sky tree shines. operators of the world's tallest tower light up the structure on its opening day in tokyo. welcome to nhk world "newsline." the hottest tourist attraction in japan is also the highest, the tokyo sky tree, 634 meters tall, two observation decks and stunning panoramic views. thousands of people lined up to head up the tower on opening day and for those who didn't have a ticket, that didn't stop them from celebrating. nhk world's rina nakano has the story.

>> reporter: these people already have reservations to go up the sky tree but that didn't stop them from lining up hours before the opening. their goal, to be the first of the first. >> translator: i never get to climb up that high. that's why i'm curious to see how it feels up there. >> we didn't go on our honeymoon last year because of the earthquake so we decided to make this. >> reporter: it took engineers nine years to build the tokyo sky tree from the blueprint phase to opening day. the tower has two observation decks, one at 350 meters and the other at 450 meters. people who climb it say despite the bad weather, it's still worth the wait.

>> translator: the cars look really small. it just shows how far up i am. >> translator: when i was standing on the glass floors, i felt like i was on a roller coaster. >> translator: japanese technology is great. i'm not getting any younger, so i had to experience it as soon as possible. >> reporter: back at ground level, people who didn't have tickets still had fun. >> translator: i spent four days straight without sleep making this costume. >> reporter: the sky tree fashion is expected to continue. imagine how long it took this guy to do his hair. operators of the tower say this is just the beginning of a long

and exciting future. >> we want people to discover a charming, new tokyo, a new japan. we hope the sky tree becomes the world's most loved tower. >> reporter: one of the final highlights of opening day? this. by the end of the evening, about 8,000 people went home with bragging rights. the first members of the public to go up the world's tallest tower. rina nakano, nhk world, tokyo. >> the people who went up the sky tree on opening day won a lottery to get a reservation, tens of thousands of others will follow them. pre-sale tickets to the observation decks are booked until july 10th. the same day tickets go on sale a day later. if you can't get one, there's more to this new tower than just

great views. operators constructed a complex around it called sky tree town. it has more than 300 shops and restaurants and an aquarium and planetarium. 200,000 people are expected to visit the area tuesday. when engineers first started designing it, they wanted a structure both pleasing to the eye and earthquake resistant. the end result, a mix of modern and traditional japanese building techniques. many of the features of this broadcasting tower can be seen in this country's shrines and temples. for example, if you look at it from certain angles, the tower appears to have both concave and convex curves, but the cylindrical concrete pillar at the center of the sky tree is most noticeable. the column is structurally isolated from the surrounding steel frame. designers borrowed this idea from traditional five-story pagodas. when an earthquake happens the there will be a lag, so the

column sways at different speeds. they have tremor absorbing dampers and there's more, the structure's steel beams are twice as strong as those normally used in high-rise buildings. operates are say these measures will reduce the skytree's swaying by half. municipal authorities believe the tokyo sky tree will cast quite a long economic shadow. they've crunched the numbers and they say the attraction could generate more than $2 billion a year around japan. authorities estimate nearly 21 million people will visit the tower or the surrounding commercial facilities each year. they expect those visitors will spend about $990 million in fees for the observation decks and at restaurants and shops. they say personal consumption in the area will generate about $1.2 billion directly or indirectly for various companies in the country. the actual total economic impact

is expected to be even greater, however, that's because the estimates do not include revenues from the sky tree complexes, aquarium and planetarium. nato leaders say they won't back away from their plan to pull their combat troops out of afghanistan by the end of 2014. the war there has been going on for more than a decade, claiming thousands of lives but before foreign soldiers can leave, a number of issues have to be addressed. the leaders reaffirmed their strategy for exiting afghanistan before they wrapped up a summit monday in chicago, but questions remain over the ability of afghan security forces to protect the country. footing the bill is another matter. it's expected afghanistan's military will require $4.1 billion in annual aid. u.s. president barack obama is urging nato member nations and non-members, such as japan, to share the burden. >> it's been encouraging to see a number of countries making significant financial commitments to sustain afghanistan's progress in the years ahead.

>> japanese foreign minister koichiro gemba vowed at the summit his country will support afghanistan's reconstruction and he's hosting a ministerial level meeting july 8th in tokyo to discuss the issue. obama met briefly with pakistan's president during the summit. he's trying to get asif ali zardari to open important supply routes for nato-led forces in afghanistan. pakistani authorities closed them after a u.s. air strike near the afghan border in november accidentally killed 24 of their soldiers. >> president zardari shared with me his belief that these issues can get worked through. we didn't anticipate that the supply issue was going to be resolved by this summit. we knew that before we arrived in chicago. we're actually making diligent progress on it. >> the troops that will leave afghanistan by 2014 are members of the international security assistance force or isaf, led by nato.

>> the force was established by the united nations, three months after the september 11th attacks in 2001. united states was already involved in a full-scale offensive against the taliban whom they accused of harboring osama bin laden. isaf is composed of 130,000 troops from 50 countries. 90,000 of them are from the united states. their mission has been to stabilize the situation in afghanistan and to help the government of president hamid karzai reconstruct the country. they have also been in charge of training afghan security forces. over the past decade, some 3,000 coalition troops have been killed while fighting the taliban and other insurgents. the cost of maintaining troops in afghanistan has become a

heavy burden on nations providing support. in 2010, the afghan government signed an agreement to take over security operations from coalition forces by the end of 2014. but some countries are already seeking an early exit. in france, recently elected president francois hollande promised during his election campaign that he will bring all french troops home by the end of this year. australian prime minister julia gillard also wants most of her troops to leave afghanistan by the end of 2013. meanwhile, taliban insurgents continue their attacks, raising questions about the afghan government's ability to control the situation. >> earlier, nhk world's shery ahn spoke with koichiro tanaka, the director of the institute of energy economics japan. >> leaders have now ended their summit.

what's your take on the talks? >> officially as announced the agenda was supposed to deal with the talk about how the international community, especially nato, are going to assist afghanistan in maintaining its security following 2014. it may sound cynical but my take on this is that the real agenda about holding this meeting in chicago was to, say, consider sort of a face-saving deal with the afghans and also with the regional players, to have sort of withdrawal strategy, but still maintaining dignity, even though they have say more or less failed in its mission. >> you can tell that by looking at the number of incidents that have occurred between international forces and local troops. what are the biggest challenges for the security transfer at this point? >> well, talking about these incidents that happened even recently, i think we have to

look into the infiltration by the insurgents into the afghan national security forces. this includes the national police and also the national army. both things have happened so far and it's going to still continue and say harm the entire security mission in the years to come. this is a major issue. also there's a mutual distrust between the international forces and the afghan national security forces and that has been, say, making things very difficult in the battlefields, especially when they're dealing with the insurgents. >> what about challenges in funding? >> yes. certainly. $4.1 billion per anum is not a small amount, especially when you look at the international communities, say, difficulties in maintaining their own economy running. this also includes japan as well. and without that sort of a

funding, the afghan national security forces will be impossible to operate or even maintain their ability in tackling their security concerns. now -- but in a nutshell, if you look into the future, it's going to be a very difficult task for the afghan national security forces and even for the afghan government to maintain the life, the ordinary citizen's life safe from the attacks from insurgents or even from terrorist attacks. it's going to be a tough year and also the years to come. >> very doubtful about the future? >> yes. >> mr. tanaka, thank you for joining us. >> thank you for having me. the second time proved to be the charm for space engineers in the united states. they successfully launched a rocket to send an unmanned module to the international space station, after a failed attempt three days ago.

if all goes according to plan, this will be the first private cargo delivery to the iss. >> five, four, three, two, one, zero. and launch of the space x falcon 9 rocket, as nasa turns to the private sector to resupply the international space station. >> the rocket lifted off tuesday from an american air force base in florida. it's carrying a spacecraft called dragon. engineers at the u.s.-based space exploration technologies known as space x created it. the module separated from the rocket about ten minutes after liftoff. it's now orbiting the earth roughly 320 kilometers above the surface. engineers will try later this week to get the dragon to dock at the iss. the operation requires extreme precision because the station is orbiting the earth at 8 kilometers per second, faster than a speeding bullet.

the dragon is expected to return to earth in about a month. south korean defense authorities want to buy more military hardware to protect against threats from north korea. they're planning on spending $2.1 billion to strengthen their country's miss lz arsenal. they briefed president lee myung-bak on the cost estimates this week. military officials say the money will pay for the deployment of hundreds of new cruise and ballistic missiles. it will include this missile. the weapon has a top range of 1500 kilometers. the decision to buy more hardware follows north korea's failed launch last month of what its regime called a rocket designed to carry a satellite. most countries considered it a missile. south korean military leaders have set a range limit for ballistic missiles of 300 kilometers in agreement with the united states. some people in the country want that reach to be extended.

a new poll suggests the state of the u.s. economy will be the issue for voters when they decide between barack obama and his republican challenger mitt romney in this fall's presidential election. the survey says one-third of americans feel their lives have worsened since the democratic incumbent took office. pollsters working for abc news and "the washington post" spoke to 1,000 people across the country twenl between may 17th and 20th. 16% of respondents say their financial situation has improved under oat bahama administration. but 30% say they're worse off. we should point out that the rate has fallen slightly from six months ago. the pollsters asked who is responsible for the stagnant economy. 34% of respondents blame obama. 49% to former president george w. bush. more than half polled say the economy will be the top issue when they head to the ballot booth in november. the election promises to be close.

49% say they'll vote for obama. 46% say they'll pick romney. fitch ratings downgraded japanese government bonds by one notch. it cites delays in the country's efforts to build its deficit ridden finances. fitch said on tuesday it lowered japan's long-term government bonds to a plus, or single a plus from aa minus. the new rating is the fifth from the top. it's the first time since november 2002 that fitch has downgraded japanese government bonds. japan now ranks at the same level as countries like estonia, israel and slovakia. it has been growing faster recently due to an increase in deficit-covering bonds. fitch thinks the japanese government's plan to raise the consumption tax would not go into effect for at least two

years. japanese economic and fiscal policy minister motohisa furukawa commented on fitch's announcement. >> translator: the government will work hard to enact the bills for tax and social security reforms as soon as possible. >> the strong yen is shifting the balance on an indicator that shows the state of the japanese economy and suggests how businesses are spending money abroad. the country's net external assets rose for the first time in two years, the difference of values of overseas assets owned by japan and foreign investments in the country. finance minister spokespersons say the value of japan's net external assets stood at $3.2 trillion from last year, up 0.6% in yen terms from the previous year. the rebound came as the

strong yen encouraged japanese companies to buy out foreign firms. financial institutions boosted lending abroad as well. japan's net external assets have been the world's largest since 1991. the figure exceeds the value by china by more than $1.4 trillion. myanmar is seen as an economy that offer oz big opportunities for investors worldwide. many foreign firms are now entering the market of the southeast asian country. a major japanese bank is going to help a leading commercial bank in myanmar improve its efficiency. nhk world's mark ho has the details from yangon. >> reporter: this branch handles up to 5 million bank notes per day at its peak. as technology is still in its infancy, raw cash is still the preferred method of transaction. for banks in myanmar, the major challenges are to make their operations more efficient and international. they're slow in settling

accounts in cash. that's because they are behind in installing automatic teller machines and using credit cards. banks in myanmar are also grappling with insufficient know-how on handling foreign exchange. the banking corporation signed the tie-up deal in yangon on monday. sumitomo says it will accept trainees from the bank and provide them with know-how you. the move will help the bank improve its services. >> so far we are 50 years left behind in with near countries. so we have to upgrade our indonesian banking. >> translator: many japanese firms are rushing to get

themselves into myanmar. it is very important for us to make sure we satisfy those companies' needs. >> reporter: myanmar right now, foreign banks are not allowed to go into the market. as economic sanctions against the country are still in place. as regulations and sanctions are expected to be lifted at some time in the future, sumitomo mitsi plans to expand its operations with the advantage of ties with the leading bank in the country. the japanese bank wants to enter the market of myanmar, the last frontier in asia, which is rich in natural resources and has an abundance of cheap labor. mark ho, nhk world, yangon. as europe's debt problems cast dark shadow over the global economy, a world organization is warning that the number of young

jobless people will increase this year. the international labor organization said that this year's global jobless rate among people between 15 and 24 years old will reach 12.7%. that's up .1 of a percentage point from 2011. it is also 8 percentage points higher than unemployment among people about 25. they say nearly 75 million youths will be without work this year, up 100,000 from last year. by region, it said the jobless rate among young people in developed countries including eu nations will remain high at 18%. that's largely due to the effects of credit problems in europe. in the middle east, the rate is expected to worsen by .4 of a percentage point, just below 27%. looking ahead, the report said the global job situation for young people is unlikely to improve until 2016. here is the latest market figures.

for an update on the weather forecast, here is mai shoji. mai? hi there. let's start off talking about the tropical storm which is located west of mariana islands. as we speak, it is moving away from guam, which is very good news, but do keep away from those coastal areas if possible. looks like it will be dying off probably end of this week. and it is not going to be making it further towards japan.

this is because due to cold front that is dragging from this low pressure system, skirting over the pacific side of japan. and this is working as a barrier, so to say, and not making it move closer to our country. now, this low pressure system will be moving towards the northeast, so in and around nea these regions you may feel a few light showers. but the rest of the country, clear, sunny skies and temperatures will be on the rise. different story here in central china, however. the ongoing heavy downpours are just persisting. and in and around guangzhou province, we have a report of 165 kilometers in the past 24 hours. 35 millimeters reported in the span of one hour. and these torrential rain will be continuing, we may see about 250 millimeters of isolated amounts in and around guangzhou province where the flooding situation is not alleviated yet. we're worried about the further flooding, mud slides, landslides

in these regions. temperaturewise, chongqing, 20 degrees. tokyo, 27. as i mentioned, it is a leap from what we saw today, which was about 16 degrees. all right, moving over to the americas now, let's talk about the tropical storm that has developed here south of mexico. it is called bud. and it is moving in a northwesterly direction at the speed of 19 kilometers per hour as of now. looks like it is going to be intensifying into a hurricane by wednesday night. your time. and if it does, it is going to be first hurricane of this tropical season. it looks like it will be veering towards southern mexico and making landfall by the end of this weekend. we'll keep you posted with this. elsewhere here, we have a stretching front. in and around the mid-atlantic regions, you may feel some thunderstorms. if you're flying in or out of philadelphia, or new york, due take your flights, it has been delayed. low pressure system over this northern plains, this is where things are going to get pretty nasty. we're talking about severe

weather. and even tornadoes cannot be ruled out. large hail is another primary threat and that could be the size of a gulf ball. wind gusts up to 97 kilometers per hour. temperaturewise, phoenix reaching 42 degrees. that's really not going to be helping to contain the blaze, that wildfire that broke out last week in arizona. 22 in new york. and moving over to europe now, we have a very persistent low pressure system, just skirting across much of the balkan regions. that's going to be continuing for the rest of the workweek. and in france, things are still very messy. let's take a look at this video coming out from cannes. the film festival has been hit by unseasonally cool and wet weather. they have been forced to take out their umbrellas while the actors and directors had to walk along red-soaked red carpet. some events held outdoors have been moved indoors and others even canceled. but as they say, the show will

go on, and it will be under clear skies with only a slight chance of passing showers tomorrow. taking a look at the temperatures now, we can see that paris is reaching 23 degrees. and you're looking at moscow at 21 degrees. madrid at 27. lisbon, 29 degrees. here's the extended forecast.

that's all for this edition of "newsline." we're going to leave you with more images from the world's tallest tower, the tokyo skytree. thousands of lucky ticket holders became the first to check out the panoramic views on opening day. and the clouds didn't dampen the excitement.