>> reporter: shinjuku station is the busiest in the world according to the world records. it's estimated more than 3 million people pass through each day which can be daunting for visitors. the transport ministry spent more than $600 million to make navigation easier. a new terminal integrates bus stops that have been spread around the station. >> translator: it's so convenient. i used to have to walk all over looking for the right bus stop. >> reporter: nearly 120 operators will run the routes across japan, including two and from international airports. this new information center offers typical services. but the staff speak english, chinese and korean to serve the increasing number of foreign tourists. >> good morning. may i help you? >> reporter: some foreign tourists have come to ask for

help. >> great. we had a great service, great information. she took all the time she needed to give us the information. >> we don't speak japanese. it was good to have somebody speaking to communicate with us in english. >> reporter: visitors can have bags delivered, buy tour tickets and exchange foreign currencies. the humanoid robot pepper also gives information. japan welcomed nearly 24 million foreign tourists last year, a record high. but there are efforts to boost that number even more. the government doubled its goal to 40 million visitors in 2020, in time for the tokyo olympics and paralympics. government officials hope this new terminal will help more visitors from overseas navigate japan. nhk world, tokyo.

now, finding a place to stay in japan can also be a challenge but a change in rules could help to ease a shortage of accommodations. japanese government officials plan to relax floor space regulations for hotels starting in and around june. that will give local governments the green light to allow the construction of larger hotels. officials hope the new rules will also encourage people to remodel old buildings and turn them into inns. japan's top government spokesperson has mentioned some of what will be discussed by g 7 foreign ministers next week in hiroshima. the topics are expected to include north korea's nuclear developments and china's increasing maritime activity. >> translator: we will be hosting the first g7 meetings in asia in eight years. we want to show our resolute to north korea, maritime security and other regional issues.

>> suga said the foreign ministers will discuss urgent global issues including terrorism, the refugee crisis and situations in the middle east and ukraine. he he has hopes of a world without nuclear weapons. eye on asia will bring you the latest every day throughout the region. we start today in hong kong. a controversial movie about the future of hong kong claimed top prize at the film awards on sunday. china's state run tv channels refused to show live broadcasts of the awards, which are hong kong's equivalent to the oscars. it was believed the "winning

zone" was the reason. it displays a dystopian future hong kong being tightly controlllled by the chihinese communist t part in the filil the langue cantntonese is noo longer allow to be used. the film also shows pro-democracy protesters being kicked heavily during rallies. >> translator: the awards show we hope to have in the future of hong kong. we'll continue to produce films with courage. >> even though the film was only shown for a short period of time when it was released in december last year, it turned out to be a major hit. a submarine from japan's maritime self-defense force made a stop at a port in the philippines for the first time in 15 years. the training submarine along with two escort vessels arrived at subic bay on luzon island on

sunday. the 80-meter long ship was put into service in 1998. it's been used for training. the stop overin the philippines is part of navigation training for young japanese officers. >> translator: we have to deal with activities by our neighboring countries' sub marines. we have become increasingly aware of the importance of training to cope with this issue. >> japan apparently intends to strengthen ties with the philippine navy as a signal to china. china has territorial disputes with the philippines and is stepping up its activities in the surrounding waters. a train that crashed into a bus in thailand has left at least three people dead and about 30 others injured. the accidentnt o occurred onn s

at an unguarded railway crossing near the capital bangkok. a security camera recorded the double-decker bus moving slowly across the tracks and stopping briefly before being hit by the train. another camerara angle shows th bus being hit andnd dragged by e train. local media said such accidents occur frequently in thailand as many railway crossings don't have safety barriers. u.s. based ride-sharing app uber is an industry giant with a global presence, but the firm is trailing in the biggest market, china. reason being, a chinese app is racing ahead of its rivals, and the government is helping to pave the way. nhk world has more. >> reporter: in hundreds of cities across china people are using a smart phone app.

they type the map to show their location and the destination and the nearest car will come. they also pay through their smartphone and that's a big attraction for cabbies with the country. the app is the brainchild of the four-year-old start-up. the company came up with a model that some thought went against the government's regulations. unlicensed taxis are, in principle, illegal in china, but the licensed ones are also in short supply and it's hard to hail a cab in the street. with the new company, it's easy, and you can share the ride with people heading in the same direction. you can even pick which make of car you like. i tried the app out.

he runs a restaurant most days of the week. on his days off he drives people around, and he says it's not just about money. >> translator:r: i get paid, of course, but i also like to meet people. >> reporter: hu is one of 12 million people who have signed up to drive for ride-sharing companies. that's eight times the number of people who drive government-registered taxis. the drivers may not have taxi licenses but that doesn't mean they are unaccountable. the company keeps records of drivers, customers and locations so, if there is any trouble an operator can immediately pinpoint the vehicle's location. and the executives say the system makes the best use of the city's resources.

>> translalator: ride-sharing c really help in crowded cities. we're successful because the demand is there. >> reporter: managers say they check applicants driving records and the condition of their cars. when someone signs up they have to undergo a training course. and the government leaders have been supportive. as long as the companies arrange rides via the web, they announced they would be easing regulations governing the industry. >> translator: thehe system wil benefit the general public and be a boost to internet-related businesses. we'll change the laws to legalize unlicensed taxis. >> reporter: china's leaders have been working hard to foster internet start-ups because they see companies like this as important engines of growth.

that wraps up this edition of "eye on asia." europe continues to struggle with the numbers of refugees and migrants trying to enter its countries. on monday it took a first step in reversing the direction. greece started deporting them as part of a deal between the eu and turkey. many of the people are fleeing war in the middle east and africa. buses carrying m migrants arriv at a port on the greek island the lesbos early monday morning. two passengers boats carrying more than a hundred migrants later left for turkey. the interior minister said his country would accept around 400 people on the first day. the eu border agency is responsible for the transfer. >> the procedure was very calm and orderly. >> the deal reached last month will see eu countries expect more than 7,000 syrian refugees

currently in turkey. in exchange the country will take back all migrants who entered greece illegally. about 50,000 are still stranded there. turkish residents are concerned. they're staging protests out of fear the security situation will worsen. radicalized europeans who joined militant groups in iraq and syria are posing a significant security threat. a new study says about a third of europeans who joined islamic state and other groups ended up back home. the international center for counter-r-terrorism in the hagu compiled data from 26 6 eu memb states. it estimates about 4,000 ursubpoenas became fighters from the beginning of 2011 to last october. the majority were from france, germany, britain and belgium. france had the highest number overall. the report notes, some of the foreign fighters have been linked to the attacks in paris and belgium. many eu membeber states view th

as a serious security threat. the study recommends information sharing and an increased focus on preventing radicalization. it also suggests re-integration programs for returnees. north korea expreressed veid criticism for china. in a statement monday north korea's national defense commission indirectly blames china for, quote, damaging a precious legacy and tradition by responding to u.s. demands a an susupporting the hosostile polif the u.n. reresolutionon it comes t two days after the north's ruling party newspaper carried a commentary critical of china. last week chinese president xi jinping expressed his readiness to work with the u.s. when he met president barack obama. he said china wants to seek ways to cooperate on global issues, including the denuclearization of the korean peninsula. a major japanese labor union

for auto, electronics and other industries released their results of wage negotiations. gene otani has the details and a wrap-up of the other business headlines. gene. thanks, james. officials of the japan council of metal workers union says the average base pay raise for small firms is higher than for larger companies. they released the results of the negotiations as of the endnd of march. the union says the companies with 1,000 or more union members agreed to ab monthly raise of about $10. those with less than 300 members set theirs at $11.50. they say it's the first time sin sinc since. the latest bank of japan survey indicates company managers feel the government's goal to achieve its 2% inflation

target remains far away. it says businesses have lowered their expectations for inflation. about 11,000 firms responded. they're expecting prices to climb 0.8% in a year on average down 0.2 points from december. they're forecasting a 1.1% rise in three years. at 1.2% in five years. both figures are also down 0.2 points from the previous survey. analysts s say persistent conces over c china are the reasason. companieies also see the recent stronger yen lowering the import prices of raw materials. let's get a check on the markets. the nikkei average finished lower as a stronger yen weighed on investor sentiment. giang nguyen has been following the moves from the tokyo stock exchange. >> the stocks moved without clear direction. u.s. added 215,000 jobs in

march, better than expected, but didn't fundamentally change the fact that the fed would move cautiously in raising rates. that's keeping pressure on the dollar. the stronger yen weighed on stocks especially those of exporters. let's see the closing levels for monday, april 4th. the nikkei finished a quarter percent lower at 16,123. the first straight session of decline. the broader topics ended 0.1% higher. mazda felt one of the biggest drops. 5.of % lower. alps electric down 3.3%. sharp rose 4% following the signing of a takeover agreement with taiwan's hon hai industries over the weekend. the dollar weakened further against the yen. the greenback touched a two-week low during tokyo trading hours. market players remain cautious on the currency levels. i'm giang nguyen.

>> thanks very much for that. moving to other markets in the asia-pacific region. singapore, stocks rose 0.6% finishing at 2835 for the closing number. snapping two days of losses. sentiment improved after data pushed up u.s. stocks on friday. seoul gaining by a quarter of 1%. electronics and health care related stocks rose, but car makers declined following weak sales data for march. sydney was down by slightly 0.8 --.08%, that is. lower oil prices dragged down energy shares. markets in shanghai, hong kong both on -- both closed for a holiday. japan's fiscal year begins in april. that means companies taking on new recruits. one survey showing that many women want to become managers. leading life insurer surveyed

1,112 men and women in january who had job offers. 23% of women said they wanted to become section chiefs or take mid-managerial jobs,, and 16% aimed to become managers. 11.5% want to become executives and 2% said they want to become company presidents. overall 53% of the women said they wanted to be mid-managers or higher. four years ago it was 39%. meanwhile, the figure for men dropped three points from last year to around 73%. here is a look at some of the other stories we're following. transport mintory officials say auto makers recalled 19 million vehicles in 2015, double the previous year, and a record high f for the t third s straig year. officials say half the recalls were related to takata air bags

d they sayay increases in the use of common parts for different models may have contributed to the rise. the bank of japan is trying to boost the economy by pumping liquidity into financial institutions. officials say the country's monetary base at the end of march topped 375 trillion yen or $3.3 trillion, a record high. the figure is combined total of cash, circulation and deposits that commercial banks hold at the central bank. the tokyo stock exchange logged a record annual turnovov in the last fiscal years. officials say shares with more than 6.3 trillionionon dollars changed hands on thehe first section n of the excxchange mar being the highest level since the tse opened in 1949. chi china's slowdown following crude

oil. let's look at our global economic calendar. india's central bank on tuesday comes up with a policy decision. they maintained the key lending rate unchanged. australia's central bank will announce its latest policy decision. on wednesday japanese government officials will release the indexes of business conditions for february. experts are focusing on the stalling japanese economy. on friday the officials will come up with the current balance of payments for february. in the previous month the balance registered a surplus for nearly 20 months straight due to the improved goods and services balance. every monday we ask specialists to share views on the week. in this edition of expert view we hear from senior economist. he spects india's central bank will likely lower key interest rates as the country's budget

plan is living up conditions set by policy makers. >> translator: the central bank kept its key interest rate unchanged at its last policy meeting on february 2nd. but the statement released later referred to forward guidance. it indicated that the chance of monastery easing would increase if the draft budget for fiscal 2016, due out on february 29th, laid out measures for fiscal reconstruction. the draft budget did include measures to reduce the fiscal deficit and cut subsidies. so i believe that a further interest rate cut is likely. india posted gdp growth of more than 7% last yeyear. he says the manufacturing sector remains bottle-neck for the economy. >> translator: i expect the central bank to say that india's growth rate is still lower than

it should be in view of its economic potential. india's economic growth topped 7%, and this is fairly high, even among rapidly growing emerging countries. but other economic growth indicators like capacity usage in the manufacturing sector have remained low, hovering around the levels of the global financial crisis. manufacturing has actually been struggling, so i belieieve the central bank's vieiew will be tt the economy is not good enough yet. that it for business news. james, i'm going to hand it back to you. gene otani from our business desk. you're watching nhk "newsline" live from tokyo. japanese scientists found that people who have divorced or lost a spouse to death are more susceptible to strokes. the study was conducted by scientists at the national cancer center in oy saki university.

the 50,000 subjects were between the ages of 45 and 74. researchers tracked them for 15 years to learn how losing a spouse contributes to the incidence of cerebral stroke. they were 26% more likely to experience a stroke. the scientists reported that bereaved or divorced women without a regular occupation were three times more likely to have a stroke than married women with a job. the results are attributed to higher alcohol intake and stress among those who have lost a partner. economic difficulties and the responsibility of parenthood may also contribute to heightened risk. it's time for world weather. people in northern china are having to deal with unusually heavy snow and freezing temperatures. what's the latest? >> people in northwestern china were surprised at the sudden change in temperatures and heavy

snowowfall. here's video. northwestern china had unseasonably heavy snowfall on saturday. on friday the temperature was 20 degrees, but it dropped to near 0 degrees on saturday. drivers used extra caution because of the slippery road conditionsnd cherry flowers were covered in snow. it was like a w winter wonderla across the northwestern portions of china. temperatures are on the rise. the high could be about 20 degrees on your tuesday. meanwhile a high pressure system is dominating much of mainland china across the korean peninsula bringing sunny conditions. in seoul the cherry blossoms started to come out on saturday. real spring has come. rain makers pushing away from japan. it will be a dry day across many parts of japan on tuesday. the high will be 16 degrees in tokyo, plenty of sunshine in seoul once again about 20 for the high and exceptionally warm in beijing.

24 for the high. down towards the south, hot att 27 degrees and foggy in bangkok with 35 degrees on tuesday. heavy rain has been causing severe flash floods across fiji. 419, 17-millimeter of rain has fallen and western portions and the capital city had 3500. it's much more than the monthly rarainfall for this time of yea. though more rain is expected, this low pressure system which used to be a tropical depression is pulling away b but another system wil likely movove intoo fiji once again. so morore heavy rain expected. if youou remember, in february cyclone affected fiji andnd caud lots of heavy raininfall. people there arere still dealin with recovery operations. rain and thunderstorms will likely continue at least into your thursday.

so more floods could happen, unfortunately. across the certain areas we are looking at dry conditions across many parts of australia. temperatures will be on the rise because of strong northerly winds.s. after this temperatures will go down. this is a slow moving system so warm temperatures will prevail for the next couple days. on wednesday in sydney it will be 31 degrees. with the cold front moving in, temperatures will go down to 23 degrees on your thursday. let's go to the eastern portions of the united states. during the weekend strong winds and heavy snow buffeted the u.s., midwest and east coast. the snow maker is lococated now over atlantic canada bringing in snow conditions and more winter storms coming into t the nonortheastern uniteted states. more snow is expected for many locations including new york city as well as chicago. temperatures will be quite chilly for this time of year

throughout this week. for example, new york city the high could be 11 degrees with snow expected on monday. the high could be only 4 degrees. stay warm and bundle up. here is the extended forecast.

we've got new background music for our three-day weather forecast. your thoughts and comments, °

genie: this is france 24 live around the world. the biggest leak in the history of journalism. an anonymous source releases 11.5 million documents in the so-called panama papers. they point to an offshore account and many of them include sports stars, big hollywood names, and six current world leaders. sending migrants back to turkey as part of a controversial deal with the eu that has been slammed by rights