katsuhiro otomo is the person behind the cartoon "akira."the prestigious award was announced at the international comics festival in central france. the prize was accepted on his behalf by a member of his publishing firm. the 60-year-old otomo made his debut in 1973. his series akira depicts life in post ack apocalyptic tokyo. otomo is the first japanese to ever be givethe lifetime achievement award. >> translator: to have a major prize-winner from japan is proof that we are capable of increasing mutual understanding between different cultures. >> mondu says such understanding is needed more than ever, following the recent attack on the french weekly, "charlie hebdo". otomo said in a statement he was surprised at winning the prize, and it'll encourage him to produce better comics. >>> and next, here's the three-day outlook on the world's weather. >>> and that's all for now on this edition of "newsline." i'm raja pradhan in tokyo. and from all of us at nhk world thanks for joining us. >> garrison keillor: maxine kumin lives on a farm in new h

katsuhiro otomo is the person behind akira. the prestigious award was renounced at the international comics festival in central france. the prize is accepted on his behalf by a member of his publishing firm. the 60-year-old otomo made his debut in 1973. his series akira depicts life in a post-apocalyptic tokyo. otomo is the first japanese to ever have been given the lifetime achievement award. >> translator: to have a major prize winner from japan is proof that we are capable of increasing mutual understanding between different cultures. >> he says such understanding is needed more than ever following the recent attack on the french weekly "charlie hebdo." in a statement otomo said he was surprised at winning the prize, and that it will encourage him to produce better comics. >>> heavy snow and icy winds hit the british isles. making for traffic disruptions. our meteorologist sayaka mori joins us for the details. sayaka? >> yes, gene people in the british isles experienced the wintry mess on thursday. strong winds, and heavy sn

japan's minister in charge of tpp talks akira amari said last week that the key too progress is finding common ground with the u.s. >> translator: it is important to create an environment for the 12 member countries to hold a ministerial meeting by early spring. >> the japanese government aims to conclude the tpp deal by the spring. >>> china's trade surplus hit a new high there 2014 topping $300 billion for the first time. soaring exports of steel and smartphones to the united states and southeast asia drove up the surplus. customs officials say the trade balance for last year was in the black by about $382.5 billion. exports rose just over 6% from the chief year so about 2.3 trillion. imports rose just 0.4% to nearly $2 trillion. imports of automobile related items grew but they were offset by a fall in crude oil and other resource prices. the united states has long criticized china for keeping its currency undervalued. the new figures are likely to increase pressure on beijing to raise the value of the yuan. >>> and that is going to do it for biz tonight. i'll leave you with the mark

former house and labor minister akira nagatsuma, former party secretary-general goshi hosono. and acting president katsuya okada all say they'll revive the party. they say they'll counter abe's giant ruling coalition in the diet. >> translator: people desperately want a stable strong and large political party that could take over from the liberal democratic party. the dpj must respond to that demand. >> translator: unfortunately we have lost the people's trust. i consider this election the last chance to revive the dpj. and i vow to rebuild it. >> reporter: the dpj became the ruling party for the first time ever in 2009. but the party faced with a major setback after abe's liberal democratic party and its junior coalition komeito won back the power in 2012. in last month's lower house election, the dpj gained 73 seats. that's 11 more than its pre-election strength but still fell way short of reaching a majority. even outgoing dpj president banri kay he'd today could not secure his seat. he announced immediately after the results that he would step down. >> translator: voters w