welcome to nhk world "newsline." a popular japanese brand is in need of a makeover, a range of products from kanebo cosmetics promises to whiten skin, but some explain the creams and lotions left blochs on their faces and company executives have been left red faced themselves. here's the report. >> reporter: people have seen the ads, products that promise to make the skin on their faces

whiter. some believe that will hide any flaws but now they are finding out that cosmetics are not safe. >> translator: i wonder if the products were thoroughly tested. >> translator: i do whitening because i worry about blemishes, but when things like this happen, it makes me think twice about buying other products from the company. >> reporter: kanebo was founded in 1887, it grew into one of japan's leading cosmetics companies. in 2008, the company started selling products to whiten the skin on people's faces. customers in 11 other countries and territories started buying them up. then two years ago, managers started hearing some complaints. more than 6,000 customers have contacted the company since the beginning of this month. more than 2,000 complained that

the product left their skin with blotches. >> translator: we will continue to take action until every affected customer is completely cured. it's our responsibility to know the customer's present conditions and come up with measures to deal with their problems as soon as possible. >> reporter: company executives say they can't confirm whether their products caused the problems. but they are looking into an ingredient. company scientists developed the substance and got it cleared in testing required by law. the executives said they should have taken measures earlier to prevent any further damage. this month, they started recalling 450,000 units. about 90,000 are still out there. and now they are considering

offering customers some compensation to pay for any medical expenses. a major problem for the people who run the company, still trying to figure out what the impact will be. but customers are already starting to shy away from kanebo cosmetics. nhk world, tokyo. japan's consumer affairs chief has slammed kanebo for keeping customers in the dark. >> translator: kanebo should have advised users to stop using the products in may when medical institutions informed the firm of the trouble. >> kanebo officials will update her weekly on the product recall. she'll stay informed on the number of people affected and their recovery. doctors are call on users of the cosmetics to consult specialists if they have skin trouble. an association of dermatologists in japan is recommending 81

hospitals across the country and officials released guidelines on how to recognize and treat the complaint. doctors in tokyo have examined skin cells of patients they say the products harm pigment producing cells but mostly don't kill them and skin color in many cases should eventually return to normal. >> it's important for patients to consult a doctor as soon as possible to receive an accurate diagnosis and information. >> patients are advised to stop using products immediately. engineers at fukushima daiichi have been paying particular attention to reactor three. in past week they noticed steam coming out of the building on three occasions. tepco managers say the latest incident happened wednesday. footage from a surveillance camera shows a steam-like substance coming from the upper parts of the building. they know they haven't seen any change in radiation level around the area. workers observed steam coming

from the same location on tuesday and once last week. nuclear regulators asked tepco to figure out the cause. engineers suspect rain seeped into the building and got heated up by containment vessel cover. chinese authorities are stream lining their maritime law enforcement agencies as they work to sort out claims over the sea. officials have spotted four patrol ships from the unified agency near japanese waters. the vessels were navigating off the senkaku islands and japan controls the islands and china and taiwan claimed them. they have tracked the ship sailing just outside japan's waters. the coast guard integrates the functions of customs administration and fisheries into the maritime surveillance activities. ships have repeatedly entered japanese waters since japan

nationalized the waters last september. the chinese military is also expanding its mare time patrol activities by year. the defense minister revealed one of the patrol aircraft flew beyond a chain of southern japanese islands for the first time. the plane flew over high seas on wednesday between okinawa's main island and miyako island. the aircraft never crossed the first island chain into the pacific. they regard the area as their first line of defense. >> translator: this could be an indication that china will further step up its activities at sea. >> commanders with japan's self-defense force scrambled jets. it didn't enter japanese air

space. afghanistan's first and only female governor has been awarded a prize many regard as asia's highest honor. the award foundation based in manila recognizes asian individuals and organizations who contribute to human development. the governor is among three individuals and two organizations to win the prize this year. the governor of afghanistan's province in the announcement foundation commends her efforts to build a functional government and cites the particular adversities poverty and discrimination she had to face to serve her people. she champions education and women's rights in afghanistan. a member of the minority in myanmar is another of this year's recipient. she works to rehabilitate communities affected by armed

conflict. the award is named after ramon, who was a reformer and president of the philippines in the 1950s. it is given to individuals and groups that contribute to peace and social services in asia. the foundation will hold an awards ceremony on august 31st in manila. bombers in southern thailand killed three people and injured two others. security forces are facing violence in the region despite a peace deal with muslim separatists for the mol holy mo of ramadan. they detonated an explosive near a hospital on wednesday. three teachers in nearby car were killed and two police officers were wounded. teachers have become targets for militants who demand that children receive an islamist education. muslim acceseparatists have bee waging an insurgency for almost a decade. more than 5300 people have been killed in the fighting since

2004, including at least 160 educators. the explosion comes two weeks after muslim negotiations -- negotiators agreed to hold violence during ramadan as part of ongoing peace talks with the government. frequent attacks are casting a shadow on negotiations. the next round of talks is scheduled to commence after ramadan. >> emerging economic powers still struggling with poverty. em boldened citizens still demanding democracy, threat of violence, push for peace, the shadow of conflict. get news and insight on south and southeast asia every weekday live from bangkok only on nhk world "newsline." leaders in the republic of sue dan are promising to make life better for their citizens. their economy has struggled since they lost oil wells when south sudan separated. they are hoping to tap into

something else below their feet. nhk world reports, some are questioning who will benefit in the end. >> reporter: a large part of the republic of sudan's 1.8 million square kilometers is sand. that includes an area just north of the capital but a large project is underway to turn it into lush green land. this is a reresearch and development firm made in the huge desert. the the al fall fas have already started to grow. there is plenty of water underground so crops can grow. authorities plan to have 13,000 heck ters cultivated and want to

set up 180 wells to water the farm land. foreigners will be the major partners in the project. a private company from the united arab em rates is funding part of it and foreign businesses will manage the farmland loaned from sudan's government. in may, sudanese businessmen invited foreign corporations to invest in the country. >> translator: sudan has lots of land that is perfectly suited to farming. and there is an abundance supply of water. >> saudi arabia, and other gulf countries don't have much farmland. so they find sudan's access to water appealing.

>> we need to have a different varieties of our food basket. and one of our major investment is really in sudan. >> reporter: sudan's minister of investment expects foreign involvement will help the development and later create jobs. >> we have no money to finance this infrastructure. investment is going to do it. investment is going to provide me with jobs. high amount of unemployed people in sudan. we cannot employ them unless we attract investors. >> reporter: but not everyone in sudan shares his enthusiasm. the government has forced people who lived on the project land to leave their homes. their only compensation, a well

2.5 kilometers away. and none of the products goes to the sudanese. the gulf nations will get it. this upsets many sudanese as they see little benefit from the project. government leases of the land sometimes extend for up to 99 years, seemingly an indefinite period. that worries the citizens. so does the sparse information about the contract. >> we sit down with the community leader and explain to them, they know that at the end, that the investor is not going to take the land in his pocket and took off. >> reporter: if more sudanese support the foreign run projects, the government will

have to convince its people that eventually they will benefit. nhk world. >> the tokyo high court has made a judgment on an 8-year battle between securities and the tokyo stock exchange. the judge. ordered them to pay damages to securities to compensate for a trading error. back in 2005, they lost more than $400 million. this is after it made a mistake in placing a order for shares placed at one yen each instead of one share for 610,000 yen or $6100. executives claim they had immediately given a cancellation of the deal but the tse failed

to do so saying its system had glifrps. in wednesday's ruling, the presiding judge said the tse should have noticed the error after the sell order was placed and stopped the trade and the judge pointed out the oversight, employee negligence and lack of training are behind the mistake. the weaker yen is raising the price of imported fuel and other necessities that led to a major increase for the first half of the year. japan spent $48 billion more than it took in during the period from january to june. it's the largest half year deficit on record. exports were up just 4% from a year earlier in yen terms. a rise in exports of chemical products to china and automobiles to the u.s. contributed to the increase. imports rose more than 9%. the weak are yen drove up prices for crude oil and lick qui fided natural gas. an influx of smartphones from

china added to the deficit. finance ministry officials will keep a close eye on the yen's movements. we're now approaching mid summer in japan and that means more traffic on the expressways and more stops to use the restroom and fill up on gasoline. for some people, the rest stops themselves have become a destination. nhk world tells us more. >> reporter: people in japan are not just taking a break at the rest areas. they are shopping. a large mall was built at the stop 50 kilometers south of tokyo. the area rented out space to a total of 28 tenants, including clothing and food retailers. a major japanese clothing boutique also opened a store just for the rest area. the boutique produced items for

the expressway stores. and the handle is made from a seatbelt. >> the shop made its store more sporty than the boutique to attract more customers on the road. >> translator: this mall is very convenient. i always buy souvenirs here because they have more variety than the other places i visit. >> reporter: meanwhile, a french looking building is located at a rest area about 90 kilometers north from tokyo. this is what it used to look like. the place has become japan's first rest area that's been renovated to look like a theme park. the place is a tribute to the worldwide popular story book, the petite prince. all of the signs are in french and various quotes from the book are displayed on the walls.

french home style dishes are cooked at the restaurant in the area. visitors can enjoy different types of fish and meat dishes for 10 to $20. >> translator: i can have fun here because i can really feel the atmosphere of the book. i hope more like this will be built. many fans of the book and many of them come here as a destination. >> reporter: sales at these areas have increased 20% since they opened. there are more than 30 rest areas of these types. expressway companies are transforming these stops in an effort to increase profits. in 2005, the government privatized the state backed highway corporations into three

firms. since then, these companies have been operating the expressways. but most of the revenue from the tolls is used to repay the $400 billion debt from the highways construction work. the rest was used to manage and maintain the roads. profits from the rest areas have become an important source of income for the expressway companies. one of the firms has already come up with its next plan. it will open another theme park style area this december. the new stop will replicate the shops dating back to over 200 years ago. the location used to be a gate way, the former city name of tokyo. a folklore express was hired to

incorporate the designs. a replica of what it used to look like back in those days. >> translator: the goal of our business at these areas is to provide entertainment for people traveling on the expressways. we will continue to develop various types. for expressway firms, developing leisure venues have become a crucial corporate plan and hope their business will invigorate the local tourism industry as well. nhk world, tokyo. here are the latest market figures.

there's heavy rain in northern japan. rachel ferguson from the weather team has more. >> hey there, yes we've been looking at very heavy rain into northern japan. we have a front line here and low pressure system that's been bringing flooding rains in portions of northern china. now it's moving further east and going to be hitting japan. in last 24 hours, 100 millimeters in nigata which doesn't bode well for festival goers. we hope the weather is not to

inclem ent for that to go ahead. into thursday, lots of thunderstorms and scattered showers here. there's also going to be continuing heavy rain down towards the south, particularly that western part of indochina and southern coast of china. right smack dab in the middle, drought conditions here are prevailing as well as very high temperatures. bright sunshine in shanghai, 39 degrees here. you'll see a lot of areas hitting the 40 degree mark or beyond. that is causing yet another different kind of problem here in eastern asia. on we go into the americas and thunderstorms for you in the deep south. through the southeastern quarter of the united states, you'll see plenty of thunderstorm action, hail the size of ping pong balls possible as well as gusty winds. up towards the north, another storm system also capable of bringing pretty severe nasty storms. this will be pushing through central canada and the front

moving through the northern plains into the upper midwest. dry cooler conditions and quite pleasant here in that northeastern corridor. in the other side of the jet stream it stays hot and also you have the threat of flash flooding, the monsoonal flow in the southwest and potential for flash floods here. the heat as well will be pretty unbearable in some areas. 41 degrees in phoenix and the next few days are going to be around about that, very hot indeed. even seattle getting up to 27 degrees with the strong high pressure in place. on into europe, things are all changing here. we had that streak of hot and dry weather out west. while it's changing now. much cooler conditions although many temperatures will be staying above average for this time of year. there's a low sitting off the atlantic and sending in thunderstorms the wet and cooler weather across the british isles and alpine region will be dealing with that toot.

temperatures are still going to be fairly high, 27 degrees in berlin, 31 in paris, 27 in vienna and down in rome, 29. here in rome, it's not just the humans but the animals that are having a hard time in the heat. this bear is being given there a nice big block of ice with fruit inside to help them to keep cool. unfortunately temperatures in rome are expected to climb further into the 30s over the weekend. so i hope that the treat will help to cooldown some of the zoo's residents there. i'll leave you now with your extended forecast.

flowers play a prominent role in japanese culture and so

do elaborate costumes. both traditions come together every summer when people in kyoto take to the streets for an eye-catching event. the parade is some 800 people join the procession. these hats adorned with flowers are a symbol of the annual event. children play a big part too dressing up as court nobels and samurai warriors. geisha and their apprentices ride the floats and traditional drums keep up a steady rhythm. >> translator: it was gorgeous and splendid. i enjoy the traditions of kyoto. >> visitors hoping to catch more kyoto traditions, the month long festival closes next week. that's "newsline" for this hour. i'm gene otani in tokyo.

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♪ from the four winds and the scent of the earth come the color of the seasons. exploring the four seasons of japan.