he was raised in the japanese-american community knowing his japanese culture. when i was raised in the '50s and '60s, i was brought up on basketball, baseball, football, no japanese and there was this distance from my japanese background and it's interesting to interview people my age and that's a very common thing. one of the things we found out that it was very common before the war for people -- when kids were born to have a japanese middle name. if you were born in the '50s hardly any japanese-americans have a japanese middle name. mine is kevin and later on in terms of civil right, 1960 on, you start seeing the reemergence of japanese middle names. there was this sense of coming back in terms of more ethnic pride. it was kind of interesting. it had a lot to do with the civil rights movements. >> studies programs, redress became a big issue, and i have to give a plug because i love the project and i used it both in my teaching and the researcher. the oral histories are fabulous. i've also used a lot of the newspaper. they have a lot of camp newspapers archi

a culture i realize that was a lot japanese.ough i hadn't grownup in it and i was as american as apple pie in so many ways that i started to learn more about the culture and i thought, i'm more japanese than chinese in many ways. this book gave that to me. that was the greatest gift of the samurai's garden. that and the fact that somehow people kept reading it. it was the book i was worried about and i had sent it to my editor and she called. i'm telling you the gossip stuff now. i think in a way that's more interesting. i was very nervous because i didn't know how she would receive this book. she called and said to me, well, it's very different. [laughter] and then nobody said anything. i didn't say anything and she didn't i didn't know what to say different good or bad so just with quiet. she said, i think this about part of -- she talked to me about story lines. i realized wow, they are going to publish it. and we talked about it as we would talk about a man script that would be accepted. i'm thinking, i can't believe they ar

> i bet she speaks japanese better than i do. my kids might not me. >> when i had the gun i knew there was a [inaudible] and i started writing down things and i thought in my mind's eye, i think it looks like this. and it would be like that i had a small village in mind. there was a part in time i thought, i could go back to japan and go there and see how it looked. i had in the book and in my heart what i thought it was, i almost knew that if i had gone back it wouldn't be the same. so i made the conscious choice of not going. now that you tell me this i'm thankful i didn't i think it would have destroyed what i created in my head. i thought places are best when they are imagined. i hesitated naming it after a place where my mom said what did exist. i'm glad i didn't go back. making that conscious choice would have changed had i gone back would have changed the direction of the book a lot. >> when i saw it it was so different than how an imagined from reading your books. >> does that teach you never to look up things. always lis

a japanese business set them up. japanese will also contribute to enlargement of the airport scheduled for next year. the construction is going on to expand the taxiway at the airport. this is one of the japanese government's projects. officials with the organization for economic cooperation and velopment said the japanese government gave about $2.6 billion over the last 11 years. that's second only to the u.s. contribution which was more than $16 billion. some of the aid helps people who live in the suburb of kabul. donors provided the funds for this well and others like it. >> translator: i'm happy that we got water. >> translator: our standards of living are better than before. >> reporter: still, more than one-third of afghans live in poverty. residents of one northern province have not received assistance from the government or from abroad. so villagers went back to an old sor source of revenue -- growing poppies to produce opium. karzai administration had tried to stop the practice. the taliban used opium as a

i was nervous and i took one step at a time very japanese like. to study and read everything i could find on the japanese culture. the incredible thing was not having everything that went into it and it still became a quiet book. there is a tsunami. there's tv and lep easier and a fire. i call it my zen book i think it's because as i was learning about the japanese culture, all of that started to go into the book. and it gave me the structure of what the book would become, which was very much taking after what a japanese garden it. early on a read about gardens. you don't know where you are going you just read. because japanese gardens are a huge aspect on the culture i started reading on gardens. i love the natural and the idea on how they use the gardens and how much it reads to them i started reading. i read a line like the silk worker line where it embraced me and i thought, that's what i would write about. you never walk from the front gate to the front door in a straight line it's always a curving path in which you discover things along the

it fits in perfectly with the japanese way of life. >> translator: the japanese like to do it with their neighbors because it feels great if you do things in a group. if you do it alone, it's quite boring. so in a way, they did the exercises together as a way of communicating solidarity with their neighbors. >> reporter: for more than eight decades they had only a brief interruption after the war. for school children on their summer break, radio kpersss are morning duty. factory employees work out before starting their daily shift. and in outer space. the astronauts turn the workout into a scientific experiment. recently the radio exercises have gained even more fans. women's magazines and fitness books are telling readers the three minute workout is an easy, effective way to lose weight and gain a shapely figure. many have bought into the concept. especially women. a few weeks ago, akaga suggested to her coworkers that they do the radio exercises together. now the exercises are part of their morning routine. but being part of the generation, they get the radio show through their cell ph

a japanese business set them up. the japanese will also contribute to the enlargement of the airport scheduled for next year. the construction is going on to expand the taxiway at the airport. this is one of the japanese government's projects. officials with the organization for economic cooperation and development said the japanese government gave about $2.6 billion over the last 11 years. that's second only to the u.s. contribution which was more than $16 billion. some of the aid helps people who live in the suburb of kabul. donors provide funds for this well and others like it. >> translator: i'm happy that we got water. >> translator: our standards of living are better than before. >> reporter: still more than a third of afghans live in poverty. residents of a northern province have not received assistance from the government or from abroad. so this man went back to an old source of revenue. growing poppies to produce opium. the karzai administration has tried to stop the practice. the taliban relies on opium as

this is located southeast of the japanese islands. this is tropical storm and moving west at 30 kilometers an hour right now. it looks like it'll go further west and come up through the yellow sea in towards the western half of the korean peninsula. now, it will bring heavy rain with it. and here in the western half of the korean peninsula, you really do need to see rain, dealing with drought for the last several weeks. so that's not particularly bad news. however, we really don't want any of that rain to come into western japan for the last wek or so. extreme heavy rain has been impacting unfortunately you will still see about 250 millimeters of rain over the next 24 hours. the good news is that we are not expecting any direct impact. that said, the systems are very unpredictable so well continue to monitor its progress. right now the winds gusts are up over 108 kilometers an hour. that's another thing to take into consideration. right now, we have a seasonal front that's affecting an area from tahoku into south korea. that is moving

and she doesn't find it hard to learn japanese characters. others can barely follow the language so it's hard for them to pass the test. that's why the pass rate is low. >> it does seem quite a challenge. do they have anyone to help them? >> the burden of making sure foreign candidates pass the test seems to fall on the hospitals. if non-japanese nursing candidates do not have a dedicated personal mentor, they probably won't pass. i also learned the government is taking another look at the test. there are plans to accept nursing candidates from vietnam starting in 2014. but if the high failure rate continues, japan won't have enough health care workers. a lot more needs to be done to attract foreign nurses to japan. >>> health care professionals are turning to technology in an effort to make up for japan's nursing shortfall and accommodate the country's aging population. researchers are finding ways to help the elderly live without nursing care. they've started use rog bottic devices to assist seniors with walking. engineers at the japanese a

a japanese business set them up. japanese will also contribute to enlargement of the airport scheduled for next year. the construction is going on to expand the taxiways at the airport. this is one of the japanese government's projects. officials with the organization for economic cooperation and development said the japanese government gave up b $2.6 billion over the last 11 years. that's second only to the u.s. contribution which was more than $16 billion. some of the aid helps people who live in the suburb of kabul. donors provided the funds for this well and others like it. >> translator: i'm happy that we got water. >> translator: our standards of living are better than before. >> reporter: still more than one-third of afghans live in poverty. residents of the northern province have not received assistance from the government who are from abroad. so villagers went back to an old source of revenue. growing poppies to produce opium. the karzai administration had tried to stop the practice. the taliban rely on opiu

japanese and u.s. leaders agreed to relocate the bases to the coast al area of okinawa city but they h't come up with a plan and that disappointed many. >> many people are worried about the implementation of this, how are they worried about dealing with the opposition? >> they have ordered them not to conduct tasks until the aircraft safety is verified. it is extremely rare for japan and the u.s. military to make this kind of agreementagreement. the japanese government plans to send a team of experts to the u.s. to come up with measures to prevent a recurrence. some members of the parties are planning that the deployment be delayed. prime minister is again doing a balancing act. he is trying to show some that he is listening to them. >> okay thank you for that. >> >>> the persistent european debt worries are prompting investors to sell the euro. it sank to the lowest level in 12 years against the yen. the euro is currently trading at 94.67 to 70 against the yen and dollar hit a one and a half month low

a treaty from 1855 recognized the islands at the japanese territory. they controlled the chain for the next 90 years. the ussr agreed to release the islands provided both sides sign a peace treaty. the japanese government has consistently demanded the return of all four islands. in 1993, the first post war document to refer to all four islands, it's stated the territory issue should be settled based on law and justice. but there has been almost no progress in resolving the dispute. the japanese government has had difficulty establishing a consistent diplomatic policy because the prime minister has changed six times in six years. plus, russian leaders have invested heavily in the islands as their country's economy has grown. president val vladimir putin and noda agreed to resume stalled negotiations over the islands but they fail to set a date. for more on medvedev's visit to the island. >> prime minister medvedev maintained the main purpose of his visit was to observe the progress of infrastructure project. but observers say he is also came to display

but a japanese giant could change the plant. later this month, online retailer rakuten will release a japanese-capable reader of its own. the company will sell a device made by kobo, a canadian ebook retailer it acquired last year. consumers will be able to pick one up for about $100. >> translator: we want to introduce an ebook reader that anyone can easily access and let people enjoy content from around the world. we hope our new reader will start a revolution in the book industry in japan and around the globe. >> earlier, nhk world's ron madison spoke with damian thong, a senior analyst at mcgwire securities and is an expert on the ebook market. >> thanks for being with us. let's talk about this now because it's a very unique situation that we have here in japan. it's one of the most literate countries in the world. also a very tech -- gadget-savvy society. it seems like really a match made in heaven, but that's really not the case here, right? >> it's amazing. the number of books or ereaders sold in japan was still 1/200th o

i've been in touch with the japanese cons late through stanford university and the japanese cons late through san francisco. they are willing to take it, but they can't guarantee anything. i want to take it back myself personally. and i will. i have to do the research and it will take me a while. i got good leads. i got the guys' names. i know where they are. so i have to understand where to go about it. i also asked one mif friends who is in academics to japanese culture, and i said, is this an insult? you have to be sensitive. he said, of course, there are families that don't want to deal with it, but it is not an insult. >> it is like a nomination for the nobel peace prize. >> well, i just hope it makes people think. and unify us as people. >> will it put you at ease personally for what you have experienced? >> yes. it would put me at ease. it is not my main reason, but it'll help that level. and because, it'll put me at ease and because you know, trying to work for peace and that's the gesture. i'm not going to save the world and i don't know how much of an affect it will have. bu

why are you writing about japanese-american, we are filino. my mother's family was windup du w wi alf thadn ay mom had to wrestle with why i was focusing on this group. you could see the wounds were deep and the history was still there and be able to tell my therapanese-americans are t sipne americans, just being able to have this kind of conversation, it is a small one. i would like to kind of make it bi aorcle. >>hit mportant to keep in mind it was in the new york times magazine that the notion of asians as a model minority was written in direct respon to e wteebli it was saying was these negro's are out of ntrol. rebellion, righteous indignation, challenge the status quo. we have a mod mory , rena,he ect opposite. in many ways it was a lie because who are you tking about? you have to disgregate the tego. pian cne jase indnsindia, that is asia too but america you get this monolithic characterization. asian as a whole. what they were saying was belud hesm, the last thing you want to do is be associated with not just these black people but the

for the chinese, it started in 1937 with the japanese, the sino-japanese war. there are many different versions. the important thing to understand about the second world war was that it was not just a conglomeration of conflict. there were the state-of-state, the great powers fight each other, but also there was an element of international civil war. it was largely this international civil war throughout the world between fascism and communism which led to the civil wars after that, the greek civil war, the chinese civil war, and then, ultimately, to korea and vietnam. >> let me show you some video done by the american war department. frank capra was the director. this gives us a sense of the people. >> the pagan pageantry of leaders from all over germany -- hypnotized, they were members of a master race. this film will deal with at one of the nazi bid for power, the most fantastic claim in all recorded history. hitler had seen hirohito grab manchuria and other territory from the chinese. he had watched mussolini get away with the rape of ethiopia. he had seen

(music) (speaking japanese)

coast guard personnel warned the vessel by radio not to enter japanese territory. the boat's crew responded they were patrolling inside chinese waters. >>> the senkaku issue has created friction between japan and china for years. it has sometimes made relations frosty here in asia, especially in the area of defense. but elsewhere in the world, the dispute is more of a distant concern. off the coast of africa, both countries are working together to confront a common enemy. nhk world's toru nakai explains. >> reporter: these are some of the most dangerous waters in the world. somalia pirates patrol the gulf of aden looking for easy prey. it's an important international shipping route. so leaders from japan and 19 other nations have deployed naval vessels and patrol aircraft to the area. the self-defense forces allow the media on board its pc-3 aircraft. the plane gets intelligence from the air. we are about 45 minutes into our flight. we took up from an airport in djibouti north of somalia. that's where the sdf has its operation base. soon an sdf destroyer comes into

japanese and u.s. troops who work together after last year's quake and tsunami faced several challenges. one of them was determining when and where to deploy the right type of units. participants say they've learned a lot from last year's relief efforts. >> so lessons learned, you talk about communications. getting accurate account of what may be required or needed. that type of thing. and taking that experience of what was learned and trying to incorporate it in this current exercise. >> translator: we are simulating how to conduct swift coordination at a real site. we want to check the order of our work to get ready for a possible disaster. >> reporter: japanese and american officers say today's drill was a good opportunity to understand their respective roles in the event of another major disaster. the presence of american soldiers in japan is a regular source of friction with the communities that host military bases. u.s. officials are eager to show that they are also capable of saving lives. mitsu

japanese comics and animation are popular in the country.any french are visiting the site, including young people dressed up as popular animation characters. they're buying french language versions of the japanese manda and animation dvds as well as character themed merchandise. >> translator: this expo offers lots of things to see. i like it very much. >> reporter: the japan tourism agency and travel agents have set up booths to promote travel to japan. some areas have been set aside for traditional japanese culture and crafts. volunteers are selling goods and donating the proceeds to reconstruction efforts from last year's disaster in northeastern japan. >> i hope the japanese people, we work hard, so that reconstruction will go smoothly. the japan expo will run through sunday. organizers expect about 200,000 visitors. >>> japanese food makers are to sell new products that help make consumers feel cal this summer. this is because power shortages are expected across japan forcing people to save energy and use air conditioning sparingly. foo

offer to vacate bases in okinawa before the prefecture rurped to japanese sovereignty in 1972. japan's foreign ministry released the diplomatic files on tuesday. the papers recorded talks in 1967 between ex prime minister and u.s. defense secretary robert mcna mera. the documents show that mcnamara believed his country's military should not remain in okinawa once japan no longer had a need for the bases. he also said the u.s. did not intend on remaining if it meant shouldering unnecessary risks. he added that his remarks were not the view of the u.s. government. japan understood that the u.s. was in okinawa for the stability of japan and asia but kis hawaii wanted japan to shoulder its own defenses. >> translator: the u.s. likely had no intention of pulling out of okinawa because its military bases were needed to fight the vietnam war. >> he added that mcnamara may have been trying to head off a movement to recall for the return of the u.s. bases. >>> experts from the international atomic energy agency are getting down to work at the nuclear plant in northeastern japan. they're

historian stanley weintraub region of the christmas holiday of 1941 two weeks after the japanese bombing of pearl harbor. stanley weintraub examines america's entry into world war ii and the new wartime reality. it is all little under an hour. [applause] >> my book is called a you heard, "final victory". "final victory" suggests there were nothing but victories in his life. actually that wasn't the case. he did have two terms as a state senator from new york state and became assistant secretary of the navy in world war i and he was chosen to be the vice-presidential candidate on the democratic ticket in 1920 when the democrats were sure to lose and they lost. he lost with them. he thought that this would only energize his career. he had national visibility. he was going to go on and do other things but that was 1920. in 1921 he suffered an attack of polio, lost the use of his legs. he was paralyzed from that time on and period we are dealing with now is 23 years into that period of immobility on his part. i don't think the public realized how paralyzed he was. that he had no agility phys

japanese to admit culturally the really respect authority. it is not just japan. i was a senior vice president and when i was fired, i was talking to a highly placed nuclear attorney in washington. he said, "in this business you're either for us or against us, and you just cross the line." the industry, no matter if it is in the states or japan, is essentially a closed fortress. independent experts have a very difficult time having their opinions aired. >> what do you think will be the impact of this report here in the u.s.? obviously, the obama administration is on record supporting the expansion of more nuclear plant in the united states. how do you think this will affect that direction the obama administration and many republicans in congress' support? >> i am concerned the industry, the nuclear industry in the u.s. -- they say it is a japanese problem, and it is night. the influence of corporate money has a huge effect on congress. it is not a democrat or republican issue. there are no democrats and republicans when it comes to nuclear. t

foreign ministry officials say the japanese claim violates philippines sovereignty. in april, both countries were locked in a standoff that involved several patrol ships near disputed shoal. >>> the facility will be toed to test several types of seafood. >>> people in japan's northeast are focusing on overcoming the challenges of the 2011 disaster. but it won't be easy they have to rebuild homes, businesses, entire communities. we'll show you their struggles and their successes on the "road ahead" every wednesday, 1:00 p.m., japan time. here on "newsline." >>> people popping into convenience stores in japan are finding things they never found before. they can still buy soft drink or gum or a pack of cigarettes. they are finding the things they need to make dinner as well. those kinds of changes help the people at lawson hit record operating profits last year. and they are up in the latest quarter by more than 8% to nearly 14 billion yen or $175 million. >> reporter: the 'round-the-clock convenience store is part of the landscape of every japanese neighborhood. the st

it brought me back to the japanese culture even though i was not looking for it. what happened was if she was half japanese. here again you will hear the writing process. as i'm thinking about this and thinking about story line and her parents. if her mother is italian and her father is japanese which would make her half and half the genetic defect would come to the father then things would have to happen if they grew up in california. he grew up in pasadena which means he would be inturned. things start to happen without you looking at it from the beginning when writing a story but as you develop the characters and the year and the situation and the stories a father would tell a daughter. all this came out the camps, what happened. what he hoped for. what he wished for. all the stories he tells the daughters. some of them would have to cover that interment time and a lot is what happened from my research. all that went in the book. does that answer your question? it's not that i purposely said, now i will advocate this. but if a story line covers a certain aspect

he is especially careful to make them suit japanese tastes. a new device ensures continuous flow of clean water. he says he stops feeding his eels at least four days before shipment to cleanse their bodies of what japanese consumers dislike. his efforts seem to be paying off. an increasing number of japanese firms are approaching him. on this day, a japanese buyer tries his indonesian unagi. >> translator: i'm confident of the quality of my eels. most people say they taste better than way chinese or tiyjs ones. >> he expects to ship two tons of eels to japan this year and he plans to increase that to a hundred tons within two years. that might just make eel frs in other countries squirm. nhk world, jaba island. >> and that wraps up our bulletin from bangkok. >> now let's take a look at the market figures. >>> it's not just olympic athletes that are wowing crowds in london. the city's most famous statues are also entertaining visitors with their new looks. nhk world reports. >> here we are in london, where people are on their way to work. but t

it left an indian worker dead and two japanese plant managers injured. police have arrested about 100 workers on suspicion of arson, attempted murder, and other charges. suzuki officials say no serious damage has been done to the plant, but they add the factory will remain closed for some time as the police investigation continues. india accounts for 30% of suzuki's group net profit. >>> china's near monopoly on the extraction of rare earth minerals has prompted a worldwide race to secure alternative sources for supply. now researchers say japan will be able to exploit massive reserves found beneath its own waters within three years. professor yasuhiro kato at the university of tokyo says the reserves found last month by his team will be highly profitable. he proposes using crude oil exploration methods and magnets to extract the metals efficiently. his team uncovered 6.8 million tons of deposits at a depth of 5,600 meters. the site is located near the island of minami-torishima some 2,000 kilometers southeast of tokyo. according to the team's calculatio

it's been renting the others from a japanese family since 2002. the islands are claimed by taiwan and china. also protested the entry of three chinese boats. the coast guard warned the boats to leave japanese territory but the chinese side reportly said they were engaged in legitimate duties. also referred to the government's negotiations to purchase some of the islands from their private japanese owner. he said peaceful and stable control of the islands is important. he referred to similar disputes involving countries including china, philippines and vietnam and islands in the south china sea and said the issue should be resolved between related parties. >>> south korean president's plan to strengthen ties with japan backfired. his idea is relatively simple, a diplomatic deal with better security as its goal. but the opposition, the media, and the public lined up against it for reasons political and historical. shery ahn picks up the story from seoul. >> reporter: south koreans aren't afraid to take to streets to let their leaders know how they f