again next time as we continue our search for the ninja truth. >> many millions of us had hoped the presidential election would

yield a different result. but our system of government has processes to determine who will be sworn in on january the 20th. the electoral college has spoken. so today i want to congratulate president-elect biden. the president-elect is no stranger to the senate. he's devoted himself to public service for many years. >> joe biden told reporters he had a good conversation with mcconnell over the phone. >> i called him to thank him for the congratulations. told him while we disagree on some things there are lots of thing we can work together on. we agreed we would get together sooner than later. >> few republican members of congress accepted the election results because of trump's allegations of voter fraud and unsuccessful legal fight to overturn the outcome.

the white house press secretary says president trump is still involved in ongoing litigation related to the election. when asked whether president trump is considering inviting joe biden to the white house, kayleigh mcenany said the vote was one step in the constitutional process. russian president vladimir putin has finally congratulated joe biden on his u.s. presidential election victory. putin is the last major global leader to recognize the election outcome. in the message, putin said russia and the u.s. bear special responsibility for global security and stability. he also expressed confidence their countries can help solve many problems and challenges the world facing despite their differences. the kremlin quoted putin as saying he's ready to interact with biden. putin's message came after the electoral college confirmed biden had surpassed the 270 majority required for the presidency.

observers see the delay in sending the message as a reflection of putin's apparent wariness of biden who calls putin a dictator. donald trump and his base continue to dispute the results of the presidential election. courts have dismissed claims of election fraud. citing insufficient evidence. nhk world's reporter looks at how some of trump's supporters are sticking by their narrative that the incumbent president won the selection. >> reporter: previous u.s. election results have been controversial, but this time trump's refusal to concede led to an unprecedented backlash of protests by his supporters. they claim the election was rigged against him. florida is a battleground state during presidential elections

and carries a large number of electoral college votes. bill is one of the many floridians who voted for trump this year. he runs two pediatric clinics in the city of pensacola. he questions the integrity of the election and is certain that trump was the real winner. he has even organized a rally with fellow supporters who believe that the election was stolen. >> i do believe that america is wrong. half of america is wrong. and the half that's wrong is believing that biden won fair and square. doubt is forever going to be in everyone's mind. >> reporter: people who insist trump won have found no shortage of materials backing up their claims. by clicking on the results, if there was no fraud, this website claims that trump secured most of the battleground states and is declared the winner. major social media companies are trying to prevent such

information from spreading but different platforms keep cropping up. >> hello, hello, hello. >> reporter: he and his friends are avid users of the social media platform parler. its minimal content moderation and protection of free speech makes it an attractive choice for what they see as big tech censorship. the company said after the election the number of users doubled to ten million. >> they do not sensor anyone. you can post videos on there. you can post your comments on there. >> what is wrong with the fact check? i'm curious? >> because it is biased. and oftentimes the fact check is only stopping a certain narrative. >> it's letting big tech know we are not going to put up with censorship and we will go

somewhere else. >> reporter: he appears as a weekly guest on his friend's conservative radio program which caters to americans who also question the election results. >> the problem is half the country believes the fake news and half of us, you know, the conservatives, the americans, the patriots believe the real news. >> they believe it because it fits the narrative they want to believe. we have gone into almost like a alice in wonderland type of situation to where we live in our own realities. >> reporter: experts say this type of alternate realitcould undermine the fundamtal principle of democracy. >> problems with aernative facts are that it makes it very difficult to have real discussions with the other side. that seems the most threatening to me, because that kind of consensus out truth finding based on evidence is a real bedrock to not just democracy in the united states but to most democracies across the world.

>> reporter: but that bedrock appears at risk of crumbling. recent polls say 77% of republicans believe joe biden won due to election fraud. distrust in the mainstream media and trump's efforts to undermine the integrity of the election months beforehand are key reasons why republicans feel this way. the fact there are two different realities for one election result has only further widened the political divide in the united states. ester oh, nhk world, washington. now turning to europe, where the coronavirus is having an alarmingly resurface. countries are taking different approaches to the pandemic ahead of the christmas holidays. germany will tighten

restrictions starting wednesday. most retail shop also be closed and drinking in public place also be banned. >> translator: hot wine is essential at christmas. but we have no choice but to follow the restrictions. >> the country had already indoor drinking and eating in november. but daily cases exceeded 29,000 last friday, with a single day record of 598 deaths. starting wednesday, coronavirus restriction also be laid to the highest level in southeast england, including london. pubs and restaurants will offer takeout and delivery. france is easing restrictions after a lockdown imposed in late october helped curb the spread. daily cases now hover around 10,000, down from a peak of about 60,000 in early november.

as a result, the government says people will now be allowed to move freely between 6:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. cinemas, theaters and museums will remain closed. restaurants will not be allowed to serve customers indoors. a government science advisory panel is warning the christmas holidays could trigger a new wave of infection. the panel urges people to keep gatherings of family and friends to a minimum. according to johns hopkins, the global tally h surpassed 73 million, more than 1.6 million people have died. a group advocating media freedom says a record number of journalists have been detained across the globe because of their work. it is urging world leaders to release all the journalists. the committee says at least 274 journalists are jailed as of

december 1st. it's the highest number since the organization started compiling data in the 1990s. china tops the list for the second year in a row with 47 journalists in detention. turkey follows with 37. egypt 27. saudi arabia 24. the report says that chinese authorities have detained some in the uigher autonomous region without disclosing any charges. arrested others for their coverage of the coronavirus that contradicts the government narrative. it adds one journalist in egypt and another in honduras died after contracting the virus. about two-thirds of the journalists globally have been charged with anti-state crimes. japan's mitsubishi aircraft plans to slash staff as work to develop the first domestically produced passenger jet grinds to a halt.

sources say the company will cut its workforce by 95% year on year from next april to a minimum of 150. the parent company announced in october that it would suspend development of the space jet. the parent firm said it was reducing the program's budget. that comes as the pandemic leaves dark clouds over the aviation industry. activity at a development center in the u.s. state of washington is being cut to a minimum. test flights will be grounded by april with only maintenance related work on aircraft there. now for world weather. we turn to our meteorologist tsietsi monare. we are seeing more and more places go below freezing temperatures around central japan. where is the coldest places? >> it seems like winter is kicking in. central japan are the coolest

places to go below zero, minus 3.4. that was in tokyo. 23 other wards have recorded temperatures below zero. it's getting cold. we are starting to feel it here around central japan. if you look at the rest of japan, we have been seeing a lot of places recording snow. a record 128 centimeters in 24 hours was recorded. let's look at a video to get an idea how much snow has been recorded in certain places. the heavy snowfall has continued to be reported in parts of northern japan since wednesday morning. in any -- niigata, they have

seen more than 100 centimeters in 24 hours. snow depth is expected to exceed 120 centimeters. that is going to set the pace for what will be happening the next couple of days. single digits right across japan. you can basically see most parts of the sea of japan side will be chilly. temperatures for niigata around 3 degrees. snow will come up for the next couple of days. the rest of asia will be cold. minus 18 here. two for beijing. subzero for seoul. another thing we need to be on the lookout for is people around the southwestern and southeastern pacific are seeing tropical cyclones developing there. this one is quite strong, developing into a category 5 sort of storm. it's heading towards fiji. fiji will bear the brunt of the

storm there. as some of the tropical moisture will be felt on the eastern side of australia. as we have seen over the last couple of days, heavy rainfall has been hitting the eastern coast. stormy weather for the southeast parts of queensland. that's it for your weather. stay tune for more later. that's all for this hour. thank you for watching nhk

"newsline." hope you will join us again. ♪ welcome to "newsline in depth." i'm yanaka marie. in today's story, we pick up two books that have begun hot topics. first a japanese novel that looks into homelessness and inequality on the dark side of japan's economic growth. "took reno station" is a novel

by a japanese-born south korean writer. in november, it won the u.s. national book award for translated literature. one of the country's most prestigious literary prizes. >> reporter: "reno station" is a bustling crowded commuter head. it's where people get out to see world class museums, grab an ice cream, and walk around the park. but the station is also home for some of tokyo's homeless population. it's these people who are the focus of the book. >> this year's national book award for translated literature goes to "tokyo reno station. " reporter: he was inspired to write a novel by the personal

exchanges with people in fukushima which was devastated by a powerful earthquake and tsunami in 2011. in her speech she said she wanted to capture the sense of having nowhere to call home. >> the main character of the book is a man from a city. i would like to share the joy with the people of the city who earthqua.of hardship after the >> reporter: the main character arrive at ren statihe yr fo tokyo hted thelympic needs to rk to pport hi family. d becomes homeless.orker the story depicts his hardships and the inequalities in japanese

society as the country experiences an era of rapid growth. w child the book was inclufluencey the disaster of 2011, the ndemic makes the moment more relevant. >> translator: the moment i heard the expression stay at home, i thought about the homeless people i met at the stion and park. the spread of the coronavirus drove people who had nowhere to go, even further into the corners of society. >> reporter: she won many japanese literary prizes for work that came from her ethnicity and personal experiences. the trauma of a tumultuous upbringing and bullying at school once led her to attempt suicide.

she said those painful experiences have motivated her to write about people who are marginalized by society. we talked to her about her recent honor. congratulations on winning the national book award. is that your trophy? >> when you write, do you have foreign reads in mind? >> translator: i did write with foreign readers in mind. i believe that i am destined to write for the displaced people. some feel like outsiders, because they lost everything in a major disaster or fe displaced because they have been separated from their family, their home, or mother country due to war. >> the book has very intricate settings. did you have everything planned when you started writing it?

>> translator: i write from scratch. so i start writing completely unplanned. during this project, i have serious depression. i was bedridden and getting to the bathroom was difficult. i created a private twitter account and wrote my novel 140 character posts a time from my bed. i was in an extreme state of mind between life and death, and maybe because that was situation, i could write it. >> after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, she relocated to minomisoma city, whose residents were ordered to evacuate from their homes after the accident

at the fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant. she renovated her new home to accommodate a bookstore. and has been based in fukushima while cultivating relationships with the local community. >> translator: i want to write about fukushima. people who come back are elderly people in their 70s to 90s. solitary deaths and an increasing rate of suicide due to loneliness are both problems. they demonstrate how the effects of the nuclear accident are ongoing. i want to write about how people recover. i want to communicate a

neglected aspect of japan to the rest of the world. i hope to make what you can't see clear through my storytelling. >> our next story looks at a non-fiction book that shows us the world is a better place than we may think. it was originally published in 2018. the uncertainty and misinformation around the covid-19 pandemic has given it a new lease on life around the world. >> reporter: the japanese version was published in 2019. interest in the book surged this year, pushing sales to 970,000. "fact fullness" was authored by

a team of three. a swedish doctor who died in 2017, his son, ola, a data scientist, and his daughter, anna. >> we also, throughout the book, tried to teach people to deal with their own way of handling the information. >> reporter: the book explains why so many of us are wrong about issues of global importance. the main reason we are told is our tendency to follow a set of instincts that make the world look more dramatic than it is. one key aspect is called the gap instinct. it's a tendency to divide people or things into separate groups and to believe the gap cannot be bridged. for example, most people are likely to divide nations into two categories. advanced and developing.

here is a graph showing the relationship between child mortality and the average number of children per women in different countries. developing countries tend to have higher birth rates and child mortality. the figures are much better in advanced countries. the clear gap between advanced and developing nations reinforces the impression of a world divided into two categories. the graph dates back to 1965. here is similar data for 2019. most countries fit in or are close to the category of advanced nation. child mortality has dropped drastically in most nations. in fact, we can see that many countries are in between these two categories. the authors contend when we see

a gap, more often that not, we fail to see that the majority lies somewhere between the two extremes. from this particular case, we learn that the gap is shrinking and the global situation is improving. now that the world faces a pandemic, the crisis triggered another factor. the fear instinct. the data we are exposed to exacerbates our tendency to see things dramatically. >> when we see the numbers of infections in covid-19, it's big number, which makes us very scared. when we are faced with a pandemic, a threat, of course our overdramatic thinking kicks in. we get this very, very dramatic world view. because we're so afraid and engaged.

we try to find ways of fixing that and giving people tools to think about it in a more realistic and fact-based manner. >> reporter: my readers credit "factfulness" i changing the way they read the situation. actfulness" emphasizes the importance of looking at graphs correcy and doing e's own research. >> our fear of the coronavirus needs to be accurate. >> in the wake of "factfulness" anna and her husband have set up a website to help people grasp quickly various sets of data about the world. >> the way to look at it is take the number of deaths during this week and divide by the previous week. if there are more deaths, the number will be above one and the

virus is winning. if the number is below one, we are winning. >> reporter: they believe all the society needs to develop the ability to see the world based on facts to address the never ending flow of constantly evolving global challenges. >> our brains are bad at dealing with information. we need to become humble and curious. we should realize that most of us are wrong most of the time. we should help each other to check for the facts. i think it's about changing the way we deal with information. >> "factfulness" says by overcoming our preblgs and looking at the world based on data and facts, we can better

recognize what's true and what's false and find reasons for hope. the books we looked at today were written before the pandemic, but they are taking on new meaning as society changes in the covid era and he wilping

xxxxxxdñooooooooooooooo

>> coronavirus cases surge across europe and pressure mounts on regulators to approve a vaccine for use as soon as possible. in the u.s., a second vaccine is close to getting the go-ahead, even as intensive care units are running out of space in several states. hello, you are watching al jazeera from our headquarters in doha. also coming up. >>