"newsline." i'm gene otani in tokyo. here's a look at some of the stories we're following this hour. prime minister abe says he will continue his sincere efforts to explain to japan's neighbors his visit to the yasukuni shrine. a japanese governor is getting ready to okay land

reclamation to move an air base out of a crowded city. an u.n. official in south sudan said his organization is sheltering 50,000 people displaced by fighting between government forces and rebels. japanese prime minister shinzo abe has visited yasukuni shrine in tokyo. the first time a prime minister has visited the shrine since 2006. the prime minister at the time was junichiro koizumi. abe said he renewed his commitment to peace. china and south korea are condemning the visit. abe arrived at yasukuni shrine before noon on thursday. the day marks one year since he took office for the second time. those remembered include military and political leaders convicted of war crimes by an international tribunal after world war ii. abe did not visit the shrine during its spring and autumn festivals this year.

he also didn't go on august 15th, the day japan marks the end of world war ii. >> translator: i showed my utmost respect and admiration to those who sacrificed their precious lives for japan. i also prayed that they would rest in peace. >> abe also said he visited another shrine in the same compound. he said he paid his respects to all the people of the world who have died in wars. japanese citizens expressed mixed feelings about abe's visit. >> translator: oh, he finally went, did he? abe is clear about his beliefs. i respect him for doing what he feels is right. >> translator: some of the people the shrine honors were war criminals. i'm not saying abe shouldn't go,

but i'm not pleased. >> translator: i'm worried about how the visit will affect relations with china and south korea. >> reaction from japan's neighbors was swift. officials in china and south korea harshly criticized abe's visit to the shrine. chinese foreign ministry spokesperson ching yang read an official statement on state-run cct. abe visited the shrine in spite of strong opposition from china. he said it's an act of glorifying japan's history of aggression. and a challenge to the international order established after world war ii. >> translator: the japanese leader has worsened bilateral relationship instead of improving it. he has aggravated historical issues and created another political hurdle. japan must take full responsibility for the

consequences. >> senior foreign ministry officials lodged a stern protest with japan's ambassador masato kitera. >> translator: we urge the japanese government to correct its perception of history in which it denies the past and glorifies its earlier aggression. in order for japan to gain trust, it should face up to history and apologize to the people of neighboring countries that suffer under its military aggression and colonial rule. >> bilateral ties rapidly deteriorated last year after then president visited south korea. park geun-hye has refused to meet with abe. there is a growing view in south korea that japan is shifting to the right under the abe government. park has repeatedly demanded that japan take measures to address such historical issues

as the so-called comfort women. many of the women were forced to work as prostitutes for japanese men in world war ii. taiwan reacted differently from the two countries. the foreign ministry released a statement calling on all sides to remain calm. >> translator: amid the growing tensions around east china sea, we hope all concerned will act calmly. we hope they will refrain to work to develop friendly relations. >> the statement is similar to ones taiwan has issued in the past following japanese cabinet ministers' visits to the shrine. officials at the u.s. embassy in tokyo expressed their government will exacerbate tensions with its neighbors. they said in a statement that the u.s. hopes japan and its neighbors will find constructive ways to deal with sensitive issues from the past and improve their relations.

embassy official told nhk that abe appears to have made the visit out of confidence over his government's high support rate. and just because abe may have thought the timing for a visit would be better than on august 15th, that doesn't make it right. prime minister abe appeared on a webcast and tried to allay the foreign criticism. he said reactions from some countries appear to reflect a misunderstanding that he was trying to glorify japanese war criminals. >> translator: i believe it's common practice for leaders around the world to pray for the souls of people who died in wars. >> abe said he has no intention of hurting the feelings of the people of south korea and china. >> translator: i'll explain the purpose of my visit with humility, courtesy and

sincerity, and seek dialogue with them. >> abe said leaders in the united states misunderstand various aspects of the shrine issue. he said he wants to take this opportunity to clear up those misunderstandings. earlier i spoke with our political commentator, and i started by asking him about the reasons behind the timing of abe's visit to the shrine. >> well, since taking office, abe has carefully considered visiting the shrine. but he has chosen not to. one possible reason he wentt this time is a desire to visit the shrine on the one-year anniversary of his cabinet's inauguration. it is something he felt to accomplish the first time he held the office. it is believed that he wanted to change the situation, where the prime minister must not visit the shrine for fear of affecting japan's relationships with china and south korea. he has said that he strongly regrets being unable to visit

the shrine during his first tenure. so he probably wanted to change that situation while at the same time meeting the expectations of his conservative supporters. >> despite refraining from visiting the shrine, abe has been unable to set up a summit meeting with both china and south korea. prospects for such meetings have probably suffered another blow due to this situation. does he have any particular plan in mind? >> to be honest, i don't think there will be any break-through in the near future. china and south korea have protested strongly about this visit. so the chances of his meeting with chinese and south korean leaders will be even slimmer. while abe informed the united states about his visit in advance, probably hoping to gain understanding for his decision, but some in the government think that the visit might adversely affect japan's relations with the united states, which hopes

japan to improve its ties with china and south korea. he has said that it is only natural for a national leader to pray for the souls of those who fought and died for their country. probably all he can do now is to continue his efforts to gain the understanding of other countries. the governor of japan's oak no wa prefecture is hoping to back a plan that will give residents a quieter life. he says he'll approve a central government scheme to reclaim land so the u.s. military can move an air base out of the city. he told his deputies he plans to okay the land reclamation. he spoke a day earlier with prime minister abe. and discussed the plans to ease okinawa's burden of hosting u.s. facilities. those plans include moving the futenma air base to remove the

land from the area. they include speeding up the closure of other military facilities. the governor said he will hold a news conference friday to announce and explain his decision. anti-government protests in thailand are growing intense ahead of an election scheduled for february. the clash between police and protesters has killed one person. we have the story from the bangkok bureau. >> police used rubber bullets against protesters on thursday. one police officer has been killed and about 100 people have been wounded. demonstrators are calling for postponement to the lower house elections set for february. political turmoil is deepening in the leadup to the polls. on thursday, demonstrators tried to force their way into a stadium where political parties were registering candidates for the election. police responded by firing tear gas and rubber bullets towards

them. one police officer was killed in the clash. around 100 people, including a japanese journalist, have been injured. protesters want the election delayed so priority can't be given to political reforms. they have also been calling on prime minister yingluck shinawatra to step down immediately. >> translator: it's going too far to use tear gas. it's intolerable. >> earlier this month, yingluck annoyanced the dissolution of the lower house following anti-government protests. an election has been set for february 2nd. on thursday, the election commission urged the government to postpone the polls. >> translator: under these circumstances, the election process could become chaotic,

possibly leading to bloodshed. >> the commission also called on the government to engage anti-government protesters in talks. people in southeast asia have spent the day remembering. thursday marks the ninth anniversary of the indian ocean earthquake and tsunami that left more than 220,000 people dead or missing. a memorial ceremony was held in aceh. >> reporter: the epicenter of sumatra island. they are determined to never allow the memories of the disaster to fade away. the indian ocean tsunami wreaked havoc on coastal areas from southeast asia to eastern africa.

nine years later, a national agency for disaster management stressed the importance of making communities disaster resistant. >> translator: we need to think about what we are able to do before a disaster hits, and take adequate measures. >> reporter: a variety of storms have hit over the last nine years. a typhoon killed more than 6,000 people in the philippines. flood in thailand in addition to human property damage interrupted manufacturing supply chains, affecting the areas outside the region as well. some say better regional cooperation could help in such disaste disasters. in october, asean neighbors held a meeting in hanoi. more than 2,000 police officers, firefighters and personnel from

ten countries took part. they tested a system with japan's help. the system enables countries to share information on what kind of assistance they can offer. southeast asia is prone to natural disasters from earthquakes, tsunami, and typhoon, to high tides. they need to get measures in place to deal with these calamities. as the region takes on the global economy, the need for regional cooperation in times of disaster becomes all the more important. nhk world, aceh. the devastating tsunami of 2004 also hit the west coast of thailand, killing more than 8,000 people. nine years on, survivors are afraid of another disaster, and they have little faith in the country's tsunami warning system. nhk world has the report.

>> reporter: panga province was among the hardest hit areas in southern thailand. many visitors and foreign visitors were among the casualties. even after nine years, it's not bad to normal. about one-third of the population has moved, fearing another disaster. hundreds of warning towers are set up along the coast. they are meant to ensure safety. but they are making people feel uneasy. many of the towers seem abandoned. some aren't even connected to electricity. >> translator: thieves stole all the electric wiring from the towers. we haven't heard any announcements over the loud speaker in four or five years.

i don't feel we can rely on the government to warn us. >> translator: as local authorities, we don't have the budget to keep up the warning towers. i think the government has to maintain the system and make sure it's functioning at all times. >> reporter: the national institute that operates the warning system, authorities at the center revealed to us that a key part of the system called d.a.r.t. meaning deep ocean assessment and response of tsunami is not functioning. it's essential to have an early warning system in the indian ocean earlier this year. the device cost 1.2 u.s. million

dollars. they haven't been able to launch rescue operations because of rough seas. >> translator: the information we used to get from the buoy helped us to know decisively if a tsunami was coming or not. it was also useful internationally, as other countries around the region used the information. >> reporter: territories insist they can rely on the buoy in india, and two operated by thailand near the coast. however -- >> translator: the waves would hit the thai shores in about two hours. the longest delay caused by the nonfunctioning buoy would be one hour. we believe it's not a significant impact. we're not worried, because we are getting information from

other countries, such as india. >> reporter: but disaster experts say the lack of data from the buoy in fact have an impact on the process. >> translator: the device was placed near the epicenter of the 2004 earthquake. now we would have less time to issue warnings. the government has to remember that natural disasters can happen at any time, so they have to keep the system running continuously. >> reporter: this woman lost her husband in the tsunami. she chose to stay in the coastal village as she has no means of living anywhere else. >> translator: i have to stay on and live here. i don't know what the future will hold, or if we will have

another tsunami or not. but who can we trust? i want a better warning system. i don't want history to repeat itself. >> reporter: on the anniversary of the disaster, survivors don't want the lesson of the tsunami to be forgotten. they know that a reliable warning system can save lives. nhk world. and that wraps up our bulletin. i'm dhra dhirakaosal in bangkok. emerging economic powers still struggling with poverty. emboldened citizens still demanding democracy. the threat of violence, the 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." government troops and rebels in south sudan are keeping up their attacks on each other.

soldiers loyal to the president are trying to retake key towns. a u.n. spokesperson in the capital juba told nhk more and more people are fleeing the violence. here's more. >> reporter: soldiers loyal to president salva kiir and former vice president machar have been fighting for ten days. an official in juba said the troops and rebels are doing battle in four of the country's ten states. he said more and more citizens are fleeing their homes. >> the numbers of displaced continue to rise, and it is a source of great concern to the united nations. i believe that something on the order of nearly 30,000 civilians from jambalay state have crossed

to a neighboring state over the last five or six days to avoid the fighting. >> reporter: displaced people are flooding into u.n. bases across the country. japanese and other u.n. peacekeepers at the main camp in juba are giving them water and sanitation. >> i think over 50,000 civilians taking shelter, and we continue to get more people coming in. many, many have needs, and feel that only in this compound of the u.n. can they actually feel safe and feel protected. >> reporter: president kiir addressed the nation on wednesday, and urged machar to negotiate. machar said he's holding allies and must release them before talks. >> johnson has been in constant

contact with the key leaders of the country in an effort to open a channel of dialogue between the two sides. >> reporter: kenyan and ethiopian leaders have arrived in the country to help broker talks. the u.n. official says members of his organization are trying to bring the two sides to the negotiating table before the new year. no kid a okada, nhk world. there's rain and snow for japan. our meteorologist, robert speta, is here with more. robert? >> yeah, let's continue to track this storm as it is moving off towards the northeast. what's happening is that it's moving right along the pacific coastline. what we're seeing is rain showers, not only across western japan, but starting to move off towards the northeast. even into tokyo. expect showers through the overnight hours. nothing too heavy, nothing too serious. but this one does move off. what's happening, every time we

talk about a low moving away, a high starts to come in right behind it. that will bring drier and colder weather across much of china, also over there towards the korean peninsula. but it's also kicking in the northwesterly winds. while it does dry off here along the pacific coast, including tokyo by friday evening, you're going to be seeing some fairly heavy snow accumulations start to pile up here. some areas could see 30 to 40 centimeters on top of the base that's already out here. in northern japan, you have a base of 130 to 140 centimeters on the ground. so it's pretty heavy, and more is expected. typical for this time of year. along the periphery of the cold air coming in from the north, rain showers across the philippines. expect the afternoon thunderstorms kick in as temperatures still remain here in the high 20s, low 30s, into the tropics. let's see what's going on toward the americas, where we are continuing to watch some cooler air drift in from the north.

we have some snowfall across the northeast. but things are going to start to change up through the weekend. if you want warmer weather, especially along the even seaboard, we'll start to see it. right now we have the high pressure drifting east. along the northern periphery will bring showers across the gulf coast. some areas out here, you could look at some fairly heavy rainfall. at the same time, another storm system actually currently impacting the pacific northwest. that's bringing wet weather out here, also pretty gusty winds. that will drift east along the jet stream. then it will start to really enhance that warm air coming in from the south. all that combined, what it means in short, in the east, we're looking at a warm-up through sunday. oklahoma city, up to 15 there by sunday. atlanta up to 13. a little above average there for you. chicago, you've just been freezing, but it's at least getting up there to about 4 degrees for your high by sunday. unfortunately, i know you have new year's eve coming up, a lot of people in the states like to go out and about for new year's eve. beyond that, by monday into

tuesday, a big arctic blast is coming in. you'll want to be bundling up by then. let's see what's going on here into europe, where we have several storm systems we're talking about today. one across the mediterranean. this is making for unsettled weather. thunderstorms there especially into southern italy. that will extend over to greece as well. meanwhile, along the jet stream, just north of it, actually, the british isles, you have a little break here on thursday. look at that. another tightly wound storm system that is coming through. windy and unsettled is the short version of saying it. but some areas, especially along the western seaboards, you're going to be looking at winds over 100 kilometers per hour. another shot of heavy rain on top of flooding has caused several deaths out there. not a welcome storm. that one's going to be coming in. like i said, still have the unsettled weather down to the south. if you're in eastern europe, though, take a look at some of your temperatures. and sunny skies there for you in warsaw, and also towards moscow here on friday. that's a look at your world

weather. here's the extended forecast.

that's "newsline" for this hour. i'm gene otani in tokyo.

from all of us here at nhk world, thanks very much for joining us. until next time, good-bye.

1969, the year humans first set foot on the moon. >> that's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind. >> people around the world were riveted by this history-making footage. 30 years later, work began on the international space station.