♪ thank you for joining us from our studio in tokyo. this is nhk "newsline." we begin with what's become a very close race in the united states. so far neither republican incumbent donald trump nor democratic challenger joe biden have secured the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency. u.s. media reports the trump campaign said it has filed a lawsuit to contest the outcome of battleground states.

most of the states have been called with the exception of a handful of key states. biden is projected to w michigan and wisconsin, two important states. but arizona and pennsylvania, among others, are yet to be determined. biden appeared in delaware and said that over 150 million americans voted, more than any other presidential election in the country. >> i am not here to declare that we've won, but i am here to report when the count is finished, every vote must be counted. no one is going to take our democracy away from us. >> trump's campaign says it will ask for a recount in wisconsin, citing reported irregularities in several counties. in another battleground, pennsylvania, the governor said millions of ballots have yet to be counted. officials expect it will take days to finalize counting. >> mail-in ballots that are

being counted, and that takes longer than the way we used to do it with the standard in-person voting. so we may not know the results even today, but the most important thing is that we have accurate results. >> in michigan, a state biden has been projected to win by abc news, detroit police were called in to enforce the decision to block voters from a vote-counting center. both republican and democratic supporters were denied entry because of coronavirus capacity restrictions. mail-in voting proved the popular choice for more than 100 million americans. some key states allow mail-in ballots received after election day to be tallied. experts say the process in some battleground states could take days. trump took to twitter to criticize mail-in ballots. twitter hid some of his tweets and added the warning some or

all of the content is disputed and might be misleading. the president wrote that he was leading many key states but, quote, one by one they started to magically disappear as surprise ballot dumps were counted, unquote. this has been an unprecedented election here in the u.s. both because of the coronavirus pandemic and because of widening social risks and protests over racism. for many, these close results seem to point to a deeply divided country with supporters on both sides saying the stakes are high. the country and the world will have to wait for the final result. >> we're not upset that it would have been such a close race. >> probably both parties are disappointed. democrats are hoping for a blue wave and republicans are hoping for a red wave and clearly neither has happened. >> one day after election day,

security has been stepped up in many communities due to fears of riots. nhk world's katherine katherine has been seeing this in our studio in new york. katherine, what are you seeing there now? >> thank you very much, kyoko. they expected to see states to the northeast turn blue, states to the south turn red. but then the pace of results seemed to slow. many went to bed without knowing what to feel. they woke up to further uncertainty. now they're checking over and over on those states that are still in the balance. but a day after polls closed, they're still not clear on where this country is headed. to help clear some of this up for us, we're joined by professor paul thoracic from youngstown, ohio. what is the likely path to

victory? >> for biden it's fairly easy. of the states that we are still uncertain about that have not been called, with the exception of november because it has hardly any electoral votes, biden has to just win one of them. if he wins any one of them, then he's the next esident,ou know, with the exception of maybe any kind of legal challenges and things like that. for trump, it's a little more difficult. for trump, really, it's looking at arizona first. if trump can flip arizona and hold on to pennsylvania where he's currently in the lead but he's seeing his lead dropping, you know, as the hours go forward, he wins arizona and pennsylvania, then he wins the election. >> what is the likelihood of trump pulling ahead in arizona? >> well, according to the people on the ground, he's got a fairly good chance in arizona given the fact that where the votes are still coming from areas that were sportivef him. now, pennsylvania he has the opposite problem in that where the votes are coming from these

il-i votes have been running overwhelming in favor ofice president biden. therhere's maybe an advantage you could see a scenario where trump wins arizona, he flips it, but he loses pennsylvania and still loses the election. of course we're still waiting for final returns from north carolina and georgia. >> you mentioned legal challenges. we've already seen those challenges through the courts. how likely is it that those cases could change results? >> again, it depends on how narrow of a victory there is. again, if trump holds all the states he's winning right now, including north carolina and georgia and somehow wins pennsylvania, or in that scenio he loses pennsylnia at the last minute because these mail-in votes, then the case that the trump campaign has brought in pennsylvania could be extremely significant because what they want to do is basically stop the counting of these mail-in votes that are coming in now. if it's really close in

pennsylvania, that could decide the election. >> professor, many americans are feeling anxious about when all of this might be sorted out. when do you think they might find some clarity? >> i think we'll have some clarity by tomorrow afternoon. we'll at least have an initial sense of who the winner is, but, again, if it's close, you know, we're going to be counting votes for a long time. you know, we're going to be counting until november 12th, for example, in north carolina. so, you know, if it's close in those states, you know, we'll have to see. you know, it really depends who the declared winner is. if it looks like it's trump, we'll be waiting for other numbers. if it's biden, it may be over. however, again, we got court challenges coming up, so could be longer than we want. >> it may be far from over. thank you very much, professor. >> thank you. >> as you can tell, we have lots to track. we'll be certain to keep you up to date on the latest developments.

turkey's government has ended incidents search for missing people nearly a week after a quake and tsunami hit the agene seacoast. 160 people in turkey and greece have died so far. in turkey, the maugnitude 7.0 quake and tsunami claimed 114 lives, and that's 1,035 others injured. search and rescue operations have been ongoing at 17 locations in the hard-hit western tur kish prochbts of i see mri. 180 structures must be demolished as they're at risk of collapse. more than 3,000 tents have been set up for residents who left their homes. the government plans to build

new buildings for evacuees to move into in less than a year. chin's president xi jinping says the country will keep pushing to open its markets. he also condemned unilateralism and protectionism in an apparent criticism of the u.s. amid mounting tensions over global trade. >> translator: china will stay committed to openness, cooperation, and unity to get win-win results. we will steadfastly expand the all-around opening up of our markets. >> xi was speaking video video link at the start of a major international trade fair in shanghai. are set to reach more than ts $22 trillion over the next decade. japanese mobiwireless netwo over the next ten years.

soft bank ceo unveiled the plan at a news conference on wednesday. >> translator: nationwide 5g networks will enable the digitization of local governments, firms, factories, and distribution services. >> other japanese mobile carriers are planning on pumping hugements of money into 5g, kbbi will invest in advanced technology through 2030. dokomo plans to spend $9.5 million to fiscal 2023 on 5g-based stations as well as research and development. america decides. nhk word japan reports. turn to nhk "newsline" and newsroom tokyo for coverage of the u.s. presidential elections and the issues that matter most in asia. from tokyo, beijing, seoul, and

our bureau here in new york, for a global view with an asian perspective, count on us, nhk world-japan. for world weather, we turn to our meteorologist, tsietsi monare. looks like it's going to be warm. how long will this weather last? >> yeah, it is going to be pretty warm, about 20 is where we should expect throughout much of japan, actually. and i think it might last all the way until sunday, maybe into monday, but there will be a little bit of a cooling dip as temperatures drop after this nice sort of fine weather that we're experiencing right across the central parts of japan. although we have already seen some temperatures go below-zero for your maximum temperatures, we'll continue to see a fairly fine and warm autumn-like

temperatures throughout much of asia as the high-pressure system is keeping things quite clear and dry for the western side of china as well as along the eastern regions for those that are going to be long time coast and japan, you'll be seeing slightly good temperatures and good weather for you. our only issues, what's happening to southeast asia where we're still having the tropical storms that are still at play there, leading to heavy rainfall expected for vietnam. there could be 250 to 300 millimeters of rain by friday. that could still lead to flooding to sandwiturated the s for people in low-lying areas. take care at all times and make sure you know where to evacuate and make sure you're safe at all costs. you see the temperatures are going to be fairly warp for you. tokyo, 20 degrees. 15 for seoul and beijing in the upper teens. seeing moisture towards chong

ki ching and taipei. across the united states there is a very expansive ridge of highs that are moving along central going all the way towards eastern united states and also it's keeping things unseasonably warm in certain places. also going to remain sunny across the northern parts all the way towards the deep south and into east. denver, 22 and sunny, similar to oklahoma, around 23 degrees. a bit of moisture and showers are expected towards florida. miami will be 28. there could be rain there. part of the rain along those parts is still basically due to a tropical depression. but it might move back into the caribbean and strengthen, it will lead to more rainfall. that's all your weather. take care.

thank you for staying with us on this edition of nhk "newsline." hope you'll join us again. ♪ welcome to "newsline" in depth. whether it's a day trip to the hills or a leisurely beach holiday, for many of us it's been our vacation plans that have helped us get through the working week. all that has changed with the ongoing pandemic. the whole world has had to adjust to a new way of living, and that includes restrictions on moving around.

with foreign travel out of the question, businesses in the tourist sector have had to come up with new ideas. we start today in one of the most popular tourist destinat n destinations, hawaii. a year ago it was welcoming 30,000 visitors a day. that dropped to a trickle following state's pandemic restrictions. and until the middle of october, the number was only around 2,000. but recently things have been changing. this was what honolulu airport looked like on october 15th. up till then, all aviators are required to quarantine for two weeks on arrival. but the state authorities have now said that won't be necessary for people entering from the u.s. mainland as long as they've tested negative before boarding their flights. now, with a range of safety measures in place, hawaii is gearing up to welcome back its tourists. >> thank you.

>> on this poster, green means go. it lets tourists know that health officials have determined that it is safe. to earn the rating, business owners must take measures to prevent the spread of the virus. cleaning staff at this hotel have a new tool to use against the coronavirus. they sanitize elevator buttons and door knobs using ultra violent late which is said to eliminate viruses. airport officials are being proactive as well. they've installed a thermal camera that can detect the body temperature of arriving travelers. previously a staff member with a thermometer had to check visitors one by one. >> the reason why this is

important is because it adds efficiency to the process of deplaed deplaning the aircraft. >> like people all over the u.s., people in hawaii are walking a tricky line. they are hopeful "of a tourism industry that supports their economy. but if they move too quickly, they may see a spike of new infections. oikawa jun, nhk world. >> hawaii does seem to be moving cautiously. it recently announced the postponement of the honolulu marathon which had been scheduled for december. this is another blow for tourism-linked businesses already hurting due to the pandemic. for many it's a way to restate how they do business. this shop focuses on local arts and crafts along with foods produced on the islands.

it says there has been a new interest in hawaii's own home-grown culture. it has found strong demand through its online sales of products such as organic honey and chocolate. >> hawaii is such a small island. we're very tiny. we're in the middle of the pacific. that doesn't mean that we don't have a story and we don't have a voice. and i think the one way to spread that voice is through commerce and culture and products. >> of course, the amazing beaches, shopping, and cuisine will still be there for visitors. but the aim is that hawaii can move to a more sustainable form of tourism that focuses on the appeal of its rich natural environment, unique culture, and close-knit community feel. from tropical beaches, we

turn to jewelrural japan. this is how they're discovering the simply charms of under-the-radar, regional locations. >> a planner at a company specializing in tours, visits a city. he is hoping this ape ariary will become a buzzing tourist attraction. >> many people are obsessed with eating domestic honey, so it adds an extra incentive. >> his company has been developing experiential tours where tourists participate with artists and farmers. the pandemic has forced the tourism industry to diversify. >> translator: i hope to discover hidden gems in places that are not considered major

tourist destinies. >> in september, he set up a trial tour for the tourism association. participants make reservations for the two-hour tour online. once at the destination, locals greet them and host the tours themselves. >> translator: this is how it looks. at the end, the hosts serve home-made dishes made from their products. this time, honey toast, banana juice, home-made ice cream, and other dishes. next, the group visits a forest home. inside, an intriguing array of objects. this artist created these works entirely from scrap materials. relocating in 2005, he decided

to host tours to help promote the village and its economy. [ applause ] >> translator: this place just materialized in the woods out of nowhere. fascinating. >> his firm has already created seven tour packages. by next spring, he hopes to launch several more. >> he first visited the village as part of the research he was doing for his company to find interesting destinations in the region. he ended up staying there four months. the idea of a tour came about after he met sato, the bee-keeper, who runs a bar in the village. his aim is to create tours that take the participants to places that are totally new to them. he's now planning more tours like this to other rural locations, which will give a welcome boost to areas that are in decline.

in japan, the government has begun a program of subsidies to encourage people to travel around the country. at the same time, companies are coming up with their own ways to breathe new life into local tourist destinations that have been hurt by the alaska visitors from abroad. the key here is microtourism, encouraging people to rediscover the attractions of their own hometowns and regions. >> these passengers are riding the rails in style and comfort. in september, the railway in higata prefecture offered tickets on a remodeled sight-seeing train. those who took part are locals who got to rediscover the benefits of where they live, from the landscape to various kinds of local sake. >> it's nice to ride the train for a change. i like watching the scenery.

>> translator: i had a good time because i haven't been able to travel much since the pandemic began. >> the railway company's president says most of the usual passengers have been students, so he treated the tour to try to broaden the appeal. >> translator: the locals don't use our line for travel, but i thought that they would ride our train if their purpose was to enjoy the ride itself. >> when the company separated from japan railways, it took over a deficit-ridden railway line. it introduced luxury trains and profited by attracting foreign tourists. but the pandemic took its toll on travel and tourism, and the company lost nearly $190,000 in just six months. it changed course by spotlighting more out of theway places and developed them as tourist destinations. passengers rarely use the

unmanned station. its underground passage stretches seemingly forever. locals snatched up the tickets. he thinks other obscure sites could be rebranded as tourist spots. he's also planning a gourmet tour by train that will include an affordable meal at a high-end restaurant. he hopes to keep creating ways for the locals to appreciate the culture in their own backyard. >> translator: the pandemic will end someday for sure, and tourists will flood back into the area. we hope to utilize the railway to promote the local culture when that time comes. >> he didn't bet the pandemic would knock him off the rails. instead he proved the resilience of one small railway company inspires new possibilities. >> other railway companies have

been looking for ways to boost their business in the absence of tourist traffic. one railway in chiba is 6.4 kilometers long. it's used by a few locals to get to work or school, but most of its income comes from tourists. to make up for the drop in passengers from outside the area, the railway has held special events aimed at people living close by, such as a haunted ghost train. at one point the number of passengers was down by 90% due to the pandemic, and the railway was close to folding. then it came up with a new idea itas a hror flickade i th stylef a bovie, tting a humorous spin oa tough situatn. side appeang to i th raily ihopi this wi jan,

bring nnthusias whoant visit the aa to exrience the li for theelves. wh's clear ithat thosen rism the industr a completel rethinkihe strategi. and ocour, peoe t are also reinkingheery noon of a vation geway. and thas all for this edition of "newsline in-depth." thank you for watching and see you soon.

esther biden: i am not here to declare that we one. i am cured to report on the count is finished we believe we will be the winners. host: democratic contender joe biden flips two battleground states to take him one step closer to the white house. ♪ you are watching al jazeera with continuing coverage of the u.s. elections. donald trump demands a recount and fires lawsuit into key states as his path to victory narrows.