Transcripts For KCSM Newsline 20240622

Extinguishing agents as flammable chemicals are believed to remain at the site. Its expected to take some time for the full extent of the damage to become clear. Translator the rescue headquarters has set up five teams to treat the injured, clean up accident sites, relocate residents, maintain stability and investigate the cause of the accident. Officials say theyre still investigating what triggered the explosions. They say the first blast was equivalent to three tons of tnt exploding and the second to 21 tons. The two explosions occurred about 30 seconds apart. Japanese Prime Minister shinzo abe is poised to continue a war anniversary tradition undertaken by some of his predecessors. He will issue a statement about japans role in world war ii. And its progress since then. Abe told senior members of his liberal Democratic Party last friday that hell release a statement after its approved by the cabinet. Abe will apparently say he upholds the position on historical recognition outlined by the previous administration. Hes expected to express deep remorse for japans actions in the war. And based on reflection on the past, to pledge that japan will never wage war again. The statement is expected to include the expression, japans colonial rule, aggression, and apology. All were used in statements issued by Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama in 1995 and Junichiro Koizumi a decade later. Observers inside and outside japan have been watching to see if abe would include these key phrases in his statement. The Prime Minister had initially indicated he might not use exactly the same expressions as past Prime Ministers. He also plans to express gratitude to countries that supported japans reinstatement into the International Community. He will emphasize his intention to contribute to world peace and prosperity. The Prime Minister will likely continue to refine the language in the statement before submitting it for cabinet approval on friday. And neighboring countries have been closely watching to see how abe would refer to historical issues. A Prime Ministers statement becomes the governments official view with the cabinets approval. Two former leaders have issued the official statement on the day japan commemorates the wars end. ThenPrime Minister Tomiichi Murayama spoke on the 50th anniversary. It was the First Official statement referring to japans wartime aggression. Translator during the certain period in the not too distant past, japan following a mistaken national policy, advanced along the road to war only to ensnare the japanese people in a fateful crisis and through its colonial rule and aggression caused tremendous damage and suffering to the people of many countries particularly to those of asian nations. Reporter murayama offered what he called deep remorse and heartfelt apology. Ten years later Junichiro Koizumi issued a similar message when he was Prime Minister. He repeated the phrase that japan caused damage to its people through colonial rule and aggression. And once again, he expressed feelings of deep remorse and heartfelt apology. Earlier this year, Prime Minister shinzo abe said he would draft a new statement to coincide with the 70th anniversary. Translator as we head towards the 80th, 90th and 100th anniversaries to come, japan must make still greater contributions towards world peace and stability under the flag of proactive contribution to peace. In this milestone anniversary year, i intend to send out to the world the message of our clear resolve. Reporter leaders of china and south korea repeatedly urged abe to follow the path of his predecessorsapparently insisting he use key phrases of murayama and koizumi. Other news were following this hour, Russias Deputy Prime Minister has visited an island at the center of the territorial dispute with japan. Yuri trutnev arrived on thursday in etorofu. He inspected the venue of a forum thatseing organized by the russian government. The forum is focused on the Economic Development of etorofu and three other islands comprising the northern territories. The japanese government maintains the islands are an inherent part of japan. It says the islands were illegally occupied during world war ii. They say that russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev may join the forum on the island. It may negatively affect negotiations for president Vladimir Putin to travel to japan later in the year. The foreign industry on thursday phoned the minister dmitri birichevsky that the islands are japanese territory and they regard trutnevs visit as regrettable. Birichevsky responded the islands e russian. Hed h wld con japans protest to his government. Phone with the Russian Foreign e miniry through the Japanese Embassy in moscow. For japanese people august 15, 1945 is the day world war ii ended. Now a project is under way to ensure that future generations will be able to hear memories of what happened that day told in the voices of those who lived through it. Nhk wod has this report. A series of books called my august 15 was published earlier this year. Theyre firsthand accounts of the end of world war ii. About 90 contributors including artists and cartoonists described what happened to them 70 years ago. The stories in this book are a little different. With the stroke of a special pen, you can hear the voices of the people who wrote them. Ken takakura was ator. He died last year at the age of 83. Just before his death, he recorded his august 15th story for the book. Reporter i translator its not just reading word ors looking at pictures. Each persons voice is unique. They stay in your heart and can be deeply moving. Reporter the book is a creation of a tokyo publishing house. This is one of the editors. Her team is inspired by the idea of bringing a new dimension to these stories by adding the voices of those who lived them. She believes this will make the memories of war even more vivid. Translator nothing is more effective than when people who have written about their experiences share their thoughts and feelings in their own voices. Reporter she visited a man to record his story. He is a bestselling author of childrens literature. At first, he declined to cooperate. Translator its about august 15th. I have a lot to say about august 6th, but we have nothing to say about august 15th. Reporter he was a young boy when he endured the automatic bomb attack in hiroshima nine days before the end of the war. His home was only three kilometers from ground zero. Hes still overwhelmed by memories of what he went through 70 years ago. He persisted until he finally agreed to talk about his experience. She persisted until agreed to talk about his experience. Reporter with each recording, nakashima has become even more convinced of the need to preserve the voices of the wars survivors. Translator people who were born when the war ended are now 70. Those who lived through it are getting older. What is written will remain for a long time, but the opportunity to hand down the voices as they actually sound will soon be lost forever. Reporter the publisher that makes the recordings along with the books to libraries and schools around the country. And nakashima hopes that the voices of those who survived the war will teach children the true meaning of peace. Reporting for nhk world. Islamic state militants are claiming responsibility for a truck bomb that ripped through a marketplace in the iraqi capital baghdad. Police say at least 60 people are dead and more than 150 are wounded. Authorities say the attack occurred in a predominantly shia muslim neighborhood. Militants with the terrorist group posted a message online to say they targeted the area for that reason. They also took responsibility for a car bomb attack a few days earlier at a market in a province near baghdad. Many iraqis are criticizing the government for failing to put a stop to terrorist acts. Theyre also protesting against Poor Public Services including frequent power outages. The government is struggling to fix the problems partly because its spending more money to fight the militants. North korea staterun tv has wrod cast video of the nations soldiers shooting at an image of south korean President Park guenhye in live fire training. Korean Central Television aired the footage on wednesday. North korea has long criticized park through its official media, but this appears to be the first clip showing north korean troops firing at a cutout picture of her with automatic rifles and handguns. South Koreas Unification Ministry says the norths actions are intolerable as it violates minimum logic within the same ethnic group and incites ethnic hatred. Pyongyangs behavior only reminds south korea and the International Community of its belligerence and further isolates north korea. North korea is believed to have taken the provocative step to show its opposition to the planned exercise with the United States next week. The people who run a Nuclear Power plant in southwestern japan say a reactor has started generating electricity. They resumed operations this week at the sendai plant. Theyre the first to do so under strict regulations imposed after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. Workers at kyushu electric power act slaivated the reactor on tuesday. They say Nuclear Fission is now selfsustaining. It means they can generate and transmit electricity. Company Officials Say it will take about ten days to reach full output. They will then undergo a comprehensive inspection of the facility. If everything goes smoothly, theyll launch commercial operations early next month. Japans environment minister is urging Power Companies to reconsider whether their latest targets on reducing Greenhouse Gases are realistic. 35 power suppliers announced last month they aim to cut emissions by 35 by 2030 compared to the level in 2013. But environment minister is skeptical whether the target can be achieved as many utilities plan to build new coalfired power plants. He announced that his ministry does not support such plans. Coal burning plants produce cheap electricity but emit large amounts of Greenhouse Gases. Crude oil prices in new york briefly hit their lowest level in almost 6 1 2 years. Commodity traders became concerned chinas economic slowdown may reduce command for oil. Sell orders for crude oil futures fell on thursday after Chinas Central Bank devalued the nations currency for a third day. The bunchmark west texas intermediate fell more than 3 from the previous day to below 42 a barrel at one point. Thats the lowest since march 2009 when the financial crisis hit oil prices. Market players expect crude oil prices to stay low for a while as demand from China Remains sluggish. Owners of a hotel in southwestern japan have found a unique way to cut costs. Their porters, concierge and checkin staff have been replaced with robots. Because they believe being efficient doesnt have to be boring. Reporter greeted by this huge futuristic robot cloak room excitement goes up to witness a neverbeforeseen hotel. Guests can turn to the checkin counter to be greeted by three very unusual receptionists. Theyre called actroids short for actor androids. Welcome to the hotel. If you want to check in, please press one. If you want to check out, please press the checkout of the right signal. Reporter guests check themselves in with the robots guidance. A robotic arm looks after their luggage. Its like a scene from a scifi movie. It opens from 7 00 a. M. To 10 00 p. M. Got it . Yes, thank you. Reporter this project is loosely translated to mean evolved hotel. Thats because it breaks with many conventions of the trade. Decorations have been pared back and reimagined through cuttingedge technology. This robot takes you and your luggage to your room. No keys are needed to open this door. Only your face. A state of the art system records and recognizes guests faces. After that theres no need to carry keys. So its an efficient way to check in. The room is simple, empty of Unnecessary Services and amenities. The focus is on comfort in a minimalist environment. That way the hotel can provide twin rooms for about 100. This cute robot can tell you almost anything you want to know. [ speaking japanese ] translator if were dealing with people, we can communicate. Robots are different. Id like to see how much communication and Service Robots can provide to people. Technology progresses constantly. We have to keep up with it. Come back a year later, ij youll find that things have changed a lot. Reporter this hotel is the worlds first lodging to use robot technology. Its operators say it will evolve. As the name suggests, to meet customers needs. T may revolutionize the travel industry. Reporting for nhk world. Some South Koreans are embracing a difficult chapter of their history. Theyre learning more about japans colonial rule over the peninsula. More and more are visiting a restored japanese town from that era. Nhk world reports. Reporter this is a fishing town with a population of 9,000. Its streets are lined with traditional japanese houses. The village is crowded with visitors from all over south korea. One attraction is trying on a kimono. This cafe serves macha green tea. This year the town received 120,000 visitors, many of them young people. Its just like becoming an idol or a japanese girl. Im having a magical experience. Reporter during japans colonial rule japanese fishermen moved to the town as it has rich fishing grounds. The town was filled with life. After the end of world war ii, all the japanese left the town. Over time many buildings aged and the town became deserted. Six years ago, the city of pohan started a project to restore the japanese town as a tourist attraction. Many structures built by japanese in south korea during colonial rule have been restored. A monument was set up here in honor of a japanese man who helped build roads and other infrastructure. But as you can see, someone has covered it. There was fierce opposition to the project. Many people saw the town as a legacy of colonialism. But city officials argued that the restoration project was needed. Translator by preserving this history, we want to make sure that this painful period will never be repeated. Our project will make people think about the future. Reporter this woman supported the project. Shes head of a History Museum in the town. Translator i was glad to hear about the restoration project. This japanese town is part of our history. Reporter she used to walk at the south korean concert in t k fukuo fukuoka. She left her job so she could come to her home town. She wants to use her knowledge and experience to help South Koreans better understand Japanese Culture. Despite the chill in relations, Many South Koreans are interested in Japanese Culture and visit the town. Translator this town is living history. Both cultures are side by side. This place helps people in both countries to understand each other. And i want to act as a bridge between them. Reporter the japanese town looks just like it did in the old days. For many young South Koreans, this is a way to understand and reflect on their countrys history. Reporting for nhk world. Time for a check of the weather. People in Tochigi Prefecture north of tokyo are assessing damage after a tornado hit the area. Just an exceptionally unstable weather back on thursday. Back across tochigi, this is where storms have flared up the most. Lets go to some video with have coming out of tochigi. We have this funnel cloud whipping through here. This is coming out on thursday from 11 30 a. M. The Japan Meteorological Agency saying this is likely about an f0 tornado. Its the lowest on the scale of tornadoes but the thing is a tornado is a tornado. No matter the intensity, it blew the roof off a twostory building here. Total of three buildings were damaged. Good news, no injuries were reported out here. So thats fantastic news. But yeah, beer still seeing that threat as we go ahead into friday. The reason is we have the remnants of sodalor move through. So weve got cold air aloft and that creates a perfect recipe for storms to blow up. Even into the tokyo area and northern japan well be seeing the storms that could produce damaging wind. The threat of tornadoes. When i say tornados the, you may be watching from anywhere else around the world and japan and tornadoes, that doesnt make much sense. But it does. Around this time of ye, august, september over towards october. If youre from the u. S. You think tornado season march and april. But this is the peak when tropical storms impact japan. And we often see those rain bands shift through like we saw this week. Thel do happen out here quite often on average. The peak there in september. We do want to mention we have two tropical depressions at this time that were continuing to monitor. This one might evolve into a tropical storm. It will be called goni. Could impact saipan. The last thing you need out there is another storm system. Heavy rainfall in the southeastern portions of china. Some areas report about 150 millimeters in the last 24 hours. Still showers out there. Hong kong at 30, taipei at 29. In europe, this low brush area continuing to spin. That will bring rain showers and even thorls across parts of france and over towards the netherlands. Storms producing frequent lightning out there. Winds upward of about 100 Kilometers Per Hour and even hail coming out of this one. Storms over towards the balkan peninsula. But north of that sunny skies. Take a look at vienna. Warsaw, 30. Do want to talk about americas. Storms even down towards florida, flash flood threats for you. But in the west, temperatures going to be swinging back and forth here. Some areas across the Pacific Northwest north of this front. 20s all the way through the rest of your week. Showers for you. Look at saskatchewan. Feeling a little more falllike. South of that, things continuing to heat up all the way through the weekend. 48 my goodness there in death valley saturday for your high. Ill leave with you the extended outlook. That wraps up this edition of newsline. Im Catherine Kobayashi in tokyo. Thanks for joining us. oonn welcome to the 150th episode of native report. Im stacey thunder. And im tadd johnson. 11 years ago we created native report to celebrate the best of indian country, to provide an opportunity for our leaders, our elders, our youth and our Community Members to share important topics and stories. It has been an amazing journey filled with inspirational stories about how communities and individuals have taken on huge challenges. About our leaders continuing the fight for sovereignty, and about our youth growing into young leaders. Stories of native artists, authors, actors, and musicians finding and honing their creative voice and vision, finding a place of prominence on the national stage. Well, we arent done yet. But just in case we ever forget that were standing on the shoulders of giants, on this episode of native report were looking back at 10 seasons of Great Stories from indian country