♪ welcome to nhk "newsline." i'm ramin mellegard in tokyo. we begin with the tokyo stock exchange, which on friday celebrated the last trading day of the year with a closing ceremony. 2022 saw the benchmark nikkei average mark an annual fall for the first time in four years. the nikkei 225 finished the year down over 9%. the slide comes amid the backdrop of the war in ukraine and fears of a global recession amid aggressive monetary tightening by central banks. this year's ceremony was scaled

down to prevent the spread of covid-19. prime minister kishida fumio delivered a speech by a sitting pm for the first time in nine years. >> translator: next year, we will start to implement my administration's plan to double asset income. we will carry out bold and drastic reforms to change the flow of funds from savings to investment. let's work together to boost individual investment in securities. >> after the speech, kishida joined in the traditional bell-ringing to call for a rise in stock prices next year. and the event wrapped up with the ritual group clap. the japanese government has rolled out new emergency border

controls on travelers arriving from china. the move comes in response to a surge in covid cases there. all passengers from direct flights from the mainland, as well as anyone who's been there within the previous week, are being tested on arrival. if they test positive, people with symptoms will be required to stay at a quarantine facility for seven days. if symptom-free, the period is reduced to five days. samples from all positive cases will be analyzed to check for new variants. this japanese woman who lives in china says many people around her have caught covid. >> translator: border controls are inconvenient. but i think this is a good idea. as it would help prevent the spread of the virus. >> direct flights from china are limited to four airports.

narita and haneda, both serving tokyo, kansai near osaka, and chibu, near nagoya. direct flights from hong kong and macao will be allowed to fly on certain conditions. government relaxed its tough anti-virus measures on december 7th. beijing recently announced it would drop quarantine requirements for arriving travelers from january 8th. it said it will reinstate outbound travel by chinese nationals in stages. meanwhile, the south korean government is tightening border controls for arrivals from china starting next week. it also plans to restrict the issue of short-term visas until the end of january.

north korea state media are praising kim jong-un's leadership. friday marks 11 years since he became top military commander, following the death of his father, kim jong-il. friday's edition of the "rodong sinmun" newspaper features an extensive article lauding kim for completing the country's nuclear force. the edition includes a photo of a hwasong 17, the country's latest model of intercontinental ballistic missile. the paper praises kim for rapidly advancing the nuclear and missile programs. it also says newly developed powerful weapons have ensured the future welbeing of citizens. meanwhile, state-run korean central television has shown footage from thursday's session of the plenary meeting of the workers party of korea's central committee. earlier in the meeting, kim reportedly set new key goals for 2023 to bolster self-reliant defense capability. this may mean he intends to further develop his nuclear and

missile programs. south korea's working on its air defense after failing to intercept north korean drones earlier this week. south korea's air force and army conducted a drill near seoul based on the scenario of drones infiltrating its airspace. the joint chiefs of staff says about 20 aircraft were mobilized and they practiced detecting, identifying, tracing, and intercepting drones. photos released by the military show soldiers reviewing the process of shooting down drones with automatic cannons and surface-to-air missiles. the military is facing criticism after five drones from the north crossed the military demarcation line on monday. south korean military helicopters and other aircraft fired more than 100 rounds but failed to shoot down the drones. >> translator: many people were worried and concerned.

north korea needs to learn that provocations are always met by harsh consequences. >> president yoon says the only means to deter provocations is punishment and retaliation against acts violating south korea's freedom. the u.s. military says one of its planes had to take evasive action to avoid hitting a chinese military fighter jet that intercepted it. the close call occurred over the south china sea last week. the u.s. says the chinese fighter flew in front of the u.s. plane's nose and came within six meters of it. the u.s. air force aircraft was conducting routine operations in international airspace over the sea. the u.s. indo-pacific command released a statement in response. it says all countries in the indo-pacific region should use

international airspace safely and in accordance with international law. the statement says the u.s. indo-pacific joint force is dedicated to a free and open indo-pacific region. it adds that the force will continue to fly, sail, and operate at sea and in international airspace. it says it will respect the safety of all vessels and aircraft under international law. u.s. defense secretary lloyd austin earlier raised concerns about the recent behavior of chinese military aircraft in the region with china's defense minister. austin called their actions increasingly dangerous and said they risked causing an accident. we turn to the biggest contract chipmaker. the firm has begun a mass production of its most advanced chips in taiwan. its chairman highlighted plans

to keep expanding capacity there. tsmc held a ceremony to mark the start of mass production of three nanometer chips. tsmc is also building a plant in the u.s. state of arizona. the company said earlier this month, it would later build another factory there to make chips using its 3 nanometer technology. tsmc's investments abroad have raised concerns of outflows of technologies and a shift of focus away from taiwan amid tensions with china. but at the ceremony, the company chairman spoke of a commitment to taiwan. >> translator: today's ceremony represents a concrete action by tsmc to develop advanced technology and expand its advanced production capacity in taiwan. >> liu also said the company is planning factories for more advanced 2 nanometer chips at

two other elections in taiwan. ♪ ♪ japanese architecht isozaki arata has died at the age of 91 at his home in okinawa prefecture. he was renowned in japan and worldwide for his postmodern designs. isozaki was born on the island of kyushu in southwestern japan. many of his earlier works were built in the region. he studied under the famed architect tange kenzo in tokyo. he won international attention for the tsukuba center building

north of tokyo in 1983. it's continued an example of his postmodernist approach that challenged the standard trends of modern architecture. he went on to design the museum of contemporary art in los angeles and an arena for the 1992 barcelona olympics. in 2019, isozaki received the pritzker architecture prize, often called the nobel prize of the profession. the organizers called him truly international, saying he was one of the first japanese architects to build outside of the country at a time when the west was influencing the east. next may, reporters from across the globe will gather in hiroshima as japan hosts the g7 summit. 77 years ago, the city looked much different than it does today. a survivor of that era wants to

tell what he knows about the atomic bombing while he still can. >> translator: it was a huge explosion, like a large rock being blasted to pieces in an instant. everyone was propelled away. sglk yamamoto sadao is more than 90 years old. he was still he is telling junior high students what he experienced in 1945. >> translator: a person's body was in flames. it felt like the end of the world. >> reporter: yamamoto was 14 when the bomb fell. he was 2 1/2 kilometers from the hypocenter. here he and people like him are around to give us account. he is ready to talk to anyone

who will listen at the g7 summit. >> translator: this is an important opportunity, with so many reporters in town. i want to tell them exactly what happened here. >> reporter: six years ago, the group of seven foreign ministers met in hiroshima, including those from nuclear states -- the u.s., the uk, and france. yamamoto spoke about his experience at the forum organized after the conference. however, only japanese reporters showed up. >> translator: when the conference ended, the international media left. i was disappointed in not having a chance to meet with them. >> reporter: he hopes this time

will be different. his lectures usually last an hour, but he's put together a 20-minute presentation for visiting journalists. it includes several pictures that he always shows. they were drawn by high school students who have listened to him. he dreams that the story can overcome any language barrier for reporters overseas. >> translator: next year's hiroshima summit is probably my last chance to give firsthand testimony to the world. >> reporter: a chance for a lifetime. shigeto hiroki, nhk world, hiroshima.

and those are the top stories for this hour. that's a wrap for this edition of nhk "newsline." i'm ramin mellegard.

thank you very much for joining us.

produce twice as much tuna as japan does, can you believe that? >> that's pretty amazing. >> pretty shocking, actually. one of the reasons japan is no longer leading the pack is that price competition in the industry is fierce. our first story features a tuna fishery that is hoping to become more competitive by lowering its costs. >> reporter: this bluefin tuna farm is located off the coast of ehime prefecture. they are fed a diet of protein and vitamin-rich mackerel. iwao tadakuni has been running

the company for over 10 years. according to him, the company harvests and ships about 10,000 tuna per year. to sustain that pace, it goes through about $50,000 of mackerel per day, accounting for more than half of his company's operating costs. he also says that providing the tuna with just the right amount of feed is extremely important. the exact number of tuna fry are always recorded when the first are first released into their pens. however, over time some of the tuna will get caught in the net's webbing or die from other causes. he says that during the six years it takes for is fish to reach maturation, only about 70% of the original number will remain. although knowing the exact number is impossible, expert staff usually rely on their eyes and intuition to estimate the number of fish at any given time. >> translator: since the mackerel we use to feed them are so expensive, we try to be

careful not to overfeed the tuna. >> reporter: to increase feeding efficiency as much as possible, today iwao has asked hamano akira to help him conduct a more accurate head count. formerly a professor at japan's national fisheries university, hamano is an expert in sonar technology. >> translator: the old-school way of doing things isn't good enough these days. we need to adopt the new technology to take japan's finish industry into the next generation. >> reporter: he's developed a specially designed fish-counting system that can be used to accurately determine the number of tuna as they swim around their pens. the system makes use of a sonar device and an extremely small transmitter. the sonar uses 15 separate sound wave emitters to ensure that a narrow portion of the fish pen is covered from top to bottom. this allows them to calculate the number of tuna swimming through that section of the pen at any given time.

next, in order to measure the speed the tuna are swimming at, a tiny transmitter is placed in one of the pieces of mackerel used to feed the fish and tossed in the water. once a tuna has swallowed the transmitter, its speed and movement can be tracked inside of the pen. ness from tra >> translator: now we can see exactly where it and is what it's doing. >> reporter: hamano enters the data gathered into a proprietary computer program. it's then able to calculate the total number of fish swimming around the pen with a high degree of accuracy. i

but when hamano used the sonar at a larger facility, he counted the fish in 20 of its pens and the resulting figure was 300 fewer than his client's initial estimate. taking that number into account, he said that the tuna farm could be wasting as much as $200,000 per year on fish feed. >> translator: fish farmers face all sorts of challenges.ers face i think technology can solve many of those problems and help them to grow their businesses. >> reporter: iwao is convinced that hamano's system will catch on in the tuna farming industry. >> translator: if we can transition from using the rough estimates most of us currently rely on and obtain more accurate >> yumiko, instead of just keeping his research in the academic world hamano is putting this to commercial use. this is leading to great efficiency. what did you think? >> it's pretty amazing how

accurate they can get their head count when they're swimming so quickly. so obviously price competitiveness is the focus here. but another element that i would mention is the fact that it's really sustainable because if you think about it what they're doing is really to prevent overfeeding of fish. >> yeah, absolutely. i was amazed they were feeding them nice mackerel too. and this tech isn't just used to help fisheries lower costs. a major fisheries insurance cooperative now uses sonar when calculating insurance amounts. and with japan, as you know, coastal areas especially susceptible to typhoons. and this is really essential for aquaculture businesses to have accurate insurance coverage. so there's a lot of potential here. >> i agree. we are still seeing a very, very strong global demand for food on the back of growing populations, especially seafood. and that has actually led to overfishing, which is a problem now.

i do think this type of aquaculture industry that's really driven by technologies, that's really going to grow even more because of, number one, there's a growing demand. but also there's a need to be efficient costwise but also environmentally if you think about the way we are feeding right now these fish, there is a better way to do it. >> yeah, definitely. when it comes to aquaculture, another major issue is the rising ocean temperatures, which is already causing problems for seaweed farmers here in japan. we visited a company that's come up with a clever way to keep its seaweed cool. >> kochi prefecture is known for producing aonori, or green seaweed. experts say it can only be grown and harvested naturally during the winter, when ocean temperatures are usually below 20 degrees celsius. over the last 20 years, however, rising ocean temperatures have led to several crop failures. while peak harvests can reach up

to 60 tons of aonori, 2020 was a total loss. hachiya jun runs a locally based seaweed company. after basing much of his research on marine plant life while studying at kochi university, he set out to find a way to revive the region's aonori industry. >> translator: after seeing such a dramatic drop in aonori production here i thought if we can't go the traditional way maybe we can do it on the land. >> reporter: but for that to work he first needed to find a source of underground seawater. the easiest and most reliable source of salt water that is cool enough to grow healthy aonori. when found at the right depth underground seawater maintains a temperature between 17 and 20 degrees celsius throughout the year and has a salinity of 2% which happens to be ideal for cultivating aonori. but finding a suitable location

for the seawater well wasn't easy. it took them several drillings before finding a spot that would meet their needs. >> translator: there was a lot of trial and error involved. but we learned from each failure and now we know how to look for the best locations. >> reporter: hachiya's company is currently operating land-based farms using underground seawater at three locations across kochi prefecture. he also came one a proprietary mixing arm for his tanks. this helps to keep the seaweed spread out, allowing it to receive an even amount of sunlight, which encourages faster growth. with the reliability the aboveground system provides the company is able to deliver new shipments of aonori on a weekly basis. plus they can produce and ship their product to clients all year round while their sea-based competitors are left waiting for cooler winter waters to return.

in 2022 this restaurant chain started using hachiya's aonori as a main ingredient in one of their soups. >> translator: because it was so popular we decided to add it to our regular menu. >> reporter: while the company primarily sells its aonori to restaurants and food manufacturers it has recently started selling new products directly to consumers. it's also hoping to take its products beyond japan by appealing to vegetarians and other health-conscious customers. >> so they're growing from the ocean to the land to grow seaweed. this seems like a very clever idea. >> exactly. i didn't even know this is a thing. but as you probably know, the rising ocean temperatures are a very, very serious challenge which is causing all kinds of problems all around the world. so i wonder if this can be used for other applications.

but at the same time i wonder because the underground seawater may not be all that accessible. so i wonder if the scalability could be a question. >> i guess we're going to have to wait and see. you know, so today we looked at two different aquaculture companies and they both have very different issues but sustainability really is at the core of both of these stories. this is really encouraging. >> i think it's encouraging. what i think about these companies who are trying to solve challenges that are basically universal challenges, i do think the deeper the pain is the bigger business opportunity is. and i think these are the companies who are actually really trying to address these challenges and those challenges are also giving them opportunities to grow as businesses. >> yeah. and a chance for japan to be the leader in it as well. >> exactly. >> yumiko, thank you so much for

joining us today. >> thanks for having me. >> i'm shaula vogue and this is "biz stream." we'll see you next time.

♪ kerry: these are the top stories. the u.s. has joined a growing list of countries imposing covid-19 restrictions on people arriving from china. it comes a day after beijing announced it would drop quarantine measures for all inbound travelers. our white house correspondent kimberly halkett has more. kimberly: the biden administration is concerned of the chinese government