members of kyushu will dereact a plant. they say it would be too expensive to upgrade reactors. they had relatively small output. the government introduced tougher regulations after the fukushima accident in 2011. all nuclear reactors in japan are offline. while the people who run kyushu plan to scrub one reactor, they are looking to restart another. the plant in southern japan could be up and running as early as june. the nuclear regulation authority approved equipment designed for the number one reactor. it involved earthquake and susan am yip resistance. the utility must apply for nra site inspection. that process could take more than two months considering how long the reactor has been idle. the plants number one and two reactors became the first to clear the new tougher regulations in september. >>> japan's prime minister is keeping tight lipped about the statement that will attract close interest from people around the world. shinzo abe is preparing to issue a declaration to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of world war ii but he says it won't help to comment on matter

. >> reporter: it's the same story for his high school in oita on kyushu island.any former students attended the closing ceremony. >> translator: we are very proud of our school. all of you graduates have built traditions before us. >> reporter: japan's declining birth rate is taking a toll on schools. government statistics indicate that over the last 30 years, more than 5,800 public schools have closed. this one in the city of sua in nagano is the heart of the community. the they came to take a group photo. >> translator: i will miss them greatly. >> reporter: residents see the closures as symbolic of their shrinking communities. but they hope the future of these children will be bright. nhk world. >>> now let's go back to sayaka mori for some other weather updates around the world. sayaka? >> yes, miki. spring is actually severe weather season for many parts of the united states, because this is the time of year when we see cold wintry air coming in and warm air from the south, so these air masses are colliding into each other. and active weather is happening ac

. >> reporter: it's the same story for this high schoolita on kyushu island.rmer students attended the closing ceremony. >> translator: we are very proud of our school. all of you graduates have built traditions before us. >> reporter: japan's declining birth rate is taking a toll on schools. government statistics indicate that over the last 30 years more than 5,800 public schools have closed. and nurseries are no exception either. >> mama. >> reporter: this one in the city of suwa in nagano is the heart of the community. people came to take a group photo. >> translator: i will miss them greatly. >> reporter: residents see the closures as symbolic of their shrinking communities. but they hope the future of these children will be bright. emi yonezu, nhk world. >>> officials with the maritime self-defense force have added a new piece of equipment to their arsenal. they've taken deliver yif japan's largest ever destroyer. nhk world's mitsiko mishikawa has the story. >> reporter: sdf commanders held a ceremony to mark the delivery of the new ship called the qismo.

quush yue has kyushu has been seeing the heavy rainfall and that's pulling into much of japan including as well. the system over toward the korean peninsula is now bringing 20 centimeters of snowfall to the northern areas of the korean peninsula. and snow will also cover much of northern japan. the rain will be coming in in tokyo starting the evening hours today. and as for the forecast, looking at some clearing skies on tuesday. a very short break break because we have another round of snowfall on wednesday and then blizzard conditions will be coming back for you on thursday. so the visibility will be near zero again. tokyo, though a jump from 10 degrees to 18 degrees on wednesday. little bit of a fall again on the latter half of the week. beijing will be on a warming trend, but shanghai on the other hand 14 degrees down to just 7 degrees on your wednesday. now a quick look here in the americas. the new england states are going to be expecting another round of winter storms. we're actually looking at some ridge of this high pressure system pulling in that moisture. so freezing rain wil

two other utilities, kyushu electric and chugoku electric are expected to decide on wednesday to scrap two of their older reactors. all nuclear reactors in japan are currently offline. scrapping the reactors will produce radioactive waste. japan's industry minister said the operators need to prepare to deal with it. >> translator: utilities need to make progress on disposing of nuclear waste. i urge them to secure disposal sites. >> the reactors are all relatively small. each of them is expected to produce up to about 6,000 tons of waste. but there is currently nowhere in japan to store it. >>> the people in charge of the fukushima daiichi plant are reporting another setback. they've been preparing to begin work this month to build an ice wall around the damaged reactor buildings, but the project has become delayed. and will start next month instead. officials with tokyo electric power company plan to freeze about 1.5 kilometers of underground soil around the reactor building. they hope the barrier will keep groundwater from becoming contaminated by radioactive substances inside. offic

. >> the plant's pop rater kyushu electric power plant to start loading fuel into the reactor in june restart in early july. >>> now time now for our meteorologist jonathan oh to fill us in on what's happening in world weather. >> we're talking about the strong storms and it looks like we're going to see even more powerful activity as we continue on throughout the next day or so. because we have a cold front that is sweeping through the central portions of the country. and as that continues to push toward the east we're going to see the strong storms taking place in the central portions of europe. and because of that we are looking at the possibility of some severe weather. gusts up to 160 kilometers per hour. especially down toward the alps where we're going to see that with snow up to 140 centimeters possible and some isolated tornadoes also in the picture. the moisture continues to push toward the east and then we'll have another swing of moisture moving into northwestern portions of europe. down to the south, some rain as we continue on in to monday. look athens with a high of 19.

two other utilities, chugoku electric power company and kyushu electric power company, plan to decidednesday to scrap two of their dated reactors. currently all of japan's commercial nuclear reactors remain offline. >>> officials in vanuatu are counting the cost of a powerful cyclone that hit last week. cyclone pam tore through the south pacific islands on friday and saturday. u.n. officials say 24 people were confirmed killed and 3,300 have been displaced. emergency officials say they sent a helicopter to one of the worst-hit islands to assess the damage. they say about 80% of the buildings have collapsed. >> it washed away everything. and all my iron. everything is gone. >> oh, very frightening. you just don't know whether you'll face another day. >> rescue workers are being hampered by floods. many areas are still cut off by fallen branches and damaged roads. the governments of australia and new zealand have sent military personnel to help with the relief work. they are flying in water and medicine. the japanese government is sending a team to assess what specific aid is needed. >>