♪ welcome to nhk "newsline." i'm ramin mellegard in tokyo. we start here in japan, where tokyo metropolitan government sources say 1,337 new cases of coronavirus were confirmed in the capital on thursday. it is the first time the daily tally has risen above 1,000. the previous high was 949, hit on saturday. tokyo governor koike yuriko is warning people not to drop their guard over the year end. she says the virus won't be taking a holiday for the new

year. she says it could spread rapidly in cold, wintry conditions. she's urging people to stay home as much as possible. she's asking them to avoid the usual year-end countdown events. japan's minister in charge of the coronavirus says the government may consider declaring a state of emergency if the virus keeps spreading. he made the remark wednesday on twitter. he did not specify which areas of the country might be affected. >> translator: the government may think about declaring a state of emergency. infections must be stopped at any cost. >> he asked people going back to their hometowns from areas where the virus is spreading to be careful when meeting their elderly parents. he advised them to just greet their parents at the entrance of their houses without going

inside. nishimura urged people to avoid meeting people they don't usually meet and delay annual visits to shrines during the holidays. meanwhile, an official at the national center for global health and medicine said tokyo's medical system has already collapse. he said any further spread of the coronavirus will cost lives that would normally be saved. trains won't be running in the tokyo metropolitan area all night from new year's eve due to the coronavirus outbreak. temples, shrines, and seasonal events normally draw huge crowds in and around the capital at the turn of the year. east japan railway will halt overnight services on the yamanote loop line and other routes, as well as the special service operated for the year's first sunrise. other companies have decided not to run all-night trains. the governors of tokyo and three neighboring prefectures had asked railway operators not to provide the services. giant advertising screens on

buildings overlooking a landmark scramble crossing near tokyo's shibuya station will be turned off earlier than usual on new year's eve. a major shrine in shibuya ward will shut its gates from the evening of december 31st until the morning of january 1st. authorities in britain have placed more areas under the strictest covid-19 rules to combat a rapidly spreading new variant of the coronavirus. >> we've got to redouble our efforts to contain the virus. no one regrets these measures more bitterly than i do, but we must take firm action now. >> from thursday, almost 80% of the population of england will be living under the toughest restrictions. the new variant is more easily transmissible than the original virus and was already spreading fast in london and the southeast. but it's now been confirmed in central and northwestern parts

of england. the tightest restrictions also now apply to those areas, which mean people should stay at home and nonessential businesses must close. the measures had already been imposed on the southeast, including london. more than 50,000 new daily cases were reported in britain on tuesday and wednesday. the death toll on wednesday totaled 981, the highest figure since april. japan's meteorological agency is warning of heavy snowfall in many parts of the

country during the new year's holidays. the authorities are drawing attention to disruptions to transportation networks and the possibility of blackouts. the severe weather is due to an unusually cold air mass over japan. weather officials caution the cold air mass is expected to strengthen an atmospheric pressure pattern that will bring heavy snowfall. they warn that through thursday night, snowfall will become heavier, especially on the japan sea side of central japan. weather officials say the snowfall may continue through saturday on the sea of japan coast of the north and northeast of the country. in mina city in yamaguchi prefecture, icy roads caused an accident involving nine vehicles. seven cars went up in flames. two men were injured and one truck driver is unaccounted for. the police are investigating whether he was trapped in the wreckage. the winter weather is also forcing operators to scale back train and flight schedules. services on part of the yamagata

shinkansen bullet train line in the northeast will be suspended from thursday evening through new year's day. japan airlines has canceled 91 flights, including many scheduled to take off from or arrive at tokyo's haneda hub and osaka airport on thursday. all nippon airways has canceled 66 flights for thursday. airlines and transportation providers are calling on travelers to check for the latest information, as there may be more cancelations.

explosions have hit an airport in yemen. at least 15 people were killed. this as an airplane carrying

newl appointed cabinet nisters touchedown. a series of explosions hit the international airport wednesday in the southern city of aid den. the international committee of the red cross said on twitter that three of their colleagues had been killed. reuters new agency reported the airport had been hit by mortar shells. no more information was available. yemen has been plagued by a civiwar between the iranian backed government and the houthi militia group. the conflict has gone on for four years. the separatist group has cooperated with the president in the fight against the houthis. the government is stepping up vigilance as it sees the explosions as an attack targeting ministers. china's market regulator has fined three online retailers for allegedly manipulating

prices during the country's singles day discount sales campaigns. the state administration of market regulation announced on wednesday it had taken the decision, following complaints from consumers over the companies' pricing strategies. november 11th is known as singles day in china, because the number "1" symbolizes people with no partner. online retailers hold sales campaigns to mark the date. tech giant alibaba group reported its singles day sales totalled about $74 billion. the regulator said the e-commerce retailers raised prices before the sale to make their discounts look larger and also made false advertisements. it fined the companies, which include alibaba and jd.com, about $77,000 each for irregular pricing. china has increased regulation of internet giants in recent weeks. in november, the government announced a plan to tighten control of deals made by firms that exploit their monopolistic positions.

china and the european union have reached an agreement on a business investment deal that took seven years to negotiate. leaders of china and the eu held a video conference on wednesday and agreed on a pact aimed at boosting investment between the two sides. a focal point of the discussions was the protection of workers in china. the eu says people in the uighur autonomous region are being used for forced labor and urgeshina to improve the situation. another sticking point was china's practice of forcing european businesses to transfer their technology in exchange for local market access. the eu says china agreed to pursue ratification of an international treaty that bans forced labor and to make improvements on the issue of forced technology transfer. the eu says the agreement is the most ambitious that china ever clinched with a third country, but some in the bloc say china's

commitments to protection of workers fall short. some europeans are also concerned that the two sides rushed to reach agreement ahead of the inauguration of joe biden as next u.s. president. the incoming administration is wary of closer ties between eu and china. ♪ turning to sports, japanese major league baseball pitcher darvish yu is heading to san diego as part of a blockbuster seven-player trade. the san diego padres will get darvish and catcher victor caratini from the chicago cubs in exchange for pitchers zach davies and four young minor leaguers. darvish topped the national league for wins in the 2020 season, the first japanese pitcher to do so. he was runner-up for the league's cy young award. darvish had three years left on a six-year deal with the cubs. the 34-year-old posted a video saying he feels sad to leave the

cubs and vowing to be in shape for spring training with the padres. sumo health exercises. yeah! ♪ sumo health exercises. ♪

and here's the three-day forecast for selected cities.

that's a wrap for this edition of nhk "newsline." i'm ramin mellegard. thank you very much for joining us. in light of covid-19 and extreme weather conditions, please stay safe.

hi, i am shaula vogue. welcome to "biz stream." our commentator is martin schultz. nice to have you martin. >> thank you for having me. >> reporter: in japan, buses are a popular way for tourists to go sightseeing.

however, the covid-19 pandemic haslamed the brakes on bus tours this year. in an attempt to over come the sudden drop in business, a local bus tour companies started offering online bus tours. >> we are about ready for departure. >> reporter: participants eny drinking sake together. today's on-site report features a bus tour company that ken their business online. so we all know the trouble industries have been hit hard by the pandemic. today we are looking at the charter bus history in japan. this is a comparison of 201 and 2020. it has not recovered much. what do you make of these

numbers? >> the numbers were terrible. there were a little bit improvement when the government was coming in with domestic help but now we are in the middle of a third break. winter is here. >> today's report features a bus tour company that decided to do something different. they took their tours online. >> the tour company, loto tour bus. the covid-19 pandemic forced the company to cancel all bus tours since early april. with sales suddenly cut down to zero, management decided it had to try something different.

manager saki came up with an idea to take most of their popular bus tours online. her goal is to provide a large group of strangers with a satisfying experience. the onlineus tour took pce in may while mt of japan is still under a state emgency. me focus on everytng making it feel close to the real thing as possible so all facets of the tour areonducted live. >> excuse me everyone. now that we have arrived at the airport, make sure you have all your luggage andead to the bus. our r way, me sure your seat belt is fasten. >> the tour kicks off with a friendly atmosphere. >>ll right, off we go.

>> misyamamoto's co-worker, plays the role othe virtl driver and handles t technic aspect of e online-tr. today's destination is a famous shinto shrine on the south western of kyushu island. after being cleansed by th priest, the ur members pay their respects to the deities and shrine in the main hall. next the tour offers a special treat for its online guests. a glimpse inside the sred area of the shrine th are normally oflimitso visitors

>> miss yamamoto shows everyone a video of a rare event that occurs here twice a year. the sun illuminates in a golden glow. the online tour is about $50. this tour had four participas who joined from differt locaons across japan. >> that was fun. i have been on five tours. i have young children so this works great for me. >> miss yamamoto hopeshe online tour don't provide just a slight boost for the company but bringing in badly needed money that's affected by the sudden halt of tourism. >> we are about to arrive, now is a good timeor us to e. >> not yet, we'll be eating together with everyone. l right, let's eat.

the participants enjoyed the local specialty. the dish features other local ingredients sent from the food market featured in the tour. after everyone is done with their meals. the guide takes them on a virtual tour of local shops and stores. everyone can order any ims they like from the url. >> we hope to share our seafood with people all over the country. >> we hope this project will also help the local areas we visit and our online guests will come join us for a real tour when that's possible again. >> this company had done 150 tours and they had a thousand tournaments.

this is the paper seat belt that we saw. >> this is quite cute. it is a nice little touch. it is kind of fun. what do you make of this package? >> well, i love the seat belt. these little things are actually key. anybody can watch a video. the point is you are planning your tour for the holiday and you are receiving a package and you open it and you see this little seat belt and you laugh and you get the items from the localities of where you are going. this is what connects you. >> i love the handwritten belt that's written on here. that's quite cute. have you done any of these tours online? >> i didn't. a friend of mine that's connecting with his client by going golfing, he could not do that for a while. he was buying delicious food from different places where they would usually go together and

sending it as a package with sake or champagne and connecting with them over zoom or skype and opening the bottle together. a big hit. these clients will be on it forever. >> that sounds very fun. miss yamamoto from the video when she brought up this idea, everybody thought it would not work and not profitable. it looks like they made the right choice here. >> for the staff is really hard. we are bus operators and driver and then doing a video is different. this is during crisis where you need a good president doing the right decision and this is what's happening here. >> while bus tours have long been a hit with domestic tourists in japan, the tour company decided to see if they can use their own online platform to attract customers from abroad.

>> reporter: in october, one of their most popular bus tours designed for u.s. residents. >> a spring resort, the olde in japan with 3,000 years. the guide gives information on variety of local attractions. >> 19 people from all over the u.s. joined in for today's tour. the tour was set to start at :00 a.m. in japawhich translates between 5:00 p.m. o 8: p.m. for rticipants in thu.s. if you were to take the same tour in person, it would take seral days but the onle tour takes just two hours. >> lal guide provides detailed explanatioof each area in establish. >> wish i s there.

>> o please look at my face. delicious. >> sthis is unagi. >>till any question and how much is thatunch? >> this plate is about $40. >>ow. >> quite expensive. >> and you just slurp it up. >>his plate i try tgo step by step. tour guy moved to the area for years ago, he was fascinated by the charm and beauty of the area and wanted to invite people from all over the world to visit. >> translator: i was not sure how well the scenery and atmosphere would come across through a computer screen but a

lot of the participants said that they really enjoyed it. so i think many will try to come and visit here in the future. >> very informative. easy to see as i'm siting here in my ving room. >> i have en to japan but not shikoku andow i think i need to tour ibuy bus. it seems like that's the way to do this. >> the tour company hopes by introducing participants to lesser known destinations online, they can increase the nuer of foreign tourists visiting them once the pandemic is over. >> i want to continue working to improve and expand our online bus tours going forward. i think bringing in tourists from abroad is ex triumphly importanfor the future of japan. their main goal is to bring in after the pandemic, to stay relevant.

what do you think of the strategy? >> this is really important during the crisis and expand your business for the future and going more international is really something important for japan. >> we are seeing all kinds of business going online right now but this is the way forward, right? >> yes. absolutely. we all have different experiences going online and digital and many of my presentations is much harder to connect. that will means you need a new quality en you can't be there and the new quality is you can go so many more places and meet so many people so you really have to do that. >> i can see why this is something that's appealing to people because for me i have been going on my own all my tours using google maps and taking a little walk in sweden or stockholm perhaps, i am enjoying it. this is something i would do. >> japan is such an interesting country, people want want to go

there and now they can connect more. >> that's all the time we have, i am shaula vogue and this is "biz stream." we'll see you next time. o÷o÷o÷o.

adrian brown, al jazeera, hong kong. ♪ anchor: hello again, headlines on al jazeera at this hour, u.s. president donald trump defending his administration's rollout of covid-19 vaccines, blaming states for slow distribution. it comes as a more infectious variant of the virus is identified in colorado and california. rob reynolds is in los angeles. rob: governor gavin newsom, in a conversation broadcast online with dr. anthony fauci, said officials here confirmed the first case of this new variant in southern california.