rebuilding the northeast, reining in the high flying yen, repairing foreign relations. japan is facing a number of pressing issues.

how will the new prime minister lead during these tough times? >> translator: without reviving fukushima prefecture, japan cannot achieve its revival. accelerating the work to rebuild following the march 11th disaster is my highest priority. >> welcome to "newsline." the cabinet of japan's new prime minister noda has officially been launched. it was inaugurated on friday after the appointment of noda and his ministers were confirmed in a ceremony at the imperial palace. earlier in the day the new chief cabinet secretary wrote out a list of the new ministers. he is a close ally of noda. the outgoing national policy minister is the new farm minister. the ruling democratic party's former diet affairs chief has taken over as finance minister. upper house member kawa will serve as defense minister. noda outlined at a news

conference later on friday all out efforts to reconstruct japan from the march 11th disaster and bring things under control. >> translator: the disaster restoration and reconstruction are the utmost priority for our cabinet. acceleration of the restoration and reconstruction work is our greatest mission. also, of highest priority, is bringing the daiichi nuclear power station crisis under control as soon as possible. without the revival of fukushima, there will be no revival for japan. through fukushima's revival, we will revitalize japan and this

we will do with all our strength, also for the purpose of regaining the confidence of the international community in japan. >> prime minister noda also said he is determined to implement necessary economic policies. >> translator: another important task is to respond to various crises i the global economy. we need to avoid hollowing out of the industry and rebuild the economy despite energy restrictions and by addressing the fiscal problems that we've had even before the disaster we will respond to all such crises so that the nation will not suffer a credit crisis. >> we asked people on the

streets of tokyo and displaced residents in fukushima prefecture about their impressions of the new cabinet and their expectations. >> the cabinet seems younger than the previous one. since the rest of the world probably sees japanese politics as old school, i hope the new cabinet will have more of an impression. >> at first i thought the new cabinet seems very low key but it could also mean its members will work very aassiduously. >> frankly i don't expect anything from the new government. i just hope it will last longer than its predecessors. >> the top priority should be to bring the nuclear crisis under control, because i want to return home as soon as possible.

>> the new cabinet needs to do a better job than the previous one. the current situation is really bad. >> here's a look at some reactions from prime minister noda's administration. the u.s. governmt has not issued an official comment yet but the obama administration has expressed interest in who will head up the foreign and defense ministries. the white house is expected to seek close coordination with foreign minister gamba and the defense minister and is also expected to push for concrete progress on the relocation of the u.s. marine corps futenma air station in okinawa prefecture. on the trans pacific partnership the u.s.-backed free trade pact the united states says it has high expectations for japan's early participation in the negotiations. as for japan's biggest neighbor, china, here's what it expects from the noda administration.

>> translator: the chinese government places a substantial amount of importance on the china/japan bilateral relationship. china hopes japan will continue to cooperate in various fields so our strategic and mutually beneficial relations will be strengthened. >> the south korean foreign ministry said in a statement that it hopes noda's cabinet will continue to forge mature, future oriented, and cooperative relationships with the country while it looks squarely at its past. nhk world's senior commentator is with us now. how does the noda administration plan to handle japan'sgoing nuclear crisis? >> well, managing this crisis and mapping out new energy policies are the most daunting tasks facing noda's team now. prime minister noda has reappointed a nuclear crisis minister to carry on with the previous administration's

policies. he drafted ideas to improve nuclear safety under former prime minister naoto kan. he also wants to pursue the idea of reducing japan's reliance on nuclear power and increasing its use of renewable energy. that's one reason why he will also serve as environment minister but no concrete green energy plan is in place yet. you know, noda believed that the nuclear power plants, which have passed so-called stress tests should be restarted in order to fulfill this country's electricity demands. >> what does prime minister noda have to do to rebuild japan's position in the northeast? >> the first thing it has to do is pass a third extra budget so that full fledged reconstruction can start. noda says he is going to take a flexible approach in order to form a consensus within his

democratic party and with the opposition parties. he has decided to keep the minister in charge of reconstruction because some projects have just begun. the reconstruction will cost more than $240 billion over the next five years. financing it will be a big problem. noda is considering a temporary tax increase but he has not made details clear yet. such as which taxes he plans to target. raising taxes is something many lawmakers including the ones in noda's own democratic party oppose. they insist that raising taxes could hurt japan's economic recovery. >> chinese and south korean media have reacted cautiously about noda and some have branded him a hard liner on war time history. why is that? >> well, recent chinese and

south korean articles mentioned a remark that noda made. noda said japanese military and post war leaders convicted as war criminals have had their honor legally restored after their names were added to the shrine which pays tribute to japan's war dead. he said it's inappropriate to treat them as war criminals. but, you know, this has raised concern in china and south korea but i'm sure that as a pragmatic politician noda will try to make better relations with both neighboring countries. >> now how long do you think prime minister noda will be able to hang on to this top job? >> well, to stay in power, noda needs to secure cooperation from the opposition parties to help pass bills. that's because the ruling democratic party controls the lower house of the diet but not the upper house.

noda says he'll do his best to get the opposition to cooperate. he knows that his administration will be cornered sooner or later if he cannot pass important bills. but the democratic party wants to force an election because it knows it can defeat the ruling dpj and regain power. noda's administration can counter this by regaining a high public approval rating that will help him put the pressure back on the opposition. the most important legislation on the horizon includes the budget bills for the next fiscal year. if these don't pass the government will not be able to carry out its policies. you know, next april could be a very crucial time for noda. he may be forced to resign or

call an election if he cannot get cooperation by then. >> we'll be sure to ask for your analysis on that. thanks. appreciate it. next we go to our bureau in bangkok. we have the latest on what's going on in the region. >> improving relationships between india and pakistan have suffered a jolt following an exchange of gunfire in the disputed region of kashmir. the latest standoff left casualties on both sides of the temporary border, dividing indian and pakistani kashmir. we have more from new delhi. >> reporter: an indian army official accused pakistani forces of shelling into indian-controlled kashmir between wednesday evening and thursday morning. indian troops retaliated. pakistani forces returned fire and the gun battle ensued.

pakistan said three troops were killed while india says one of its soldiers was injured. the two countries have fought three wars over control of kashmir and other issues since independence and partition in 1947. even in times of cease-fire standoffs have continued across a line of control. on the diplomatic front, the two countries resumed a comprehensive dialogue after a three-year break. they agreed to take steps to improve their relationship. that latest military clash was the fifth so far this year. while overall relations between the two countries have positive momentum, tension in kashmir remains high. >> now, the ongoing crisis in fukushima has thrust nuclear

safety into the spotlight around the world, including southeast asia. against this backdrop an international seminar to examine the safety of the nuclear industry has taken place here in bangkok. about 150 nuclear officials from the international atomic energy agency and southeast asian nations took part in the event on friday. drawing particular attention was a speech by a nuclear policy planner from japan. atomic energy commission member amoto briefed participants on tokyo's response to the fukushima accident and efforts to strengthen nuclear safety regulations. an example he gave was the decision last month to separate the agency in charge of nuclear safety from the ministry that promotes nuclear power. according to experts all southeast asian nations also have nuclear regulators that are connected to pro nuclear ministries or agencies.

these countries are debating how to reform their nuclear industries to improve safety in light of the accident at fukushima. in thailand a special team of investigators is trying to capture some precious national assets before it's too late. the country set up its first ever film rescue unit dispatched to seek out and protect old film reels and videotapes, mediums that are dying out in this digital era. >> reporter: these are members of the rescue unit, a special force of investigators created by the government in april. their mission, to hold documentaries and videos for

restoration and safekeeping. they scour the country hunting out targets that need their protection. they often receive tipoffs from movie loving informants. today they're getting ready for a major challenge. over 10,000 videotapes covered in dust are scattered around this house. i'm here in a private home in which the owner actually used to run a video rental store so both thai films and foreign films can be found here. the team is giving priority to the thai films. the unit captures at least 3,000 tapes and categorizes them in boxes.

they hope to retrieve a copy of every thai film ever made to create a collective portrait of the nation. >> this is our biggest hall of videotapes yet. >> i can't throw them away. they could be useful for the next generation. >> reporter: the flichilms are n to the thai film archive where the process of restoring them begins. many have been improperly stored, resulting in damage from mold. experts thoroughly clean and repair the films using various solutions. depending on the extent of the damage, restoring one film can

take from fiv days to several years. the restored films are digitally encoded and archived for posterity. this restored home video captures a scene from thai history when the country was severely flooded in 1942. >> these films are a national treasure like antique books. if we don't preserve them they will all disappear. we have to make them available to the public. >> the restored films are shown to the public once a week. so people can learn more about the history of thailand. in this way the film rescue unit is giving people from all walks of life a window on the past

that was so nearly closed for good. nhk world, bangkok. >> it's good that history is kept alive again. and that's going to wrap up our bulletin. >> the march 11th disaster. the september 11th attacks. two anniversaries, one source for in-depth coverage. join nhk world for japan six months on and 9/11 defining a decade beginning september 5th. then on sunday, september 11th, we'll mark the anniversaries. 2:30 p.m. japan time for the 3/11 disaster. 9:40 p.m. for the 9/11 attacks. politicians, farmers, and business owners in fukushima prefecture are putting the pressure on tokyo electric power company. they want the utility to broaden the scope of its program to

compensate people following the meltdown at the fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant. the prefecture is the vice governor and locecal industry leaders visited tepco and met the company president. the meeting happened three days after tepco announced it will start procedures for a full-fledged compensation this month based on interim guidelines from the japanese government. during the discussions, fukushima agricultural cooperative head sojo said the guidelines don't reflect all the damage caused by the disaster. >> the compensation program must also cover damage not specified in the guidelines. >> he stressed people in fukushima who fled their homes voluntarily and not under a government order should also be compensated. he also wants tepco to give

payouts to all residents in the prefecture for mental suffering. >> we apologize for the trouble and inconvenience caused. >> reporter: he also said the utility will do its best to compensate those affected by the nuclear accident. tepco will begin sending out am cases for a full scale compensation on september 12th. after the meeting, fukushima vice governor matsumoto told reporters he conveyed the wishes of the 2 million residents of the prefecture and says he wants tepco to show more sincerity. japanese trading house corporation is investing $320 million in a major offshore wind farm in britain. the company says it has reached a basic agreement with denmark's dawn energy, the world leader in offshore wind power generation that runs the farm off the southeastern coast of britain.

they will acquire a 49.9% stake. the wind farm has been producing up to 1,171 kilowatts of electricity since spring of last year enough to cover consumption by 120,000 households in britain. the company hopes to acquire management know how through this investment and eventually launch a wind power generation business in japan. the employment situation in the united states is looking bleak. the labor department says no new jobs were added in august while the jobless rate remains high. the department said on friday that the u.s. economy had added no net jobs in the nonfarm sector. the sector is considered a gauge of economic conditions. the figure put the brakes on job growth which had been increasing since last october. the market had expected about 70,000 jobs to be added in august. the figure in july was also revised down from 117,000 to

85,000. meanwhile the unemployment rate stood at 9.1% in august, unchanged from this month. the peak had been above 9% since april. president barack obama is scheduled to announce major measures to create jobs next thursday. the latest job data is raising concerns about the outlook for the world's biggest economy. >> hi there. welcome back. let's take a look at your weather. you can totally see this dome, doughnut actually moving in and it will make landfall, this severe tropical storm early saturday morning. you can see that the violent wind is already affecting much of the region, not only the violent winds but the rain is staggering amounts of about 776

millimeters already accumulated in nara. this is jakuchi 452 millimeters so this rain is not going to be stopping unfortunately but is going to be up to about 800 millimeters in the region and even all the way up to hokkaida we're going to be seeing rainfall accumulation up to about 200 millimeters because we have a stationary front that is stretching across hokkaido at the moment and that storm is activating that front so we'll be getting a lot of rain there as well. this is just a span of 24 hours. high waves also to be very cautious of. up to nine meters high all the way from shikoku in. and seven meters all the way for the very flood prone areas in tohoku as well. this is into saturday. please do stay away from those coastal areas. we have a low pressure system, a remnant just hanging oto that

southeastern coast of china. taiwan will be affected as well as laos and vietnam from this remnant low bringing heavy rain in towards the weekend. but where we really want that rain we're not getting any in chongoing, 40 degrees. shanghai heating up to 31 as well. tokyo another hot day for us at 31 degrees for our saturday high. here in north america let's talk about the gulf of mexico. just thoroughfare we have a tropical depression that has a potential to become a severe tropical storm by later tonight actually we have tropical storm warnings just posted in the coast of louisiana and we're going to be seeing very heavy rain coming in associated with this storm, bulk of rain which is a very stationary one right see, slow moving system that will be packing up those buckets of rain. louisiana, mississippi, alabama

we may see reason up to 500 millimeters and storm surge to really be careful of. vancouver 20 degrees but heat really builds up here. toronto 30 degrees. chicago heating up to 34 degrees. and even new york looking at 26 degrees. here in europe we're going to be seeing showers just over here with that low pressure lingering in western russia. nothing too significant but here we may see some thunderstorm activity which will be moving into the alpines because ahead of this system daytime heating may pop up, thundershowers in alpine regions, and the balkans. we have a front that was lingering over northwestern british isles that will be moving in toward norway. norway, you'll be seeing that rain and ireland and scotland another atlantic system pulling in so no rest for you with that rain. central and eastern europe, really looking pleasant and dry for you. vienna at 20 degrees. berlin 26 degrees. a little hot in paris at 30 degrees. but london cooler at 19 degrees.

here's our extended forecast. we want to take a minute to tell you about some special programming we'll be bringing you next week starting monday. japan six months on will feature reports and analysis leading up to the six month anniversary of this country's devastating earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear

crisis. the magnitude 9 earthquake hit off the northeast coast on march 11th. moments later the tsunami barreled inland. the monster wave swamped towns and cities. nearly 16,000 people died and about 4500 are still missing. the survivors lost almost everything and many of them are still facing challenges. six months on will bring you stories from the hardest hit areas in iwate, miyagi, and fukushima prefectures. we'll start monday in iwate prefecture. find out how the support of a community in tokyo helped encourage people in the port city of miyako as they worked to rebuild a vital industry. on tuesday we'll head to miyagi prefecture. a group of international volunteers is helping clean up the city of ishinomaki. we'll tell you how successful they've been. we'll then travel to fukushima prefecture on wednesday. the spread of radiation is hurting the region's farming economy. we'll show you what happened in the town of namie. on thursday and friday we'll

bring you our weekly segments, nuclear watch and the road ahead so you can stay updated on the nuclear crisis and how japan's energy policy is changing. that's next week right here on "newsline." please join us for all that. that's it for newsline. we'll be back with more news in half an hour. thank you for watching. bye-bye.