dependence on china and renew their ties with japan as a counterbalance. japan's economy is also, of course, tightly linked to the u.s. economically and through their joint security alliance. for russia, any new framework with japan could drive a wedge in the alliance between japan and the u.s. there have been signs of improvement in relations since prime minister abe came into power, but russian leaders are demanding japan make concessions. so the russians will try to push for compromises from japan, while promoting dialogues for that new framework. >> reporter: the two sides have gone without a peace treaty for decades. prime minister abe has warned that there's no magic wand to settle the dispute, but he hopes that by talking, they can find some common ground.

a south korean court ordered a japanese company to compensate citizens who were sensed to japan as labor in world war ii. this is 68 years after the end of the war. a district court upheld the plaintiff's claims against mitsubishi heavy industries. four former workers and a family member representing deceased relatives are seeking compensation for hard labor at a factory in nagoya. they were brought there in 1944. the court ruled the individuals retained their right to demand redress. it ordered the firm to pay about $140,000 each to the workers and $75,000 to the family member. this is the third such case after two south korean courts in july supported former workers' claims against japanese companies nippon steel and mitsubishi heavy industries.

>> translator: i've shed my life shedding tears of sorrow, but today i shed tears of joy. >> japanese courts turned down other requests made by south korean workers citing a 1965 agreement that normalized bilateral ties. south korea's supreme court ruled in may last year that individual laborers still retained the right to seek redress. the two japanese firms appealed the rulings. south korea's supreme court is set to make its final decision by year end. analysts expect the claims will be upheld. >> translator: we are keeping close contact with relevant japanese firms to deal with this problem. they saw the government stance that they issue individual property rights was resolved in the 1965 agreement. >> south korean government officials have yet to state their position on the series of rulings. populous, prosperous,

pushing ahead, china's rise brought it wealth, power and problems. an income gap divide its people. pollution threatens their health and disputed seas strain relations with its neighbors. find out the challenges china faces on "newsline." a top chinese security official has branded a recent deadly vehicle crash near tiananmen square as a terrorist attack, and he says a separatist group calling for independence for the minority uighurs was behind it. a sports utility vehicle went off the road on monday, veered into a crowd of terrorists and crashed and burst into flames. all three people in the suv were killed, along with two tourists. investigators have detained five suspects. meng jianzhu is the secretary of the central politics and law commission of the communist party. >> translator: a terrorist group called the east turkistan islamic movement is behind this act of terror.

>> meng is the first senior chinese official to point the finger at the group. and he signaled that authorities will crack down on its activities. ilham tohti is a beijing-based academic and advocate for uighur rights. he is critical of the government's argument. >> translator: the authorities don't have enough evidence and it's irresponsible to reach such a hasty conclusion. >> tohti says that if the chinese government resorts to force, it will likely only provoke the uighurs even more. the parents of one of the suspects in the vehicle told nhk their son had nothing to do with it. the family live in the autonomous region and are convinced their son is innocent.

>> i don't think he knows anything about the incident. >> translator: my son is not the kind of person who would do something like that. i guarantee he's innocent. >> the parents say he is the sixth of their seven children. they say he graduated from a local high school then moved in 2003 to the regional capital. they say he was involved in trade with russia. the couple say police came to their house on the day the car crashed near tiananmen square. an official later told them a vehicle involved in the case was registered in their son's name. >> translator: my son helped me all the time. he's a sweet boy. he would never get involved in such an incident. i'm very worried about his situation. >> his mother says she has a bad heart and fears she may never

see her son again. taiwan's chief prosecutor has been indicted for allegedly leaking secrets about a political rival to president ma ying-jeou. the case could deal a serious blow to ma. the president's support rate has recently plunged to around 10%. district prosecutors on friday filed charges against the prosecutor general huang shyh-ming. he is accused of providing the president with confidential information on parliamentary speaker wang jin-pyng. it was allegedly obtained through a wiretap. wang had been facing allegations that he pressured prosecutors not to appeal the acquittal of a prominent opposition lawmaker. president ma cited the allegation when he urged the speaker to step down. the case is regarded as a power struggle between the president and the speaker. the presidential office released a comment saying it will respect any legal decision on the case. but people in taiwan say they're fed up with the political squabbling between the ruling and opposition parties.

the u.s. ambassador to syria has urged anti-government forces there to negotiate an end to the conflict. he wants the rebels to attend a proposed international peace meeting. but opposition leaders say they won't attend unless president bashar al assad steps down. robert ford spoke at the senate foreign relations committee. he said syria's civil war is deadlocked with fighting among government troops, anti-government forces and foreign islamic militants. the united states and russia are trying to arrange a conference in geneva to find a political solution. >> the syrian opposition has a role to play here. it needs to tell other syrians not only what it rejects but also what it proposes in terms of a reasonable alternative to the existing assad regime. >> the united states is backing the opposition forces while russia supports the assad government. more than 100,000 people have died during 2 1/2 years of fighting in syria.

the most vulnerable victims of the war are the children. emergency coordinators at the united nations children's fund are warning of a lost generation. nhk world's mitsuko nishikawa has this report. >> reporter: three million children inside syria are affected by the civil war. unicef says many lack safe drinking water, health care and education. two out of three children have had to leave school. more than a million have fled the country with their families, two out of five of those children have no access to education. cases of polio have been reported in the country's eastern province. the head of unicef's emergency coordination says they have just started an immunization campaign but they don't know if they can

>> the most urgent right now is to access those children both inside syria and subregion with health services, making sure those health services can go crossline to reach children wherever they are. >> reporter: with increasingly fractious opposition groups dividing the country, the number of children with no access to outside support is on the rise. but the apparently successful mission of u.n. chemical weapons inspectors inside syria has given some hope to humanitarian aid groups, including unicef. >> the importance of advocating with those with influence on the parties to the conflict, to allow access for humanitarian aid workers, the chemical weapons inspection team that have been able to access 18 sites inside syria for the purpose of chemical weapons inspection. we as humanitarian need the same access.

there's a population trapped in downtown homs, in downtown aleppo, in parts of rural damascus that need our support now. if it's accessible to the chemical weapons inspection team, it should be accessible to humanitarian workers. >> reporter: chaiban says the international community should also be aware of the long-term consequences of the conflict. he says a chronic crisis is unfolding. >> if we don't take steps now to get them back into school, the 2 million children i mentioned that have dropped out inside syria, 500,000 outside syria, then they will not be in a position to help rebuild the country in the future when they become the adults of the future. it's extremely important that we do everything possible today to focus not only on life-saving needs, which are critical, but also on education and protection so that we don't have a lost

generation. >> reporter: unicef has started a back-to-school campaign for children in and out of syria. chaiban says providing school education for all syrian children must be a goal, even amid the conflict. he calls for all sides to exempt schools from violence, creating a safe haven for children that need a sense of normalcy. mitsuko nishikawa, nhk world, tokyo. the u.s. secretary is to

visit the daiichi plant. he inspected equipment there including wells used to monitor the spread of underground contamination and pumps for removing radioactive water close to the ocean. he said u.s. energy department researchers are working on technologies to contain contaminated water and they might be of help. they agreed to beef up technical cooperation in five fields. >> translator: we have many obstacles to overcome at fukushima daiichi such as the decommissioning and removal of used fuel rods. we're encouraged to be able to work together. >> tepco is still working on ways to identify exactly where radioactive water is leaking from and to keep track of the movement of contaminated ground water. japanese are reaching out to people in another country that suffered a nuclear catastrophe. they are joining hands with

ukrainians to help them in their struggle to recover. nhk world has the story. >> reporter: this is the number for reactor of the nuclear power plant. in 1986, the reactor was blown apart triggering a radioactive disaster that still continues. 27 years have passed, but radiation levels are still high around the plant. the ukrainian government is constructing a new dome-like structure to cap off the aging reactor. many people remain unable to return home. in august, japan's foreign minister visited the site. japan wants to build cooperation with ukraine as it fights to recover from its own 2011

fukushima nuclear crisis. >> translator: japan is learning much from what ukrainians experienced after the accident. >> reporter: as the two countries strengthen diplomatic ties, their citizens are also moving closer. the chernobyl national museum in ukraine's capital kiev is dedicated to the nuclear disaster. a special exhibition about the fukushima disaster is also on display. >> transtor: we are always open to people who think about and pray for fukushima. i hope this is going to be a place to share those feelings. >> reporter: the exhibition was coordinated by japanese and ukrainians. more than 130 items are on display including newspaper articles and pictures taken by

locals in devastated areas. one picture shows japanese children wearing masks at the opening ceremony of the school year. a radiation map shows the extent of the contamination around the nuclear plant. many people visited the exhibition to learn about fukushima. >> translator: i feel each picture is very important for the ukrainians to see them and know the truth. >> reporter: ukrainians bristle with the aftermath of their own disaster. this national hospital is treating about 120 children aged 2 to 18. they come from the contaminated areas and their family members have worked at the chernobyl plant.

some suffer congenital defects. others have leukemia. >> i want to be a lawyer. >> i want to be a doctor. >> reporter: this doctor says they cannot afford to buy new medical equipment. some devices are more than 25 years old and an important gift was delivered from japan last month. a brand-new blood analyzer. it is used to detect signs of leukemia. the japanese organized the donation of this equipment from japan. the hospital doctors are delighted with the gift. >> translator: the device is portable so we can take it to contaminated areas and give the children there high quality testing. we appreciate the gift so much. >> reporter: japan and ukraine are still facing challenges in their struggle to recover, but

those challenges are also bringing people together in a shared hope for a better future. nhk world. in japan is making waves with apparel that combines cutting-edge style with traditional dyeing techniques. sata has a passion to preserve a time-honored craft and bring it to a global audience. ♪ >> reporter: her last collection was one of the main attractions at this year's tokyo fashion week. >> translator: people really complimented my designs, saying that they have both china's boldness and japan's subtly. maybe because i've spent half my

life in china and half in japan. i want to preserve the subtly while also adding new actions and bo ideas. >> reporter: sarah was born and raised in beijing and is married to a japanese man. she came to japan in 1988 to study traditional japanese dance. sarah was enchanted by the subtle colors of the kimonos the dancers wore. to learn more about how the colors were created, thee visited traditional dyeing workshops around japan. sarah learned the industry is in decline as fewer people are taking up the dyers' time-honored craft. >> translator: it would be really sad if this craft disappeared. good things can't be made simply in one or two days. i began to wonder if there was

something i could do. >> reporter: she came up with the idea reviving classic dyeing techniques by using them in her designs. in 2008, she launched her own brand featuring colors and motifs inspired by japanese tradition. her unique designs with their eastern feel made a big splash last year when she debuted at the paris collection. she wants to make clothes combining traditional craftsmanship with the latest digital technology. an inkjet printer is used to achieve a subtle degraduation of colors on the fabric. she is working with a kyoto fabric-dyeing factory with a rich history. a craftsman with more than 50 years of experience applies the finishing touches. he draws a sunflower on the fabric using a hand printing tenique. the dyer makes a frame for each

color and soaks them into the fabric one by one. >> translator: this is incredible. when the hand printing is nearly done, it creates a sense of three-dimensi three-dimensionality. the heart of the crafts person is reflected in the work. it looks like a living thing. it looks like it's going to start talking. >> reporter: it was finally time for tokyo fashion week. arai showed several designs combining 21st century digital technology with traditional dyeing techniques. the kyoto craftsman who worked with arai was in the audience. >> translator: i was surprised. it was wonderful. i didn't think it would be so great. >> translator: one thing i can say for sure is that i'm not supporting crafts people.

in fact, they're supporting me. >> reporter: with one eye on the future and one eye on the past, arai is pursuing her goal of becoming a world-renowned designer. >>. >> let's take a look at the weekend weather forecast.

that is all this hour on

"newsline." i'm ross mihara in tokyo. thank you for watching and have a good day.

tavis: good evening. from los angeles, i am tavis smiley. tonight, a conversation with two of the founding members of tower of power. over the years, they have toured constantly and released more than 20 albums. their latest is called "hipper than hip." it features the or and section that defines their distinctive sound. tower ofation with power, coming up right now.

>> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. asis: tower of power started . cover band they became the back bone of the driving mourn sound that came to define twoer of -- tower of power. their latest album is a double

disc set called "hipper than hip." is is from the 40th anniversary cd. it's called "what is hip?" ♪ ♪ tavis: still sounding good, man. still sounding good.

whatever happened to the bands with the great worn sections? >> were there that many? tavis: more than there are today. >> that's true. i guess they gave up. less music in the schools, there are fewer horn players coming out. guys want to play guitar and synthesizer. link -- ihink that think you are right about that. it is a serious indictment. what kills me is that the data is so clear on what music education does for children all the way around. not just for their tone or there is a, but the performance in the key subject areas. >> math and science, we can use

some mathematicians. clearly in m children. my wife homeschools. we got them into music and immediately, all of their subjects got better. unfortunately, it means everything and one of the first things to go as the music program. -- is the music program. tavis: why did you choose to homeschool? >> we are church people. we are believers. we wanted to make sure that our .hildren were specially guided you don't get that in schools. good at it.ery i don't think it is for everybody. if you are not good, you can hire other people to help you do it.