all eyes on greece. key election looms and european leaders urge greeks to vote in favor of the eurozone and tough austerity measures. people in greece are facing a difficult decision this weekend, and that decision will have an impact on the debt-ridden country's future, the future of the eurozone, and the stability of global markets. greeks vote sunday in their second parliamentary election in six weeks, it essentially boils down to two choices and two visions. leftist leader alexis teprus wants to scrap a $130 billion euro bailout deal greek officials signed with the

european union. he's opposed to the strict austerity measures the agreement imposes on his country. debt reduction measures that include pay and pension cuts. he insists he isn't aiming to pull greece out of the eurozone. his main opponent is antonis samaras, the leader of the new conservative democracy party. he wants to stick to the bailout deal but wants to renegotiate some conditions. other leaders in europe support that position. they want greeks to swallow the tough austerity medicine, tackle their debt and stay within the eurozone. anything else could make the single currency bloc's economic troubles much worse. french president francois hollande visited rome thursday and held talks with prime minister mario monti. he expressed his hope greece would respect its promise of financial reconstruction and stay in the eurozone. hollande proposed a french version of measures to resolve

the debt crisis to european council president her man von rompuy, they include being economic growth and finances and deepening unity by harmonizing fiscal policies. people around the world will be standing by sunday for updates on the outcome of greece's vote, politicians, economists and investors. ai awe chie da joiuchida joins site of the story. >> they'll be by their phones, preparing to hold an emergency teleconference immediately following the results of the greek re-election. european diplomatic source says the talk will be held at around 10:00 p.m. greek time when they find out which party won. the source adds the teleconference has yet to be finalized as it would be needed only if the radical left coalition party wins a majority. if the leftist party triumphs

it's possible greece may exit from the eurozone, that will intensify concerns about a regional debt crisis. experts say the teleconference is to show the eurozone's responsiveness ahead of the group of 20 summit meeting starting monday. another aim might be to minimize the election's negative impact on the financial markets. now regardless of election results, the head of the japanese bankers association warned that the european debt crisis could have a negative impact on japan's economy. chairman yasuhiro sato told reporters uncertainties about europe could continue for the foreseeable future regardless of the results of greece's parliamentary elections on sunday. >> translator: china, europe's largest trading partner, has already been affected by europe's economic shrinkage. needless to say, that will trigger an asian economic crisis. >> sato said greece's debt problems and europe's political and economic situation could

remain unstable. that's because greece appears to have no manufacturing industry to drive its economy. sato added he's afraid that greek lawmakers will not be able to unite in a way that could take the country forward, even following the elections. now let's get market reaction here in tokyo. we're going to go directly to our market reporter ramin mellegard who is at the tokyo stock exchange. ramin, very good morning to you. lot riding now on what happens this weekend in greece, how are stocks starting off this friday here in japan? >> yes, very good morning to you ai. lot of focus on the upcoming elections on sunday in greece and in fact, it did help the dow gain overnight on hopes that central banks will be adding liquidity to help the global banking system, and of course, the focus is on any immediate action by central banks and as you were talking about there, any actions after the g-20 meeting, and if they can come up with any plans to alleviate some of the mounting pressure that's

building up in the eurozone regarding greece, spain, as well as italy, but let's have a look at the opening levels here for this friday morning here in tokyo, and a bit of a positive start actually the nikkei at 8,604, topix is 728. the nikkei actually towards the end of the close yesterday trimmed some of its losses, helped by some bargain hunting moves in some major issues, some of the blue chips such as sony and sharp as well as gains we saw in the banking sector as well as the brokerages, which also have been heavily sold off recently, but again, the volume has been less than average, and because markets also are waiting to see the outcome of the bank of japan meeting which wraps up today, and also governor masaaki shirakawa will be giving a news conference after that, investors may just keep to a range-bound trading session today as well. the imf did come out as well

this week talking about japan's economy and banking sector saying that japan's banks are in good shape even for future shocks, however, it's the yen that everyone has to focus on because that keeps coming in for safe haven buying by investors, which also includes the swiss fra franc, gold as well as the dollar. i'll go over the commodities as well but looking at the dollar/yen 79.43-44, holding throughout the week and the euro/yen fluctuated currently at 10 100.26-28. the euro has gained a touch and also wti crude prices have to mention that, it rose about 2% on the new york mercantile exchange, also let's keep an eye out for gold prices as well, that also swings with some volatility in terms of stock market volatility. ai? >> ramin, we saw some data out

of the u.s. and still some more to come, what can you tell us about that? >> yeah, weekly jobless claims again showed a slowing trend for job growth in the u.s., later today we'll get industrial production that's going to be a vital one as well as a manufacturing index for the new york state region, but so far the nikkei and the topix in the positive trading session so far in the first few minutes. back to you. >> thanks a lot for that, ramin mellegard from the tokyo stock exchange, the nikkei trading slightly above 8,600 this morning. now let's see how other asia-pacific markets are opening. i'm going to leave you with those figures.

south korea's armed forces are putting on a public display to prove they're ready for threats coming from their neighbor to the north. they've run through different scenarios during large-scale exercises. troops held the drills wednesday along the west coast of the country. they simulated a surprise attack by north korea's military, and the occupation of a south korean island. 4,000 personnel took part and they brought along the heavy artillery. 30 aircraft, 20 vessels, self-propelled howitzers and multiple rocket launchers. south korean forces have held repeated drills since the beginning of this month. they practiced artillery shelling with members of the u.s. military near the north korean border, and they also scrambled fighter jets from airbases in the west. defense officials in north korea appear to be maintaining a hard

line stance. they've increased the frequency of fighter jet sorties over the yellow sea. military analysts say south korea designed the drills as a deterrent against the north. egypt's supreme constitutional court has ruled that the parliamentary election was unconstitutional. the decision comes only two days ahead of the presidential runoff election. the ruling could bring more uncertainty to the country, and force the dissolution of a five-month-old parliament. the court decided on thursday that the parliamentary election held after the ouster of former president hosni mubarak did not provide equal opportunity for all candidates. it said independent candidates could only run in a single seat constituency while those belonging to political parties could run in both single and proportional representation districts. the ruling could force new parliamentary elections. the islamic fundamentalist muslim brotherhood holds a commanding position in parliament, however the group has remained at odds with the military and supporters of the

former mubarak government. presidential runoff scheduled on saturday and sunday is between mohamed morsi and ahmed shafiq, a former prime minister and air force commander. it's widely believed the muslim brotherhood will strongly object to the court's decision which could affect the weekend presidential poll. people in japan's northeast are focused on overcoming the challenges of the 2011 disaster, but it won't be easy. they have to rebuild homes, businesses, entire communities. we'll show you their struggles and their successes, on "the road ahead" every wednesday at 1:00 p.m. japan time, here on "newsline." workers at japan's fukushima daiichi plant seem to come across new problems and new challenges every day at the damaged nuclear facility. their latest find? extremely high levels of radiation inside the building that houses reactor two. tokyo electric power company

engineers sent a robot into the building wednesday to take video and measure radiation. tepco spokespersons say instruments detected a reading of 880 millisieverts per hour on the fifth floor. the area is 4.5 feeters above the reactor containment vessel. tepco analysts suspect radioactive substances that lead from reactor two moved through the location but the images and data taken by the robot haven't helped them find the exact route the contaminants traveled. spokespersons say teams have found no major damage on the fifth floor. experts believe reactor two released the largest amount of radiation during the accident at fukushima daiichi, but haven't determined how it escaped the containment vessel. tepco officials need to find and repair the damaged parts of the reactor, so they can recover melted numbering clear fuel and then start the decommissioning process. but they say high radiation often stops workers from entering the building. they know this means it will

take a long time to pinpoint the problems in the containment vessel. cover your head, that's what teachers tell their students when earthquakes strike. last year's march earthquake proved that that advice may not be good enough if the whole ceiling comes down. experts released a survey in april showing that even if the main structure of a building survives an earthquake, the ceilings may not. construction companies are gearing up to make their building's ceilings as quake resistant as the rest of the structure. nhk world's tomoko kamata reports. >> reporter: this demonstration simulated what happened inside 2,000 buildings across japan on march 11th of last year. after a mockup room at a factory was shaken for three minutes, the entire ceiling fell down. you see the quake damaged the

joints of the wires suspeccesspg the plaster board ceilings. ceilings in most buildings are hanged beneathhe upper floor to make room for ducts and pipes. soon after the disaster a tokyo destruction company began examining the earthquake resistance of the ceilings. the engineers showed that the previous method of ceiling construction couldn't withstand jolts as strong as the march 11th quake. suspended ceilings are common in many kind of buildings in japan. such ceilings at an airport terminal fell down in the earthquake as did those of many large structures in the country.

experts point out the dangers of these suspended ceilings. they say the audience in this concert hall would have been in great danger if the earthquake had struck while a performance was under way. kajima corporation is among the many japanese construction companies that are developing reinforcement measures for suspended ceilings. kajima's engineers reinforced the suspension ceiling wires with additional bolts and added diagonal support beams. in tests with the new part, the new model easily survived shocks of the same level as the initial tests. >> translator: the materials we used to enhance the earthquake resistance are commonly available.

we discovered that we can reduce damage without developing something entirely new. >> reporter: officials at the land ministry are working on establishing earthquake earthquake resistance standards for ceilings, but there's no reason you shouldn't take a look into your attic now to see whether the ceiling won't fall on your head in the next earthquake. tomoko kamata, nhk world. when last year's quake hit east japan, many houses suffered great damage due to liquefaction, the softening of soil. this problem was especially serious in residential areas built on landfill such as urayasu just outside of tokyo. the city is encouraging construction companies to come up with new approaches to make sure the land they build their houses on will not liquefy. >> recently, urayasu city set aside some land as a testing site for nine companies to come up with affordable ways to

prevent liquefaction. one large construction company developed a method using logs. they are embedded into the ground vertically. this is how they work. liquefaction generally occurs in sandy soil that's become water-logged. usually sand forms tight clumps but when it's shaken, the grains separate. pounding the logs into the ground increases the pressure on the surrounding soil. embedding many logs into the ground makes that area firmer. tests indicate the logs make the soil hard enough to prevent liquefaction when shaken. even in water-logged soil the logs resist decay. the company says costs can be kept down by using tree thinnings from forests. >> translator: right now nowhere else in the world is using logs

as a way to prevent liquefaction. we're continue to look at ways to make this more affordable. >> translato another major company has a different approach to prevent lick we fight under the house. this method involves the use of steel plates. the plates of solid steel are pounded into the ground on four sides of thes house. when soil liquefaction occurs, mud ootzs out of the earth, often causing houses to tilt. the house surrounded the steel plates does not tilt because the plates trap the liquefied soil. here models are being tested. the house at the front is the one with steel plates. the one with the extra reinforcement remains unaffected. this technique has already been used with success to protect commercial oil storage tanks.

>> translator: this approach is being developed for customers buying new homes but in the next year or two, we plan to introduce a method that can be used to prevent liquefaction affecting existing homes. >> reporter: the next step for the companies is to test their houses on a large vibration platform. they're hoping to start putting their methods into practice from next april. many young asians spend hours every day listening to k-pop. they love the sound and the style of korean pop music. now people around the world have joined the subculture. nhk world's anna jung has more. ♪ >> reporter: many fans don't just love k-pop, they live for it.

fans drop into store shops along this busy street in downtown seoul. lots of foreigners who want to feel closer to their favorite stars. at the k story cafe customers buy all kinds of pop star souvenirs, including copies of the outfits the stars wear on stage. 70% of the shoppers come from other countries. >> first time k story and as soon as i got in, it was like, wow! k-pop is a big part of my life. >> reporter: the cafe is definitely on the k-pop tourist map. its profits have shot up 25% each month sin it opened last october. what makes people so keen on k-pop?

i'm at a training studio for future k-pop singers in seoul. all the trainees here are high school students. they heard about the studio on the internet. they have to practice singing and dancing until 10:00 every night even on weekends. >> translator: i want to go to europe and debut there. i think i can because nowadays korean culture is very popular in the world. >> reporter: producer kim jong uk has helped make k-pop what it is today. he has developed a lot of global k-pop stars. >> translator: k-pop singers are well trained. we improve the quality of the product because of advancements in digital media, k-pop videos have been posted on youtube and

so on. so the performance gained popularity around the world. >> reporter: south korea's government is getting in on the act. it's using the k-pop boom to enhance the country's image. the government invited foreign k-pop friends to a free tour of south korea. the guests came from asia and the pacific region as well as europe and the u.s. >> i love k-pop. i thought -- i listen to it all the time. even if we don't understand the language, it's really good music to listen to. i really like it a lot. >> reporter: now the moment these fans will never forget. >> ready, one, two, three! >> reporter: they will soon chat in person to some k-pop stars. the group enjoyed a dreamy day

with their favorite stars. they also sampled korea's traditional culture. >> translator: if we promote korea's favorable image to young people, they'll stay interested in the country and come back some day. that is why we focus on tourism campaigns in cooperation with k-pop stars. ♪ >> reporter: and the beat goes on. k-pop promoters won't rest until they make k-pop a global sensation. anna jung, nhk world, seoul. >> i should check out k-pop. rachel ferguson joins us with the world weather forecast. we're going to get more information on the storm developing in the pacific. >> yes, this is guchal, a severe tropical storm heading over the philippines and continues to strengthen as it goes. to give you the late eest

figures sustained winds above 100 kilometers per hour with gusts to 144. it looks like it's heading toward the northern half of the philippines, potential for direct landfall. it's hard to say at the moment. by saturday morning local time this is going to be a typhoon so we're looking at continued strengthening, that will mean strong winds affecting the philippines and storm surge and then it looks like it's heading in towards taiwan later to the southern japanese islands which is basically the worst route that it could go at the moment because there has been so much rain here across southern japan, and into taiwan over the last week or so. the stalled out seasonal front has just been bringing astronomical amounts of rain and it still does today even as we have another low pressure system forming over the front, that's going to be heading into western japan, shikoku, you could see

maybe up to 200 millimeters of rain in some places, that will be spreading up in towards central japan by saturday morning as well, and then down on the other side of the other end of the front i should say in parts of southern china here along the coast you're going to be seeing about 200, 250 millimeters of additional rainfall, so very potent front all together. now up towards the north there's another small low that's been heading through northeastern china and it's really moving very slowly so it will remain very unstable here with a short time, heavy rain into the weekend and south of that system, heat is building, beijing, 30 degrees for you on your friday, by the time we get to sunday, that's actually going to increase to 34 degrees. all right, let's head into north america and yet another storm system. let's go to this one straight away, this is tropical storm carlotta moving north-northwest at 17 kilometers an hour and looks like it's going to be intensifying very quickly becoming a hurricane by friday

morning local time, so into the next 12 hours. we already have hurricane warnings and watches along the southern coast of mexico here, the orange is going to be the warning there. so again, storm surge as well as rough seas as the system approaches it's going to bring those damaging winds and heavy rain, up to 125 millimeters widely, but anything up to 300 millimeters locally. the rest of the u.s. is looking well to the west and to the east, fairly dry, but right in the middle some very severe storms breaking out from manitoba, through ontario, down into northern texas. the gulf coast stays unstable as well with lots of moisture feeding into that front from the gulf. all right, temperatures then just 18 degrees in vancouver, a little bit chilly down into the south, we've got 33 in houston and into the midwest temperatures rise. quick look into europe tells us a potent low pressure system is

about to move through the british isles so wet and windy through your weekend i'm afraid and it's the last place we really want more rain, it will be heading up through northern frantz and into the low country unfortunately avoiding eastern spain where we have drought conditions and wildfire. we'd really like to see some rain coming in. doesn't look like that's going to be happening into the next 24. clear and settled through much of central europe and down into the south and temperatures will be building widely up to the 30-degree mark over the weekend. i'll leave you now your extended forecast.

and that's all for this edition of "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. thanks for joining us.