glad to have you with us on this edition of newsline. americans and japanese may have been adversaryies in world war ii. a u.s. based think tank conducted a survey on 1,000 citizens ahead of the 70th anniversary of the war. the results were released by pugh research center show that 68% of u.s. respondents can trust japan. this far outnumbers the 28% who can't. 49% showed trust in south korea,

30% for china. asked about the atomic bombings on hiroshima and nagasaki. 56 percent of americans said it was justified. 34% said it was not. when factoring age, the majority of those 65 and over approved of the bombings. for those between 18 and 24 slightly less than half gave the same answer. at the end of the war, 85% of americans thought the bombings were justified. looking at china the latest survey found that 60% of americans think china's rise as a military and economic power makes u.s. japan relations more important when asked where economic focus should be 43% of americans choetsz china. 56% named japan. the results show the u.s. and japan have forward looking and solid ties based on mutual

trust. >> americans are also very pragmatic about asia. and they know that china's a rising power and we have to deal with it they don't trust china. but they also know that economically we have to deal with china. >> the u.s. government is willing to work with japan to face china. a crew man aboard one of the largest wrarships ever built has given himself a new mission. he worked on the flagship and is one of the few people to survive its sinking. he's now set out to make sure future generations never forget the history . >> the waters of southwestern

japan a memorial service was held on tuesday. crew members were among the pakistan pakistan. >> many of my acquaintances died when the battleship sank. if they were alive, they would have had families pursued various dreams and experienced hardships. the peace we enjoy today is founded on their sackrifice. >> it sunk in 1945 it was headed to okinawa.

about 270 crew members survived the attack. 87-year-old is one of the survivors. he joined the crew when he was 17 at the time of the attack he was on duty. after two hours of bombardment, it exploded. it sank to the bottom of the ocean. >> people kept dying without even uttering a word before my very eyes. >> yesterday for four hours, he was rescued.

he says after all these years, he cannot forget the images of his dying companions. many of the other survivors of the sinking have passed away. they hand down the story as one of its first stories. >> many of those who died were in their teens or 20s. they died right in front of me. we should never do anything that leads to the killing of people. it's just not right. >> because of his health he is determined to continue conveying his message to others. >> it's your turn to reflect on what peace really is. you should stands firm and make

efforts for the future of japan. the future depends on you. >> the surviving crew members are aging and they remain resolved to talk about the importance of peace. nhk world, hiroshima. japan's imperial couple will travel to palau, a major battleground of world war ii. the visit comes as people in the pacific island nation prepare to mark 70 years of the end of the war. it's the couple's first visit to the can't. they'll meet with the president and his wife.

it's the site of the battle. the imperial couple will visit a memorial to remember those who died. people in palau are busy getting ready for the imperial visit. the country was under japan's control for about three decades until the end of the war. police held a meeting to confirm their security detail. >> we're thrilled to be part of history. it's an exciting and anxious moment for us, we want to welcome them with the best service that we can provide. >> some families of the japanese war dead donateded national flanks of the two countries to local authorities. >> yapjapanese -- we'll make the

people much closer together. >> the emperor and empress made an official visit to sypan in 2005 to mark the 60th anniversary of the end of world war ii. >> it's been almost a year since a south korean ferry sank off the country's coast, about 300 people died or remain missing. the captain was sentenced to 36 years in prison. prosecutors are again demanding the death penalty. the appeals trial is being closely watched. prosecutors say the captain did not try to evacuate the passengers and crew. they say he had enough time to do so. 295 people died in the disaster and nine remain missing. south korean prosecutors indicted e and 14 other crew members. they were charged with homicide through willful negligence.

prosecutors had demanded the death penalty for the captain. the district court found him guilty of negs. they gave him 36 years. relatives of the dead and missing say the sentence isn't good enough. they also want the vessel to be salvagedp. japanese officials have just released the latest -- the current account data it's the broadest measure of trade and investment with the rest of the world with all the business headlines, we're not used to hearing about a trade deficit, how is that affecting the current count? >> trade of goods makes up a good part of this index, but it also takes into account money that travelled between borders, and actually the japanese are making hefty returns on their overseas investment. enough that it's outweighing the trade deficit. finance ministry officials say the current account balance for february remained in the black for the eighth straight month. surplus for february came in at

about 12 wills about, and that was despite japan's trade deficit of around $1.2 billion. exports rose 0.4% from a year ago, imports fell 6.2%. returns on overseas investment made up for the trade shortfall. this account showed a surplus that came to about $15.5 billion. now, let's have a check on the markets. overnight, u.s. stock prices edged down as investors became worried about the impact of a stronger dollar on corporate earnings. the dow jones ending at 17,875. down 0.03%. the nasdaq ending down 1/10 of a%. let's see how markets here are starting the day, for that ramin mel melagard joins us.

>> looks like investors were hesitating somewhat what's going on? >> very good point there. a little bit of hesitation creeping into the markets. investors readying themselves for the upcoming earnings season in the u.s. which kicks off later today in the u.s. with aluminum giant alcoa. pretty positive stuff here for the nikkei and following on the current account balance, you mention there in the black for the eighth straight month. now, the nikkei just a quick reminder closed tuesday at its highest level in nearly two weeks, we're going higher still yet. many are really waiting to hear anything that may come out of the bank of japan meeting which wraps up later today. the dollars regain the strength after some of the declines that we saw last week it could be a boost for exporters as well. we may also see further action in the dollar later today.

however, big focus on energy and wti crude oil prices volatility still remains there, the recent trend has been upward. however, the wti crude fell a touch after the actual markets closed, the futures markets after the american petroleum institute, said inventories for the past week shot up more than had been expected. we saw a little bit of a drop there. all right. >> ramin let's go back to that rally, the dollars rally. the dent in u.s. stocks overnight. >> that has been a big focus, right now it's 12 # 0 to 129.30. that compares to the levels we saw last week. we have seen it pop higher in the dollar. it rose against the euro coming up on the screen right now. traders rushing to buy the u.s. currency will not be raising interest rates soon there are still concerns about the strength of the recovery and the u.s. economy and the time line

for a rate hike the latest rates from the fed chief saying maybe rates don't need to be raised until the second half of 2016. that's highlighting concerns about data and upcoming corporate earnings. so we'll see how all of that plays into it and as i mentioned there, we'll be waiting for the minutes of the last month policy meeting which may provide further insight into what fed officials are thinking that's going to be a big focus as well. >> absolutely. what about here in the asia pacific? what should we be watching out for? >> very quickly, i want to touch on australia, it left its interest rates unchanged yesterday. i'll keep track of that today as well as resources. and just a quick reminder most stock markets are up and running, including hong kong's hang sang today. you see how that picks up after the recent holiday break.

that's all for me. back to you. >> thanks a lot for that update. low cost carriers using norida airport just outside of tokyo have their own place to go. the third terminal has been launched for the exclusive use of uccs. >> operations got underway from 3:30 a.m. wednesday as the first passengers entered the building it's norida's first new terminal in 23 years. >> i wanted to be here on this landmark day when the terminal opened for the first time. i think i'm going to have more chances to fly now. the operator tried to minimize construction costs so that it could cut landing fees to half of that charge in other terminals. the firm hopes the move will attract other budget carriers.

around 680 domestic and international no frills flights will be taking off or landing at the new terminal every week that's roughly 80% of all flights at norida. they fly to 12 cities in japan and 7 abroad. working for a big company in japan was once a ticket to lifelong employment. but no longer workers in their 40s and 50s are increasingly being asked to consider early retirement as companies restructure. many still have mortgages to pay, and kids to raise. so a training school is helping them find a second career. nhk world tells us more. >> a program to have middle aged people. most of the students who have signed up for the six month program were managers in large

companies. now they're worried about surviving in a country where people identify with the companies. >> i left the company, but i don't know what else i can do. >> the first thing the school asked them to do is to choose a nickname. they're banned from using the previous names. >> the end is to recap -- the school help ss the students. >> translator: the students have shut themselves inside very narrow boundaries. if they stay that way, they won't find work. they must break out by

themselves themselves. >> the students must take the next step. they look back on their lives year by year. in the profits the latest cover with big companies. >> i like listening to people's stories. >> i like to teach what i've learned. >> this partner history announces how people find new work work.

>> this man works for a mid sized printer maker. he was once a quality control manager at sony. he left the company after he lost his position. he was 55. he's being asked to recall the past. he liked to develop new products. at sony, was put in charge -- he remembered his job. and how happy he was with the product on the market. >> translator: i want to put more products into the world. i was able to rediscover that passion passion. >> he manages a department -- he landed the new job -- and he's

a quiet over -- >> people who have considered conflict warriors now face a challenge of putting aside their past accomplishments and discovering what they are capable of. nhk world. that's the latest in business for this hour. back to katherine now. thanks very much runners from around the world came to japan to take part in a marathon with a message. they laced up their shoes to pound the pavement in a small town outside tokyo, in this event their finishing time didn't matter. nhk world has that story. >> are you ready? >> okay. >> please go ahead. >> it's 5:00 a.m. and the first runners -- more than 100 of them.

>> in this marathon, they are not running against the clock no stopwatch is needed. >> not supposed to go too fast in fact they're expected to stop and do other things you never expect in a marathon. some runners stop to take photograph s photographs. >> another runner has left the course. she's begun to pick up some trash. there are water points but no paper cups. the runners have to fill their own bottles. seems like this is par for the course in the annual marathon. the aim is not to go fast but to have fun on the way. it's about 40 kilometers east of tokyo this is the fifth marathon held here and the word is

spreading far and wide. >> we are from norway. >> this year about 80% of the runners came from outside japan from 27 different countries and territories. they brought a wide range of costumes with them too. >> i'm the mommy. this is my daughter and this is my niece. and we're the bomn family from hong kong, we're running a marathon in. >> we're all butterflies. >> you can't see in the rain. local children turned out to cheer on the runners. they've been practicing hard for this events. they don't see many foreigners here and have few chances to

interact with them. >> in the future i like to go abroad so i can talk with people in many countries. >> the local farmers are also doing their part. they've been preparing special rice balls for the hungry runners, they've mixed in beans to give them a red continue the. this kind of rice is eaten at many celebrations in japan. >> at 5:00 a.m. >> thank you so much. thank you so much. >> thank you. >> i'm just happy people enjoy our rice. >> seven hours after setting out the first runners are arriving back. some with full garbage bags. >> it's a very good event. and --

>> this is the best run ever, i love this run. when can you ever collect garbage, do a marathon and the wonderful japan. >> go slow be happy, that's the motto of this marathon, it's spreading to more and more people around the worlds. nhk world japan. >> i like that. time now for a check of the weather with robert sperro. people in and around tokyo are seeing snow. residents were seeing signs of spring, it feels like we're heading back into winter. what happened. >> what we have going on it's spring season it means we have this roller coaster ride of temperatures, what we are looking at we have this front that's lingering over head we have those very cold temperatures down toward the south it's much warmer as this continues to push toward the

south, what we had going on is a new low kind of developing right here over central japan, that pulled in that cold air, you can see here on the precipitation, look at the white over central portions of the country. and yes, they're into the norida airport and now into much of downtown tokyo or parts of downtown tokyo, we're seeing reports of a rain/snow mix out here on wednesday morning. it looks like it's going to stay that way through the rest of the day until this starts to drift a little further there toward the south. clears up as we head into thursday. but things are going to stay rather cool. nonetheless, also we're still looking at cloudy skies, now, back toward the west parts of southeastern china, we're looking at rainfall out here also contributing factor which is going to bring those rainshowers and thunderstorms. just toward the north, things are -- they're clear there in northeastern china over the korean peninsula.

temperatures are continuing to cool off. we have some frost advisories in place for a few out here let's take a look at the three-day forecast across parts of china. temperatures i'm talking about. wednesday at 5 degrees, staying on the chilly side. same temperature in tokyo, both areas it climbs back up tokyo going to 13 by thursday. boosts on going up there to 16 by friday. and you can see harbin at 9, climbing up to 8 degrees there heading into the weekend. let's look over toward the americas similar situation here. not so much to the south. the severe weather in the changing of the seasons, back toward -- the low is going to continue to track east even impact parts of the northeastern u.s. in new york city and washington, d.c.. you can see some thunderstorms. it's this area right here i want

to talk about, that's bringing rainfall in california you need the rain. exceptional drought in place right now. as it tracks over the rockies, it is going to bring some snowfall. the snow and the cold air to come with it will move east, that's going to combine with moisture coming out of the south. we have fire weather conditions into the southwest. some areas critical. any wildfires that do start could spread quickly. right smack in the middle we're going to be looking at the threat of severe weather, not on wednesday but thursday hail damaging winds and i do think there's a risk of a few tornados, some of them could become quite powerful in the darker reds. >> this is the big topic out here as we go through the latter part of the workweek. into europe also talking about severe weather, in the west around portugal. central europe sunny skies, high pressure continuing to dominate, back toward the east we have another low. continuing to drift off there toward the east as far as the

temperatures are concerned, staying on the cool side. stockholm at 9 on your wednesday. i'll leave you now with your extended outlook. that wraps up this edition of newsline. thanks for joining us.

the death of michael brown - the unarmed black teenager gunned down by a police officer in the us city of ferguson last august sparked a massive wave of protests against racism within the police force. now us president obama wants to

increase transparency and re-train officers to build better relationships with communities. here's what we've got coming up. when to shoot and when not -- keeping tabs on the us police. marine life at risk in mozambique - meet one women hoping to turn the tide and we ask the bangladeshi commerce minister what progress his country's made on protecting