♪ hello a and welcome to nhk "newsline." i'm raja pradhan with the news from tokyo. we start here in tokyo where officials are once again reporting a relatively small number of new coronavirus infections. they announced 39 cases in the capital on friday. the figure has clocked in below the 100 mark now for six straight days. the latest announcement follows the string of public holidays which ended on wednesday. more than 4,800 people have now tested positive for the virus in the city of 14 million. the central government has started providing subsidies to

small and medium-sized comompans affected by the antivirus measures. they condition receive up to 2 million yen, or about $19,000 if their monthly revenue has dropped more than 50% compared to last year. about half a million companies, business owners and freelancers had applied for the subsidy as of thursday. around 23,000 of them received the money on friday. >> translator: i really appreciate it because this gives me some time to think about what to do nenext. but i'm a afraid the money won' last long. if the current situation continues, i hope i can get more financial help. >> the government is also providing all residents with cash handouts of about $940. the whole country is under a state of emergency until the end of may. but government officials plan to hear from experts every week as they consider when to lift that measure in each prefecture.

>> translator: we are particularly focused on how the number of new cases has decreased over the last two weeks. in other words, the weekly trends. >> some parts of the country that have been less affected by the virus are gradually easing stay-at-home measures. residents in 27 of japan's 47 prefectures may be asked only to refrain from traveling outside their prefecture and to steer clear of host or hostess bars. more than 15,000 people in the country have tested positive for the coronavirus. nearly 600 have died. the pandemic is taking a toll on japanese companies and workers across a variety of fields from travel to entertainment. major airline group ama holdings says it is suspending plans to recruit students graduating next spring as the end of the crisis is not yet in sight. the group says its 37 companies are putting recruitments on hold due to difficulty in drawing up business plans.

the companies have already made offers to abouout 3,200 graduau. it says s those offers a are st goodod. travel restrictions have forced the group's s major carrieier a nippon airways to cancel or curtail about 90% of its international and domestic flights. the pandemic has also led to the cancellation of one of the largest game exhibitions. organizers of the tokyo game show say they will consider holding the event online. the four-day expo was to open on september 24th in chiba city near tokyo. last year the leading video game convention drew more than 650 exhibiters from 40 countries and territories. the operator of tokyo disneyland and disney sea says it will extend their closures. the popular ththeme parks have been closed since the end of february. the company previously said it would wait until the middle of may to decide on a reopening date.. it now says that decision will

be put off untililfter the s ste of emergency is lifted. millions of u.s. workers worry they won't be able to put food on the table. the latest figures suggest job losses this past month were the worst ever. as nhk world's catherine kobayashi reports, the pandemic has driven them to levels not seen since the greatat depressi. >> repeporter: millions o of americans are joioining lines n one wants to join. they spend houours waiting on t phone or staringng at their screen. then, they stand in line for unemploymement benefefits just get by. >> i have not hadad any incncom since lasast d day of march.h. and i'm just like trying to survive this. >> reporter: a decade of job gains vanished within weeks. millions of u.s. workers lost their jobs in april. by comparison, the number in the worst month of the financial crisis was 800,000.

earlier this year, the unemployment rate dipped to a 50-year low, 3.5%. some analysts expect it to reach above 15% and the real picture is worse. in general, people must be actively looking to be considered unemployed. but many believe the jobs just aren't out there so they've stopped trying. every part of the economy has been hit. every size of business. every sector. individuals struggling one by one. a restaurant server, a retail clerk, a hotel employee. >> it was just devastating. from march 13th until march 30th, we saw our whole spring and summer business just disappear. >> reporter: before the outbreak, the economy was so strong, many looking for a job could afford to be choosy. now, they can't even afford to pay the rent. catherine kobayashi, nhk world, new york.

♪ ♪ israelis are visiting shopping malls and outdoor markets again, three days after stay-at-home restrictions were lifted for the first time in nearly two months. stores excluding restaurants resumed operations on thursday. at a market in central jerusalem, the ground was marked to make sure customers practiced distancing. visitors were required to have their temperatures checked at

the entrance. >> we open today. we are very happy to see the people. waiting for everybody to come. >> israel has seen the number of daily infections hover around 50 in recent days. restrictions will be restored if a fresh wave of infections occurs. it's a much different situation in pakistan. many muslim worshippers are defying calls to wear face masks at mosques during ramadan. mosques are also asking visitors to follow other instructions to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. but some muslims believe praying is enough to keep the infections at bay. poverty is thought to be prevent something worshipers from buying masks. >> translator: thehe masks are t available in medical stores. because of poverty, i cannot buy masksks every day. that's why i don't wear masks.

>> a doctor in islamabad totld nhk they're asking them to take countermeasures because hospitals will run out of beds if infections spread. thailand is one of the nations hit especially hard after this health crisis caused a sudden plunge in tourism. the impact is being felt not only by people in the industry but also their much-loved animals. nhk world's peetrapee shimshan reports. >> reporter: close to 4,000 elephants are kept in captivity in thailand. most of them serving the country's tourist industry. but now there are no visitors and the animals are going hungry. >> translator: look, this is all the food we have left for them this morning. >> reporter: this camp near bangkok offers elephant shows

and rides for tourists. now it is closed. but it still needs about $30,000 a month to feed the animals. >> translator: i'll have to use my personal savings until they're gone. i need to cover medical costs as well as the salaries of the elephant handlers. the problem is we have no income. >> reporter: this is one of the handlers. to keep his elephants from starving, he has taken them far away in search of food. >> translator: we've been out here for a month now. there was more grass here before, but it's going fast. >> reporter: since the camp closed, suriya's pay has dropped by half, and it's hurting his family's finances. >> translator: i need to buy my

daughter a new school uniform, but i'm making much less money since the outbreak, so we'll just have to wait. if i were to leave the elephants, i don't know what would happen to them. they find it hard to get used to a new mahut. >> reporter: to help bring in a little extra income, one elephant camp has started offering virtual tours. the camp founder takes online viewers on a day trip with the elephants. he hopes the videos will lead to more visitors in the future and also some dononations right awa. >> translator: i want viewers to understand that elephants can't just stop eating, and we can't leave them to starve either. so i hope people watching this will help by contributing to the elephants' survival.

>> reporter: however, nonprofit support groups say things may get a lot worse for the elephants as the impact of coronavirus persists. >> t translator: if owners can longer keep their elephants, they arere likely to sell them. the animals could end up in the hands of illllegal businesses where theyy will not be well looked after. >> reporter: elephants and thai people share a special bond. but whether people fight to protect them could show how important they still are. pitrapee chomchuen, nhk world. it's time for a check on world weather with our meteorologist jonathan oh. residents of western portions of africa saw a massive sandstorm cover the region this week. how is the forecastt there heading into the weekend? >> well, it looks like they're going to be dealing with things calming down just a bit after we

saw some of those winds kicking up and bringing a big, huge sand storm into portions of niger where we saw that taking place. let me show you video from the capital city. look at this. this is a massive sandstorm that hit the city of monday. the capital city to be specifi. this large wall of sand engulfed structures as it rolled over the area. it did create this impressivee site. dust storms are common in western africa during the dry season which lasts from january to april. we're in may, so it's a little after that time periodod, but, yeah, that's a site that the residents have to look at earlier this week. in terms of the wind forecast, things are going to be relatively waum. we have a little bit more of a stronger wind pattern toward the north where you see the brighter colors. a little calmer toward the south. in terms of rain, not much. relatively dry. many areas along the coastal areas is where we're seeing most of the wet weather.

let's go up north to europe. wet weather here. another one already impacting the western portionons of europ and another low back toward the west. one, two, three, all of these moving eastward. and that's going to definitely change up the forecast as we go through friday and into saturday. paris and also lisbon looking at rain as we go into saturday. clouds into vienna. mid-20s to the south with sunny skies into the weekend. we had sunny skies across japan. tokyo, beautiful outside in terms of blue skies. but we're going to be seeing some changes. you might notice clouds coming out of the eastern areas of china into the korean peninsula. that's going to move eastward across japan. high pressure will eventually be pushing out toward the open waters and rain and clouds will be a big part of the story coming up for the next few days. so osaka, fukuoka looking at rain saturday. expanding elsewhere on sunday and drier as we go into monday. hope you have a good day wherever you are. ♪

♪ and that concludes this edition of nhk "newsline." i'm raja pradhan in tokyo.

thanks for joining us. ♪ welcome to ""newsline" in inth." i'm aiko doden. the 2011 quake and tsunami devastated the coastal region of northeast japan. the trauma was felt nationwide. we look at the recovery effort from an outside perspective. we find out what two young people learned about march 11th and what they could do to help. we start in the fishing port of kessenuma, miyagi prefecture. the tsunami unleashed catastrophic damage on this part

of the coast. expensive rebuilding restored the key infrastructure, and fishermen can make a living once again. but the community is still lacking in basic services that town folk take for granted. here's the story of how that problem was overcome and how a young woman from tokyo found a new home. >> reporter: 3:30 a.m. the port of kessenuma is already busy with fishermen unloading their haul. from here, fresh catches are delivered all over japan. because fishermen spend days or even months at sea, one of their biggest pleasures is soaking in a hot bath when they come ashore. but it's only recently that this public bath returned to this port town. >> reporter: and right next door, a warm,, healthy breakakf is offerered for less ththan $1. the bath and diner opened last

july, thanks to donations and crowd funding. emma nagishi was key to making this all happen. originally from tokyo she, moved to kesennuma after graduating from university. >> reporter: emma first visited the town as a high school volunteer months after march 11th. she wanted to see the reality for herself and what she could do to help. the town lost more than 1,000 residents to the tsunami and over 9,5000 familieies were affected by the disaster. ships were broken and houses swept away. but amid the devastation, emma

was struck by the resilience of the local people. especially yuichi sazaki, a fisherman of 50 years. >> reporter: so emma decided she would live here. she has since become like a daughter to sasasaki and his wi. he eventually sharered one of h major concerns with her. >> reporter: before the disaster, kesennuma's public bath had been operatiting for about 130 years. emma heard from other members of the community that they too wanted to revive the tradition. so she worked with them to

organize fundraising events and sosolicit donations. they kept costs down by recycling a used trailer home instead of constructing a new building. profits are still low, but it's giving customers renewed hope. >> reporter: by supporting the people of kesennuma, emma is paying back what they have given her, the strength to start something from scratch and persevere. >> so kesennuma has a public bath at last, but the work to heal the community continues.

and so does the fund-raising. here's one small example. they produce a calendar every year. the photographs focus on the central role fishing plays in this area. and some of the pictures are quite striking reflecting the energy of the local people. in spite of the challenges they continue to face. the next story takes place in fukukushima prefecture, sitef the nuclear accident. radioacte fallout forcedass evacuauations and c caused s se disruptition to agriculture, forestry and fisheries in this region. decontamination workers allowed some of these operations to resume, but there are still people outside japanan who worr about thehe safafety o of fukusa and its f food products. local officials recently invited a group from the americas to assess the situation for themselves.

>> reporter: the nine guests on this tour are aged between 17 and 33 and are visiting from five countries. they have never visited fukushima before, although they all have family roots in the region. levi sato is the great-grandson of a japanese man who emigrated to brazil from fukushima. >> i came here to understand more what's going on here. some of my friends just ask me, oh, why are you going to fukushima? is it okay? is it safe? >> reporter: the group first visited a prefectural facility that has been inspecting the radiation levels of various food items. a uranium semiconductor machine is used to detect levels. it's inspected annually by the international atomic energy agencycy or iaea, to make sure the e inspection process is crededible.

>> 100% of the products are tested before selling to the domestic and international markets. >> translator: all the beef and rice from fukushima has to be inspected. on t top of that, samples of otr local products, such as vegetables and fish, are thoroughly checked, too. >> reporter: during the tour, the bus drove on a highway in an area that has been given an evacuation order. >> what we might also see are some of the interim storage facilities for decontamination materials. they've been placed into large black bags. >> reporter: passengers in vehicles don't need to protect themselves as safety has been confirmed. even though levi understands there's no harm, he keeps checking the highway's radiation levels online. >> it's not the happiest place

to be. actually, i think that would be a place to avoid. >> reporter: in soma city, the participants watched a city about the 2011 disaster and the devastation caused by the tsunami. they also heard a firsthand account from a female survivor whose familily members were kild by the tsunami. >> translator: the most important message i have for you is that you are the onlyy perso who c can protectct yourself. i hope you wilill pass my storyn to youour acquaintances so thah momore pple are prepared. >> reporter: the group also visited naraha town. part of the commissioning process of the nuclear reactors plplaced on this propertyty, bue centnter reoeopened as a spopor facility in 2018. it has become a symbol of the reconstruction of the area. the participants learned of the

olympic torch relay will kick off here. >> i can really feel what is happening here. i think how people are facing the problems, how people are fighting to develop, to recover fukushima. i can get with me and bring back to brazil. >> reporter: the prefectural government is hoping that the young participants will take what they've learned and share it far and wide. sato immediately posted on social media a scene where he was having a meal in j-village. after the tour, he said he was moved by fukushima's earnest efforts to face reconstruction. little by little, the knowledge they have gained on this trip will surely spread around the world.

eri takasu, nhk world, fukushima. >> seeing is believing, but it can also be listening and understanding. that's what we've seen in our two stories today. young people leaving their hometowns behind to come and witness the reconstruction process for themselves. it's true that the survivors of the 2011 disaster need to be in the driver's seat for the rebuilding work. but outsiders can definitely make a positive difference. not just in the mechanics of reconstruction but also in the process of healing broken communities. now, finally there is something that local people need no outside help on. fish cakes. the miyagi version is prized across japan. one family operation is back in business after losing their factory in the 2011 tsunami. that's it for today's "newsline in depth."

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♪ across theations

continent for victory in europe today, but with many nations in lockdown, ceremonies have been scaled back drastically. we will be live in berlinin in just a m moment. as france e starts ung the left on monday, we take a closer look at decisions shopowners are makingng in paris. and with brazil one of the worst affected nations by the coronavirus pandemic, bolsonaro's rn