sam suzuki, nhk world, new york. >>> people in tokyo enjoyed beautiful sunny weather on wednesday but rain and cooooler weather are in the forecast for thursday. our meteorologist sayaka mori joins us now with the details. sayaka? >> yes. we are seeing some pop-up heavy thunderstorms across portions of japan. we saw nearly 100 millimeters of rain in only 1 hour in toyama prefecture. and parts of hiroshima city saw heavy rain. because of that, people were advised to evacuate. we've had beautiful weather in tokyo. the crystal clear skies and pleasant temperatures. but it'll change. rain in the west is expected to move into central japan including tokyo. so tokyo will see rain in the morning and temperatures will drop significantly. 20 degrees is expected on thursday. that's 5 degrees cooler compared to what we saw on wednesday. but nice, warm, sunny weather will likely come back on friday. and it's going to be even warmer as we go into saturday. osaka and fooukuoka will see mo summerlike temperatures. more like summer from friday into the weekend. sapporo will stay quite warm. however,

nhk world's sam suzuki reports. >> hello.ice to meet you. >> hi, nice to meet you. >> reporter: robin lives in massachusetts. on 9/11, her life changed forer. her mother was killed while working for an insurance company at the world trade center. [ sirens ] the attacks s killed nearly 3,3 peoplele. americanans across the country were filled with confusion and anger. in response to the attacks, anti-muslim sentiment and xenophobia spread throughout the united states. she says she too initially felt anger towards the terrorists, but her perspective changed when a friend invited her to an interfaith book club to learn more about islam. she came to understand that radical islamic extremism does not represent the overwhelming majority of muslims in the world. >> how can i throw out billions of people as all having bad intent for what 1% or less did and do? that also doesn't seem fair. >> reporter: she joined a group of family members of 9/11 victims committed to bettering the world and booked speaking engagements throughout the co

sam suzuki, nhk world, new york. >>> commercial space travel is set for another giant leap.a says the first operational flight of a spacex capsule will now launch on halloween. japanese astronaut and three others from nasa will be on board. they will be flown to the international space station for a six-month mission. meanwhile, students in central japan have worked out a way to safely send portions of canned mackerel to the space station. itit heavivily seasoned with so sauce because astronauts experience a diminished sense of taste. and it's made with a sticky starch to keep the liquid from floating where it shouldn'n't. the fish earned d certification from japanan's space agency two years ago. they will travel in a separate spacecraft to the astronauts. hopefully they will say, it tastes out of this world. >>> let's check out the world weather with our meteorologist tsietsi monare. tsietsi, people in the western united states have seen a record number of wild fires this year. they are still dealing with it. how much longer do you think they can survive this? >> it's going

sam suzuki, nhk world, new york. >> and that number has climbed past 5 million. some americans still head out uncovered. face masks have become a political statement. >> how we're at this point as a nation and we still haven't done the simple, easy, minimal step of saying, you must wear a mask when you're in public. >> many residents of new york liststen to their governor's pls and flattened the curve. but many americans resisted those calls. some even suggested t the virus was a hoax. they headed out unprotected, even joined protests against the lockdowns. the virus spread through southern and western states, and still many refused to change their ways. before allll of this, people wod get up, get dressed, then head into work. now they just grab a coffee, then head back the their bedroom or to the couch. they're not sure when they'll return to the office. some may not have an office to return to. nhk world's month month coe niche mow toe explains. >> reporter: on the streets of manhattan in new york city, the bustle is slowly returning as people gradually ease b