hello and welcome back to nhk world "newsline." back to i'm raja pradhan with the news from tokyo. north koreans have spent days crying, wailing and grieving over the death of kim jong-il. now their long period of carefully orchestrated collective sadness has reached its conclusion. the final day of national mourning was as much about the man who once led them as it was about the man who leads them now, kim jong-un. high ranking officials called him a supreme leader and said he will carry on where his father left off. hundreds of thousands gathered

for the memorial in the capital pyongyang. it marked the end of a week-long period of official mourning. the government instructed people across the country to offer silent prayers. these tributes are for kim jong-il, but his memory is sharing the spotlight with kim jong-un. the president of the supreme people's assembly and north korea's number two official praised the country's new leader. some wondered if kim jong-un would make his first public speech, but he only stood before the crowd bowing from time to time. that's what his father did 17 years ago during the ceremony

for his grandfather, kim il-sung. that memorial apparently served as the model for this week's services. observers say the younger kim didn't speak in an effort to enhance his mystique as a leader. his job, though, is clear. north korean officials say he will continue his father's work. but kim jong-un will face challenges. namely, fixing the economy. kim jong-il's regime said it wanted to turn north korea into a great, prosperous and powerful nation in 2012 through military build-up and economic reconstruction. this won't be easy for kim

jong-un. he's still young and he needs to focus on solidifying his power base so his leadership will endure. people celebrated the legacy of kim jong-il elsewhere in asia. so many mourners went to the north korean embassy in beijing that not everyone could enter the building. a number of attendees ended up praying outside. here in japan, people gathered in tokyo to remember the late leader. the general association of korean residents says more than 3,000 people attended the event. south korea's top envoy on north korea says he and his counterparts in the united states are ready to resume talks with the reclusive nation. there's a condition, though, they want the country's new leadership to show a willingness to work toward denuclearization.

lim sung-nam spoke on wednesday in washington after meeting u.s. special representative on north korean policy, glyn davies, and be others at the state department. lim said the group reaffirmed the importance of maintaining stability on the korean peninsula following the death of kim jong-il. he pointed out they are waiting for north korea to send the right signal before committing to restarting discussions on its nuclear program. >> translator: we agreed to restart negotiations on north korea's nuclear issues under the right conditions. >> the six-party talks on north korea's nuclear development have been on hold since december 2008. the united states, south korea, and japan have indicated they will resume negotiations if north korea stops its uranium enrichment program and takes other steps to show it is serious about denuclearization.

a nuclear submarine has caught fire at a shipyard in russia. emergency ministry spokespersons say no radiation leaked out and no one was hurt. the submarine was docked for repairs in a port off the arctic ocean. investigators believe wooden scaffolding caught fire, sending smoke plumes into the air. the flames engulfed the submarine's outer hull. workers fought for more than seven hours to put them out. ministry spokesperson says the vessel was not armed and its reactor shut down. the submarine has been docked since early december for regular maintenance. it test-fired ballistic missiles in april and july. turkey's government says its military may have mistakenly killed 35 civilians in an operation targeting kurdish militants. the bombing was carried out

thursday night through friday morning in a mountainous area with the border with iraq. the military said it targeted members of an armed kurdish group based in northern iraq who were trying to enter turkey. a local mayor denounced the operation saying the victims were residents in their teens and 20s who had no link to the armed group. the turkish government later held a news conference. it said the victims were likely local residents who were trying to smuggle cigarettes from iraq. in recent months, the turkish government has stepped up military operations against the kurdish group in retaliation for a series of attacks by the insurgents. hyundai motor group is retooling to build futuristic cars. the south korean automaker has set record high investments for

the coming year. the group plans to invest 14.1 trillion yuan or about $12.2 billion in 2012, that would be 16% more than this year. engineers will spend $7.8 billion on new facilities. they'll build plants in south korea and brazil. developers will invest more than $4 billion on research and development. they'll put most of that into next generation vehicles such as hybrid cars and electric vehicles. dealers in the united states and in emerging economies have had greater success selling hyundai cars. they've been helped along by a weaker yuan. group executives hope to increase their market share. they'll invest aggressively in growth areas. a government report on last summer's fatal high speed rail crash in eastern china is being criticized online. chinese officials released a

document on wednesday. a combinn errors for the accident which killed 40 people in the province of zhejiang. among them, a serious flaw in the design of train control equipment and the poor response of railway authorities after a lightning strike disabled a signal system. people online are questioning the investigative panel's conclusion that former railway minister liu zhijun should get most of the blame for the accident. he was dismissed last february for allegedly accepting bribes from construction firms. the panel only recommends reprimands for current senior railway officials. they are also slamming the report for using an attempted cover-up by local officials as an opportunity to highlight the achievement of a government leader. the document says local railway employees had tried to bury the train wreckage near the accident site, according to past procedure, but didn't follow

through with the plan because president hu jintao sent an order telling them to preserve the evidence. the march 11th earthquake and tsunami continues to harm businesses in the affected areas in northeastern japan. the fishery catch through october in the worst hit regions was down 70% from the same period last year. a government survey compiled information from the seven months between april and october. the three prefectures of iwate, miyagi and fukushima arelose to one of the world's largest fishing grounds in the pacific ocean but fishing ports in these prefectures were badly damaged by the earthquake and tsunami. the total catch landed by eight major ports during the survey period was a little over 64,000 tons. this is down 70% from a year

ago. fishermen in fukushima prefecture have voluntarily stopped iffishing in waters nearby due to the nuclear power plant accident. workers up and down the coast are still struggling to remove millions of tons of debris. the government's goal is to transfer 22 million tons of waste from disaster-hit areas to temporary storage sites by the end of next march, but environment ministry spokespeople say about 7 million tons or one-third of the total debris still needs to be hauled away. they say the main reason for the delay is the time it takes to demolish damaged buildings. the government needs to get approval from building owners and prevent asbestos from entering the environment when it destroys the structures. the ministry plans to build incinerators to burn the debris that has been collected. spokespersons say it is difficult to prepare the land where these facilities could be built.

thousands of japanese head home during the new year holidays. this year's homecoming is a special one for many in the northeast. sendai station, one of the main train terminals in tohoku, was crowded with families returning for the holidays. >> translator: my parents' home was badly damaged by the quake. i want to let my children spend time with their grandparents. they rarely get to come to sendai. >> translator: i want to meet childhood friends and ask them if they need anything. >> a man at fukushima station said he was going to visit his wife and children who had evacuated to another prefecture after the crisis at the nuclear plant. >> translator: i want to play with my children. it's tough not being able to

live with them. >> people who have returned to the disaster-hit area are preparing for the new year. in kesennuma, miyagi prefecture, a mochi pounding ceremony was held to promote closer community ties for people living in temporary housing. >> translator: it tastes good. [ speaking japanese ] >> in minamisanriku, people are selling items for the new year. the event had been held in the fish market every year, but it had to be moved this time around as the market was damaged. >> translator: i came here to help reconstruct the devastated area. i hope this event can help return things to normal. a lot of rebuilding has to be done and many people are trying to regain their sense of well-being. now, a photographer has drawn on

his craft to help children reframe their world. nhk world's mashmi ukon has more. >> reporter: children in the disaster zone show how well their project is working. they're taking pictures of life after the disaster. it's part of a project called i see. it's organized by unicef, who want to give the children a worldwide stage to express their views and feelings about the disaster. the unicef people choose miyagi prefecture. besides being a poor district it was one of the areas closest to the epicenter. tsunamis higher than ten meters battered the main street once bustling with ancient souvenir shops. many residents lost their homes

and family members. a clock that stopped when the tsunami hit. a parking lo the that sunk below sea level during the quake. some children take pictures to show how they view living with the disaster and its aftermath. they also picture locals keen to get on with tir lives, despite the circumstances. some children express their joy that everyday life is gradually getting back to normal. italian photographer giacomo palazzi is working with the kids. he has been taking pictures with youngsters for more than 20 years. giacomo has also conducted a workshop in countries all over the world. some work with people who have gone through natural disasters. in the photos he could sense the

same message of hope expressed by people in similar projects around the world. >> oh, that's lovely. of course a calamity is a calamity. there's nothing that we can do about it but what children want as always, they want to find the energy to continue and to continue their life, as a normal life as any other children. >> reporter: the reconstruction effort has begun and signs of progress can be seen but some children still face an internal struggle with their harrowing experience of the march disaster. one of these children is 9-year-old asahi shimori. the tsunami washed away his house. now he lives with his grandparents. born into a fisherman's family, he had a dream of making a living from the sea. but ever since the disaster, he hasn't gone near the ocean.

overcoming his aversion to the sea, asahi decided to take pictures of it. he calls this photo "the boats that worked hard." he's expressing thanks to the ships that once helped locals make a living from the sea. struggling to cope with his trauma, asahi has a message that needs getting out.

giacomo has been observing children over the years. he hopes that by putting a camera in their hands, he can help them ease their trauma. >> behind the smiles and the play, there could be something hidden, and the camera helps them to reflect about what happened to them, and to kind of externalize as much as they can, and the fact that they have to tell the story to other children in other parts of the world, encourage them to express themselves as much as possible, you know. >> reporter: the children of the project took about 8,000 pictures. each one reflects the children's courage and their desire for their hometown to be revealed soon. masami ukon, nhk world, ayukawa. >> unicef officials plan to

display the photos with captions written by the children when they hold exhibitions around the world. among the locations, japan and the unicef headquarters in new york. they plan to time the event to coincide with the first anniversary of the disaster, march 11th, 2012. the number of foreign tourists visiting japan is falling, as the nuclear crisis continues and the value of the currency rises. but some innovative people are coming up with new kinds of tour packages that are attracting foreign tourists. >> fantastic. >> it's huge. >> reporter: three americans visit japan pore a one-week tokyo veigh skags. they take in popular tourist sites and travel to mt. fuji. but unlike most tourists they

don't stay in a hotel. they stay in a japanese house. shuji ogiri, a four-year university student lives here with friends. he invited the three americans to stay free of charge. kampai! >> reporter: his guests get a chance to enjoy and experience how japanese live. >> chess and michigi is very similar. so teach us how. this would never happen in a hotel room and it's just so much fun, so i'm definitely doing it again. >> we really wanted to b able to just meet people, you know, meet japanese and learn, learn about the culture. >> reporter: he met the americans online run by an american npo.

ogiri is one of its 2 million members. the site helps host and members from around the world meet. if they agree the members can stay at the house for free. staying with or sharing your home with a total stranger can be unsettling so the website has an evaluation system. members can rate the service of their hosts and write a review, and the hosts can rate how their guests behaved. ogiri has hosted more than 50 people. he constantly receives requests from foreign members. >> translator: it's a good chance to speak to foreigners in english. it can broaden my world. that's why i love this system. >> reporter: here is another service attracting foreign tourists looking to experience japanese culture. masaha takahashi started his online tourism in august. through it, foreign travelers can get to see a side of japan that many foreigners don't know.

the website offers over 20 different tours, and making reservations is easy. jeff lucic, an american, use the the website to find an authentic dojo for karate training. he trained for an hour. the portion of the money lucic payed to the karate school went to takahashi's company. >> it was very fun and it was nice to experience something more japanese than just walking around and taking pictures of everything. >> reporter: takahashi's business receives a government subsidy. he's now trying to expand his sr. on this day he visits a cafe where the patrons can hang out and fondle rabbits.

takahashi thinks this concept is uniquely japanese and the shop appreciates his service. >> translator: before i couldn't advertise to foreigners. this system helps me. >> reporter: takahashi's customers post their reviews on his website. he hopes marketing like this boosts tourism still suffering from the march disaster. >> translator: we live in an age in which people can just go online and share their touring experiences with the world. i want to make use of that platform for my business. >> while it's been sunny and dry this entire week here in tokyo, but i wonder what it's like in other parts of the country. here's rachael ferguson with the weather around the globe. >> hi there, raja, thank you very much. yes it has been pleasant for much of the week in tokyo but in

other parts of the world a completely different story and we're going to start with the cyclone we have been tracking this week, this is tani, just about to make landfall on the eastern coast of india. let's get you the recent figures on the storm. we're expecting it to make landfall in northern nadu any time now. it's a severe cyclonic storm. the wind speeds of 120 kilometers an hour with gusts stronger than that. we are expecting of course some damage with those winds but it's the rain that's going to be the most dangerous factor with this storm. now we can see that chennai is going to be in the line of fire, expect this densely populated city to be affected by this storm and that's agency going toy major concern. it will start to run out of steam after making landfall so by saturday we'll start to see that rain winding down, but before it does so, some isolated areas could pick up as much as 250 millimeters of rain, which is certainly enough to do some real damage in terms of

flooding, so we will keep you updated with that system as we move on. all right, into eastern asia here, the continents looking very dry. we've got a little bit of precipitation, just light showers towards the southeast, nothing too much to worry about. we'll continue to see scattered thunderstorms across indo china as well as the philippines here and the eastern seaboards of these regions also seeing some strong winds so rough seas could be an issue for you there as well. as for japan, the pacific edge has been nice and sunny and will continue t be so, but in the north we have a winter storm system which is creating some heavy snow and also some storms. so thunderstorms, that strong wind accompanied by the snow means there's a potential for avalanches and also for some blowing and drifting snow to occur across tohoku as well as hokkaido into the next few days. the seas will be very rough for that northwestern seaboard as well. temperature wise, toke row 8 degrees, a couple degrees cooler than yesterday. 3 in seoul. 1234 beijing.

we have minus 14 for the high in ulan bator and then in chongqing, 11 degrees, just into the double figures in shanghai and down into the tropics we're in the low 30s. okay into north america, a pacific storm here is doing some damage in terms of the wind and some heavy rain for coastal areas. in terms of the mountain snow, the rockies you could see maybe another 50 centimeters, the cascades maybe about 35 centimeters, so we have that winter storm moving in here. another couple of lows spread out across the north. these ones are not going to be as so significant in terms of precipitation, but we will be seeing in terms of the accumulation i should say, but we will be seeing some snow and also some potential for some freezing rain which if you're going to be on the roads makes for a very dangerous driving so do check your local forecast. south of that, things are looking very dry and also above average in terms of your temperatures. up to 16 degrees in oklahoma city for your friday. 13 in denver which is pretty warm for this time of year. 8 degrees -- 6 i'm afraid in

chicago, excuse me, 22 in houston. we have a pair of 8s in seattle and in vancouver, and out to the east you'll notice a big boost in these temperatures. pi think new york city was about 3 yesterday. we're looking for 11 today. 12 in d.c. and 16 in atlanta. all right, las to europe. wet and windy once again for the northern tier here. we just keep seeing these storms rattling through from the atlantic this is mostly going to be rain but in parts of the mountainous regions, for example southern germany you're going to be seeing maybe about 30 centimeters of snow. alpine region also seeing that snow piling up, and then we have a developing system in the southeast here, so storms are going to be on the cards for the southern balkans as well as turkey. here are your temperatures and i'll leave you now your extended forecast.

and that wraps it up for this edition of "newsline." i'm raja pradhan in tokyo. and from all of us at nhk world, thanks for joining us and happy holidays.