Damage. The Kumamoto Castle. The jolt was so powerful, i still cant believe it happened to me. About 14,000 houses are without electricity. Some 1,900 houses are without water. Gas supply has been suspended for safety reasons. Flights have been disrupted at the airport and highways are damaged. The quake struck the region where where japans only Online Nuclear plant is located. Officials say no irregularities at the sendai plant and they remain in operation. It happened in the fault zone. Experts believe it slipped side ways, causing the strong tremor. More than 100 after shocks have been registered in the region. Experts at Japans Meteorological Agency said to brace themselves for further tremors. The possibility of large tremors with intensities of up to six minus on the japanese scale will remain for about a week. So please be prepared. As we mentioned, mushki was the hardest hit by the quake. Nhk explains the situation there. Translator im standing in front of a shinto shrine. Mashiki town. Made of stone, completely collapsed. The stone fence, run ago long side the road, has fallen over. Injuring the passage of pedestrians. As the day begins, more vehicles can be seen on the roads. But the signal lights at the intersection are without power. So Police Officers are directing traffic. The roadway has visible cracks. And water is leaking on to the surface. Firefighters are patrolling the area, visiting houses one by one to check if the residents are safe. Some evacuees who took shelter last night can be seen walking back to their homes to check on the condition. Here is a look at how it all unfolded. Nhk camera captured the moment the quake struck kumamoto at around 9 30 p. M. Thursday. The tremor caused half of the wall of Kumamoto Castle to collapse. Here is what it was like inside nh ks newsroom near the castle. Hundreds were admitted to hospitals or have received treatment. I was watching tv in my apartment on the eighth floor. The building shook a lot. Then the lights went out and my wardrobe fell on to me. Several fires broke out in the town of mushiki where the shaking was most severe. After shocks have been rocking the area. Some are nearly as powerful as the first earthquake. The jolt was a great shock. My body was thrown back and forth continuously. The main highway cracked and crumbled in many areas. Some sections are closed. A bullet train derailed, but since it was on its way to the garage, there were no passengers, and no one was hurt. Prime minister shinzo abe spoke to the media on friday morning. He said hell take measures to rescue victims and ensure the safety of all citizens in disaster hit areas. Translator i will do my best to provide food, medical supplies, and support for those who are suffering from the earthquake. I will also make efforts as soon as possible to secure housing for those who have lost their homes. Japans chief cabinet secretary, yoshido, briefed reporters. Translator the government has set up a task for at the Prime Minister as office, and an Emergency Team of senior government officials. We will do our best to get detailed information on the earthquake damage now that daylight has revealed what we could not see during the night. He said several thousand rescue team members from the selfdefense forces, police and Fire Departments across the country have been sent to disaster hit areas. On to other stories were following. U. S. Defense secretary ash carter said on thursday the United States has launched joint patrols with the philippines in the south china sea. Theyll deploy 300 troops and five war planes in the fi philippines facing a conflict with china. He is here for the exercises, known as bali kataan. Even as the patrols contribute to the safety and security of the regions waters. Second, a contingent of u. S. Aircraft and their crews and pilots that participated will remain behind at clark air base. Carter revealed the latest moves after meeting with the president. His visit comes after the u. S. Agreed with its crucial Southeast Asian ally last month to jointly use five philippine basis. On thursday, they conducted live fire drills that included a high mobility rocket launcher, being d deployed at the first time at the exercises. Were really progressing, and hopefully by next year, we can come up with a better and maybe much more bigger exercise. And hopefully we can get in more technology, Newer Technology and hardware. China has reclaimed some small islands and reefs. It is claiming almost all of the resources as its own. Several asian countries, including the philippines and vietnam have claims in the area. The u. S. Government has called on china to stop mill teitarizi the waters. U. S. War ships have sailed close, prompting criticism from china. The latest in business news. Central Bank Governors have started talks in washington. Y ai uchida joins us from the business desk. Talking about the g 20 meeting. The agenda is expected to show off the Global Economy and preventing tax avoidance. The participate pants plan to spend the first day discussing ways of propping up the World Economy amid a slow down in china. Other emerging nations. Japan plans to work on a statement to be issued after the meeting, calling for action for big swings in Foreign Exchange rates. Thats in light of the yens rese recent surge. Taxivation and avoidance by large corporations and wealthy individuals. A recent leak of the Panama Papers how government leaders and others have been stashing their money in tax havens. The head of the International Monetary fund is concerned about global growth. Called for international cooperation. Managing director, christine la guard was speaking ahead of the g 20 meetings. The recovery remains too slow and too fragile. Downside risks are increasing. Monetary policy can no longer do the heavy lifting alone. Structural and fiscal policies need to play a greater role. Laguard mentioned the appreciation of the yen. Currency would be legitimate what she called very disruptive volatility. She added the imf is watching carefully what is happening on japanese markets. She also touched on the Panama Papers. She said economies still need to work on tackling taxivation and avoidance. Now were going to check on the markets. The latest trading on wall street, chief financial services, bill stone, has the details. Stocks traded mostly side ways today, but higher on economic data. The sp 500 ended higher by 0. 2 . Staples, ut tillties and materials the biggest decliners. The dow jones was higher by 0. 10. And the nasdaq, down 0. 03 . No surprises to cause a large reaction. Initial jobless claims, good employment picture, while march consumer inflation remained benign, running at 0. 9 rate. Even inflation, including food and energy which had been running at 2. 3 rate, which had raised some eyebrows, moderated to a 2. 2 . Just beginning with on the Large Financial Companies this week. Expectations for the group were very low. So far, the results have at least had some positive aspects. Helping lift the Financial Sector in the market today. The ten year u. S. Treasury yield moved higher today, ending 1. 79 . U. S. Dollar raised against most currency and is on pace for a stronger week. Out of the last six weeks, saw the dollar fall against other curre cur current sees. Scheduled u. S. Releases tomorrow. But earning season continues, and really kicks into gear next week. This is bill stone, chief investment strategist for pnc group. Now lets see how tokyo markets are starting the day. To that, were going to go to ramin mellegard. Good morning. So a strong rally on the nikkei. How is it opening this morning . Yes, indeed. Very good morning to you. We did see asian stocks extending gains on thursday. Thats due to several factors there. Weve seen a rebound in crude oil prices, a stronger dollar, First Quarter earnings out of the u. S. Lets look at the nikkei kicking off this friday morning, april 15th. Bit of a nettiv start. Nikkei down 0. 50 . The nikkei ended up 3. 75 . Sentiment was boosted by a weaker yen and an add add fact, a return of foreign investors. The dollar yen, 109. 46, off from the 17 month lows set earlier in the week. Its been moving around those lower to mid 109 yen levels. We will see how that develops. The bank of japan said it is ready to expand again. He made his remarks ahead of a meeting of the group of 20 financial leaders in washington. He also said the yens excessive rises have been corrected in the past few days. In the u. S. , following jp morgan chases earnings that beat expectations, hope that the earns picture may not be as bad as has been previously expected. Even for instance, earning from the bank of america were not that stellar, the share price still rose over 3 . Ramin, i want to ask you about the other factor, moving markets. Oil prices, whats going on there . Exactly. Crude oil prices has really been an effective part of how stocks have been moving. The bench mark crude oil futures fell somewhat overnight. The wti crude futures in new re waiting for the outcomea of the meeting of major producing Oil Countries on sunday. Commodities led by crude oil prices. Easing fears in the Energy Sector and also banks and financial companies, Financial Sector firms, which of course, lend a lot into the Energy Sector. Looking at the asia pacific markets opened right now, seoul is down and australia is in the positive. Yesterday, the central bank and singapore surprised markets by easing the monetary policy, but all eyes i can tell you this morning will be on china, gdp. Thats going to be a big market moving event. Thats all for me. Back to you. Absolutely. Well be covering that all day here on newsline business. Thanks a lot for that update. Well touch base with you in a little bit. Variety is the spice of life. That is the new message for people eating rice. Japans staple food. Faced with a decline in consumption, farmers and retailers have cooked up a strategy to win back customers. Introducing them to new types of grain. Nhk reports. Ginza, tokyos high end, retailers specialize in luxury, and that includes rice. This shop tells more than 20 varieties. All grown in japan. This grain arrived on the market last year after ten years of development. Top of the line is this rare organic type. It costs five times more than super market rice. Customers spend their money wisely. Translator the temperature difference in the growing area makes it sweet. It smells great when cooked. The rice is in the shop to ensure a fresh taste. Translator its good for a gift or a special occasion. The shops operator is wellknown for lifestyle markets. Gift wrapped sets sell very well. So do the rice related products. Including cooking pots. Japanese are eating less rice these days, but sales at this store have been rising steadily. Translator we started this brand so cucustomers would get fun out of rice. New approaches to japans different way. Providing rice grown especially to countrymen. This shop uses a special kind of rice. Developed to be served only with curry. Its a cross between two kinds of rice. A softer short grain rice found in japan and a long grain varieties eaten elsewhere in asia. Translator its not sticky. Its perfect with curry. Some customers come here because of the rice. Farmer gross this rice. He used to sell just one type of grain, a common variety, but consumer tastes are changing. He decided he had to diversefy if he wanted to survive. I made about 30 varieties. This larger grain holds its shape when cooked. This is for sushi, not too sticky, and not too fluffy. People in japan nowadays choose rice in the same way they choose coffee. I make many varieties so i can meet their needs. People who love food are on the lookout for new experiences. In japan, producers are keeping up with the novelty by the most interesting food of all. Nhk world. Thats the latest in business. Ill leave you with a check on markets. Okay, just a reminder of our lead story. Tens of thousands of people in southwestern japan have fled their homes after a powerful earthquake. More than 950 others are injured, and nine dead. The after shocks continue. The magnitude 6. 5 kumamoto. The damage was evident. This is a famous landmark, and cultural asset, the Kumamoto Castle. Translator the jolt was so powerful, i still cant believe that happened to me. About 14,000 houses are without electricity. Some 1,900 houses are without water. Gas supply has been suspended for safety reasons. Flights have been disrupted at kumamoto airport and highways are damaged. The quake struck the region where japans only Online Nuclear plant is located. Officials say there are no irregul irregularities at the sendai plant. The quake happened in the fault zone. Experts believe the fault line slipped side ways, causing the strong tremor at mashiki town. More than 100 after shocks have been registered in the region. Japans Meteorological Agency telling people to brace themselves for further tremors. Translator the possibility of large tremors with intensities of up to six minus on the japanese scale will remain for about a week. So please be prepared. Experts at Japans Meteorological Agency are telling people in severely hit areas to brace themselves. The town was hardest hit by the quake. A reporter from Domestic News Service explains the situation there. Im standing in front of a shinto shrine in the town. A shrine gait made of stone completely collapsed, along with many lanterns. The stone fence running alongside the road has fallen over, injuring the passage of pedestrians. As the day begins more vehicles can be seen on the roads. But the signal lights at this intersection are without power. So Police Officers are directing traffic. The roadway has visible cracks. Water is leaking on to the surface. Firefighters are patrolling the area, visiting houses one by one to check if the residents are safe. Some evacuees who took shelter last night can be seen walking back to their homes to check on the condition. Prime minister shinzo abe spoke to the media, and he said hell ensure the safety of all citizens in disaster hit areas. Translator i will do my best to provide food, medical supplies, and support for those who are suffering from the earthquake. I will also make efforts as soon as possible to secure housing for those who have lost their home. Japans chief cabinet secretary briefed reporters. Translator the government has set up a task force at the Prime Ministers office. And an Emergency Team of senior government officials. We will do our best to get detailed information on the earthquake damage, now that daylight has revealed what we could not see during the night. He says several thousand rescue team members from the selfdefense forces, police and Fire Departments across the country have been sent to disaster hit areas. As weve been reporting, tens of thousands of residents in southwestern japan sent the night in the chilly outdoors and still unable to go home. It is almost 9 30 in the morning, friday. Robert speta joins us with the current weather conditions. The morning low actually in kumamoto city was right around 10 degrees celsius. Definitely a cold morning out there if you are outside. The good news, the very least, we are looking at sunny skies through the rest of your friday out here. So temperatures will start to spike up around 24, 25 degrees. Also good news, sunny weather. Rescue efforts, the weather concerned, it is very it will be ongoing. But unfortunately, thats not going to be cat as we look ahead over the course of the entire weekend. The next 24 hours, temperatures continuing to rise. Sunny skies into the overnight hours, temperatures will drop back down to 12 degrees, get inside and shelters and stay warm. As i mentioned, though lets look into saturday evening. Showers in the forecast out there. A high of about 24. At least it does stay warm. Throughout the entire day on sunday, low pressure area coming in out of southeastern china. More precipitation, rather strong at times. I make rather note on this, because the tluhreshold has bee landslide by the japan Meteorological Agency, the land is rather loose. So when you get a lot of heavy rain on this, it increases the threat. Watch out for that, and heading over into monday, improving conditions into early next week. I do want to pull back the Bigger Picture here. Also mention the area of low pressure from the west. Another storm system in japan, unrelated to the earthquake, but typhoon strength wind gusts, 126 Kilometers Per Hour is expected today and even some blizzard warnin warnings, also. So really, a rather serious situation taking place there as well. But really, all eyes back here towards the west, and the next storm system, bringing showers there in hong kong and taipei. I want to take your attention down towards the south here as well. It is likely one of the hottest times of the year here across the philippines, all through thailand into cambodia and vietnam. You have an ongoing drought, with the storm moving across china, it could bring some precipitati precipitation, good news for those of you there on saturday into sunday. Thats a look at the weather in east asia. Here is an extended outlook around the world. We have breaking news this hour. South Korea News Agency says north koreas attempt to launch a Ballistic Missile has failed. They say the Medium Range Missile was fired from the countrys east early friday morning. South Koreas Defense MinistryOfficials Say theyre gathering information. Once again, news agency in south korea says the attempt by north korea to launch a Ballistic Missile has failed. They say the Medium Range Missile was filed, thats in north korea east, early friday morning. South korea defense Officials Say theyre gathering information, and well keep you updated on the story and on the situation in other parts of the world, including northeastern japan, where a magnitude 6. 2 earthquake struck. Well be back with the latest at the top of the hour. Thanks for joining us. Y8xy Ernie Stevens on this edition of native report, well visit Little Bighorn National Monument in montana. Rita aspinwall well attend the crow summer institute. Ernie stevens and well interview the crow nation chairman, darrin old coyote. Our elders, our chiefs, our warriors have fought for this land, this language, this way of life. We also learn about traits of leadership in indian country, and hear from our elders, on this native report. Narrator production of native report is made possible by grants from the Shakopee Mdewakanton sioux community, the blandin foundation, and the Duluth Superior Area Community foundation. [music playing]