♪ welcome back to nhk "newsline." we begin here in japan the prime minister is planning to take a major step to contain rising coronavirus cases in tokyo and three neighboring prefectures. >> translator: the government is planning to issue a state of emergency. the details will be decided quickly to reduce the risk of people getting infected while dining out.

>> government officials say the declaration could happen as early as this week. it's likely to be in place for around a month. the measure will apply to kanagawa, saitama and chiba prefectures as well as the capital. a state of emergency gives governors the legal authority to ask residents to cooperate with their antivirus efforts. currently there are no penalties for failing to comply, the suga says the government will change that. the government declared a similar state of emergency last april that lasted over a month. tokyo governor koike yuriko and other governors requested this move on saturday. she says the central government reacted fast. >> translator: tokyo and the three prefectures will work effectively and as one on measures of transportation, working from home and flextime. we'll be working closely with the central government.

>> the government confirmed 884 new cases on monday. the number of seriously ill patients reached 108. the figure is the highest to date. meanwhile the central government says it hopes to begin administering vaccines by late next month. a city near tokyo has appointed a team to ensure smooth rollout for its residents. the team is composed of 14 members from various city departments, including the health and welfare division and the mayor's office. they will be responsible for sending inoculation vouchers to priority groups such as medical workers and seniors and selecting locations and dates for the vaccinations. they will also be tasked with providing accurate information

on the vaccine's efficacy and risks. an 82-year-old man has become the first person in the uk to receive a vaccine developed by astrazeneca and oxford university. the development comes as officials reported more than 50,000 new cases for the sixth day in a row amid the emergence of a new strain of the virus. currently people living in southeastern england, which includes lon don, are are living

under the toughest restrictions. but british prime minister is warning more measures may be needed to stem the surge, though he didn't say what that may entail. they are criticizing the government's handling of the issue calling finance art england-wide lockdown within the next 24 hours saying it's the virus.step to controlling the now an updit on a political scandal involving a secretary to a former japanese prime minister. a group of citizens filed for a panel review of a decision by prosecutors not to charge abe over political funds control law. they say it was unjust. >> translator: all of the blame

was put on the secretary alone and abe shinzo escaped indictment. weannot let it end like this. >> reporter: this issue concerns annual parties related to cherry blossom events sponsored by the govement. abe's secretary is accused of misreporting incoming and outgoing sums totaling about $290,000, connected to dinner parties for abe supporters. the gatherings were held between 2016 and 2019 while abe was in office. prosecutors decided not to indict abe, citing a lack of evidence that he was aware of the misreporting or conspired with the secretary. the legal case over the issue was finalized last month when abe's aide paid a fine of about 10,000 without any arrests or open trial. turning now to the united states, where a new congress has convened as lawmakers prepare to officially certify the results of the presidential election.

members of both chambers were sworn in on sunday. democrat nancy pelosi was re-elected as speaker of the house of representatives. the house and senate will convene a joint session to formally confirm joe biden as the winner of the presidential election on wednesday. but president donald trump is intensifying calls on republican lawmakers to challenge the result. u.s. media say at least 140 members of the house and 11 from the senate will vote against certification. but democrats hold a majority in the house and leading senate republicans have also accepted biden as the winner. meanwhile, trump is apparently continuing to pressure key officials. "the washington post" obtained a recording of a phone call between the president and georgia's secretary of state. >> if we could just go over some of the numbers, i think it's pretty clear that we won, we won

very substantially in georgia. we have at least two or three -- anywhere from 250,000 to 300,000 ballots were dropped mysteriously into the rolls. i just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have, because we won the state. >> the development comes days before senate runoff elections in the state of georgia. two seats are up for grabs. if democrats win both, the party will control both chambers of congress giving biden greater tropical storm to enact his legislative agenda. meanwhile, the united states tension with china over a host of issues continues into 2021. the new year also marks a milestone for beijing. the 100th anniversary of the founding of the communist party of china. in a new year's speech, president xi jinping said the

centenary ushers in the prime of life for the party, but warns the road ahead is long, as china pursues hardline policies both at home and abroad. those policies haven't set well with the u.s. and the trump administration. based on an executive order by trump signed in november, the new york stock exchange announced it would begin delisting securities of three major chinese telecommunication firms by january 11th. china said it will take necessary counter measures. but beijing is also hoping a new leader in washington will signal a fresh start. china's foreign minister spoke of a new crossroads in a recent interview. >> china hopes that the next u.s. administration will resume dialogue and cooperate, so that bilateral relation will return to the correct track. >> reporter: a chinese expert says improvements will not be easy.

>> the strange ties between the two countries will be eased in the short-term. but it will be difficult to fully improve them. it is likely that criticism and sanctions in relation to china's human rights record and religious issues will be stronger than during the trump administration. >> when it comes to china's relationship with japan, the country is expected to also seek closer ties in 2021, with an aim to arranging high-level talks. a key point of tension is china stepping up activity in water around the senkaku islands in and the japanese maintain the islands are an inherent part of japan's territory. it says there is no issue of sovereignty to be resolved over them. one expert says it's unlikely any changes in china's interactions with other countries will happen overnight.

>> it may require time and patience to persuade china to come closer in line with the international community, but there's no other way. >> as china's communist party marks its 100th anniversary in july, a reassessment of the country's relation with other nations could be on the horizon. it's been ten years since a powerful earthquake and nuclear meltdown devastated northeast japan. on the heels of receiving the

prestigious national book award for littleture in the united states, we spoke with her about her work and life in fukushima. >> reporter: three years ago, you moved to a city ordered to evacuate after the nuclear disaster. for the residents who returned after the order was lifted, you we inspired to open a bookstore and cafe. >> translator: i thought about the high school kids returning home in the pitch darkness. three empty shops. i realized there should be a place with light. and there is the problem of suici

senis crushed by loneliness. so i think older persons also needed a space where they could talk about their problems and concerns. >> reporter: she recalls her parent's constant fighting at home and bullying at school making her fool like an outcast in both. after hosting radio shows and listening to some 600 survivor accounts sherks decided to call the city home. tokyo follows a laborer, but slowly falls into homeless nene bringing in her outsider part spective, she depicts the social inequality and how it i affects the most vulnerable. the hardship with no home to return are paralleled by those forced into shelters after the

residences were swept away by the tsunami. beforeork began, she made a special point of inviting her translater. >> we walked where the tsunami devastation was the heaviest. i also want ed hadar to listen o the locals talking because my books' characters speak in that dialect so she could catch their writment of speaking. >> she's sending a message to the world during the ongoing pandemic. >> why do uotsuri i write? i have always been consistent about it. i write for the displaced. people already feeling displaced or nar marginized become further marginalized.

i think there are many people who have been displaced during the pandemic. it's time for a check on world weather with jonathan oh. >> hello, it looks like winter is in full force. we have been talking about the significant snowfall. and the snow is sitting at 2 b.68 meters. it will fluctuate through the week, but likely accumulating through the latter part of the nx few days the reason why is because we have been dealing with a northeasterly flow where we see a lot of rubbing over warm waters of the sea of japan and generates a snow machine in a sense and dumps a lot of heavy

snow through the northern portions of the country. but we do have another system moving in but thursday into friday. this will take us through thursday. so on tuesday and noted as we go throughout the next couple of days, we'll see a little bit of calmer pattern and notice the snow really starts to pick up by the time we go into thursday and that's when we're going to be tealing with the increased snowfall and accumulation is going to be picking up through the latter part of this week. look at the forecast here. we're talking about snow from tuesday all the way through the rest of the week into friday. and then pick up on thursday to friday as temperatures stay below freezing all throughout the week. even in tokyo, highs will be dropping by friday. so bund the up. meanwhile, we'll be talking about a big chill factor to the west as well. temperatures only topping off at 26 degree bs low seetzero.

we're talking about chilly weather so that's the high on tuesday. we do have a wet weather pattern across the west. we see a system try to move into a pacific northwest. that's going to bring rain and snow into the mountains throughout the next couple days. that will move to the center portion of the united states. another couple local pressure systems in canada will be moving into ontario and that's going to bring snowfall throughout monday into tuesday. so be ready for some winter weather to continue being the story here. we're talking about some showers in that's the forecast. hope you have a good day.

one last story. it's been held in prefecture tstz home to the largest market for the winter delicacy. over six tons were auctioned off at the fish market early monday morning. the auction started shortly after 3:00 a.m. buyers and sellers negotiated

their yields in the traditional style the highest bid was 15,000 yen o $145 per kilogram. that's about three quarters of last year's top price. the lackluster prices are a reflection of a drop in demand for the tissue for restaurants and businesses amid the coronavirus pandemic. >> translator: despite the current situation, they are doing their best to deliver blow fish. >> they will be shipped to the osaka areas. and that's all for this edition of nhk "newsline." thank you for watching. do stay with us for more.

♪ this is "newsline biz." i'm gene otani. tokyo's benchmark stock index finished lower on the first trading day of 2021. that was after prime minister suga yoshihide said the government the considering declaring a state of emergency for tokyo and three surrounding prefectures. a new year market opening ceremony was scaled down as a precaution amid the coronavirus pandemic with only about 40

people taking part. financial services member a taro spoke at the event. he said he hopes to level the national appeal of assets totaling more than $18 trillion. >> we hope to strategically promote reforms to create an environment to draw overseas businesses and highly skilled foreign workers. >> the nikkei 225 started the day higher, but it shed more than 400 points at one stage after reports the government was eyeing an emergency declaration due to spread of the coronavirus. the nikkei average ended monday's session at 27,258. that's down almost 0.7% from the last trading day of 2020 when it marked the highest year end close in 31 years.

the index took a nose dive last march due to the pandemic, but it has been recovering, supported by stimulus and monetary easing measures as well as vaccine expectations. the japanese government has laid out figures that give a glimpse of the pandemic's impact on employment. in 2020 the labor minister 2.1 million applications for emergency subsidies to hold on to workers. it was the first time it was down more than 15%. that's when a state of an emergency was in place. people refrain from going out amid the surge in coronavirus infections. it adds that negative head winds remain after the government suspended its domestic tourism campaign late last month. the if you remember of domestic flight passengers

during the new year holiday period fell by more than half from a year earlier. data from 11 carriers show nearly 1.46 million people flew between december 25th and january 3rd. that's down 57% year on year. the suspension of the travel subsidy campaign. there were also many had last-minute cancellations. only four airlines are operating international routes at the moment. about 32,000 people traveled on those flights. that's down about 95% compared to a year ago. this week we're bringing you a series looking at key economic issues for 2021. we begin with japan in its push to emerge from the shadow covid-19. the organization for economic cooperation and involvement predicts japan's economy will grow 2.3% in the growing year,

but the road ahead is unlikely to be smooth for everybody. some experts say the country is in for a k-shaped recovery with industries such as auto quickly getting into gear while others struggle to get back on force. here's more about their forecast. >> as japan welcomes the new year, it's battling a third wave of the pandemic. that's not stopping manufacturing, potentially blazing a trail for recovery. an expert says japan's exports are set to grow, as economies overseas gather pace. >> translator: particularly in china private demand is strengthening, in a sign that recovery is spreading to the wider economy. i think japanese exports will increase, mainly to the u.s. and china, helping a turn around at manufacturers. >> reporter: another economist says people are spending more on goods such as electronics, as

they stay home as much as possible in the face of covid. that's prompting firms to ramp up production. >> translator: after demand dropped suddenly last spring, companies had to adjust their output until summer to reduce stock. but inventories had been running low, as consumption begins to pick up again. manufacturers are now gradually starting to increase production. >> reporter: but things are tougherer for non-manufacturers. they're hoping a broad vaccination program will kick off soon. >> translator: once vaccinations are widely available and concerns about the pandemic ease, we can hope for a positive scenario, like people in japan start spending more rather than

saving so much. if activity at non-manufacturers returns to some semblance of normity from theiddle to the end of 2021, the economy will finally regainomentum, hopefully with a boost from the tokyo olympics and paralymcs. >> meanwhile, some analysts are shining the splight on jobs. the government plans to expend an employment subsidy for companies until the end of february, but layoffs could increase after that. >> translator: when japan's new fiscal year starts in april, economic momentum from consumption could be spoiled by employment losses involving new graduates, senior workers or employees of service firms hit by the pandemic. >> an economist warned a k-shaped recovery could worsen the country's wealth gap. whatever happens, it's clear

2021 will be a real test for parts of the economy, as japan tries to shake off the impact of covid and drive into a cycle of growth. all right. let's have a look at the markets. ♪ ♪

from the "newsline biz" team in tokyo, i'm gene otani. thanks very much for joining us.

♪ >> i always make sure that the story that i am telling is impactful. always answering the simple question why should people a? this killing, it is a reflection of the post apartheid society that is poison.