welcome to nhk world "newsline," i'm gene otani in tokyo. here is a look at some of the stories we're following this hour. the politician who helped secure the 2020 olympics for tokyo is resigning after getting caught up if a scandal. policymakers at the u.s. federal reserve have decided to pulling back on their program of monetary stimulus. and on nuclear watch, we'll show you how farmers in

northeastern japan are decontaminating their fields nearly three years after the accident in fukushima. a high profile japanese politician who got caught up in scandal says he's resigning. tokyo governor nak ki inose has been under fire for accepting an inappropriate loan from a medical corporation. nhk world's tomorrow co-cama that has the details. >> reporter: many new this was coming. still nay ki inose at trangtded a lot of attention when he handed in his letter of resignation. >> translator: i have decided to resign because i don't want the issue of the loan to disrupt the tokyo government any further. >> reporter: inose served as vice governor for five years were being elected to the top job a year ago. >> tokyo.

>> reporter: inose spent only one year in office, still he managed to lead the group that brought the olympic and paralympic games back to tokyo. >> translator: the japan team has won. the tokyo olympics will write a new chapter in our country's long history. >> reporter: but two months later inose found himself under fire. prosecutors raided the offices of a group that operates hospitals across japan. they were looking for evidence in another scandal over election funding. but they happened to find out that the group had given inose about $500,000. he says the money was not a contribution to his election campaign or a bribe. he said it was a personal loan, and he said he'd already returned the money. he changed his story several

times. in the end even influential politicians who supported him during the election said he should resign. >> translator: by chance i met with a person who would lend me some money, so i borrowed, but i shouldn't have. i think i was an amateur politician and didn't have enough professional knowledge. >> reporter: some residents say they hope whoever replaces inose will do better. >> translator: i hope the next governor will be someone who can listen to us, to the voice of the people. >> translator: the next governor should be able to provide leadership for a successful olympics and present japan's qualities to the world.

>> reporter: one tokyo government official said what inose has done has disrupted the work including preparations for the olympics. people are expected to vote in an election to replace him early in the new year. tomo co-cam that, nhk world. u.s. quantitative easing is finally wrapping up. rye lean mel ga from the biz team has more on this. >> global markets have been anticipating this for quite a while. policymakers at that time u.s. federal reserve have announced they'll scale back their monetary stimulus program starting next month. fed chairman ben bernanke explained the details of the board's decision after their two-day meeting. the policymakers will cut the purchase of bonds and mortgage-backed securities from $85 billion to $75 billion per month. the unemployment rate in

november dipped to a five-year low of 7%. >> recent economic indicators have increased our confidence that the job market gains will continue. if the incoming data broadly support the committee's outlook for employment and inflation we will likely reduce the pace of securities purchases in further measured steps at future meetings. >> the policymakers say they'll keep short-term interest rates near zero even after the unemployment rate falls below 6.5%, especially if inflation remains low. after the fed's tapering decision yuki sack rye, head of few coke co-capital management in tokyo said changes in global money flows may affect the growth path of asia's emerging economies. >> maybe because of the confusion by mr. bernanke made a couple months ago which was a kind of tapering confusion which may be treated as a forerunner

in the market, and by the february employment data issued recently by the united states, i think the market became rather, let's say, ready for the tapering, and because the cutback was rather modest, i think the asian market also reacted moderately. the money flow -- global money flow may go into the united states market, maybe a little bit out of the other market. so we have to see how the u.s. economy is going to revive and also there will be comparison with other regions including japan and asian countries. i have a feeling that the overseas investor will be focusing on the u.s. economies and the other advanced countries which is in comparison with the emerging country which was a focus of investment in 2013, and

they will become cautious by the lak of liquidity which happened in india and indonesia. they would like to see how these countries would cope with the tapering effect of the united states. if the fundamentals of these countries would become improving, then obviously money will come back to these countries because this all-access money born by these easing policies would wide. this money will not only go into the united states but find other places which may yield higher. on to the markets, the fed's move has provided some cheer to investors, lifting equities of leading economies. in europe, stocks are showing solid gains. london's footsie is up almost 1%. frankfurt's dax is up 1.4% nearly and paris's cac 40 up

1.36%. investors thought the amount of fed tapering was modest and believed in its commitment to keep rates low for a longer period of time. earlier shares in tokyo and sydney rose sharply. nikkei posted a six-year high with the help of a sliding yen. some other markets showed weakness amid concerns over capital outflows. chinese markets declined. hong kong's hang seng index fell by 1.1% to a one-month low. worries are growing over rising funding costs due to a spike in short-term money rates. let's switch to currencies now. the dollar staying firm against the yen, dollar-yen currently trading at 104.03-06, near a five-year high. the u.s. currency is showing strength against other asian currencies. increasing demand for the dollar encouraged market players to sell gold which is seen as an alternative safe asset. spot gold prices dropped to a level not seen since late june.

japan's improving economy and rising stock market is having a positive impact on people's finances. officials at the central bank say the value of assets held by japanese households is rising. personal financial assets as of the end of september stood at about $15 trillion. that's up nearly 6% from a year earlier, and the second highest since june 2007. the value of stocks and equity investments jumped about 44% while that of mutual funds rose by a third. boj officials say this is due to a rise in share prices and an increase in the value of assets held in foreign currencies led by the weaker yen. but household savings and cash holdings rose about 2%. boj officials note these savings still make up a large bulk of personal assets. they say people have also been putting their money into riskier

investments as the economy recovers. that's all for business news for this hour. i'll leave you with a recap of the region's markets. u.s. media say president barack obama wants to appoint an ambassador who would strengthen economic ties with china. they say he plans to nominate democratic senator max baucus. baucus has drawn on his

knowledge as trade of chairman as one of the most powerful committees, the finance committee. he nooets needs confirmation from lawmakers. if he gets it, he'll replace gary lock. locke said last month he planned to step down and return to the u.s. to be with his family. delegates to the united nations general assembly are expressing strong concern about the situation in north korea. they adopted a resolution calling for the country to improve its human rights conditions. japan and the european union submitted the resolution. in it, they say north korean authorities are unjustly detaining and torturing people. the document says defectors have been forcibly returned to the country and abused. it adds that cases involving the abduction of foreigners remain unresolved. assembly members say those in pyongyang are carrying out political executions without fair trials. they say it's a fabrication

concocted by hostile forces. former u.s. basketball star dennis rodman is once again visiting north korea. his trip to pyongyang comes days after the execution of top government official jang song thaek. analysts say the country's leaders want to use the visit to show that kim jong-un's regime remains stable. rodman spoke to reporters at a beijing airport. he says he looks forward to meeting the north korean leader again. >> i know he's waiting for me to come back so we'll have a good conversation about some things. >> rodman said during the five-day visit he will prepare for a friendly basketball team between his team and one from north korea. the match is scheduled in early january to mark kim's birthday. he added while there he will help players in the country. this is his third visit this year. he called kim his friend for

life. today in the second part of our series on decontamination, we look at the challenges facing farmers at fukushima. the 2011 nuclear accident devastated the prefecture's main industry, agriculture. japan's leaders halted shipments of produce from fukushima right after the nuclear accident. now they've begun lifting the restrictions as many crops have passed stringent safety checks. agriculture industry in most of the evacuation zones remains frozen as farmers wait for authorities to decontaminate their land. the environment ministry is leading that effort in fukushima. the process involves several methods depending on the level of contamination. the area where radiation level is high they mainly strip the

layer of topsoil as it contains the highest level of radioactive particles. this can reduce the contamination, but when it comes to revitalizing agriculture, some producers say much more should be done. nhk world's my sammy uk co-visits a struggling to get on his feet. >> reporter: it at that time village is part of the evacuation zone. people can enter some districts like this during the daytime, but they aren't allowed to live there. this man comes from a long line of farmers. he was born in itate and has spent his entire life farming. kanno prided himself on how little he used pesticides and chemical fertilizers. he was committed to delivering fresh produce to consumers in other areas, and he says quality soil is where it all begins.

>> translator: not being able to farm the bletings of the earth is like losing your life. >> reporter: the level of radiation is relatively high in itate, so the village decided to strip the topsoil. the kanno says that poses a threat to his livelihood. this five meter of topsoil is rich in newt i don't want. farmers spend their lives cultivating it. the dilemma is that the contamination may clean up the field, but without the topsoil, growing crops is much harder. kanno wanted to figure out a way to remove radioactive materials but keep the nutrients. he turned to a group of experts,

professor ma gucci studying soil physics at the university of tokyo. he's been looking at how radioactive cesium disperses into the ground. two years ago they began experimenting on farmland in itate. they focused on one of the unique properties of clay, its ability to bind with cesium. over time cesium particles in the ground attach themselves to clay in the soil. when workers turn over the topsoil in the water field paddy, the heavier matter sinks to the bottom, but the clay and cesium float. remove the muddy water and you remove much of the radioactive materials. >> translator: right now i think the study of soil is the only

field that can help find a solution to the problem of cesium contamination in itate. >> reporter: but it's delicate work, not suitable for heavy machinery. kanno and a team of volunteers use hand-held tools. by repeatedly churning the topsoil and draining the water, they can strip off 80% of the cesium but leave most of the nutrients. this method also cuts the volume of radioactive waste. the tainted water is pooled and will be dried here. it will require far less space than the topsoil stripping method. >> translator: everyone dealing with the decontamination issue needs to be on the ground looking at what's going on and working together. that's how we'll solve this. >> reporter: they've been test

farming rice in one of their decontaminated fields and the results are encouraging. radiation readings are falling within the national safety standard. >> translator: i'm anticipating an uphill battle. i don't know what's going to happen, but we're all trying our best thinking we can make a difference. >> reporter: kanno and his team say they will continue to experiment with ways to decontaminate fukushima's fields. they're sharing their findings with local and national leaders in the hope they can make the work more efficient and get the farmers back into their fields. masami ucon, nhk world, fukushima. our special edition of nuclear watch will continue this week. on friday we'll look at the consequences of not

decontaminating forests in fukushima. athletes around the world are tuning themselves up for the winter olympics. the games in sochi, russia, are just two months away. kim yuna of south korea won the gold medal in figure skating at the last winter olympics. her success has inspired young people to pick up the sport. nhk world's anna jhung has more from soerl. >> kim many ann is nine years old. she first got interested in figure skating when she was just 5 after watching kim euna in action. >> translator: she's my idol. she signed my ice skate when i went to see her skate at an ice show. this is my treasure.

>> reporter: young practices private ice skating lessons five days a week at this ice rink in seoul. this is the same rink where figure skating starl kim you gnaw trained from the age of 7 and where she first dreamed of becoming a gold medalist. >> translator: recently more and more children are coming here to learn skating, inspired by the example of kim una. >> translator: she has her sights set on becoming a professional figure skater. >> translator: yun had to give up figure skating for two years

after injuring her jaw. she refused to give up and returned to the rink earlier this year. even when she's at home, yun lives for skating. to keep herself motivated, she watches videos of kim yana over and over again. >> translator: in my age group there are better skaters than me so i need to practice harder. i'm going to try hard to be like kim euna. >> reporter: kim's mother fully supports her daughter's dream. she spends $1,000 a month on the lessons. she also goes with yian to the ice rink every day which takes about an hour each way. >> translator: while i'm here watching out for yi dan, my

husband is taking care of her brother. my husband also has the financial burden. >> reporter: although figure skating is becoming very popular in south korea, there's a lot to do to improve the level of the facilities and also the instructo instructors. >> translator: we need expert teachers who can discover potentially great skaters and develop them from an early age. right now we don't have enough instructors. grassroots support is also essential for properly developing these young skaters. >> reporter: figure skating in south korea has the potential to reach a new level. but improvements will be needed if the young figure skaters are to fulfill their potential. anna jhung nhk world, seoul. rain and snow in some parts of tokyo, our meteorologist

robert speta has the forecast. >> gene, it really has been raining all day, hasn't it? it still looks like it is going to be that way, at least going through the day here on friday. even by friday afternoon, tokyo could see some strong to severe thunderstorms, not from the same storm system, believe it or not, that has been bringing the showers and even the snow in some of the higher elevations of western tokyo in the past 24 hours. that low is starting to pull off towards the east. you can see on the cloud cover we have another one spinning up towards the east of the korean peninsula. the energy from this one has been dropping snowfall here in shoel. you've seen about two centimeters in the past few hours. northern portions of south korea could see 20 to 25 centimeters before all is said and done. then the low with track off towards the east, pulling in all that cold moist area. parts of kush shew, western honshu, you could see 20 to 25 centimeters of snowfall. there's already snow advisories and heavy snow warnings in place

here as far south as kyushu. remember, this is a lot of cold upper level air. what we mean by that, that means there's a lot of cold air high up in the atmosphere. that makes things very unstable. this is going to be creating thunderstorms across much of northern japan, but even into tokyo some of these could be severe and even with damaging winds. it's definitely going to be a rough day here, especially through the afternoon hours on friday as that pushes off towards the east. then the typical winter pattern is going to be setting up behind us. strong northwesterly winds will have this cold surge continuing to set up. china, you're looking at strong northerly winds, parts of the philippines all the way towards malaysia. the leading edge of that will be setting up this big band of rain showers. you want to be ready for any localized flooding to come out of the tropics. as far as the temperatures, staying into the 30s towards the south. seoul with a high of zero.

ulan bator minus 13 for the high. believe it or not, go towards the americas, because there's areas here much colder than that. parts of the dakotas and central canada we have fairly gusty winds out here plus an arctic chill going on. some areas could see right around minus 40, what it feels like with the windchill. definitely a type of weather that could set up hypothermia very quickly here especially ap parts the dakotas, northern montana. you can see where the lines are close together, that's where the windchill starts to come into play. this is also bringing widespread snowfall with it from the dakotas even towards the lake and down towards nevada and southern portions of kachlt could see up to 30 centimeters of snow. a lot of wintery weather here in the central and western u.s. due to the dip in the jet stream. that has another story to it, though. you have this dip out here. you have all that snowfall. then in the east it's pulling in warm air from the south. so it actually almost feels like

summer out here in new york and washington, d.c. by sunday. look at that. 23 here for your high. compare that with minus 23 in winnipeg. that's the big difference with that jet. very messy here in europe. that's something that's going to be the topic throughout the rest of the week. the brit till isles, still looking at gusty winds, 120 kilometers per hour. a football match had to be canceled due to large hail falling on the players due to the storm system that rolled through here. all that energy moving towards the east t. iberian peninsula will be seeing foul weather for the next several days. that's a look at the world weather. here is your extended forecast.

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

>> the headlines this hour, a historic step for the european union. it has come to a landmark banking deal that marks one of the biggest transfers of national sovereignty since the introduction of the euro. say close togroups 1000 people were killed in just two days of violence in central african republic. are pointingonals the fingers at mostly muslim rogue rebels in christian militia attacks. could the u.s. spy agency the nsa scale back on its methods? a white house panel