renewing a pledge for peace. people across japan observed the 67th anniversary of the end of world war ii. people across japan paused today to reflect on the history and their future. they marked 67 years since the end of the second world war. some kidded hconsidered how the is rising again. >> translator: japan's peace and prosperity today is founded on the honorable sacrifices of those who gave their lives against their will in the war. we must work to revive our country, and restore communities devastated by the march 2011

disaster. in sake of those who perished in the war. then they stopped to listen to their emperor.

most of those who were alive during the war and lost family members are now more than 70 years old. this woman is 98 years old, her husband died on an island in the philippines. pillars of ice were near the seats. they were trying to save power after shortages resulting from the nuclear accident last year. people in other parts of the country are marking the anniversary in their own way. urging the japanese government, to offer compensation for women forced to work in brothels in world war ii. he said japan is a close neighbor and important partner with which south korea shares common values. but he said history is hampering the impvement of bilateral and regional ties.

>> the issue of comfort women goes beyond our relations with japan. it was a violation of the human rights of women during war time. this act runs against universal human ideals and what history should be. i demanda japan take responsibl on the issue. some survivors of the battle of okinawa in world war ii refer to it as typhoon of steel. more than 200,000 people died in the fighting. about half of them civilians. every year japanese school children visit the island to learn about war and about peace.

they learn about the fate of youngsters being evacuated from okinaw during the war. the nursery school has been conduct these tours for eight years. the children learn how precious life is. they were very prepared for the trip. teachers had read them stories from picture books about a battle of okinawa, the head master, even small children can grasp the brutality of war if they are taught the right way. >> translator: just being in okinaw inspires children to feel something about war and grasp the idea of peace. not so much in letellectually,

in the heart. >> i witnessed things myself that i will never forget. >> reporter: in o. okinawa, the children listened to a sad story of a little girl. she lost all seven family members in the battle of okinawa. >> i was terrified, a house exploded right in front of me. >> reporter: the children know the girl's story. our teacher had read it to them at their nursery school in kyoto. she makes a surprise appearance. >> translator: were you expecting a small girl? she group, now she is an old woman.

>> translator: why did you have only one eye in the picture book? >> i was terrified during the war, always afraid i would be killed. i couldn't keep both my eyes open to see what was going on. that's why the book shows me with only one eye. >> translator: how did you feel when your sisters and your daddy and mommy died? >> translator: heartbreaken. the dead never come back to life. i wondered what i could do to make the war go away. >> reporter: hearing about the girl losing her family made me sad. i don't want any more wars because i don't want them to kill anyone ever again. >> the children will become first graders next year.

they say they hate war. i just wish the whole world could have everlasting peace. >> even though they are so young, the children now have a stronger sense and they can understand the brutality of war. opposition fighters in syria are looking out around and above and they face threats every day from all sides, from government snipers, tanks, and fighter jets, but the rebels claim they are holding their ground. even strengthening their base of power. nhk world's josho watanabe has crossed the border into turkey into one town under rebel control. >> reporter: that is a small syrian town five kilometers south of the turkish border. it lies north of aleppo. the scene of heavy fighting

between the rebels and regime forces. rebels seized this house last month after a string of bloody street battles. traces of fighting can be seen everywhere. burned down gas stations, fronts damaged by shells and abandoned homes. this is the place where the fiercest battle erupted. in front of destructed mosque, there remains several tanks and armored vehicles burned down. children smile as they pose on top of the tank, but life for residents is a continuous struggle. food and gasoline are scarce. many people line up in front of shop run by the rebel forces. it provides bread at half the market price. >> translator: there's no food or gasoline, and i have no job.

>> translator: i want the assad regime to go and syria to become a safe place. >> reporter: rebels set up a makeshift checkpoint and keep a close eye on intruders. they say the residents who fled are coming back, but as many as 20,000 have yet to return. rebels may have won the battle in this enclave, but for residents, the fight for survival continues. josho watanabe, nhk world, azaz in northern syria. u.s. officials have asked the chinese counterparts to end the fighting.

they want bashar al assad to comply with their six-point peace plan negotiated with former envoy kofi annan. >> hope is that the chinese will do what they can andfluence the end the violence and come back and come into compliance with kofi's six points which the chinese also signed up to. >> china and russia vetoed security council resolution last month that would have imposed sanctions on the assad administration. annan resigned earlier this month complaining about a lack of support from major powers. u.s. and chinese delegates met in beijing for talks on the middle east issues. the former prime minister of syria says the government is falling apart. riyad hijab is the highest ranking official ever to defect. he says the assad government is crumbling under the pressure of the fighting. hijab is now in jordan. he says forces loyal to assad's control no more than 30% of syrian territory.

he said the regime is collapsing, morally, materially, and financially. hijab stressed the need to stop the bloodshed. he urged senior officials to break away from the assad regime. hijab served as prime minister until earlier this month. he quit the government and fled to jordan with his family with the support of anti-government forces. assad has appointed wael al halki in place of hijab. officials with the united nations refugee agency say more and more syrians have fled the country. aid workers with the u.n. high commissioner for refugees have registered more than 150,000 syrians who have crossed the border into neighboring countries. unhcr officials say the number of people escaping into turkey has doubled since last week. about 10,000 have fled in the past four days alone. turkey has taken in the largest number of refugees, about 60,000. jordan has 46,000 and lebanon 37,000.

aid workers estimate the actual figure may exceed 200,000 once they finish registering all those on the run. they say turkey and lebanon cannot accept any more. the agency plans to set up new refugee camps with cooperation from other countries. "the new york times" company named bbc executive mark thompson as its new ceo. the media group has been without anyone at the helm since december. thompson is 55 years old. he has been the british broadcaster's director general since 2004. he oversaw improvement in web based services, past tv shows available online. he cut costs to boost the bbcs financial standing. "the new york times" chairman, said thompson was the ideal candidate for the job.

he said executives there want to grow their business through digital and global expansion. the national daily began charging digital subscription fees last year to make up for falling advertising revenues. the newspaper faces a raft of challenges amid the economic slowdown and shift away from traditional news sources. thompson will have his work cut out for him as he pushes forward with restructuring at the u.s. media group. some japanese innovators are trying to find a new source of power in ocean currents. they want to develop more stable alternatives to solar and wind energy, affected by weather conditions. the people at machinery maker, ihi corporation are joining hand with researchers at university of tokyo. they plan to set up a propeller to convert the energy of ocean currents into electricity. the propeller 40 momenteeters i diameter. they will start testing in a

large tank and help to put what they learn to commercial use in 2020. >> it's very difficult to build a device for an environment like the ocean. but we am to overcome the obstacles by relying on our experience in building vessels and marine structures. >> other firms have set similar goals. the people at the engineering and ship building want to tap power of waves by using buoys floating on the surface. and engineers want to develop a propeller based system of their own. they will use power of water currents at the bottom of the ocean. fashion retailer has more than 1,000 stores worldwide from fifth avenue in new york to shanghai. its founder hopes to make it the world's number one retailer within the next decade. nhk world's reporter spoke with him about how he plans to achieve that goal.

>> reporter: for yanai, dominating the asian market is the key to uniqlo's key to the bid to become the biggest retailer in the world. that is despite a recent economic slowdown in china and other asian countries. >> reporter: we plan to open 1,000 stores in china and another 1,000 in the rest of asia within the next ten years. we're already seeing a power shift from europe and the u.s. to asia. the age of asia has no doubt arrived. this trend will continue. this may not be so obvious in the short term but in the medium to long term we will see a huge jump in asian growth. >> reporter: labor costs rising in china, how will that affect uniqlo's business model and quality of fashion? >> translator: even though labor

costs are rising in china and production efficiency is still better there than any other country. at the same time, china is a major consumer of goods. the standard of living is on the rise. domestic demand is growing and we want to be part of that market. >> reporter: yanai also confirmed plans to launch production in myanmar. the nation is considered to be asia's final frontier. >> translator: myanmar is also a very good market. it's been under military rule.

made in myanmar products used to evoke a negative reaction and could not be sold in the u.s. or europe. now that myanmar is on the road to democracy, i think we can start making our products there. >> reporter: bringing gu, uniqlo's sister brand, into asia is another reason to bring it into the region. the label is only sold in japan. >> translator: we have plans to bring gu to asia in the near future. the products are half the price of uniqlo's and are considered affordable even within asia. they are basic and fashionable. we want to refine the brand further. we believe it is suitable for the asian market and will be well received by consumers. >> reporter: and within the next decade, yanai is determined to make uniqlo the number one global fashion retailer. how confident are you of achieving that goal? >> translator: it's not so much about having the confidence to achieve this goal or not. but rather we have to take up this challenge as a company. many japanese companies have

lost that spirit of challenge. regardless of the chance of success, our mission is to continue betting on the future or there will be no future to speak of. people across northeastern japan have dealt withdraw ma of the march 11th disaster in their own way. one young woman tells the story of survivors. >> this manga shows what victims went through in the disaster and how they are trying to recover. the author based the stories on actual conversations with survivors. mihoku, a graduate student, is the story teller.

she started posting the manga on her blog so readers understood the victims' ordeal. >> mom? someone? anyone? please help me. my mother's down here. >> her blog caused a sensation. she published a book. an english version followed so people around the world knew about the tragedy. she volunteered to help clean up the hard-hit town. she spoke with disaster survivors about what they feel and about their future. >> translator: i thought about what i could do to stop people forgetting about what happened in tohoku.

i decided to draw a manga that tells the story of each victim. >> she wrote "my hometown, field of cole." it's about a man who clears debris along the river side to plant cole flowers. he wants the blossoms to encourage people not to give up. >> i'm not doing anything extraordinary, but if i can clean up this whole place, i hope i can get everyone to smile again. if the town is covered by pretty cole flowers, smiles would return to people's faces. >> she returned to the area on may 11th. the area overflowed with color.

after hearing about the man's passion, volunteers helped plant the flowers. >> translator: how are you? you look well. >> once again, she found the man. his name is kaneyama. >> the flowers are a symbol of everyone's love and cooperation. one day, a field of cole. >> the dream came true. >> yes. if we wish hard enough, dreams do come true. >> the field of flowers became a place where survivors heal. after returning to tokyo, she put together another story about kaneyama's field of flowers.

she says she feels for the people waiting for the recovery. >> translator: one year isn't enough time. i want to tell my readers that recovery efforts are going much slower than we imagined and it will take longer. >> people should never forget the disaster, nor let it defeat them. she hopes to continue telling her inspiring stories about the survivors' recovery and hope. time now to check the weather world forecast. here is sayaka mori. >> the korean peninsula and japan are in the path of a series of low-pressure systems. yesterday, heavy rain pounded western japan, triggered serious floods and landslides. still some areas are experiencing brief, heavy showers, because ample moisture

continues to flow in from the south. now, today the heavy rain, now the next storm system is battering the korean peninsula. some areas has received over 240 millimeters of rain over the past 24 hours. and more rain, rain will be coming down, thunderstorms and gusty wind are also expected for the next couple of days. it look s like north korea shoud get drier by tomorrow. south korea will remain very stormy as we head into tomorrow. the total rainfall could reach 400 millimeters in some areas. the frontal system will also affect japan as we head into tonight. the region may see 100 millimeters of rain over the next 24 hours. and more rain is anticipated afterward. the rest of japan, getting drier. but as i mentioned some pop-up thundershowers and brief heavy showers are possible during the afternoon and evening hours. down towards the south, some

where else, has been dealing with heavy rain, producing strong wind and drenching rains. gusts over 50 kilometers an hour are blowing over within this yellow circle. it is expected to move toward the northwest and move south of taiwan, for the next couple of days. and reach southern china as a severe tropical storm status by friday morning. local time. and wind of over 90 kph are expected. mainly in the province from late thursday. in terms of precipitation, as much as 200 millimeters of rain has been recorded along the coast of, along the west coast of the philippines over the past 24 hours. it looks le s like more heavy r will be coming down as the system moves towards the northwest. and later on, lots of heavy rain will pound southern china.

floods and landslides are going to beep a very big concern. heading into the america's, widespread thundershowers from eastern canada down to the southern plains, will slowly make its way towards the east. and we will have a risk of severe weather in the coastal areas of the middle atlantic and carolinas on your wednesday. but out towards the west, weep ha -- we have got a low pressure system in the midwest earn states and central canada. conditions will turn severe wednesday. to the west, dry, wendy. conditions are ideal for wildfires, mainly in the northern rockies. highs remaining very hot in los angeles. getting up to 41 and 43 in phoenix. finally, let's go over to europe. massive cloud are blanketing across the british isles and western continent, bringing stormy weather. that in contrast, staying dry through the mediterranean countries. out towards the east this low-pressure system is weakening

up, but stormy weather, should stay and unstaeble weather will continue throughout the day. temperatures are way below average. and 17 degrees expected that is 7 degrees lopwer than average. here is the extended forecast.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ that's all for now on this edition of newsline. i'm yuko aotani in tokyo. thank you very much for watching.