watanabe made it possible to produce the earphones for a low price using inexpensive parts called electric >> translator: when electricity is applied, it vibrates, like this. >> the components generate high-pitch sounds through vibrations. they are utilized for the ultrasonic sensors in fish finders. electric ceramics were once widely used in speakers for mobile phones, before smartphones became available. however, they have one measure of weakness. they cannot easily produce bass sounds so they haven't been used in recent years. originally, watanabe was involved in the research and development of electric ceramics at a major manufacturer. so, he knew a lot about this component. therefore, he decided to limit the audio range of the ceramics to the high-pitched sounds and supplement the low end with other parts. this way, could maintain high quality, while keeping costs down. >> translator: i think it's important for small to medium-sized businesses to focus on the one thing they can do that major companies cannot beat them on. >> a company with only five employees beats their bigger rivals

watanabe yuriko, nhk world. >>> it's time for a check on the weather with our meteorologist jonathanh. it's been cloudier here in tokyo on friday. will we be seeing rain for the weekend? >> hello. it looks like we're going to be dealing with some clouds in tokyo as we go into saturday, but most of the rain will be located toward the western and central portions of japan, particularly on the pacific side of the country. the reason why is because we have this little frontal boundary. you might notice the clouds here moving up toward the north. that's bringing with it some moisture and also some warmer weather as well. as we go through saturday, anywhere from kyushu over into places like the kinki region, like osaka, you'll be dealing with some rain, so have umbrellas nearby. as we go toward sunday, things will start to dry out. the exception will be to the north where we'll be dealing with maybe some snow. we'll have another system moving through hokkaido. that's going to bring a chance for snow into sapporo sunday into monday. tokyo, i wouldn't rule out a sprinkle or two, but mainly g

hiroshi watanabe still with us.ou look at the trade deal signed over the weekend, the parsec -- rcep. are you seeing in a biden administration more of a willingness for the u.s. to return to these multilateral deals and institutions and agreements? we are not sure who will be the next u.s. president but mr. biden has expressed his views to coming back to the multilateral agreements. there is some anxiety for the who operations. the government to government coordination will be possible with biden. readyk japan is very much to join the good coordination with other nations. given how difficult it was for the bank of japan, for policymakers to get back to a non-regressive dynamic, when it comes to price inflation in japan, how much of a psychological dent does the pandemic create when it comes to this pursuit of trying to get that 2% target? >> i'm not 100% supporting the boj policies. the 2% target is very much a in 2013. the 2% inflation is not expected to have the realization. 1% of then, around inflation will be ke