hello there. glad to have you with us on this edition of "newsline." it's friday, august 21st. i'm catherine kobiyashi in tokyo. police in thailand are learning more details about the man they believe is behind monday's deadly explosion in bangkok. they now say he went to the bombing site by a taxi. the explosion at a popular shrine left 20 people dead and 125 wounded. police say security camera footage shows the man leaving a backpack containing the bomb at the site. they say the suspect boarded the three-xwheeled taxi on monday

near police headquarters 4 kilometers west of the explosion site. they say the man showed the driver the screen of his mobile phone to indicate his destination. he didn't talk with the driver but spoke on the cell phone in a foreign language. authorities questioned two other men an appearing to provided him with cover placing the backpack at the shrine. they confirm one was an hourist and the other the guide. they say neither is linked to the attack. an event is postponed. it's one of the largest of its kind in the capitalment it attracted about 300,000 people last year. this year's event was originally set to start on august 28th. it was drawing attention as japanese all-girl idol group akb48 to hold the first concert there. >> our company decided to postpone the event because of the many victims.

>> she adds that thai's have a very high interest in japan and the firm will prepare for the next opportunity. officials at japan's defense ministry will set up a research unit to analyze china's military behavior. they say the lack of transparency of china's military is raising strong international concern. the officials will establish the division at the national institute for defense studies. they'll use its research to come up with security measures. china is increasing its maritime activity in the east and south china seas and it's been boosting defense spending by at least 10% almost every year. but china hasn't disclosed details of the defense budget or specific equipment the military possesses. there's escalating tension on the korean peninsula. the militaries from both sides have exchanged fire over the western border. and pyongyang is threatening seoul with further military action. south korean military officials say they fired more than 20

artillery rounds toward north korea. they say it was in response to projectiles fired towards a loud speaker on their side and blairing anti-pong wrong broadcasts and blairing anti-pyongyang broadcasts and ordered more than 4,000 residents to evacuate. military officials sent a message calling the campaign a grave provocation and will take military action if the broadcasts isn't stopped by 5:00 p.m. saturday. president park gun held a meeting of the national security guard. rather, the national security council. she ordered officials to stand firm against the provocations and to do whatever is necessary to protect citizens. earlier this month, two south korean soldiers were seriously wounded by land mines. seoul accused pyongyang of planting the mines and they resumed blairing messages over

the border for the first time in 11 years. greek prime minister alexis tsipras said he's resigning and called a snap election. he seek a public mandate on the fiscal reform plan in the poll. he said thursday it's up to the greek people to judge whether he adequately represented them on austerity demands. the party is split over the austerity package. the government is also under fire from opposition parties. analysts believe that tsipras hopes the election will cement his political base. some your rozone natns cast doubt over the structural reform plan dimming the prospects for future bailouts. managers in japan's construction industry have a problem. a shortage of workers. work continues to rebuild from the 2011 earthquake and orders

are flooding in ahead of the tokyo olympics in 2020. now nhk world reports on some high-tech solutions. >> reporter: a new hotel is going up in tokyo. and the construction crew is hard at work. the kind of work that puts bodies to the des. test. >> translator: this is hard on my back. >> reporter: at construction sites, sometimes jobs are physically demanding. the number of construction workers in japan since 1997 at 4.5 million. at last count, it was down almost 1 million. managers at the company building the hotel say they have a solution. workers will strap on this device invented by a start-up firm. it takes the heavy out of heavy lifting. i'm about to lift something more than half of my weight with this

support suit. let's give it a try. it's heavy but not as hard as i thought. feels like someone is pushing up my lower back. it all works automatically. a brain signal is picked by sensors on the skin. the device uses this data to support the user in bending and raising the lower back. according to its maker, the robotic suit can make heavy objects feel up to 40% lighter. >> translator: if we can alleviate the burden of carrying heavy stuff workers can concentrate on areas that need their expertise. >> reporter: as he says, skilled work is also an industry requirement. this worker is inspecting the

condition of wall tiles on an apartment building. these inspections are mandatory. damaged tiles can peel off the wall posing a hazard to pedestrians. the 2011 earthquake created even more demand for tile checks. the damage is often hidden. changes in temperature and humidity cause tiles and the material underneath them to expand or shrink. over time, gaps can emerge and the tile cans drop off. the inspectors' main tool is a well-trained ear. >> translator: this one sounds normal. there's no space underneath. but this sound suggests there is a gap and there's a risk of a tile falling off the wall. >> reporter: a major construction firm developed this machine.

it checks the tiles one by one and at high speed. a hammer taps on the wall as it glides along. a microphone in the robot picks up the sound and on the-board computer identifies damaged tiles. tiles display in white are risky ones. the system also generates a detailed analysis showing different degrees of damage. >> translator: as you can see, robots can do the job fast and create an inspection report accurately and efficiently. we think there is a great merit. >> reporter: construction managers say the tight labor market is not a temporary issue. that means the machine on the

building is here to stay. nhk world. tokyo stock prices opened sharply lower amid uncertainties over the global economy. the key nikkei index has dropped below 20,000 for the first time in 5 weeks. the stock average had declined three sessions in a row through thursday. it is now at the lowest level since mid-july. a sharp downturn in china's stock markets has been weighing on japanese investor sentiment. overnight, new york share prices also plunlged more than 2%. the dow jones industrial average dropped below 17,000 for the first time in about 10 months and the tech-heavy nasdaq closed at a five-month low. kenya's president has met top officials of japanese companies. he's calling for more investments in his country, many firms are looking at kenya as the gateway to east africa as

the country continues to show stable growth. a high-level meeting between the kenyan president and top officials of about 20 japanese firms was held at the presidential office in nairobi. executives of manufacturers, banks and transportation companies were among those attending. they explained about future projects in the country. kenyata organized the meeting and said the government would pledge to do everything it could to support japanese firms and to encourage them to increase investments in his country. kenya's market is expanding as the middle class population glows. about 40 japanese firms are currently doing business there. a meeting of the tokyo international conference on african development or tcat is expected to be held in kenya next year. tcat is co-sponsored by japan. the people at e mers

giant rakuten are vowing to get goods to customers in tokyo faster than ever. they say they'll be able to make some deliveries in just 20 minutes. rakuten executives say the service applies to more than 400 items, snacks, drinks, even toilet paper, and it's available anytime, day or night. they say it costs about $6. the executives expect strong demand from young people who work late. they plan to expand the service to other parts of the country. analysts forecast big growth for japan's online shopping sector. they point to the increase in elderly people and dual-income households. the milan expose this year attracts crowds of visitors as people flock to see a new style of shoto or japanese calligraphy. we met the artist creating a unique style of her own.

>> reporter: calligraphy artist s 14ishi put on a live show at the milan expo. her canvas was this 3-meter sheet of paper painting a kangi character of her own. it's a reflection of the expo's culinary themes. after she returned from italy, she spoke to nhk world about her passion for introducing japanese culture to the world. >> people used to think of japan as a top economy but that's no longer the case. i think the time has come for japanese to convey the world, japan's culture and art. >> she focuses on creating a new tile of shoto that's both traditional and innovative at the same time.

experience tells her that truly traditional calligraphy alone doesn't translate well overseas. she uses metal in her work. she makes characters from iron and then bathes them in a soft light that creates charact earls in the shadows. france's singled out the work to represent japan in 2014. and at the carousel the jury awarded her its highest recognition, the gold medal. she also uses state of the art technology in her art. in this multi-media piece, the falling charact earls transform into images representing each character's naming.

she also designed the interior of the japan pavilion at the milan expo. the theme is diversity with the common root. on the screen are various phenomena that exist only in the context of the other such as light and shade and light and depth. life and death. and on both sides of the wall are a series of paintings made to resemble japan's traditional woodblock prints. the sequence of paintings represents how drops of rain begin and finish their lives over the four seasons. the exhi pigs is popular. over 500,000 people have seen it so far. >> translator: tradition and science. i feel these two things are at

the heart of japan. >> words are filled with many messages, messages that can be conflicting. i want to convey the knnuance. i hope that people, even if they do not understand japanese, will be able to appreciate my works as art. >> by combining the ancient with the modern, her challenge of introducing japanese calligraphy continues. the people in charge of japan's public pensions have made more admissions over a data leak. they investigated the theft of personal information on more than 1 million people. they say staff failed to block hackers because of lack security.

members of a japan pension service investigation panel announced what they'd learned. they say hackers launched an attack in may sending over 120 e-mails with attachments that contained viruses. they say employees opened infected files, sending the viruses into dozens of computers. they say hackers then gained access to information on 1.25 million people. that information included names and pension numbers. the investigators say staff who received the first targeted e-mail did not immediately set computers to reject more. and they say staff did not cut off their system from the internet. japan pension service executives are figuring out how to prevent more problems. >> translator: we need to review our entire organization from scratch and get our staff working toward fundamental changes in our corporate governance and culture. >> executives plan to have systems that contain personal information disconnected from the internet.

and they plan to set up a cyber security task force. south korea's president will visit china next month to attend a ceremony marking the 70'd of what leaders call the victory over japan but officials at the office say she's yet to decide to attend the military parade. the officials say park will spend three days visiting beijing and shanghai. she's scheduled to attend the world war ii anniversary ceremony on september 3rd and she is expected to hold talks with president xi jinping. observers say park wants to strengthen her hand after recent threats from north korea. south korean sources say chinese officials urge park to be on hand for the military parade but park is considering how japan and the u.s. would perceive the attendance.

people in los angeles last week witnessed a strange sight, the dumping of millions of plastic balls into a reservoir. the dry weather has led to forest fires and dwindling water supplies. the balls help save what's left from drying up. they're each about ten centimeters in diameter, and they number nearly 100 million. city workers dumped them into the more than 70-hectare reservoir. they say this method will save 10% from evaporating. they also say it's saving money. the balls cost 36 cents each, so they're much cheaper than covering the water with sheets. 70 years have passed since the battle of okinawa but mem y memories of the fighting remain. both members of the military and

civilians died. the son of a former officer who survived retraced the footsteps of his now-deceased father. nhk world reports on the journey. >> reporter: this man started on a path by sorting through his dad's belongings. he found a notebook that his father had written with descriptions of the battle. >> don't die. do your best. survive. and go home. >> reporter: yasuo was only 23 when he commanded a platoon in the japanese army. he filled almost 150 pages of the notebook with accounts of what the soldiers went through. many of the entries in involved anguish over their death. the platoon had 140 men at the beginning of the battle. at the end, he was one of only ten who survived.

>> translator: i've pictured the battle sites but i'm not sure how i'll react when i actually visit them. >> reporter: using the notebook as a guide, he went to the sites where his father had fought. one person in the area showed him a cave where the platoon had taken shelter. >> translator: is this a cartridge case? >> yes, it is. >> translator: 20 millimeters. >> reporter: yasuo himself was seriously injured. he was taken to another cave that had been set up for first aid.

students had been called up to take care of the wounded. this woman was one of those nurses. >> translator: i could hear them moaning. it hurts. it hurts. whenever they saw me, they asked me to help them right away. >> translator: the circumstances were grueling. if those students were in high school, they must have been just 15 or 16 years old. they helped me with everything. i'm deeply grateful. >> translator: i moved to learn that he was thinking about us, too. i wish i'd known this before when he was still alive and well. >> reporter: he also visited the peace memorial park built on the site of the final battle of okinawa. this stone monument is engraved with the names of those who lost

their lives. he recognized one of the names from the notebook. it was a member of his father's platoon. his father had ordered the soldier to carry a bomb and call underneath an american tank. a suicide mission. >> translator: it's as though my father killed him. i feel very sorry about this. i think my father probably wrote about this because he wanted to pass on his story. i must share this with members of the next generation to teach them what happened here. >> reporter: he now has a deeper understanding of his father's experiences in okinawa. he says he will mourn the victims of the war and hope for peace for the rest of his life. jun takahashi, nhk world.

people in okinawa are dealing with stormy weather. a typhoon is heading their way. meteorologist robert speta explains in world weather. >> let's take a look at the satellite picture an i'll start off with this because right now the typhoon, it's drifting off towards the west and if you're watching from northern portions of luzon it's been raining. really the wind is blowing out here. you may be thinking the typhoon is coming by way, right? at this point it is just off the northern coastline and we expect it to make a hard right-hand turn here on friday and eventually steer off here towards the north blowing past basically and west of okinawa and naha out here. definitely at this time, gusting to 252 kilometers per hour and expected to weaken off towards the north and typhoon warnings

expected. expecting the winds to strengthen and then taiwan and staying towards the east of you it is going to be pumping a lot of that moisture on shore. taiwan, last place you need another typhoon. not expecting a direct landfall and there's enough to cause the threat of flooding and landslides out here. look at the three-day forecast for some of you. really on friday, partly cloudy skies. weather not too bad but the weekend conditions will deteriorate on saturday. showers coming throughish ga i can and then over towards naha, 31 degrees. look at that, the quinds picking up. i show this. just on the over side of the ocean. chichijima, the other typhoon coming off here towards the north and moving to the south of the islands. turning towards the northeast leaving mainland japan out of the picture. tokyo, partly cloudy skies all weekend. will kick up the high waves. parts of western japan, korean

peninsula, the weather is not beautiful by any means because we have all that moisture being surged in ahead of the tropical system down here towards the south. conflicting with some cooler air aloft. the thunderstorms really brewing, especially the afternoon thunderstorms. being quite unled. some places 80 to 100 additional millimeters. a funnel cloud out here. in two weeks, in japan, let's move through. didn't cause damage and still something to know. actually, we are getting up towards the peak of tornado season in japan. typically this time of year with more tropical systems off towards the north seeing that's the case. not as good looking on satellite as our typhoons in the western pacific but this is by the way a hurricane. hurricane danny. the first one of 2015. tracking off here towards the west. meanwhile, back towards the north, though, we have a cold front pushing through the eastern u.s. to bring thunderstorms out there for you. maybe some travel delays, especially for people in the

northeastern portions of the country. then coming out of the northwestern canada, gusty winds in the pacific northwest. but we have a front developing, moving through parts of the northern plains and central canada and the thing with this bringing thunderstorms with it but it's going to feel a lot more like autumn for a lot of you. that's the case, look at bismarck, 34 dropping down to 20 on your saturday. i'll leave you now with your extended outlook.

and that wraps up this edition of "newsline." i'm catherine kobiyashi in tokyo. thanks very much for joining us.

stacey thunder (voiceover): on this edition of "native report," we watch master quilt maker gwen westerman construct a beautiful star quilt, we learn about "mni sota makoce, the land of the dakota." -with the beautiful people of the red lakes celebration. and we take a look back at our very first story from season one of "native report." we also learn something new about indian country and hear from our elders, on this "native report." narrator: production of "native report" is made possible by grants from the shakopee mdewakanton sioux community and the blandin foundation.