welcome to "newsline." i'm michio kijima in tokyo. people in countries across the globe were touched by what happened in japan one year ago. they've sent in messages of encouragement on the anniversary of the march 11th disaster. those in the areas hardest hit are battling their next challenge, a loss of people. municipal leaders are asking the government for help. more than 300 communities in 27 municipalities in the quake-hit

region are planning to relocate houses and buildings to higher ground or to inland areas. residents in most communities have yet to agree on plans. many have already moved away and the value of their flooded land has not been determined. populations have plunged since the disaster in 35 municipalities along the coast in iwate, miyagi, and fukushima prefectures. the sole exceptions are sendai city and rifu town in miyagi. municipal officials are concerned that further declines in population may not only hamper reconstruction efforts but even threaten the existence of towns and villages. a number of people in the northeast have connections to their hometowns that date back generations. but some are feeling the sense of disconnection right now. nhk surveyed residents from fukushima prefecture. the results suggest that about 80% of them are worried about maintaining links to their hometowns moving forward. 11% of the people said they could not keep connections.

65% said they may have difficulty although they want to keep the ties. together, the total is more than 10 percentage points higher than the results in iwate and miyagi prefectures. the survey last month covered more than 600 people from the three prefectures hit hardest by the disaster. this woman is among those who said she cannot keep connections. she used to run a japanese pub in her hometown. she had to leave when the government declared it a no-go zone. kawai wanted to initially go back to re-open the pub. she changed her mind as she learned more about the accident. >> translator: as i found out what the situation was like, i realized i wouldn't be able to go back home for decades. even if i did, young people won't go back. >> reporter: kawai works at a grocery store. she still thinks about re-opening her pub but realizes that won't happen. an expert on disaster recovery stresses the importance of giving survivors a clear

direction. >> the central government and society as a whole have not been able to come up with a plan for the future. that's exacerbating the hardships of the people of fukushima. >> he says cities and towns need to take a long-term view toward rebuilding. a year after the disaster, people are learning how the government helped them in the crisis. nhk world conducted a survey every the weekend. the survey suggests the people are not happy with how the government dealt with the disaster and the work at fukushima daiichi. the cabinet work wasn't go enough. 39% classified the job as sufficient. the criticism is harder

regarding fukushima daiichi. nearly four of five don't approve of the way they handled the accident. nhk world asked people about their general feeling regarding the noda cabinet. 48% of people said they approved it. along with disaster recovery, tax reform is also a major issue facing prime minister noda. he wants to pass a bill to raise the japanese consumption tax. 27% of the people surveyed approve the plan. the disaster has affected people across the united states. a ceremony was held in virginia. taylor anderson was teaching when she was swept away. miki ebara has the story.

>> reporter: a commemoration for taylor anderson, an american victim of tsunami was held at her alma mater, randolph macon college in virginia. 500 people, including taylor's parents, friends, and japanese ambassador to the u.s. ichiro fujisaki gave a moment of silence for all victims. a year ago, taylor, then 24 years old, was teaching english at an elementary school in ishinumaki city and went missing when the tsunami hit the area. taylor's father, andy, spoke of her dream. >> what we are doing now and hope to do for years to come is build on taylor's dream to be a bridge between our two countries. >> reporter: taylor had a life-long love of japan. for her it was a dream come true to go there to teach children english. for her parents, andy and jeanne, it has been a long and

difficult year. but it gives them joy, they say, to receive letters and cards from those whose heart taylor touched in japan. many children wrote thank you letters for english books they received from the andersons. it was made possible by the taylor anderson fund her family set up last year. >> very difficult. good days, bad days. you just never know when you're going to be hit with sadness. but you try to move on every day. i try to have happy thoughts about her and i think about her a lot. >> a chunk of your heart was taken out and every time i get maybe an e-mail from one of her students or i talk to someone -- or get an e-mail about taylor bunko, a little chunk goes back in the heart. >> reporter: last month, jeanne

and andy visited randolph macon college where taylor studied japanese and graduated in 2008 before she went to japan. recently, the college received a grant from the japan foundation in honor of taylor. it has enabled the college to expand japan-related programs, such as japanese culture courses. with the grant, it now plans to double the number of students studying the japanese language and to send a group of professors to japan in order to strengthen understandings of japan. some of the students expressed hope of one day going to japan. >> i really like tokyo. i really want to go there because everything i've seen of it, it looks like a great place to go. >> it would be nice to be able to go over and make as much of a difference as she seemed to. >> reporter: jeanne and andy hope that what taylor wanted to

do in japan will be passed on to many students, both in japan and america. so that the friendship between the two countries continues to be strong. >> we're trying to promote that bridge between our countries and that is the initiative we've taken from taylor to build that bridge between the two countries. that's what she wanted to do when she came back. thank you, everybody. >> reporter: miki ebara, nhk world, virginia. a group of pakistani musicians has shown ways to show sympathy for the earthquake disaster. we have the report from islamabad. ♪

>> reporter: the song is titled "land of the rising sun." the band wrote it to send a message of support to the country where he and his family lived for a time eight years ago. a video of the song was shown to the media on saturday night in islamabad to commemorate. the aim was to show the country's sense of solidarity with japan. >> the message to the video is about the friendship of pakistan and japan and i would like to say that pakistan is always there for japan and like japan

has always been with us. >> reporter: the music video has been uploaded to an internet site to reach a broader audience. the band is negotiating to get the video on local tv. they are calling for other pakistanis to lend their support as well. reporting for nhk world in islamabad. the head of the people's bank of china has indicated the central bank may ease monetary policy to spur economic growth. the governor zhou xiaochuan hinted that the central bank may lower the reserve requirement ratio, that the amount of cash chinese commercial banks must hold in reserve.

>> will affect will this have on the market? >> translator: china's reserve requirement ratio now stands at over 20%. in theory, we have much room to bring it down. >> zhou said it's necessary to closely monitor the impact of europe's debt crisis on his country's economy. he says global economic trends determine china's monetary policy. zhou's remarks come as china's exports continue to decline due largely to the credit crisis in europe. japan's top business leader has welcomed the yen decline helping the companies to improve their earnings the japan's business federation monitor made the announcement on monday as the yen sunk against the dollar. >> reporter: the yen's recent fall comes as a relief for japanese companies. it brightens up the mood in the

world of business. >> he said concerns over europe's debt crisis are easing probably due to the reduction talks with the greek government and bond holders. he expressed concerns saying losses creditors agreed to accept could hurt the balance sheets and have a considerable impact on the european economy. the country rich with resources. access is a constant challenge, especially in the winter. japanese truckmakers have found a solution. we have the report from russia. >> reporter: russia is the world's largest country. 45 times bigger than japan. in the soviet area, domestic vehicles are the lion's share of the truck market. in recent years, european and

south korean trucks have plodded in. a dealership sells japanese trucks. sales jumped 70% last year. >> translator: i have never driven non-japanese vehicles. the first one i bought was japanese. let me count just to make sure. fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh. okay. they were all japanese. >> reporter: here in russia, the headquarters was established four years ago. a subsidiary of one of japan's leading truckmakers. hiro chose to base himself in the far east rather than moscow because they have strong brand recognition in the region. >> translator: russia has a population of 140 million. there is no doubt that is a huge market and it is getting richer.

so russia's presence has a lucrative market and it will increase. >> reporter: the region faces the northern part of the sea and coast. the perfect location for an experiment he began last month. test driving a vehicle built for extremely cold weather. at 6:00 in the morning, three test vehicles set northward where temperatures are lower. minus 40 degrees celsius. the trucks speed through west siberian forests. they are designed to ensure safe and comfortable driving, even in the extreme cold. one of the biggest challenges was how to control the interior

temperatures. the drivers adapted with the powerful heater which keeps the temperature at 40 degrees celsius. another challenge was how to insulate the engine and fuel tank. >> translator: oil freezes easily. so we put an insulator around the fuel tank to beat the cold. if the vehicle was to stop before reaching its destination, it would not just cause delays in cargo delivery, but endanger the driver's life. >> reporter: made in japan products are gaining in popularity in russia sustained by the efforts even in the world's harshest environments. reporting for nhk world. and here are the latest market figures.

time to check on some of the sto stories we gathered from around asia. thai and japanese people marked the first anniversary of the devastation in northern japan with traditional rice. people released traditional lanterns in the sky. this is thought to release troubles from one's life. later, the participants let

paper lanterns to float down river. the anniversary was also marked in hong kong where japan's consulate held an exhibition are rebuilding efforts on disaster-hit areas. the consulate expressioned appreciation and encouraged them to see the progress that has been made for themselves. japan saw a sharp decline in hong kong after the disaster. japan is a popular destination for hong kong residents hosting about 40,000 of them during peak tourist seasons. thousands of bird-watchers moved in for the annual variety of raptors. this has been going on for the past 13 years to educate people

of the migration. birds of prey, hawk, eagles and vultures fly about 12,000 kilometers to the breeding grounds in china and japan. while migrating from the cold habitat in the north, they reach the forest reserve in the adjoining areas. hello. it's nice to see you, sports fans. i'm hiro morita. here is a sport that is sometimes called chess on ice. it is a game of strategy and skill that became an official olympic event in the nagano games in 1998. the real name is curling. it comes from the movement of

the stone as it slides down the ice. tokoro area of the city of kiteme is where the sport first took off in japan. this event offers tourists to learn curling from the olympic atheletes. today, 40 people are taking part in this event. the opportunity to have a go at curling with an instructor is part of a project to attract tourists. >> translator: this is my first time. it's hard. >> translator: i'm getting hooked. >> reporter: two teams compete in a curling match. each with four members. it takes place on a 40-meter long ice court known as a curling sheet. each player throws two stones.

these are no lightweights. a regulation stone weighs 20 kilograms and measures 30 centimeters across. the players aim for the circle called the house, 40 meters away. the side that ends up with more stones closer to the center of the house is the winner. a close look at the plain surface reveals tiny bumps in the ice. water is scattered about a match using something resembling a watering can. that creates ice droplets called pebbles. players control the stone's movement by sweeping the ice surface, slightly melting the top of the pebbles. a throw can involve 40 meters of all-out sweeping. that means nearly 2,000 meters of sweeping per game. i'm ready.

so let's try curling. yeah! my instructors are former olympic team members. makoto tsuraga and mari motohashi. we start with how to throw or slide the stone. motohashi's delivery is described as the most beautiful in the world. she's showing us the basics. my turn. this is no simple matter. once i got accustomed to the stance we worked on getting the stone in the house. the accuracy is my problem.

it's difficult to get the right distance. >> reporter: finally, we practiced sweeping the ice to control the direction. wait a minute. do i have to sweep this hard? >> translator: when a throw is weak, sweeping will make the stone travel an extra two to three meters. >> reporter: so it's very important to sweep it hard and right and fast. what's the appeal of curling for you? >> translator: you never know what will happen until the very last throw. and every throw creates a different situation. >> translator: you can have a game of curling with friends for fun or train to compete in international matches. it's a sport you can enjoy no matter what your aim may be.

>> nice! >> thank you very much. all right. thank you very much for the instructions. thank you. in curling you need a lot of practice, concentration, and use of physical strength as well because it's a very hard sport. so it's a pretty demanding sport in all ways. >> sure is a tough sport. and that's all for sports. all right. let's get a check from the weather from mai shoji. >> we had a snowy and windy day, especially up north and in

japan. the snowfall forecast is as followed. up to 50 centimeters on the sea of japan side and both sides in the tohoku region up to 40 centimeters. down to the south, 20 centimeters or more can still pile up. we are talking about additional fresh snow here. also winds are winding down. the peak of the strong winds have been tapered off. but still picking up waves in the tohoku region. in the next 24 hours, things will be clearing out and the pacific side will remain devoid of precipitation. high pressure will be dominant in much of the country. that will be bringing some sunny spells for us in tokyo. the temperatures are still very cold at 9 degrees single digits on tuesday. it will be a chilly day for us. seoul here at 7 degrees on tuesday. the forecast for thursday is actually 12 degrees.

it will be on the rise. still very chilly and frigid out there in kuala lumpur at minus 6 degrees. in bangkok, 34 degrees. that will be a chance of thunderstorms skirting across the area. plus, manila with 31 degrees. let's head over to the americas. we had a tornado touchdown reported in louisiana. this system is finally tapering off moving -- exiting the country. as it weakens, it will still bring some severe weather just around the great lakes region. we are talking about tornadic activities not being ruled out just yet. widespread areas will have a chance of severe thunderstorms and heavy rain could be possible in and around the east. out toward the pacific

northwest, another system is going to be approaching. today actually will be marking the start of a stormy week. heavy snow could be piling up in the cascades. as much as 30 centimeters in areas. up to 100 kilometers per hour gusts will be targeting much of the coastal areas, especially in the surf area of oregon. high waves could reach as much as 8 meters high. taking a look at temperatures. 8 in winnipeg, vancouver and seattle. oklahoma city, summer-like temperature at 27 degrees. may-like temperature in chicago and in new york and these could be record challenging. very warm out there. last, but not least, taking a look at europe. the scandinavian peninsula will be targeted with strong winds and heavy rain. also heavy rain and downpours could target the southern

balkans. that could move toward turkey. as it does, it could turn to snow in the east which is chilly. 8 for the tuesday high. out to the west and central portions, clear skies and lisbon looking at 25 degrees. here's our extended forecast.

that's our broadcast for this hour on "newsline." we'll be back with more news in half an hour. i'm michio kijima in tokyo. thank you for watching. bye-bye.