it's 7:00 p.m. on wednesday. i'm jameses tengan. this is "newsline." we begin in japan where the country is marking a somber anniversary. it's been nine years since a major earthquake. the nation was forever changed and it's still coping with the aftermath. [ siren ] at 2:46 p.m., a siren sounded to mark the exact time the quake

struck while people paused to observe a moment of silence for the thousands that died. the march 11, 2001, disaster left 18,428 people dead or missing, including the okubo family's only daughter, maki. the 27-year-old was swept away by the tsunami. last summer part of her remains were finally found off the coast of miyagi prefecture. >> translator: this year is different. we can feel my daughter close to us. >> translator: she finally came back to us, even though our sorrow will never be erased. >> another 3,739 deaths have

been attributed in the years that followed. the magnitude 9 earthquake generated a tsunami 9 meters tall and triggered one of the worst nuclear accidents. 3/11 is synonymous with the daiichi nuclear power plant. it suffered a triple meltdown. as a result, tens of thousands were forced from their homes because of the radiation. almostst a decade later, severa areas remain blocked off. leaving many evacuees waiting to go back home. life has returned to some communities. an evacuation order was partially lifted this week for a small part of a town near the crippled plant. >> translator: only ththree outf 60 f families in my neighborhoo have reteturned, and the people are all over 70 years old. i wish everyone would come back. >> but how long that takes is uncertain. the recovery effort is still far from over. one e of the biggestst challenes removing radioioactive debris fm inside the cririppled reactotor. the entire decommissioning process is expecected to take

decades. the other challenge is what to do with the more than 1 million tons of contaminated water stored at fukushima daiichi. the water is used to cool the molten fuel inside the reactors. about 170 tons is produced every day, and the government hasn't decided how to get rid of it. this year's anniversary was a slightly more subdued affair. the government canceled an annual memorial ceremony in tokyo due to the worry about the coronavirus. instead of the prime minister offered flowers for the victims and gave an address from his office. >> translalator: we must never t the valuable lessons we have learned from the disaster to fade away. we will review the mitigation measures that will save the lives of japanese people in the

future. i hereby renew my pledge to bolster infrastructure in all fields across the country and create communities that are reresilient against disasters. >> how are the survivors doing nine years on? to find out, nhk surveyed more up than 4,000 people in iwate, miyagi, and fukushima prefectures who were affected by the disaster. about half responded. >> when asked about the impact on their livelihood, 52% of respondents said their household income fell. of those, 39% said it was because they lost their job. others cited factors like a slump in business for the drop. when asked what they thought of the recovery effort, 49% said it hasn't made as much progreress they had expected. more than two-thirds of respondents said they think the memory of the disaster is fading with time. among fukushima residents, that

figure hit 83%. >> one of the worst hit communitieies was kesennuma tht killed over 1,000 people there. nine years later, the city's preserving a place that bears testament to the destruction. nhk reports. >> reporter: before the disaster, this building was a bustling high school. today it serves a very different purpose. there's really not much left around here nine years after the tsunami. but at this memorial museum, you can see the raw scars that were left after the disaster. this mark was inflected byby a factory that was swept into the school 12 meters aboveground. instead of tearing it down, city officials decided to preserve the building. the classroom ceilings are

wrecked. tetextbooks, desksks lie scatte where the receding water left them. the waves even sent a car crashing into the third floor. luckily everyone who was inside escaped in time. >> translator: of course i've seenen video footage, but to co here and see it in person is totally different. it's shocking. >> reporter: this woman is one of about 20 volunteer tour guides at the museum. >> translator: this is the gymnasium. as can you see, the roof is gone. >> reporter: it's a stark contrast to what it looked like before the disaster.

this is the reality that i can keita wants visitors to come away with. >> reporter: on that march 11th, kikita was w working in a part the city that survived the tsunami, but he lost his wife and parents. he has spent the past few years trying to come to terms with the tragedy. when the museum opened, he decided to get involved in hopes of repaying the support he's received. one of the places he points out during the tours is a designated evacuation site near the shoreline. about 60 people who evacuated to this spot died in the tsunami. his wife and parents had also escaped to a similar site, but it wasn't enough.

>> translator: the tsunami of 1896 didn't reach this point, so i think that's why it was designated as an evacuation point. it's been said that the 2011 disaster was a once in 1,000 years type of event. it reminds us that nature has the power to override all past human experience. >> reporter: local authorities have built a new, higher evacuation site next to the original one. kikuta hopes that changes like this will prevent people from enduring the pain that he has suffered. >> translator: i want visitors to learn that they can never do too much to prepare, to protect themselves and their families in case they are in a similar situation. i hope kesennuma will become a place that encourages that.

>> since the museum opened a year ago, 83,000 people have visited from around the world. residents hope it will play a key role in keeping the lessons of survival alive. a new normal in italy under the new coronavirus. the second worst hit country is entering a second full day of lockdown. officials say 631 people have died from the virus. tourist attractions in milan were deserted and subways were nearly empty. bars and restaurants closed early. can measures announced on monday called for people to stay at home except for work, emergencies, and big public gatherings. >> translator: i've never experienced something like this in my life, but it's's the righ thing to do. we must follow the rule.

>> translator: i'm afraid itit will have a negative impact on the economy. >> the number of infections has exceeded 1,000 in other countries including spain and france. the european commission on tuesday proposed temporarilyly suspending rules that oblige airlines to operate emempty gho flights. some airlines have been forced to fly such aircraft as rules require airlines to operate at least 80% of their scheduled flights to keep their airport slots. the new virus has been reported in more than 100 countries. there have been over 110,000 confirmed infections with about 4,000 deaths. in the his the containment area has been set up around new york city. >> march 1st, a two-week period where facilitiesp with that area, schoolsp with that area wowould be closed for two weeks. we'll go in and clean the

schools and assess the situation. >> the governor said national guard troops are delivering food to residents. new york state has already declared a state of emergency but the 17 -- with the 173 infected of tuesday. meanwhile, president trump has not been tested for the virus despite traveling with matt gaetz. he had been in contact with an individual who had contracted the virus. >> i feel very good. but i guess it's not a big deal to get tested and it's something that i would do. >> trump added that his doctor says he sees no reason for him to be tested. the spring invitational baseball tournament has been canceled, and it's one of the most popular events due to the

spread of the coronavirus. the organizers had planned to hold it in koshien stadium without spectators but they canceled all the games on wednesday. it's the first time the tournament has been suspended since world war ii when it was stopped for five years. meanwhile, tokyo disneylandd an disnsney sea are too remainin c until early april. they were to be closed until march 15th. oriental land decided to continue to close it after the government called for large scale events to be closed for the next ten days or so. the japan lawmakers have passed a state of emergency. there was a diet committee and they emphasized the role that

experts would play in such a decisision. >> translator: when issuing a state of emergency we will make an appropriate decision. >> an emergency declaration would order people to take preventive measures such as staying at home. the largest opposition party the constitutional democratic party as well as others plan to vote yes on the bill. the lower house approved the bill on wednesday and the government hopes the diet will pass it on friday. the number of confirmed cases in japan has exceeded 580. the tally does not include about 700 people from the "diamond princess" cruise ship or over a dozen who returned on chartered flights from china. 12 people have died in japan and seven from the cruise ship. more than 400 people have left hospitals after recovering. it looks like democratic front-runner joe biden has been able to ride away with momentum

out of super tuesday to another series of primary wins. abc news is projecting the former vice president will win four more battle ground states. >> although there's a way to go it looks like we'll have another good night. together, we'll defeat donald trump. >> six primaries were held tuesday in the race to take on president donald trump this november. the wins in missouri, michigan and idaho further cement the lead over bernie sanders. biden overtook the early lead last week when he nabbed 10 out of 14 super tuesday states. the race has thinned with several contenders dropping out to endorse the former vice president. biden and sanders both canceled campaign rallies scheduled for tuesday citing concerns over the coronavirus outbreak. the two front-runners had planned to hold the events in ohio ahead of the state's primary next week. u.s. media report this is first

titime major primary events hav been called off due to the coronavirus. highs hovered around 20 degrees celsius and here is jonathan oh. how is your allergy doing? >> it was dry and windy outside, so maybe a little sniffly. but when it comes to the high temperatures here in tokyo when we talked about that 20 degree mark we haven't seen that in tokyo since late november. so we are seeing that warm weather coming back in. but yes, if you're an allergy sufferer you're sniffling a little bit more. we'll be seeing the dry pattern for the rest of this week, then we see some showers by the week weekend so maybe that will be more of a -- a little relief for you as it were as was go towards saturday. so here's the pattern right now. we had a system rolling toward

the north, that low way up there. that ended up bringing some warmer and wet weather up to the northern portions of japan. here in tokyo, we saw temperatures really warm. we are going to see that off and on for the rest of the week. we'll cool d down just a b bit e head toward thursday, then we warm right back upup to around degrees as w we go in to friday. but then the cold air really starts to come into the picture. as we take a look here, look at this, looking at snow from the couple of days and thing down to around 3 for saturday and sunday. 16 for the high in tokyo. 19 on friday. and then we're down to 12 with some rain and also osaka is going into the low teens as we head to sunday. the high pressure is pushing in the southerly flow and there's going to bring some rain as we go from thursday from shanghai to hong kong.

taipei, also some wet weather. but notice the warmth is in place for now but that will change as we head toward the weekend. meanwhile, across australia, we are seeing a system rolling into the wtern p portions of the country. and that's going to bring some rain and thunderstorms to places like port headland. up to the north and the east, we're talking about the rainy pattern across queens land, that will continue to be the case as we head into thursday. the thunderstorms, a high of 30. 25 in sydney. partly cloudy skies. across north america we had one front pushing out of the eastern side of the united states. we have another low developing and this could be a bit of a strong storm maker. heavier rain possible as the rain moves in. back to the west another low continues to linger around southern california. higher elevations may also be dealing with a little bit of the snowy variety as we head throughout the day on wednesday. that's a look at your forecast.

i hope you have a good day wherever you are.

i hope the weather is looking good in your neck of the woods. ramin mellegard is up next to see what's happening in business so please stay with us.

anxiety about the coronavirus outbreak is casting a long shadow over wage negotiations in japan. executives at some of the biggest firms are paying the workers smaller raises than last year. managers and labor representatives at the motor agreed on 8,600 yen or about $82. that's $20 less than in 2019. managers at nissan are offering an i increase of 7,000 yep.

well below what labor negotiators were seeking. some disappointing news for the workers. they won't be giving them any increase on the basic wage. the first time in seven years. nippon steel, jfe and kobe won't be offering any raises in the basic pay in the next to years. this is nhk biz. i'm ramin mellegard. it was another volatile session despite jumps on wall street overnight. the nikkei ended at 19416. down 2.3%, the lowest close of the year. analysts say investors are still concerned about the economic impact of the coronavirus outbreak. despite countermeasures announced by japan, the u.s. and other countries. the nikkei had rebounded on tuesday from a global sell-off the previous day. triggered by an oil price crash and the further spread of the

virus. looking at other markets in the asia-pacific region, australia's benchmark gained 3% the day before and fellower. there was more reports of the virus in the country. the bank of england has cut the key interest rate to bolster the economy against the coronavirus. the boe convened an emergency policy meeting. officials decided to slash the bank rate by half a especially point to 0.25%. the previous cut was in august 2016 amid growing uncertainty after britain voted in a referendum to leave the european union. expectations have been growing that the boe would follow its u.s. counterpart in implementing monetary easing measures.

late last month, london's stock index saw the largest weekly decline since the 2008 financial crisis. on monday,, shares fell more thn 7%. the japanese government has decided to provide subsidies to help companies boost production of sterilizing alcohol which is in short supply amid the outbreak. operators of nursing care facilities across japan are now facing a severe shortage of alcohol for disinfection. to address the problem t japanese government will make subsidies available to manufacturers investing to expand their production capacity. the government says it will bear two-thirds of the cost for relatively large size companies and three-quarters for small and medium sized firms. subsidies will be capped at 30 million yen or about $286,000 per production line.

output of the sterilizing alcohol was 80% than the year before but it's still not enough to meet the surging demand. nine years after the 2011 nuclear disaster in fukushima the south korean government continues to restrict imports of seafood from japan citing safety concerns. this is affecting a delicacy called sea squirt. now an exporter is eyeing koreatown in los angeles as a start to opening new markets. nhk reports. >> reporter: los angeles, california. sinji has come from the miyagi prefecture. he's the ceo of a fish processing company and he brought some sea squirts with him. >> translator: sea squirts from miyagi have nowhere to go. >> reporter: miyagi used to

export 70% of the sea squirts to south korea but after the nuclear disaster the country imposed a ban on japanese seafood imports. japan wants the ban lifted but last year thehe world trade organization ruled in south korea'a's favor. so takeda has decided to try koreatown in los angeles. at a local supermarket he was reassured to find sea squirts on display. and the restaurant he visited was serving sea squirts. >> yeah, i like it, maybe one or two times. >> reporter: he found there's demand, but people in koreatown have concerns. >> japanese -- it's a kind of fish, i'm scared. >> reporter: takeda had planned

to meet a south korean trader in l.a. but he suddenly canceled the meeting. >> transnslator: there was a series of developments such as strained japan/soututh koreaa relations and thehewto's final decision on the import ban last year. i feel those affected our effort to some extent. >> reporter: takeda found a south korean restaurant interested in sampling the sea squirts. >> it doesn't have the bitterness. >> reporter: takeda explained that he can provide a variety of processed sea squirts and that they are larger than south korean products. >> translator: i believe exporting our sea squirts is ababsolutely n necessary. i won't give injust for this trip.

>> reporter: takada plans to continue to show that sea squirts from miyagi are top quality. keisuke sato, nhk. okay, let's get a check on the markets.

and that's it for "newsline" biz from our tokyo studios. i'm ramin mellegard. thank you for joining us. anchor: the n national guard ino

a part of new york city as the governor tries to shut down the spread of covid-19. this as the coronavirus continues to spread in europe with a jump in cases in both france and spain. afafghan president said to relee some 1500 taliban prisoners in the coming weeks. aa move meant to pave the way with a talk with h the militant, but the way forward is complicated by concerns of whether the taliban will hold its promises to reduce violence. thank you for joining us on "france 24."