apparent central nervous system metastases

- Patients with any other severe concurrent disease, which in the judgment of the
investigator, would make the patient inappropriate for entry into this study

- Decision of unsuitableness by principal investigator or physician-in-charge