this hour we'll focus on what's happening with the fukushima daiichi nuclear plants. they're 200 kilometers northeast of tokyo. it suffered one of the most nuclear accidents in history after being hit by a quake and tsunami. workers are still working to contain the high levels of radiation and contaminated water. nhk world explained earlier about what happened and about the efforts to demission the fukushima daiichi plant. >> can you get us up to speed about what's gone on since the plant since the disaster. >> this is a model of the plant. it's facing the ocean and it caused reaction to four reactor buildings in the facilities. three of them were damaged by hydrogen explosions and reactor 1, 2, and 3 suffered melt downs. to cool the reactors water needed to be pumped in. they are still pumping water in today and when it goes inside it gets contaminated. that water is then processed and kept in storage tanks. there's around 1,000 of them but what to do with all of that contaminated water has not been decided. what's more there's also underground water coming down in t

insusurers like daiichi life holdings posted hefty gains.next week all eyes will be on the fed meeting on the 14th and 15th. market players will be looking for hints from policy makers of more hikes this year than originally thought so we'll be keeping a close eye on that. jo >>> in south korea the court's upholding of the president's impeachment had little effect on stocks or the country's currency. the kospi ended up .3%. 2, 097 there. property shares rose after the government said it will ease some restrictions on the real estate market. the overall picture in the region was mixed. the shanghai composite fell for a third day, side nye's s&p was up 0.6%. japanese business leaders have reacted to the decision by south korean judges to confirm president park's impeachment. the head of japan association of corporate executives said he is watching the unprecedented impeachment with interest. he said he hopes south korea will return to political stability quickly, so the two countries canan improve their security and e economic ties. the chairm

. >>> some big changes are in store for the board room of the company that operates the fukushima daiichi nuclear plant. tokyo electric power company is planning on moving ahead with business reforms. the government owns a majority of shares in tepco giving it effective control. the company faces a decades' long task of decommissiononing e meltdown reactors and payinin compensatition. sources say goverernment officis aree now putting the finishihin touchess on a play to replace chairman fumio sudo. taking his place will be takashi kawamura. president naomi hirose will become vice chairman and will focus on efforts to revitalize fukushima prefecture. tomoakaki kobayakawa will bee taking over his job. they plan to hold a board meeting as early as friday to approve the new lineup. >>> let's check your global economic calendar for this week. toshiba has called an extraordinary shareholders meeting for thursday. executives will be seeking approval for spinning off their flash memory business. on the same day, u.s. officials release the final reading of gdp growth for the october through decemb

. >>> a robotic survey begins on saturday inside the number one reactor of the damaged fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant. tokyo electric power company will send a remote controlled robot into the reactor's containment vessel to check the state of debris. it's a mixture of molten fuel and reactor parts. the material is believed to be under contaminated water at the bottom of the vessel. the utility had planned to start the probe on tuesday but it was called off when images from a camera monitoring the robot could not be seen. it was later found that the cable connecting the camera to the monitor's screen was broken. tepco has replaced the cable and plans a four-day survey to use a camera attached to the probe. >>> a lower court in japan has ordered the government and tokyo electric power company to pay damages to some evacuees of the 2011 nuclear accident. the ruling is the first to order compensation in several suits that are ongoing across the country. 137 evacuees who mainly live in a prefecture northwest of tokyo filed the suit. they were seeking damages for emotional distress suf

six years later, workers at the crippled fukushima daiichi nuclear plant are still struggling to maintainhe radiation, but in the wake of this unprecedented tragedy, new ideas pan initiatives for disaster prevention and recovery are shedding light and hope. don't miss "confronting challenges." >> be sure to watch our special coverage on air or on our website. jonathan oh, joins us with world weather starting with madagascar. >> the biggest concern right now is the powerful w winds and rainfall t that this systetem i going to bring.. we are already seeing the outer edge of the system making its impact felt along the eastern coastline. and that will be the story not only for the day on tuesday but also wednesday and thursday. and i do want to point out, that's not the only system we're watching. we have a tropical d disturbanc ouout over the indian ocean, th will continue to move, not expected to be nearly as powerful as the one we're watching right now, but we'll have to cope keep an eye on tha system. look at the pressure. this thing has exploded, with wind speeds getting close to 200 kil

safety standards havee changed since the fukushima daiichi nuclear accidentt in 2011. westinghouse extendedd the completion datate another four years. the slowdown is partly dueue to the modular c construction meth. the plant is built in sections at factories in other states and assembled at the site. this is meaeant to save time an cut costs, but in this case there was a shortage of workers with the right skills. as onene state official said, t completed modules were below standard. >> they did not meet thehe standards of excellence that either totoshiba o or westingho or the company expected, or tht the nrc would approve. and so they had to be redone. and they were redone on site. >> reporter: complicating the delay were the terms of the contract. when westinghouse signed the deal in 2008, it agreed to cap construcuction costs. any additional expense would be boborn by westinghououse. theeinancial b burden on westinghouse and toshiba multiplied when construction took longer and costs mounted. one expert says management should have seen it coming. >> my guess is it wa

but the accident at fukushima daiichi nuclear plant in 2011 has seen the nuclear power industry fall into a slump. hitachi officials say they're now discussing withdrawing from the business. >>> toshiba officials have been saying they plan to spin off their flash memory chip business to fund a turn around of the struggling electronics maker. now japan's industry minister says government officials would have to check the alal if foreign firms try to buy the business. >> translator: toshiba's flesh memory business is highlhly competitive internationally and it's extremely important from the viewpoint of domestic jobs. information security is expected to make it even more important. >> seiko said if authorities are informed in line with the law of the possible purchase of stocks by foreign firms the government would carefully examine them. he said this would be done from standpoint of national security. >>> the governor of the bank of japan says the institution will continue its current monetary easing policy to end deflation. kuroda wasas giving aa speech i tokyo. he said improvement i

six years later, workers at the crippled fukushima daiichi nuclear plant are still struggling to contain the radiation. but in the wake of this unprecedented tragedy, new ideas and initiatives for disaster prevention and recovery are shedding light and hope. don't miss "confronting challenges." >>> we take to you thailand now, where officials there are moving to restore democracy following the military coup of 2014. they're holding reconciliation talks aimed at mending the political divide before the election scheduled for next year. nhk world reports. >> reporter: nearly three years after ceasing power the military for the first time invited the party that was toppled by the coup. the party is the 35th to join reconciliation talks since this started in mid-february. members of the party were escorted by top defense ministry officials. they're calling on the government to exercise its mediating role with impartiality and independence. discussions behind closed doors lasted over two hours. military negotiators said the meeting proceeded in a positive mood. >> translator: everybody thinks

their town is namie, their house about ten miles from the fukushima daiichi nuclear plant. they grew up here, raised their family and became grandparents here. on march 11, 2011, the earthquake crippled the nuclear power plant. they didn't know how bad things were at the time. they fled right away. >> translator: my family was separated when evacuating. >> reporter: because of radiation, namie was declared a restricted residential zone. the family could visit but were not allowed to live there. they spent the first four months in temporary housing, then had to move again to more permanent housing. about 70 kilometers away from their house. she took up arts and crafts with others from her hometown. >> translator: i'm more positive now but still can't sleep at night, so i do craft work to kill time. >> reporter: since then, the shigas have been traveling to namie every month to check on their house. at the end of this month, authorities will finally lift the restrictions, but they say only about 4% of the city's residents are returning. the reason? radiation fears coupled wit

incentives are offered to some international visitors and it is hoped young people will give fukushima daiichiive the cushion a try. translation: we're doing a special promotion for young people, because they're less worried about fu kushima's reputation. so we invite people aged between 19 and 2a to ski for free. and we're hoping they'll spread the word on social media that fukushima is safe. reassuring people about the region's safety is a big deal here, and the food and water supply is routinely tested. the disaster also prompted groups of volunteers to start monitoring the radiation for themselves. this crowdsourced data is constantly being updated, and anyone can access it, so if you're heading to the area you can take a look. safecast is measuring the radiation ever since the tsunami incident back in 2011. on the car, this is a geiger counter, which includes a gps and a small computer, so what it does is when i drive around it measures the radiation every five seconds and records the location, the time and the level on a sd card inside, then later we read it out on a computer and upload