hello, and welcome to nhk "newsline." i'm yamamoto miki in tokyo. we start here in japan where the government has lifted the state of emergency ahead of schedule in roughly 80% of the country's prefectures. >> translator: we've concluded that we were able to contain the spread of infection in the 39 prefectures to the level where

we can prevent further spread by thoroughly dealing with clustered infection >> t prime minister sd the governme will continue considering taking aid to prefecres such as osaka off the list next week. abe added that another wave of infections could occur and effor efforts must be made to prevent it. >> translator: if number of new infections rapidly increases, regrettably, we may have to declare a state of emergency again. while preventingg the state of infection, we will also resume social and economic activities. we are beginning to take on the extremely difficult challenge of establishing new day-to-des rousses routines. >> prime minister said the government is looking to make

sure that coronavirus patients have access to various treatment options. they are also willing to roll out more emergency funds to support companies affected by the epidemic. more than 700 have died in japan. people in areas where restrictions are being eased, gauged mixed reactions. >> translator: it's been a long time. local businesses can't last any longer. so the timing had to be now. >> translator: it feels too soon. they should keep the restrictions a bitit longer. >> reporter: in south korea, they had a cluster of infections at neat clubs right after they loosened restrictions. i'm worried something like thah will happen. >> this hotel in the central city of takayama has suffered a loss of more than $1 million because of the pandemic. the manager says they will reopen next month.

>> t translator: i'm'm pleased. i can see the way ahead. we want to offer three things. peace of mind, safety a and hospitality. >> tokyo will stay under a state of emergency as many residents expected. >> translator: i want to go back to a normal life, but the way things are right thousannow, i' to be patient. >> the owner of this shop is keeping the doors closed until the end of the month. he had wanted the restrictions eased sooner. >> translator: i hope it would happen today, but i guess that's not possible in tokyo. i'm worried about the future. >> industry groups and individual companies in japan have been unveiling their guidelines for getting back to work while preventing new

infections. this truck and bus company has rolled out new rules for workers. they wear face shields when working close together. workers also change gloves midway through the day. >> translator: we will share ideas to further improve the working environment. japan's largest business group is preparing various ways to cut down on commuting. they include remote working, flexible hours and a four-day workweek. >> translator: we are p providi examples for companies looking to adopt new ways of working. >> and a restaurant industry association is recommending that customers remain at least a meter apart and can avoid sitting face-to-face. guidelines also called for limiting the number of customers if necessary to maintain social

distancing. hotels organizations, says that they should allow customers to find their rooms. railway suggests wearing face masks. now japan's health ministry is set to launch anti-body testing. it will begin in tokyo, osaka and miyagi. blood samples will be collected from about 3,000 randomly selected persons in each area. the presence of anti-bodies indicates a person has previously been affected. the ministry will also study the possibility of achieving herd immunity, meaning a sufficiently amount of peoplple have beeeen contactt with the virusus.

this is the first project to be spearheaded by the health ministry. the south korean government says the number of coronavirus infections linked to seoul nightclubs has risen to 133. concerns are growing over a possible second wave of infection after a second cluster was also reported elsewhere in the capital. the cluster was initially reported in the district in early may. government officials say about2,000 visitors to the nightclubs are still unreachable. they are urging people to come forward promptly, to take pcr tests. officials say they are worried about secondary and ter shear infections. some who were near a university were infected. they reportedly had not been near the nightclub.

meanwhile, this year's professional golf tour began in the country on thursday after a tee lay caused by the pandemic. the four-day competition is being held without spectators. the golf association prepared an anti-infection manual. it also had the tournament venue disinfected. south korea's professional baseball and soccer leagues also started this month without specectators. russians cheered a covid-19 patient who was discharged from the hospital on her 100th birthday after a full recovery. she left a moscow hospital in a wheelchair on wednesday. a doctor said she was lucky to have been admitted before her condition deteriorated, and that she proved resilient, despite complications in her cashed yoe vascular system.

it is a rare one where the cases are increasing. confirmed cases have topped 250,000, the second highest toll after the u.s. the latest figures from john hopkins united states in the u.s. show the number of cases exceeds 4.4 million. over 300,000 people have now the pandemic is having a major impact on foreign students in japan. there are hundreds of thousands of them in the country. many are losing crucial income from part-time jobs and facing a very uncertain future. nhk reports. >> reporter: this japanese language school dormitory in tokyo should be bustling with eager new students. but thehe pandemimic is keepingm

away. this is one of the few remaining residents. the 26-year-old fromm thahailan has been stuck here since april, unable to find work o or buy a ticket home. his mother, a widow, can't help. her street vendor business in thailand has taken a hit because of the virus. >> translator: i spend about 4,000 yen a week. when i want to eat vegetables, i buy c cheap one from a discount grocery store and cook them myself. i usually buy broccoli and cucumbers, which cost less than 200 yen. >> reporter: he was workingng pt time in a restauranant, earning about 85,000 yen or $800 a month to cover his studies and living expenses. but in march, he was temporarily laid off. >> translator: i just took out some money, and now i probably only have 18,000 yen left.

>> reporter: under japan's labor standards act, employees are ineligible for a percentage of their income. most don't know the rights. >> i would say that this thai student, he has the right to demand his employer, that it continue to pay. >> reporter: he explains legal rights, using pictures and simple japanese. and these days, he's busier than ever with consultations from morning until night. in 2008, the japanese government made plans to accept 300,000 foreign students by 2020.0. that goal has been met ma, but

pandemic has revealed how easily they can slip through japan's safety net. the government is considering providing economic relief to struggling students, but it's unclear whether foreign nationals will be eligiblbl >> the government needs to support all students, regardless of their, you know, economic status or regardless of theirir nationalities. >> reporter: after receiving advice, he is now asking his employer foror the lost wages hs entitled to and is still holding onto his treatment dream of lan ideal job in hisdopted country. >> t translator: if i don't wor hard,, everything i've done soo far will go to waste. so i plan to keep tryingg inn japan for a a bit longer. >> reporter: nhk world, tokyo.

for people in parts of the philippines, it's not just the coronavirus. they are also dealing with heavy rain and powerful winds due to a typhoon. let's turn to our meteorologist yoko couple fwau at that for morere on this. >> hello there, the typhoon is the first tropical system to hit the country this season. it's causing major flooding. it had wind gusts up to 185 kilometers per hour, shaking trees and roofs. it is expected to move through highly-populated cities this weekend. officials say it is difficult providing shelter to a large number of people due to the coronavirus. the typhoon is currently moving northwest ward. with gusts up to 180 kilometers per hour possible. it will skirt the east coast of luzon.

as it does so, expect heavy rain pou pours and damaging winds and waves. moisture from the storm system will also produce widespread showers in taipei on friday. you may see severe thunderstorms at teams. dry and pretty warm temperatures will persist in tokyo, but conditions will change as we if in go into the weekend. a system will shift to the east as we go into saturday. showers will start from western japan on friday evening and you may see heavy downpours, especially in the kyushu region saturday. expect 120 millimeters in the next 24 hours with potential for flooding. as the rain comes, temperatures

will cool off. the high will drop to 20 degrees in tokyo, 23 in osaka, and conditions will improve as we go into sunday. that's all for now. stay safe, and have a nice weekend.

that's nhk "newsline" for this hour. i'm yamamoto miki in tokyo. thank you for staying with us on nhk world japan. welcome to "newsline in depth." i'm marie yanaka. nine years ago this month, a massive earthquake and tsunami killed thousands of people. and devastated parts of northeast japan. today we take a look at the persisting environmental damage, both on land and in the sea, as well as how those in the affected area are still

struggling to deal with the situation. first, we go to the coast in iwate prefecture. the waves that struck this area were up to 40 meters high and caused immense instruction. this footage was shot in the bay about 18 months after the disaster. piles of debris littered the ocean floor, a mess that took cleanup crews years to clear. eight years later, things appear to have returned to normal. but what's happening below the surface? diving into the water here in the bay, nhk world decided to find out. >> reporter: i'm about ten meters under water, off the c t coast of the city. take a look over here. you can see massive concrete

blocks. they are what's left of the sea wall. destroyed by the tsunami. some of them are five meters wide and weigh about 60 tons each. even though persistent efforts have been made to restore the marine environment, it's changed traumatically along this coast in the last nine years. for example, this small black spiky thing is sea you are urch it is unsafe to eat. 50 meters from here, all you can

see are sea urchins. this area should be covered with seaweed. but it's barren. experts believe the tsunami wiped out the sea urchins' natural predators. that contributed to tdramatic increase in their numbers. they eat the seaweed. destroying the habitat of other marine creatures. fishermen and scientists are working hard to restore the marine life, which provides the region's famous food

specialities. >> hmm. one of the marine creatures tis appearing from the bay are abalone, a much-prized seafood in japan. for the 2011 disaster, they were a big money maker for local fishermen. today their numbers have plunged, because sea urchin are eating all the seaweed. and while it's true, sea urchin are a much-loved food in this country, that's no comfort for fisheries. we followed the underwater report and went to find out why. >> reporter: last month, local fishermen gathered for a a meeting. goodod.orts on abalone were not the haul of the local speciality was about one third of that before the tsunami. >> translator: it's not an environment where abalone can

survive. >> reporter: in the bay, fishermen and volunteer divers have been trying to clear the sea floor of urchins for five years now. on this day, they caught more than 500 in just 30 minutes. >> translator: it's empty. >> reporter: urchins would normally be snapped up by supermarkets and restaurants, these, however, have failed to mature because of the lack of seaweed. >> translator: they're too small and unfit for market. we have no choice but to get rid of them. >> reporter: in the areas where the sea urchins are removed, local fishermen plant kelp. divers attach bags of mature kelp to rocks.

then they wait for the spores to take root. three months later. the kelp has grown to about ten centimeters. >> translator: it will take a long time to show results, if any. maybe ten or 20 years, but we must take action to protect our sea. >> reporter: moon whieanwhile, of researchers is studies ways to transform the unedible sea urchins into a product. they are malnourished. they're looking for the best food to increase their size. they are fed the stems of wakame seaweed. or a mixture of seaweed and fish meat to study how they

the final results show a big difference in size. the ones given the feed mix have much more flesh. the next goals to improve the taste. >> translator:r: we aim to make sea urchins from the region as profitable as before instead of just getting rid of them as something that harms the local fishing industry. >> the fishing industry in japan's northeast has spent many years getting back on its feet. on top of collapsing ecosystems, the nuclear accident in fukushima fanned consumer fears about food safety. but by addressing each of the issues, the industry is slowly but surely being revived. it's now about 70% of

pre-disaster levels and sales revenue is close to a full recovery. moving on to dry land. farmers in the northeast have been battling a different kind of environmental challenge, one right under their feet. in some areas, tsunami advanced a long way inland, washing away the precious topsoil. in its place, the waves dumped a salty toxin. that problem has since bin feen fixed only to be replaced by another one. our next story looks at the long road trodden by farmers as they look to revive their land and rebuild their lives. >> reporter: he comes from a long line of farmers. he managed to get back to work two years after the tsunami, but he still struggles to grow spinach of the same quality as before the disaster. >> translator: this is a bad one, but it's hard to grow

anything b better. the leaves turn yellow, like this. >> reporter: the tsunami severely damaged his town, including its farm land. recovery has meant transplanting huge amounts of soil. after the salty top layer was removed, his green houses were rebuilt on fresh earth, but he says, now the quality of the spinach is patchy. compared to before the disaster, only about 70% of what he produces can be shipped to market. he thinks the problem is poor drainage. partly because topsoil the government brought in from nearby mountains contains clay. >> translator: this soil is too moist. it holds its shape, but it should crumble in your hands. that means the roots are getting too much water. this is not good at all.

>> reporter: across the road, his neighbor gave up on harvesting his cabbage crop. he believes the roots decayed because of the damp earth. local officials added a layer of sand to the fields last year. but the f farmers say that hasn helped much. >> translator: i got fed up with it. it w would b be good if i cougrw a better product. >> reporter: another problem is a sharp decline in the number of farmers. there are currently 600 farmers in the town. the number has fallen about half about what it was before the disaster. that also means there are a lot more unused fields, like this one. the town's agricultural committee is trying to attract

new farmers, by consolidating that ground into large ar plots. but many land owners havave mov away or found other jobs since 2011. >> translator: even though there are many plots of land available, there's hardly any one to rent farmland from. >> reporter: sato confesses, he might have given up, too, if it wasn't for his son. they have seen many hardships, including trying to find fertilizers that are well suited to the transplanted earth. however, he is determined to persevere alongside the community's younger generation. he says he takes pride in his job, helping to produce something that's key to sustaining human life. >> translator: i think the number of people entering the

industry will rise. if i myself enjoy farming and i can show them i enjoy it. >> reporter: agriculture in disas disaster hit areas is slowly recovering, but it will take even more time until life returns to what it was like before the tsunami. nhk world. >> the large number of farmers walking off interetheir land wie it harder. but there's a small number of people trickling that way. some have decided northeast japan is the place to start a new life. one newcomer from tokyo has set up a winery. he's already holding tasting events with locally grown food. another has started growing organic vegetables. there's still a long wray ay to.

but the compbination of new blod and born again soil offers hope. that's all for today's "newsline in depth." thank you for tuning in. and be sure to do so next time,

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