this man first came to tokyo ten years to network with established bookstores. he says the japanese capital is an unrivaled market for quality chinese books. >> translator: japan and china have a 1,000-year history of cultural exchange. this has resulted in accumulation of important chinese cultural assets in japan.

if we find such material abroad and consider them essential to our country, we'll acquire them. i believe it's our responsibility to protect chinese culture. >> reporter: at the center of the renewed passion for chinese books is this district, home to 160 antique bookstores. around a dozen specialize in chinese materials offering a trove of reasonably priced books in good condition. as early as the fifth century, japan began importing vast amounts of chinese books to learn about the culture and politics and religion of its powerful neighbor.

this scroll depicts the author of the famous tale of gengi. she's reading a poem by a famous poet from the tang dynasty. until the late 19th century, japan's ruling south considered chinese literature essential to their education. the restoration of 1868 marks the beginning of japan's modernization. the development of universities prompted bookstores to accumulate more chinese materials from around the country. during the same period, civil strife on conflicts with foreign powers in china led to the destruction of the documents and cultural assets. but now china's emergence as a global economy power is triggering renewed interest in its lost cultural heritage.

many of the materials here acquired in tokyo can no longer be found in china. >> translator: it's a real pleasure to see the chinese materials are being well preserved in japan. the items we purchase will be studied, restored and reproduced so the world can learn about the excellence of chinese culture. >> reporter: but the market's acquisition of chinese material is also becoming a problem for researchers in japan. this man is an expert on china's influence on japanese literature. he points out that some chinese books have become a part of japanese culture and that japan should prevent their return to china. this anthology of chinese poems is believed to be one of the world's oldest wood block prints. it was brought to japan about 900 years ago.

the red markings were added centuries later by japanese zen monks. >> translator: the yellow page is the original chinese print. the monks cut and pasted it on to a larger sheet of paper so it could adde notes in a japanese translation. many antique books contain evidence of how our predecessors studied these materials. books like these must be considered japanese cultural assets. the current chinese boom is a source of real concern for scholars like me. >> reporter: chinese law prohibits the export of materials published before the 1912 revolution.

the pendulum appears to be swinging back to china. nhk world, tokyo. in belarus, the president won his fourth term in an election on sunday. thousands of opposition supporters looked -- took to the streets to protest what they claim was vote rigging. ten candidates ran in the presidential election in the former soviet republic including lukashenko and former diplomat andrei sannikov. western countries called lukashenko the last dictator in europe for his hard-line stance toward political opponents. he is also opposed to the economic integration sought by neighboring russia. but he has wide domestic support for his strong leadership under a centrally controlled soviet style economy. >> translator: i'm ready to join hands with anyone, including opposition parties, if it helps

to improve people's living standards and stabilize our country. >> opposition candidates say the voting was rigged. thousands of their supporters demonstrated in the capital minsk on sunday. some clashed with police. an explosion at an oil pipeline in mexico has killed 27 people and injured more than 50. police think thieves tried to tap into the pipeline and oil leaked out and caught fire. the explosion happened on sunday in the city of san martin, about 90 kilometers east of the capital of mexico city. the national oil company pinex shut down the pipeline and firefighters are on the alert to prevent another explosion. local officials said the explosion and fire destroyed more than 110 houses. let's now look at some of the news we have gathered from broadcasting stations across asia. we begin with this item sent by rtm malaysia.

a bus accident in a northern malaysia killed at least 27 people, most of them thai tourists. the accident took place on a mountainous tourist spot when a double decker tourist bus failed to negotiate a downhill curve and crashed into a rock wall. the police official said the vehicle was headed to kuala lumpur. the tourists were believed to be on their way to board a flight from kuala lumpur to bangkok. the curtain fell on the asian paragames in the southern chinese city of gaung joe on saturday. it featured various cultural programs. it was the first of its kind on the continent. more than 2500 physically challenged athletes from 41 countries and territories vied for medals in athletics, swimming and tennis. china led the medal tally followed by japan and south korea. the flag an torch were handed over to south korean delegates. south korea's incheon will host the next edition of the games in 2014.

malaysia plans to build two nuclear power plants by 2022 to reduce its dependence on fossil fuel. gas accounts for 64% of the country's energy, with the remainder coming from coal. the energy minister said on sunday each of the two power plants will generate 1,000 megawatts of electricity. he added the initial blueprint for the projects will be ready by 2014 and tenders will be called for in 2016. he said this nuclear energy has become a viable alternative energy source due to its lower cost in the long run. and before we check on the weather, we want to show you how monkeys at a zoo in central japan are staying warm now that winter is here. how's this for a way to cope with the cold? the 160 macaques gather around a fire every day.

the zoo keepers keep the flames going. they also bake sweet potatoes, a favorite for the monkeys. when the food is ready, they scramble to get some. the greedy ones take extra helpings. if the potatoes are too hot, the animals dip them in a pond before eating them. then it is back to the fire to warm up again. the head of the zoo says the monkeys aren't afraid of the flames. in fact, their hair becomes dry and curly at this time of the year because they sometimes get too close. hi there, it's time for another look at today's world weather. let's start off with conditions this evening for parts of east asia. and if you pull up our satellite shot, we can see a great deal of cloud moving away from japan only to be followed by a new forming system in the southwest. let me pull that up, as well.

that's going to be this. low pressure area that will really start to enhance moisture across southern japan and probably bring some rain into the tokyo area some time tuesday evening. meanwhile, it'll also push through the korean peninsula. although much of northern china and actually the rest of mainland china looking calm and dry. into mongolia, a little bit on the snowier side. some flurries in ulan bator. chilly day for you. minus 17 is your high. seeing highs around 7 in beijing, just 9 in seoul and 14 in tokyo. meanwhile, we start to warm up as we head to taipei, showers there at 24 and 22 in hong kong. what about north america? well, let's talk about the northeast real quickly. we have a very strong system that's off in the atlantic. but take a look at that. look at how strong it is. really windy, incredibly intense, high waves and surf across parts of new england. but in terms of wet weather, we're not going to see so much of it in the next few days. really what's going to drive all the wintery weather we're going to see here is going to be this area, this storm system across

the northern plains and in the upper midwest. and this complex of storm systems out in the pacific. what we've got is just a pulse of moisture bringing in a lot of rain across southern california and snow into interior areas, and just widespread snow for mountainous regions. do be careful about that. temperatures across the board are going to be certainly on the cool side in the north. seeing about 5 in vancouver, looking at sleet there for you, 6 in seattle. meanwhile, about 12 in denver, 14 in l.a. certainly on the cool side and wet, like i said. minus 11 in winnipeg, 22 in houston, so enjoying some nice, but cloudy weather. and then in the northeast, just frigid. minus 1 in chicago, just above freezing in new york city. 1, as well, in atlanta. but we do get back in the double digits, 1 for washington, and double digits for you in atlanta. what about europe? what a mess we've been having all weekend long. let's pull up some of those most

recent images coming out of belgium. this is what it looked like on sunday in brussels. brussels airport also just seeing a lot of snowfall. grounding many planes, canceling and, unfortunately, interrupting a lot of travel plans for not just belgians, but many people across europe. we had this -- i think this image is from frankfurt airport in germany, cancellations, croatia, italy, france as well as into the uk. and unfortunately this little pulse of moisture is going to bring another round of wet weather and then a lot of snow. as we take a look at this, you can see where the snow will lie, where the rain will be, and where the heaviest rain will be. more warmer conditions here, which will mean rain instead of snow, which is somewhat good news. but unfortunately, looks to be very, very wet across the southwest of the iberian peninsula. flooding rains could be a problem for you in parts of portugal and into spain. and already rains have started. 15 in madrid, 14 in lisbon for

the high, 1 in london. bitterly cold yet again across the rest of central and eastern europe. all right. that's all for me. i'm going to leave you now with your extended forecast. before wrapping up this newscast, here are the top stories for this hour. the south korean military has held a live fire exercise on the border island shelled by north korea last month. the exercise on yeonpyeong island began at 2:30 p.m. and

ended after 4:00 p.m. on monday. the exercise is the first on the island since the north attacked it on november 23rd. south korean troops used military equipment including a self-propelled howitzer called a k9 with a firing range of 40 kilometers. they fired shells into waters on their disputed side of the sea border, known as the northern limit line, which north korea does not recognize. ahead of the exercise, about 100 residents were told to evacuate to air raid shelters. on friday, north korea demanded the south immediately cancel its plan to carry out the drill. it said, if the south proceeds with the plan, it will trigger a more serious situation than that of last month. on monday, south korea banned its citizens for safety reasons from entering an industrial complex the two koreas were developing together in the north. the north korea military supreme command as denounced south korea's exercise calling

it a military provocation but at the same time, it suggested on state-run television that it will not make any counter moves. cnn says north korea has agreed to allow international atomic energy agency inspectors to return to one of their nuclear facilities. cnn reported on monday that north korea has offered to let iaea experts resume inspections of the nyongbyong nuclear complex. north korea expelled the inspectors from the country in april 2009.

a cnn crew is accompanying new mexico governor bill richardson, who has held talks with north korean officials in the north. it also reported that the north has agreed to negotiate the sale of 12,000 fuel rods and ship them to another country. if the report proves true, it suggests that north korea may be ready to take concrete steps toward denuclearization of the korean peninsula. south korea's foreign ministry has responded cautiously. ministry spokesperson kim young sun said it is as yet unclear what activities north korea will allow the inspectors to carry out. he added south korea needs to take various factors into consideration before it can determine north korea's intentions. that concludes this edition of "newsline." i'm hideshi hara in tokyo. we'll be back in half an hour. thanks for joining us on nhk world.