hello. glad to have you with us on "newsline." i'm yuko fukushima in tokyo. japanese defense minister, toshima kitazawa, will hold talks with his south korean and u.s. counterparts next week. these are part of efforts to strengthen defense cooperation between the three nations. the talks come amid growing concern that east asia is becoming more volatile. kitazawa will visit seoul next monday for two days of discussions with south korean defense minister kim kwan jin. kim took office last month.

the two defense ministers will exchange opinions on heightening tensions on the korean peninsula in the aftermath of the north korean shelling of a south korean island in november. they will also strengthen a plan for periodic reciprocal visits by the top japanese and south korean defense officials. kitazawa will meet u.s. defense secretary robert gates in tokyo on thursday of next week. they will discuss how japan and the u.s. can cooperate on the korean peninsula issues. china stepping up activity in the east china sea including waters near japan will also be a focus of the talks. south korean president, lee myung-bak, says he will step up security following north korea's shelling of a south korean island in november. he also said the south is ready to increase economic cooperation if the north is willing to work toward denuclearization. lee made the comments in a televised new year's speech on monday.

>> translator: any military aggression would be met with stern and strong responses. we have to deter the north from acting provocatively. >> he urged the north to end its military adventurism. >> translator: the door is still open for dialogue. if the north shows sincerity, we are willing to give it more economic help together with the international community. >> president lee has taken a hard line toward the north since the artillery attack on yeonpyeong island. he's apparently changing his stance because the public is worried that continued tension could lead to an all-out conflict. an opinion poll published on monday by south korean newspaper "dong-a ilbo" showed that 48% want dialogue with the north, that is 1 percentage point more than those who support hard line policies. the top u.s. envoy will

visit japan, south korea and china this week to discuss how to ease the tension on the korean peninsula. the u.s. state department says stephen bosworth will visit seoul on tuesday, beijing on wednesday and tokyo on thursday. the u.s. envoy to the six-party talks on north korea sung kim will join the meetings in seoul and beijing. the united states, japan and south korea want the north to take concrete action toward denuclearization as a precondition for resuming the six-party talks. the u.s. delegates are expected to urge china to press north korea towards that end using the influence it has as an ally. in pakistan, the coalition government has apparently collapsed. its second largest party says it will leave the ruling coalition. this could deprive the government of its majority in parliament. the mutahida qaumi movement announced on sunday it will withdraw from the governing alliance. it cited dissatisfaction with prime minister

yusuf raza gilani. economic policies and security measures. the coalition government led by the pakistan people's party would fall short of a majority in the lower house. the prime minister denied speculation that he may dissolve parliament. he told reporters the government will remain in tact and will not fall from the defaction. gilani will likely enter into talks with opposition parties to build a majority in the lower house. the parties outside the ruling coalition remain divided. but there is a possibility that the opposition could submit a no confidence motion against gilani and parliament. the development prompts concern that u.s. assisted military operations against insurgents in neighboring afghanistan may be affected. the whistle-blower website wikileaks says for the first time they revealed diplomatic documents written by the u.s. embassy and tokyo.

wikileaks says it has about 5,700 cables sent to washington, posted three about japan's research whaling. the cable from november 2009, shows that japan's agriculture and fisheries ministry wanted the u.s. government to help it to take action against the anti-whiling group the sea shepherd. a japanese official asked the u.s. government to find out whether sea shepherd was involved in any tax problems. a cable written in january, 2010, japan's state secretary for foreign affairs said he wanted to avoid politicizing the whaling issue. the u.s. embassy and tokyo says it has no comments to make on the wikileaks posting. last month, john roos told seiji maehara and yoshito sengoku they should not let leaks harm their relations. now back to south korea where more young couples are choosing to wed in traditional ceremonies instead of western ones.

we meet a man who strives to make traditional ceremonies an opportunity for young couples to forge deep and meaningful bonds. >> reporter: this classical wedding takes place in seoul. as the popularity for western style weddings grew, traditional style weddings declined. but now an increasing number of couples are choosing more traditional ceremonies. this shop sells traditional clothing. historical dramas have made traditional wedding ceremonies more popular. so young customers buy classical wedding dresses. >> translator: a traditional wedding actually feels more suitable. so we decided to go with one.

>> reporter: kim ki jin performs traditional ceremonies. he has joined over 1,000 couples in matrimony during his ten-year career. born into a family of chinese classical scholars, he learned traditional ceremonies with harmony. as divorces increased, he decided to spread his values. on this day, a couple arrives to talk about their wedding. kim tells them the most important part of a traditional ceremony is that it manifests the couple's respect for one another.

>> reporter: on the wedding day, kim explains that all facets of the classical wedding ceremony represent the importance of harmony. >> reporter: one side of the bowl goes to the groom. the other to the bride. when they drink together, they officially become a couple. >> translator: i felt a new love born within us ad couple. we'll work hard to keep our life together happy.

>> translator: the traditional wedding ceremonies remind us of the importance of harmony. by making up for the other's shortcomings, you will be able to maintain a peaceful relationship. >> reporter: kim hopes that the recent popularity of old time wedding rites among younger couples will encourage them to look more deeply into their relationship. nhk world, seoul. >> as traditional weddings grow more popular in south korea, more couples wed in temples and old style private homes. and now to other stories making headlines at this hour, the global need to build energy efficient infrastructure called smart cities is growing. the smart city initiative aspires to develop energy efficient communities with an

advanced i.t. technology infrastructure to help with energy use. to respond to these needs, japanese electronicsmakers are increasingly focusing on green technologies. hitachi, which set up a smart city business management division last year, has more employees dispatched to its branch in china. they are taking part in a smart city project with a planned population of 350,000 people now ongoing in tangin city. >> in late december, toshiba revealed plans to develop next generation electricity meters to allow homes to use solar and wind-generated power more efficiently. toshiba will carry out feasibility tests in new mexico and the u.s. mitsubishi plans to fully operate an experimental system for electricity generated by solar power in june. this will integrate electricity from solar-powered generators

and power produced at central plants. as efforts to build energy efficient communities are on the rise across the globe, japanese firms have attached importance to building overseas infrastructure and are vying to seize the initiative. in the year ahead, japan faces a challenge of promoting free trade to revitalize its economy. with a new policy on japan's economic alliances, the government will step up its efforts to reach economic partnership agreements or epas. it will decide whether to join negotiations on a transpacific free trade pact as early as this summer. talks on the epa with australia have been stalled since april. but are scheduled to resume in february. japan also wants to start negotiations with the european union and the first half of the year. japan will send officials to the u.s. in january to gather information about the transpacific partnership or tpp. the government will decide whether to join negotiations on the tariff abolishing pact as early as this summer.

prime minister naoto kan hopes to make 2011 the start of an era to "open up japan" in his new year's statement on saturday. but agriculture and fisheries cooperative strongly opposed japan joining epas and the tpp saying the pacts will bring about the collapse of japan's farming and fishing industries. the u.s. and the eu want japan to reduce nontariff barriers including auto safety standards and regulations on the approval of medical devices. japan is a country often hit by earthquakes. this year the government will draw up plans to deal with three huge quakes that may hit the country at the same time. the so-called tokai, tonankai and nankai could hit the coast at the same time or one after another. they have happened every 100 to 150 years causing huge tsunamis. seven years ago, the government

estimated the three quakes would kill up to 25,000 people. but its current plans address each quake scenario separately. this year the cabinet office will launch a year long study to create plans to deal with all three quakes. a working group will use the latest research to estimate how strong the quakes could be and the possible heights of the tsunamis and will calculate the likely death tolls and economic damage. the group will draw up plans for the central and local governments including how to rescue people and stockpile supplies. people in southern sudan will soon be voting on whether to remain part of the country. most are expected to vote for independence and a new country could be formed at soon as july. the referendum is part of a peace agreement that ended a civil war in 2005. it will take place over a week starting on january 9th. the united nations says 92,000 southern-born sudanese who had

fled abroad had returned by late december ready to vote. sudan's civil war was fought between the muslim-led government in the north and ethnic christian-led insurgents in the south. it lasted more than 20 years. southern sudan is less developed than the north. fewer than 40% of children in the south go to school. there is deep-rooted distrust of the government. more than 60% of sudan's revenue comes from oil, most of which is produced in the south. how to share the oil money could be one of many sticking points in negotiations in independence for the south. the united nations has launched a new organization called u.n. women, which will promote gender equality. the body was formed by the merger of four u.n. agencies that worked on issues related to advancement in women. the u.n. has recently been more proactive in discussing the issues of women's rights. an initiative by u.s. secretary of state hillary clinton last

october resulted in the u.s. security council discussing the growing problem of violence against women in conflict regions. women's poverty in developing countries was debated at the summit on the millennium development goals last september. the deputy executive director for the u.n. development fund for women joanne sandler is expected to become a senior official in u.n. women. she told nhk that in addition to women living in poverty, there is another issue that needs to be dealt with. >> ending violence against women is, of course, another area that is of critical importance. only in the past ten years really has the issue of violence against women come from being a private issue to a public policy issue. and u.n. women has a critical role to play as part of the u.n. system. >> sandler also said aims of the body include having more girls attend school, lowering maternal mortality rates and protecting women from hiv infection.

sales at conveyor belt sushi restaurants continue to rise despite the sluggish economy here in japan. and now the market has reached more than $4 billion. for one conveyor belt manufacturer that is capitalizing on this trend, business is thriving. >> reporter: in october, a rotary sushi restaurant in central tokyo introduced a remarkable system that can quickly respond to customer orders. customers place orders via a touch screen at their table. chefs quickly make the ordered sushi and place it on a high speed conveyor system.

it then whisks its way to the customer in as little as ten or up to 60 seconds. >> translator: there are no longer orders that keep piling up like there used to be in the past. our year on year sales are growing greatly. they're up by 150%. >> reporter: this high speed system was developed by a rotary sushi conveyor beltmaker in central japan. with 60% market share, they have cornered the business. the firm's annual sales have skyrocketed over the past three years, reaching $40 million. the company's sushi conveyor system used to be square shaped, with curved corners.

plates pile up and spin around at the sharp curves. some even jam up so much that they are pushed off the belt and fall to the floor. the firm overcame this long-term problem three years ago with a belt that makes a 180 degree u-turn. the optimal height difference between the conveyor and the table was finally determined after trying many different combinations. each conveyor system is made to order, to fit the restaurant's needs. sushi restaurants come in all shapes and sizes. thanks to this new technology,

the firm can now offer a seemingly endless variety of conveyor shapes. this has become a huge advantage in securing clients. >> translator: with the u-turn conveyor, we can create a pea-shaped system. we can also create a trapezoid shape system or a diamond-shaped system depending on the client's requests. >> reporter: the firm has high hopes for its next generation conveyor. this conveyor belt isn't moving. but put a plate on it and there she goes. the secret is a magnet attached to the underside of each plate. the chain under the conveyor

also has magnets. this holds the plates in place. the magnetic force pulls the plates along. cleanup is easy because the space between the conveyor and the table was eliminated. with this new technology, the company hopes to expand within the food service industry. no longer limiting its opportunities to the sushi world. >> translator: it would be great if cafes and bars adopt the system. we want to go beyond the rotary sushi conveyor business. time now to get you updated

on the world's weather. we're going to head into eastern asia first where it is pretty cold to say the least. very, very chilly air coming down from the north. that said, it is quite dry here, high pressure in control of much of china and mongolia as well as the korean peninsula. we'll keep things quite settled. there will be a little bit of precipitation as it will be light snow across mongolia and northeast northeastern china here. heading further, we get into japan and it looks quite unsettled here. we have one system pulling away, that will take away rain that has been affecting the pacific side of the country. what will be left with, though, is quite significant snowfall, particularly for the northwest. and that's due to, well, almost a normal pattern that we see in wintertime. we have got very strong wind coming across, picking up all the moisture from the sea of japan and it results in snow. so that's what we have got going on over here. down in towards southern portions of china, we have another area of precipitation here. actually some of this is going to be snow and then it quickly turns to rain as we reach those

warmer climates down into parts of indochina. a little wet for you also in taiwan. and then we look down towards the philippines, you see this bit of pink here, we know that's going to be the heavier rain and it has been very, very heavy, some areas picking up 250 millimeters of rain in the last 24 hours. it is a very strong monsoon. as we head into the next few days, there will be a very high risk for flooding and landslides here. we'll keep that in mind. beijing, just 1 degree for the high. 1 also in seoul. comparatively warm in tokyo, 11 degrees forecast for tuesday. just 6 in shanghai. also single digits for chongqing and as we head to the tropics, staying very hot in bangkok and also in manila, in the low 30s there. all right, let's head now to north america. well, what's going on in short not very much. very settled and clear here, lots of high pressure keeping things clear. but there are a few areas to watch. one is going to be a small low down in the southwest. this will be producing some rain in lower lying areas, probably

about 30 centimeters up to maybe even 60 in the upper elevations. and then over the great lakes, another small low here brings some light snowfall, not anything too serious. then our next system comes in to bc actually from the pacific here. of course, that's going to be mostly rain at the coast, but you will see plenty of mountain snow over the next few days. temperatures are just around about seasonal averages. we got a nice day in new york city, 2 degrees for the high here. minus 15 in winnipeg and a sunny day, sunny also in vancouver. a little cloudy, 16 degrees, so a little chilly for you and wet too in los angeles, 13 degrees for the high. let's head to europe now. well, as the cold air funnels right down into central portions, you will see temperatures dropping by about maybe 4 to 5 degrees. so staying very cold, but also quite settled here in central portions. our new storm comes in across the british isles and scandinavia. that's going to be more rain, sleet and snow for you over the next couple of days.

it is going to be warmer down here over iberia as this precipitation moves in. it is going to be mostly rain, parts of portugal and spain, and right down through the mediterranean in towards the balkans and turkey here, we stay very unsettled, lots of rain, mountain snow here and that's going to last actually into the weekend. temperaturewise, we are sub-zero in the east and into central portions too. minus 11 in moscow. but fairly warm in london, maybe some sunshine too, 4 degrees for you on tuesday. here's your extended forecast.

new year's celebrations continued all over japan on monday. an annual new year's card game has been held at a shrine in ancient japanese capital in kyoto. 26 people aged 8 to 24 took part in the game that features a collection of 100 tanka or short poems from the 7th through 13th centuries. cards bearing the latter half of the poems were arranged before the participants who wore traditional costumes sitting face to face in pairs on a stage in the shrine. the players listened to the first half of a poem and tried to fit the corresponding card

faster than their opponents. at a shinto shrine in southwestern japan, about 200 men competed for the control of a sacred wooden ball, a traditional fortune telling event. the 500-year-old annual new year's contest at the shrine is called tomasisity. men in loin cloths raced 250 meters to the main shrine scrambling to get the ball. the ball, about 30 centimeters in diameter and 8 kilos in weight is believed to bring luck to those who touch it. the tradition says if a person from the seaside becomes the last to hand the ball over to the priest, it will be a good year for fishing. if a farmer is the last, the harvest will be good. this year two farmers handed the ball off.

in osaka, western japan, traditional puppets used in the art of bunraku welcomed fans with servings of japanese sake. the event is held annually to celebrate the first day of performances and wish for a successful year at the national bunraku theater. it is performed by puppeteers, people chanting and musicians playing a three-stringed japanese instrument resembling a guitar. five performers designated as living national treasures attended the event. that is all for now on "newsline." i'm yuko fukushima. thanks for watching and have a good day. jjxqqqqqaqaqqqqqqqqqqqq