the government will allocate the funds to three areas. more than $40 billion will go to rebuilding after the earthquake and tsunami and to disaster prevention. workers will use the funds repairing infrastructure such as tunnels and bridges. about $35 billion will be spent on measures to ensure security and revitalized communities. and about $35 billion will be spent on driving growth. some of that will support business ventures. other funds will go into promoting joint research projects between universities and companies. stimulus package plus spending by local governments and the private sector will add up to $230 billion. >> translator: governments under the democratic party focused only on redistribution. they didn't make enough effort to increase incomes and expand the economy. i'm determined to change the basic philosophy. i'm going to boost the profits of japanese companies to create jobs and increase wages. >> government leaders say the stimulus will help them create 600,000 jobs. they say they'll push through a supplementary budget on tuesday to finance the package. nhk world has covered obvious policy during his first round of prime minister and closely watching the situation today. tell us a little bit more about the stimulus measures. gene, the size of the package is the largest since one worth $150 billion during the height of the global financial crisis in 2008. japan is already in recession after two straight quarters of negative growth. china is slowing down, the eurozone is still suffering and the u.s. economy remains precarious so abe is determined to turn around the japanese economy. of course from is a political dimension to this. japanese vote again in july in the election for the upper house and abe needs to show he's doing something to speed the recovery. >> there's a lot of money involved. the question is will it work? >> certainly these measures will provide a temporary boost but they will not solve the underlying problems. abe says he'll build his economic policy on three pillars -- increased public spending, monetary easing and doing more to encourage growth. we've seen in the stimulus how abe plans to spend taxpayers' money. on top of that he is urging the bank of japan to set an inflation target of 2% and to get more money flowing through the economy. the lines on the final pillar measures toward growth are less clear. some have insisted sustainable growth will only come by making industries more competitive through deregulation. but, government leaders have yet to articulate how they'll make that happen. >> you just mentioned this could be a temporary boost. i guess the question is what does abe need to do in the longer the labor force is shri. so is domestic demand. no matter how much money the government injects, it will not be a cure-all. the effects wear off. what abe an those around him need to do is to create more demand. they need to boost productivity through more flexible labor force and deregulation. >> prime minister abe should also promote the free activity in private sector by reducing regulation inside the economy. japan needs to switch from fiscal spending led recovery to private sector demand recovery. >> we'll be watching how the markets respond to these moves. snow balling debt could hurt confidence in japanese bonds. abe must find a path to sustainable growth before the effects of the stimulus fade away. ? thanks, reiko. another incident of gun violence in the u.s. a 16-year-old student opened fire with a shotgun at a california high school seriously wounding one of his classmates. the shooting occurred in the town of taft. police say the teen walked in to a classroom and shot a fellow student. he fired at another classmate but missed. officers arrested him at the scene. around 30 students were in the classroom at the time. the victim was sent to a hospital. police say the shooter claimed had he no intention of attacking other students or teachers. they are trying to determine his motives and how he got the shotgun. the incident comes less than one month after a shooting rampage at an elementary school in connecticut. 20 children and six adults died in that attack. the rash of gun violence is focusing attention in the u.s. on the question of gun control. a team led by vice president joe biden is looking for answers. they'll share their findings next week with president obama. >> there's a real, very tight window to do this. i committed to him i'd have his recommendations to him by tuesday. >> bind met with representatives of the national rifle association and other organizations that oppose new controls on guns and ammunition. he said the team is exploring a ban on selling high-capacity gun magazines. he also said the government wants tighter background checks on people buying guns. the nra and other groups say such controls infringe on their constitutional right to bear arms. the suicide of a star high school basketball player in japan is generating nationwide attention and raising questions about physical abuse in schools. the student left behind a note saying the teacher who coached his club team beat him on a number of occasions. the teacher defended his actions saying it was sports discipline. nhk world reports. >> reporter: members of the osaka board of education have spoken again and again about the loss of one of their students. the high school basketball player committed suicide last month. in a note, he said his coach had physically punished him repeatedly. the student said the violence escalated last september after he became team captain. he told his mother in december about a prolonged beating he said he suffered following a practice match. the next day, he killed himself. the mayor of osaka, who's also a lawyer, has condemned the board of education and the school. he is promising a thorough investigation. >> translator: beating someone 30 or 40 times is unpardonable. this is not short of a crime. if it really happened, this can be considered an assault case. >> reporter: japanese law bans physical punishment at schools but min sistry of education statistics show it happens just the same. hundreds of teachers across the country have been reprimanded in the past decade for using corporal punishment. in the 2011-2012 school year, 108 of 404 cases happened at sports clubs. the basketball team at the high school in question has made a name for itself at national tournaments. but it also has a reputation for abuse. parents have told the school and the board of education about incidents of corporal punishment. the club's supervisor, who is currently on suspension, has been at the school for 18 years. the length of his tenure and the success of his team gave him a lot of power. >> translator: the school wanted to have a new teacher as efficient as he is, but it failed to find one. >> reporter: administrators have apologized to parents for what happened. other teachers who run sport clubs say they're committed to ending corporal punishment. but some parents aren't convinced. >> translator: we suspect there are more hidden facts and want the school to be more transparent. >> reporter: there are so many things about the school's explanation that weren't vising. physical punishment is widespread in schools in japan, especially at institutions that focus on sports. it has sometimes been dismissed as discipline or tough love between teachers and students. but many people say while corporal punishment was accepted decades ago, it is unacceptable now. nhk world, tokyo. thousands of people waiting to go home. tons of debris waiting for disposal. vas tracts of land waiting to be restored. overcoming the challenges of japan's 2011 das per won't be easy, but step by step people are moving forward. find out how on "the road ahead" every wednesday at 1:00 p.m. japan time right here on "newsline." friday marks one year and ten months since the earthquake and tsunami of march 2011. people in northeastern japan brave the cold weather to pray for the victims. residents from the coastal community in sendai prayed after sunrise. >> translator: we must never forget to honor the souls of the victims. >> in the port of yamada further northeast, people visited their family graves. among them was this woman's husband. he was swallowed by the tsunami right before her eyes. >> translator: i'll never forget him. i still feel like he might show up one day. >> fishermen are working hard to rebuild their lives. they earn a living by catching seaweed, scallops and other marine products. >> translator: i hope the fishing industry will pave the way for reconstruction. we have to keep moving ahead. >> japan coast guard ships, helicopters and divers are still searching for the missing. operations are focused on seven bays along the coastline. more than 20,800 people were listed as dead or missing after the catastrophe. the powerful earthquake that devastated haiti happened three years ago on saturday. what went on there and in japan exposed a key weakness in disaster response. telecommunication networks shut down. for one young haitian, that failure has transferred a career goal into a life mission. nhk world has his story. >> reporter: the biggest city in the march 11th disaster zone. this man is a graduate student here. he researches telephone networks. verizon came to japan three years ago aiming to run advanced telecommunication technology. yet three months after arriving, disaster struck his homeland, haiti. a magnitude 7.0 earthquake, more than 200,000 people died. his hometown was crossed through the epicenter. most of the buildings collapsed. fearing the, he tried contacting family and friends. he tried phone calls, e-mails and text messages. but he couldn't get a response. a week passed before he could confirm his family was safe. >> i need to try to contact my family and my friends in haiti, but that day it was impossible. there were no internet and there was no electricity up. >> reporter: a year later, he himself was caught up in the disaster. he was in the schoolyard when the march 11th quake struck. the campus became an evacuation center. he rolled out a bed alongside the other students. >> this was the big area where we stayed and this is where the place where we slept. >> reporter: he knew his family would be worried. he wanted to let them know he was safe. he tried sending text messages but only one got through. once again, a natural disaster has shut down cell phone networks, this time in the country with the most advanced systems. >> any communication devices is extremely useful in case of disaster. >> reporter: he is now focusing his research on finding a solution. he's developing a mobile relay station to reform phone networks during emergencies. last month he had an opportunity to express his work to the haitian president. the president was based in japan to learn about recovery efforts and anti-disaster measures. he attended one of the briefing sessions and told the president how his projects could help haiti. he has experienced disaster, both up close and from afar. >> i'm trying to find ways how we cannot so completely but at least help in the case of a disaster. >> reporter: he is starting with renewed determination. next time a quake hits haiti, he hopes his hard work in japan will help keep the lines of communication open. nhk world, sendai. south korea is known for outselling asian rivals with their electronic products but sales may be cooling off as global consumers spend less. ron madison has details on that. >> exactly. one of the reasons, gene, why the bank of korea has actually lowered now its forecast for the country's economic growth for this year. the bok estimates that gdp will expand 2.8% this year. that's 0.4 points lower than the 3.2% that it was forecasting last october. central bank officials explained that the global economic slowdown stemming from europe's debt crisis will credit the country's exports an they expect corporate investment to decline. but officials see a pick-up in the second half due to a recovery in trade. they speck the chinese government to implement economic stimulus measures and the u.s. economy to bounce back later on in the year. consumer prices in china showed relatively slow growth in 2012 but the decrease in december was larger than the previous month. figures released by china's national bureau of statistics show that the consumer price index for the whole of 2012 was up 2.6% from the previous year. that's much lower than an annual increase of 5.4% shown in 2011. bureau officials say the slower growth is due to an economic slowdown due to sluggish exports from the european debt crisis. in december alone, cpi rose 2.5% from a year ago. this is due to an increase in production and distribution of costs of vegetables as a result of cold weather. the chinese government officials say the country will aim to maintain stable economic growth through more fiscal measures. meanwhile, some experts do fear that prices may rise as the country's economy recovers. for further analysis on the chinese economic figures released this week, i had a chance to speak with steven wong, an adjunct associate professor at the university of hong kong. as we mentioned, cpi for december rose exceeding the figure for the previous month. we also had trade data, exports in december grew sharply but the increase if we look at it for the whole of 2012, that did not reach the government's target. what's your take now on the numbers? >> on the cpi first. it is a reflection of a slight loosening of the very tight monetary policies in 2012 where the end growth bottomed out at 12% and is now coming back to the 14% to 15% range. so together with these loosewore u.s., europe and in japan, i expect a modest inflationary pressure will rekibdle in china mainly due to pick-up in food prices worldwide. on export and import side on trade data, they are also better than expected in december month. clearly 2012 has been a year where china was deeply affected by what was happening in european crisis as europe was number one export destination of china until recently. i expect there is still going to be a lot of uncertainties and volume tilts with both the u.s. and european economies in the 2013 so i expect these trade growth will be better in 2013 but will be very hard to outperform the 10% export-import growth targets. >> stephen, we do have more figured out next week. china's economic growth for october to december as well as for the whole of 2012 set to be announced. what's your forecast now for gdp? >> yeah. i expect the 2012 gdp growth will reflect a lot of my observations about the economy demonstrating it has gone past the worst time in the mid of last year and has picked up modestly. i expect it will be down 7.8% but not exceedingly bullish. the economy rose by 28% from a year ago which has demonstrated it is relatively easing of monetary policy in the second half of last year. this would continue to drive loan growth and monetary base growth, support the recovery of fixed asset infrastructure and this would favor investment and government spending in gdp. >> steven wong, adjunct associate professor at the university of hong kong. let's get a check of the markets now on worries over china's accelerating inflation weighed on shares in asian markets on friday. shanghai's market index declined nearly 1.8%. hong kong's index down .4%. the nikkei bucking a trend on a weaker yen,i reaching the highet level since 2011. a big of a mixed picture moving into the session. london's ftse 100 just up by .10%. frankfurt up fractionally. paris's cac 40 down by more than .3%. the dollar higher against the yen on expectations that the bank of japan's bold monetary easing will help the economy but the u.s. currency is coming off a bit after reaching the highest point since june 2010 in early asian trading. dollar-yen at 88.80-84. the euro is also gaining against the yen. the european currency is now down at 117.74. that's going to do it for biz tonight. let's get a check now of the markets. the eastern u.s. is seeing warm temperatures, but changes in the forecast. meteorologist robert spet that has the latest. >> yes, gene. all across the eastern seaboard we have just been seeing absolutely temperatures above average. it's all due to this frontal area here. ahead of it you are seeing this warm air come in from the south. that's really been raising up these temperatures. but, yeah, things are going to start to change, because as that pushes off there towards the east, bringing heavy rainfall towards the northeast, the western great lakes will see a mix of freezing rain across this region, very dangerous for driving. but behind it, see this cold front here? that is really what's going to be the big changer. this is already bringing some snowfall in this region, upwards of 15 centimeters across much of the dakotas is going to be expected. widespread winter storm warnings are actually in place. as that continues to push off towards the east it will be associated with this high-amplitude trough. that means the jet stream is continuing to dip all the way down towards mexico and it is gradually working its way off towards the east. all those areas in the red will work their way towards the east and that's why we're going to start to see all these temperatures go down. denver, here on friday, already chilly. you've been seeing a ten-degree drop since thursday. that's going to go down to minus 7, even minus 8 on saturday. chicago, the big changer here, about a 14-degree drop from your friday over towards your sunday once that cold front pushes by. right now you're seeing these warm temperatures but things will be changing up. winnipeg not so warm for you. this is actually above average. just in one day -- minus 17. we'll continue to watch this throughout the next several days. also we're seeing some rough weather here. in southeastern china you're going to be seeing some snow. the siberian high continues to push on towards the south. that's been making things rather chilly across much of this region. right now we are watching the stationary boundary develop up. that's influencing warm air from the south, bringing freezing rain in many areas along coastal regions. as that pushes off toward the northeast, more air will come in. widespread fog is expected across much of eastern and central china. eventually that works its way off toward the east combined with this tropical depression moving in from the south, it is already bringing heavy rainfall alone across portions of eastern mendenao. eastern japan will have very rough weather as that pushes over ahead. tokyo remaining rather mild, a high of 10. near freezing temperatures through overnight hours. seoul getting up to 3. shanghai at 9. across the tropics you're still into the 30s here on your saturday. looking at europe, british isles are seeing fair conditions for the time being but going into the weekend it looks like temperatures will be cooling off for starters. but also you're going to be seeing widespread rain, then some influx of snow as this continues to push in from the west towards the east. cold air will be wrapping right around it. you'll be seeing temperatures drop off across the british isles 5 to 10 centimeters. some higher elevations of snowfall is going to occur. finally toward the east, balkans, towards turkey, we had a little break in the rough weather this week but it looks like another system will be developing up here along the coast of the mediterranean. you're even seeing the risk of some severe weather across much of this region. meanwhile, temperatures remain rather chilly in eastern europe. kiev a high of only minus 1. moscow minus 9 accompanied by some snow showers. temperatures still on the mild side in london, paris. but going through the weekend that will drop right off, paris temperatures dropping near the freezing mark by sunday. here's a look at your forecast. we'll be back in 30 minutes with more news. i'm gene otani in tokyo. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com

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