. hello. welcome to nhk "newsline." i'm yamamoto miki in tokyo. we begin here in japan where the entire country has been under a state of emergency for about a month due to the coronavirus. that is expected to change with the governmenent set to decide lift that statuss for roughly 8% of japan's prefectures. an expert panel is present being

its proposed conditions to the government on thursday morning. later, participants, including cabinet ministers will discuss whether it is appropriate to lift the emergency state for the region. prime minister shinzo abe will make an announcement in the evening. 39 prefectures are expected to have restrictions lifted, including five of the 13 prefectures under special alert. tokyo and its neighboring prefectures were among the first to introduce stay at home measures and will almost certainly see those continue. an early draft of the government's plan suggests criteria for reopening. it says prefectures will need to have reported fewer than 0.5 infections per 100,000 people within the most recent week. that means tokyo, for example, would need to see a drop to fewer than 70 new cases a week. the minister in charge of japan's coronavirus response says even prefectctures with lor infection rates must keep at

least some anti-virus measures in place. >> translator: there could be further outbreaks if people begin to let down their guard, eveven slightly. >> nishimura says people should cocontinue to avoid travel to a from prefectures on special alert. residents should also continue social distancing and stay away from places where the virus can easily spread, including large-scale events and fitness centers. japapan now has over 16,000 confirmed cases. about 700 people have died. a japanese government survey shows that sentiment among workers has plummeted to the lowest ever amid the coronavirus crisis. the monthly economy watchers survey shows that the view of japanese condition, business conditions, dropped to 7.9 on the index in april. that extends a record low set in march. the poll covered more than 2,000 workers, including shop clerks

and taxi drivers. the mood among workers at restaurants and bars was particularly gloomy, as many of their establishments have been forced to temporarily close. similarly, the hotel industry was hit with a flood of cancellations as people were urged to stay home. another indicates the severe impact the virus is having on corporate japan. 142 companies have failed due to the pandemic. of the firms, 87 had already gone under. the rest have halted business and started bankruptcy proceedings. many are hotels, restaurants and retailers. some restaurants and service providers that are now temporarily closed may never reopen. germany plans to start

reopening its borders from saturday. it says the outbreak is being contained in its country and its neighbors. germany's interior minister said on wednesday his country will opopen its border with lux embo on saturday. they hope germany will start easising borders with france, austria t the same day and hope to further reopen on june 15. >> translator: the goal is to completely lift border controls onon june 15th. but we must continue to fight against the virus. >> he said germany will maintain border control if the infection in its neighbors worsens. one criteria is whether the number of new case per 100,000 people exceeds 50 in a week. across europe, calls for relaxing the restrictions are rising before the summer

vacation season. the european union has presented guidelines for its members to gradually ease travel bans. >> people need of course to be able to travel between european countries. so we're giving guidance on how to gradually reopen transport links without risking the health of travelers or transport workers. >> the guidance issued wednesday proposes members lift travel restrictions in stages from areas with infections under control. it calls on them to reopen borders after discussions with neighbors. members must take sole steps to prevent infections before doing so. meanwhile, the eu urges them to maintain the ban on accept visitors from outside the region until june 15. tourism accounts for about 10% of the gdp. the sector has been hit hard by

the coronavirus pandemic. in asia, authorities in thailand have reported no new cases of the coronavirus for the first time in roughly two months. new infections once topped 100 a day.y. it they began falling inn mid april. on wedndnesday, the figurure wa zero for thehe first time since march 9. the number off hospitalized patients has d dropped to 117 fm a peak of nearly 1500. the thai government declared a state of emergency as infections surged in mid march. it ordered stores to close and imposed a nighttime curfew. the government has relaxed some restrictions such as for restaurants and hair salons. it's expected to announce additional easing shortly. in south korea, health authorities are racing to contain a large covid-19 cluster. they're trying to trace thousands of people who may have visited nightclubs linked to nearly 120 infections. the outbreak occurred earlier this month at several

nightclubs in seoul. one visitor, a teacher, spread the virus to eight people, including some students. local media say some of the establishments are known as gay clubs, making it moree difficul for visitors to come forward and be tested. >> translator: nightclubs are obliged to register all their customers. we've realized that many people have left fake personal details. >> incident has triggered a rise in homophobic sentiment. it prompted the prime minister to say singling out a particular community is not helping the quarantine effort. officials have identified more than 10,000 people in the vicinity of the nightclubs using mobile phohone data. the data was used to send text messages, urging people to get tested.

the coronavirus crisis has had a huge impact on restaurants and bars in tokyo, and many are struggling to survive. as we will see in our next report, in one popular area, a new initiative iss doing its pat to help them by hooking them up with their custotomers online. >> reporter: this district in western tokyo boasts a popular old-style entertainment area, where narrow areas are lined with restaurants and bars. but these days the area is much quieter as people self-isolate at home. a local resident wanted to do something about that. so he set upp an online service that connects customers with their favorite eateries. >> translator: i wanted to create a way for people to enjoy being at a pub or restaurarant, drinkiking and chat being to whoever's there, even if it's just online.

>> reporter: this small thai restaurant is one place that shast has start is is seussing the new service is. it is popular with customersrs o gather there and chat with the cooks among themselves. but since the start of the state of emergency, the restaurant has only offered a take out service, and it's seen sales drop by 90%. so the restaurant signed up to the new servicece which connect it with customers via an online coconferencing customers first pick a favorite pub or restaurant in the area that they want to access. simply by click on a seat, they're connected, and their faces show up on the screen. then, they can speak with the staff and w with the other onln

customers. besides chatting, customers can also order food. this restaurant has started offering delivery within a two-kilometer radius. the couriers are people out of work due to the coronavavirus outbreak. >> translator: this brings it home to me how much injoy chatatting with people. of course i'm lookiking forwardo the restaurant's rereopening, b

it's fun to enjoy them from home. >> translalator: the situation really tough, and doioing nothi rereally just makes it worse. i decided to start using this to see some hope for the future. for me, it's been a life saveer, and my customers enjoy it, too. so i definitely plan to continue with it. >> reporter: in the first weeks, as many as 25 customers visited on some days, and about 30% of them ordered food deliveries. >> so heartwarming. all right, in world weather, a strong typhoon is heading towards the philippines. so let's go to our meteorologist, tsietsi monare for more on this. tsietsi, so this typhoon seems like it could make landfall on thursday. what's the latest? >> yes,s, now a bit more seriou the typhoon is wolfimoving in t

western direction towards the philippines. it could make landfall on thursday night or even friday, and it could also even strengthen and become a very strong typhoon, bringing strong gusts, heavy rainfall and in ze certain places we could see more than 200 millimeters of rainfall. do make sure you are ready and prepared. make sure you go to safer places and listen to the news to get the updates on where the storm is moving towards so you request stay safe at all times. it may move into the northeastern direction possibly going into the smaller islands closer to japan, so we need to make sure we are safe there as well. for the rest of asia, temperatures are looking on the upside. 35 towards bangkok. mid-20s from hong kong all the way towards chongqing with possibilities of rain there, but sun eye skies in terms of yew la lawnba tor and beijing.

you will see upper 20s for tokyo, osaka and fukuoka, which will read a maximum of about 27 degrees. meanwhile, in north america there is quite a strong system here that has been dominating across the central part, moving into the central parts of the great lakes which could lead to strong and unstable weather conditions, please make sure you are safe at all times, there are possibilities of large wind gusts, hail and isolated tornados. you can see from the temperatures, they will give you a good intercatidication of wha happening, high temperatures for oklahoma and widespread showers, meanwhile, it's hot and dry for california and the western parts of the united states. that's where i'll leave it for now. stay safe and have a sfwrat day.

at t that's nhk "newsline" this hour, i'm miki yamamoto. thanks for joining us. welcome to "newsline in depth." i'm aiko doden. reduce, reuse and repsych many. peop people are adopting that slogan. today we look at three businesses putting those words into action. sometimes for very personal reasons. let's start with recycling.

in the past, this area has a dry and dusty image. no more. today people are proud to make a living repairing products once destined for the heap. in the case of new york, it's a connection with famous celebritie celebrities. >> reporter: sofas, and beds, in new york these are often among trash. the sidewalks oversfloe with all types of sgarge. >> big piles of sgarge. >> yes, that's very disturbing. >> reporter: but some efforts are under way to recycle responsibly. to date, this company has collected more than 4,000 tons

of e-waste from stores and businesses which is repaired and resold. troy hannah is the team leader for repairs. he has extensive knowledge of the process of fixing electronics and computers. the center also rents out its items. set designers for films and musicals come in search of vintage items that cannot be found anywhere else. >> reduce, repurpose, recycle. it's like, it's the cool thing to do. recycling is cool. >> reporter: in the famous bohemian area of manhattan, greenwich village is an unusual custom shop. rick kelly makes his guitars out of recycled wood. >> going to sound good. this wood here came from the

belltower of trinity church, the oldest church in new york city. and during 9/11, they had big fires down there. >> reporter: kelly collects discarded lumber from old buildings being torn down. this wood has seen better days, but it will come back to life after kelly shaves it down a little. he says these guitars have a good tone because old wood is dry and well seasoned allowing strings from the guitar to reverberate beautifully through the body. kelly's items are in demand among the most famous musicians. bob dylan is one. he made him a guitar from wood from a bar. he has sold more than 2,000

guitars from used wood. >> a lot of people i think are really happy to support somebody who doesn't cut new trees down to build instruments, and from a lot of reclaimed wood. so it is becoming more and more popular. >> reporter: as these new yorkers breathe new life into discarded objects and materials, there's hope that more of the city's residents will be inspired to start recycling and repurposing. nhk world, new york. in japan, people have a tradition of cleaning up their homes at the end of the year. the custom intended to bring good luck and reset their minds for the year ahead. but it's not always easy throwing things away. dealing with old possessions often comes with psychological damage. a death in the family is one point. bidding farewell to a parent often involves working out what to do with things they left

behind. this can be a taxing experience both physically and emotionally. in a fast-aging society like japan, that opens the door to a new kind of business. >> reporter: in the historic city of kanazawa on the sea of japan is one place where new industry is emerging. a look inside a shipping container reveals furniture in a variety. such items pour into the city from surrounding areas. a request was made to clean up this residencece in the city. the house belonged to takeshi's

father who died three years he now lives far away and hasn't had a chance to sort through his father's belongings. he fininally decided to call in the professionals. >> translator: if i did itt myself, every time i picked up someththing like a photo album, i'd need t to think about wheth to keeeep it. i thought it would be much easier to ask someone to do it in one go. >> reporter: tableware, a chest of drawers, even a family-purchaseded altar are loaded on the truruck. in abobo six hours, thehe houses empty. >> translator: i feel a great weight has been lifted.

i really appreciate their work. >> reporter: the company he used started the service eight years ago. at first, the company was getting only one job every month or so. but now requests come in almost every day. many clients are people like nagao who can't take the belongings of their late parent, because they live far away. >> translator: after a person dies, someone has to go through their things. it's a problem almost everyone faces. i strongly feel that we are contributing to society t throu our service. >> reporter: until now, most people have usually thrown away items such as these. but with the family's consent,

this company sells items that are in good condition. it's a win-win deal if they do. as the profits can offset the disposal fee. in recent years, many of them have been finding a new home. overseas, this is an auction in the philippines. japan-made goods have a reputation for high quality and fetch high prices. this sofa was auctioned for about $330. the company in kanazawa ships items to the philippines about 30 times a year. a great increase over just a few years ago. of this new time off cross-bordr

business keeps growing, we can expect to see less leftover belongings find a new life overseas. nhk world. another wray to reduce our planet's growing amount of trash is to stop growing it. one man can't handle the waste of food. it is a problem for restaurants and retailers and farmers. much of their produce has to be discarded before it reaches market. often fruit and vegetables are thrown out simply because they don't measure up visually. but the japanese startup has a message for picky consumers, and it seems to be catching on. >> translator: thank you so much. oranges. a box of japanese oranges or

mikan is delivered to this family which won them in a lottery. but the mikan have a few marark and blemishes. the family has a taste. >> translator: is it good? >> translator: thehey look a little misshapen, but i don't mind. >> reporter: the family won the oranges through a website. the site's operator buys produce from farmers that can't go to market balecause of imperfect shapes and blemishes. the ad revenue comes to as much as $9,000 a month or more. the firm says it can make profits even though it gives the products away for free. this man runs the site. he started it after seeing great amounts of chinesele cabbage being crushed by a farm earn.

the farmer had no choice. an oversupply caused prices to drop sharply. that made it unusable. >> translator: it may not be accurate to sayay it's almost unimaginable, but what a waste, i thought. they're still edible. >> reporter: he launched the site two years ago. it now has deals with more than 50 farmers and farming groups across japan. from this group he buys green peppers for about a quarter of the usual price. otherwise, sub standard products would be thrownn away. >> translator: i'm glad the green peppers we grew with such care make people happy. >> reporter: he has another business line, too. he sells farm products at prices below what he pay forethem. this rental video shop has boxes of fruits and vegetables on

display. many items are priced add about 90 cents. but salk gugui's business can't survive solely by selling cheap produce. the enterprise has haeped bring in more customers. on this day, over 100 people visited the shop in just three hours. part of its appeal was the cheap produce on offer. >> translator: we pay attention to what products would be thrown away and aim to make good use of them. we will continue building a better system so everyone involved can benefit. >> reporter: cutting back on food waste is an idea whose time has come. sakaguchi's ideas, it's worth watching to see how much they catch on. >> he is now setting up food stalls at car dealerships and

display home villages, and he says customers are responding with positive feedback. his big hope is that this business will trigger a change in mind-set among consumers, proving once again that one person's waste is another person's treasure or even vegetable hotpot. thank you for

>> the eu pushes some member states to reopen their borders to kickstart the summer tourism season us the united nations warns of a global economic contraction. hello. you are watching al jazeera live from london. also coming up, many britons returned to work for the first time in seven weeks, but some u.k. leaders say it isis still o risky to go back now. china locks down n a second city after r a cluster of new coronavirus cases and starts a drive to tetest everyone in wuh. more people