japan time at the coast of iwate prefecture. japan's meteorological agency has issued a tsunami advisory along the coastal areas of iwate. please evacuate the area as soon as possible if you're around the area. registered in iwate prefecture, the agency issued tsunami advisories but lifted them at 7:45 a.m. >>> okinawa remembers the end of world war ii. people began to arrive at the peace memorial park at dawn. more than 200,000 people died, including 120,000 civilians. they will reflect the difficulty of passing down the tragedy to the young. >> translator: our lives are based on the sacrifices that were made. i came to pray and remember what their losses mean to us. we must never go to war again. >> prime minister naota kan will attend the ceremony. >>> the operator of the fukushima daiichi power plant is trying to get things under control and there is a race against time. the new water decontamination system was shut down five hours after it went into operation on friday. the utility says a device in the system only exceeded i

the dance is rooted in the cities of ofunato in iwate prefecture. similar folk arts exist in nearby regions. but since the tsunami, people are struggling to revive them. nhk world's lisa komiya has the story. ♪ >> reporter: this man has lived in ofunato for most of his life. the 65-year-old is the leader of a preservation society for a dance for the dead. he takes pride in singing and playing drums for dancers. for years his passion for this traditional art has driven him to perform countless times, but the tsunami washed away almost everything he's worked so hard to build. he says they couldn't find some of the swords and a few other things in the rubble, but he couldn't complain. >> translator: we weren't in a situation to think about folk art. the tsunami had taken away people's lives. >> reporter: despite their setback, local people are hoping furumizu and his group will perform the dance during the august festival when souls of the tsunami victims are expected to return home. >> translator: i want them to dance, especially this august for the v

karabuku ishibuku reports. >> reporter: 92% in hakozaki town were washed away in iwate prefecture. many survivors took refuge outside the town and only 20 residents remain in their community. fisher mann petuhiro nishiyama lost his home and his workplace was reverely damaged. >> translator: i lost everything except my boat. >> reporter: immediately after the big jolt, nishiyama got in his boat and sailed it offshore to protect it from the tsunami. only 8 of the 500 boats belonging to local fishermen survived. nishiyama has mixed feelings about this. >> translator: if i hadn't gone out in my boat, i might have been able to save a few lives. >> reporter: one day, nishiyama, his spirit battered, found the carp streamers in his hometown. he hoisted it at his former elementary school. the japanese word for carp, koi, also means come back. nishiyama thought he could raise more carp streamers to encourage former residents and the spirits of the deceased to come back. but it wasn't easy to find carp streamers in the disaster-hit area. volunteer worker seichi watanabe came forward to help.

on tuesday, find out what a man from iwate prefecture is doing to revitalize a traditional dance after the tsunami nearly washed everything away. we follow him to tokyo as he honors the thousands of japanese who died. wednesday we'll get the behind the scenes story from a japan self-defense force pilot who worked tirelessly to rescue survivors on march 11th. thursday's feature will look at the psychological impact of the accident a fukushima daiichi. people living near the nuclear plant have plenty of concerns about radiation. we travel with japanese and u.s. doctors who are trying to help them. >>> a security conference in singapore last weekend was the first ministerial level summit to take place following a rise in tensions among china, vietnam and the philippines. the focus of attention was on how china would respond to the elevated sense of vigilance in the international community over territorial disputes in the south china sea. nhk world has more. >> reporter: three-day forum which ended on sunday, discussed the recent trip, the security in the asia pacific region. it was the fi

. >> reporter: after the tsunami this city in iwate prefecture lay in ruins. the oldest public museum in the region was badly damaged. it had a collection of over 150,000 pieces. they included folk art and specimens of regional plants and animals. sea water, mud, and debris inundated this room. samples of local plants and animals collected over many years were contaminated. >> translator: we really want to restore them because they tell us so much about our town. we also value them because they were the work of our forebearers. tlnch . >> reporter: this museum survived because it is further inland. the staff are helping to restore about 15,000 plant samples sent by the museum. the museum's curator is a plant specialist and volunteered for the work because she felt the damaged museum was not yet ready to do the work. some samples were collected over 100 years ago. there are important records of the kinds of vegetation that once grew in the region. these plant samples come from a nearby pine forest. before the disaster, it stretched for two kilometers along the

find out what a man from iwate prefecture is doing to revitalize a traditional dance. on wednesday, we'll hear from a japanese self-defense force pilot who worked tirelessly to rescue survivors on march 11th. on thursday we'll look at the psychological impact of the accident at the fukushima daiichi. people living near the nuclear plant have plenty of concerns about radiation. we travel with japanese and u.s. doctors who are trying to help them. >>> we now turn to the high stakes political story that's playing out here in japan. even though prime minister kan survived a no confidence motion that could have cost him his job he's still facing an uncertain future. the opposition tried to get rid of him on thursday because it says he mishandled the aftermath of the march 11 disaster. while kan's ruling democratic party pulled together to defeat the motion, some members now want him to quit as soon as possible. >> tensions ran high on thursday as democrats tried to decide whether or not to support the no-confidence motion. earlier in the day, kan held a meeting with former

roos visited coastal areas of iwate prefecture on tuesday. in rikuzentakata city he met mayor futoshitoba. >> today i've come really to hear people's stories and to see what we can do going forward again to help our japanese friends. >> he also visited ofunato city, where volunteers were working to pull down a building destroyed by the tsunami. he helped them for about one hour. the ambassador visited an evacuation center in otsuchi town, where the ambassador helped local residents by providing cooked meals and playing catch with children. the united states deployed nearly 20,000 members of its armed forces in rescue, relief and reconstruction activities in in operation tomodachi, which means friend in japanese. >> i think the opportunities and the needs are so widespread that people from the united states and our government are going to be helping in many different ways. the next phase of tomodachi is going to be much broader help for japan in the recovery process. >>> pop star lady gaga has been sued over sales of charity wrist bands for re