here in japan it's 7:00 p.m. on monday. i'm james tengan in tokyo. welcome to nhk "newsline." we start off with a quick look at some of the stories we're following. auto allies, two japanese carmakers set to discuss a plan to boost competitiveness by joining forces. local election results in tokyo highlight the popularity of the city's governor but reflect political division.

and 1,000 years of deep faith and inspiration. an exhibition in tokyo shines light on the legacy of an ancient tribe. in japan's southern prefecture of okinawa reclamation work begun in a long delayed and controversial move of an american marine base. the plan had been suspended pending legal challenges but was given the go ahead in december. police have cleared the area of people protesting near the construction. the central government has been trying to relocate a usair station to the area. ships have brought in concrete blocks to be built into a sea barrier to contain muddy water from the work. locals called the u.s. marine corps futenma air station the most dangerous as it's in the middle of a residential area. they agreed on the need to move but disagreed on where.

they wanted to put it in nagao but okinawa wants the base moved out of the prefecture. the plan to keep it there is unpopular among citizens. >> translator: the central government doesn't treat us as japanese citizens. i can never accept that. >> translator: the construction makes me feel empty. >> translator: i want the base out of okinawa but we may have to accept the plan in consideration of people around futenma. >> the central government is committed to carrying out the move. >> we are a nation governed by the rule of law. the government will deal with the relocation issue in good faith in line with a court mediated settlement reached last march and the supreme court

ruling last december. >> suga also said the u.s. defense secretary agrees the relocation plan is the only way to solve the issue. the legal battle continues over u.s. donald trump's travel ban. u.s. media says an appeals court could rule monday whether the ban should be reinstated. on sunday about 100 people gathered around trump tower to express support for the ban. opponents also took to the streets. the executive order prohibits entry to the u.s. by people from seven countries in the middle east and africa for 90 days. it also bans refugees from any country for 120 days. on friday a federal district judge in seattle ruled that the enforcement of the ban be suspended nationwide. he was responding to a request from the washington state attorney general. the justice department filed for an emergency stay and of the ruling on behalf of the trump

administration. but the appeals court in san francisco rejected the request. the san francisco court called on washington state to respond to the justice department request by early monday. it also asked the administration to file a counter response by monday afternoon. now onto business news two automakers expected to discuss their plan for a partnership. gene otani has details and other headlines. toyota motor and suzuki motor reached a basic agreement to form a tie up to boost their competitiveness in the global market. they plan to form a comprehensive business alliance. officials of the two automakers say it will include developing technologies for ecofriendly vehicles fuel cells. they are ready to talk about the details of their plan to work together. one thing up for discussion is whether to form a capital alliance including the possibility of

cross-shareholding. suzuki began negotiating a business alliance in october. the lead of spreading technology to develop ecofriendly and self-driving vehicles increases. the carmaker already has an agreement with mazda motor to form a tie up. toyota apparently wants to form a comprehensive business network that includes suzuki. suzuki has a strong presence in india based on low cost production of many vehicles there. the automaker hopes to survive growing competition in the global auto industry by taking advantage of toyota's technological expertise. this news comes as toyota reports declines in sales and profit from april to december 2016. it's the first time in five years they have fallen in that period. but officials at toyota expect good results for the full year to march. officials at toyota say sales in the nine-month period fell 6% from a year earlier to

about $178 billion. they say its operating profit was also hit. it dropped 32.5%. officials say that's because the stronger yen hurt exports. they expect thing to improve in the current quarter. recent weakening of the yen made them revise upward forecast for sales and operating profit for fiscal year through march. checking markets tokyo stocks managed to end higher as the financial sector rallied. but a stronger yen kept gains limited. our business reporter phoebe amaroso at the stock exchange. >> tradeing to a positive start tracking strong finish on wall street after u.s. president trump's move for financial deregulation. but optimism fizzled out after the dollar slid against the yen. let's take a look at the closing levels of this monday february 6th. nikkei gained 0.3% to close at 18,976.

broader topics added .36%. turning to individual stocks, trump plans for deregulation a rally in the financial center. financials some of the best performance with mitsubishi up 3%, and nomura holdings added 1.2%. looking now at currencies dollar yen held steady among mid 112 level during trading down from 115 level a week ago. analysts say sluggish increases in the u.s. are weighing on the greenback. still coming up this week we have earnings from many big names including ntt, so we'll be keeping track of those. i'm phoebe amaroso reporting from the tokyo stock exchange. expectations for financial deregulation in the region, hong kong up 1% snapping four days of

losses and indonesian shares road .7, shrugging off slowing gdp growth in the fourth quarter. taiwan adding .9 of 1% to finish 9538 and closing at its highest in 20 minutes. shares advances after subsidiary. sharp posted first quarterly profit in more than two years. sydney meanwhile bucking the trend, down by a fraction, 5615 for the ending number there. falling iron othther d down companies. data out of japan show people are being paid more. labor officials released preliminary result of a nationwide survey on wages. average monthly pay in 2016 was $2800 including bononuses in overtime. up .7 in 2015 after being adjusted for price fluctuation.

it's the first rise in five years. electric and gas utilities paid the highest wages followed by i.t. sector in finance and insurance. fulltime workers earned an average of $3,360. part-timers brought home about $870. ministry officials say regular workers received pay increases and bigger bonuses last year. an economist says wages will continue to rise as japan faces a labor short aage. >> translator: the rise in real wages may topple if energy prices go up again. but over the long-term wages are intact for growth. >> tokuda welcocomes last yeara rise in wages but says the pace is slower than he hoped. japan's financial services agency forming a task forward to look into whether falling prices of government bonds around the world are harming the finances

of domestic regional banks in the country. officials want to find out how serious the problem is. the members will look into purchases by regional banks by foreign government bonds, merging economies and risk management systems. regional banks reduced their holdings of japanesee governmen bondss since february of last year. that's where the bank of japanan introducuced negativee interest rate policy which sent yields lower. many banks since seeking higher returns by buying more foreign sovereign bonds. even so the performances of overseas have been lackluster, expectations u.s. president donald trump's policies will generate higher growth have pushed long-term interest rates higher and bond prices lower around the world. let's check our global and business calendar for this week. on tuesday officials in japan looked at key data. next day reserve bank of india

wraps up policy meeting. thursday japan's machinery orders for december. a rush of quarterlia out friday. more than 300 listed companies will in japan will release results. finally all eyes turn to washington when prime minister abe meets president trump. at the start of each week we ask specialist toss share their perspective on what's ahead. in today's edition of expert view we hear from koji kobayashi senior economist at research institute. officials in india got rid of high value bank notes. they say they were going after tax dodgers. but it had an unfortunate side effect. the economy slowed down. kobayashi believes they will respond by lowering the key interest rate. >> translator: india's monetary policymakers are expected to lower key interest rates by 25 basis points at a meeting scheduled february 8th. one of the factors is the

country's economy has been slowing due to its decision in november to scrap high value banknk notes. another factor is t the consume price index in december rose by 3.4% from a year ago. so inflation has decelerated to almost half the level it was in july last year. plus india unveiled budget plan february 1st. the draft for fiscal deficit 2017 will decline 3.2% of gdp as opposed to fiscal 2016, 3.5%, confirming india's effort to restore fiscal health. > will recover and remain an engine for growth. >> translator: india's withdrawal of high value bank notes has had an adverse impact on the economy. but there will be fresh supplies of cash in march/april, easing the cash crunch and eliminating

the problem of people can't buy because they don't have money. they will likikely be a bump in consumer spending after that frugal period and the economy will hopefully improve. india's economy is growing at above 7% whereas china's gdp is below 7%. the high flying growth will likely continue, probably the highest among major economies. >> and you can catch a report again online together with a full transcript. look for nhk world and business wrap. that's a look at business news and i'm going to leave you with the markets.

a mayor backed by tokyo's governor is enjoying his re-election win in one of the city's wards. but the campaign highlighted a power struggle between the governor and local level of her party. nhk reports. >> reporter: he won his fifth election beating two others by a large margin. >> translator: i'm very grateful. it was very helpful for the governor to provide me withh he great support. >> reporter: ishikawa gained more than 16,000 votes against two other candidates.

makoto yosano, recommended by governors liberal democratic party. during the campaign, she's a member of the ldp but didn't receive backing when she ran for governor last year. >> translator: a different type of governor. i believe she speaks on behalf of voters and works for all of us. >> i think she's a very powerful woman. the first woman leader with such energy so i want to hear her on. i hope she can bring changes to tokyo. >> the tokyo metropolitan assembly is scheduled to hold an election for members in july. the ldp is the largest party in the assembly. the result of this latest vote is likely to force political

parties to reconsider their strategies. but this election is expected to give the tokyo governor a boost. she set up a new local political party in january. she expressed her idea to field candidates from the party for the summer election. >> following this victory i will work for ishikawa to develop a solid strategy. >> cabinet secretary suga said he would like to refrain from commenting on the mayoral election. when asksked if it will have an imimpact on the p prime ministe possible decision to dissolve the lower house, he said it won't. while the result of the election to reaffirm koike's popularity there are still many challenges for her to deal with. issues like cutting coststs for tokyo olympics and ongoing troubles with relocation of the

fish market loom over her government. they could undermine her power base. emico lenart, nhk tokyo. hoping to have technology for space deb but had to end the mission. the cargo ship supposed to run the test after delivering supplies to iss. it was to employ a 700 meter long electric wire. interaction with the earth's magnetic field was expected to slow down debris. that debris would fall into the earth's atmosphere and burn up. officials of the japan aerospace exploration agency say the wire release system failed before the spacecraft reentered the atmosphere and burned up as scheduled. officials had hoped to put the debris moving technology to practical use by mid 2020s. but the failure could delay the program. the race is on to choose the mascots for 2020 summer olympics

and the panel in charge of the selection has decided to throw the competition open to all comers. critics complain the way the game's logosos were chosen lack transparency so tokyo olympic and paralympic organizing committee brought in outside experts to suggest a new method. participants considered holding a competition among selected designers or limiting submissions to professionals. finally they decided it would be best to allow anyone to submit an idea, from experts to children. >> translator: japan is such animas cot crazy country, we wanted as many people as possible to take part, including children. they aren't constrained by conventional ideas so they can come up with original designs.

. a museum in dock i don't currently offering the opportunity to travel 1,000 years in time. the journey made possible at an exhibition highlighting a shrine. the shrine was built in the late eighth century when nada was capital. they often prayed there know the country's prosperity. now people in tokyo are showing up to see the treasures. nhk maria naga reports. >> reporter: object that uncover the history of the shrine are on display at the tokyo national museum. one of the most dramatic is a twelfth century sword. a recent study found that the handle and other parts are made of pure gold. a close inspection reveals the elaborate and intricate decoraration. the cat's eyes are glass. the sword was p probably m made

a high-ranking official. according to legend, the deity created this buddhist statue about 1,000 years ago. it's made from one tree and covered with delicate engravings. this armor is from the 13th century. it's considered a masterpiece due to the open work engravings of plum blossoms.. >> samurai wore armor but many pieces dedicated to the shrine were made exclusively for the dayity. >> the shrine has been recipient and repository for a a multitud of valuable items. to understand why, we have to look back to when it was established. a dense forest covers much of the eastern part of the city of

nara. it has baseball there more than 1300 years. a deity is said to have descended to bring prosperity to the capital. the forest has been revered as sacred ever since. herds of deer rome freely. they are considered divine messengers first brought here by the deity. this picture depicts the deity's arrival. a company by a deer. since then the animals o often appear in artifacts associated with the shrine. performing arts are important elements in the heritage, too. ancient music and dance have been passed on for generations.

this dedicated to court music shows how a dragon might play. the style can be traced to china, korean peninsula and southeast asia. an old mask is on display. also a dancer's costume. through these things and many more, we can get a glimpse of the deep faith that the shrine has inspired. maria yanaka, nhk world. to have of 8 degrees celsius. sayaka moorei. >> a serious in afghanistan

killing many people and unusual snow hit. i'll take you to several places in the area. in one province of afghanistan about 5 50 d death were r repor while in pakistan an additionan nine people with snow slides. the e death toll could rise. reports indndicate up to 3 mete fell contributing to avalanches. the same storm, up to 10 centimeters reported with high winds and lightning. now, it was quite a stormy day across the area. in fact, a low pressure system stole over the northern areas. that caused blowing snow and led to significant avalanches. there's cold over this areaa an that caused significant snowfall in the area as well. but right now it's calm. as you can see no precipitation. conditions return mild in the

region. the risk of avalanches higher and higher in northern and western japan. we're seeing quite significant snowfall in the area over the past 24 hours nearly 25 centimeters of snow fell. in fact, there's a low pressure system through the east of japan, exclusively developing. that means pressure gradient is going to be quite tight. that means quite strong westerly winds will blow over japan, cause signifificant sea effffec snow over sea of japan side of the natition. an additional 60 centimeters of snowfall in the nexext 24 hours north of the kanto huge and tohoku region and winds expected as well and highways could be up to 6 meters in some places. now, temperatures are going to be quite low. sapporo minus 2 on tuesday. it's about 5 degrees colder than we saw on monday. in fact, tokyo was 11 degrees for the high on tuesday. today was quite mild today, 16 degrees for the high, cooling

down 5 degrees obtuse, cooling down significantly as we go into thursday and snowfall as well. in the south t there's a tropic depression east of philippines. the system will not become a tropical storm, will not affect philippines directly. that's good news. however, more of a concern this cyclone. this is cyclone, severe form, first named storm in the world. now, the system is moving very slowly at the moment. it will likely speed up and likely get close to reunion island by tuesdayay night lococ titime. wewe're e expecting powerful wi heavy rainfall, o over 150 millimeters expected in the area. that could lead to significant flooding. this is not likely to affect madagascar. let's go to north america. a series of low pressure systems has been bringing wet weather across the west. we're talking heavy rainfall across coastal locatations and

heavy mountain snow across the rockies. up to 60 c centimeters o of sno the next 24 houours in the rocks and winds are going to be quite strong. that will cause low visibility. rainfall expected across the west, including los angeles on monday. seattle will see the high of 2 degrees with snow on monday but temperatures expected to rise as we go into thursday. all right. here's the extended forecast.

to bring this edition of "newsline" to a bracing end we'll show you sculptures of snow and ice attracting visitors from around the world. they are part of the annual snow festival in northern city of sapporo which began monday. 200 sculptures big and small on display at three sites. among the more recognizable figures are u.s. president donald trump and japanese singer song remember, whose song was a viral hit arounund the world. visitors can also view a recreation of arch of triumph in paris which stands more than 17 meters tall. >> i'm surprised at the level of detail in each one of them. >> organizers are expecting more than 2 million visitors to the event which runs until mid february. and with that we end this hour

with nhk "newsline." be sure to watch "newsroom tokyo" at the top of the hour. i'm james tengan in tokyo. bye for now.qéaooo/

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