. >> reporter: gi is now lolooking to develop relationships with distributotors in asia and d th u.u.s>> translator: if we can work things out with distributors and buyers, our chances for success should increase. >> reporter: poetry and knives may be the next products to go global. artisans are relying on human connections to extend their traditions around the world. >>> nhk "newsline" comes to you live from tokyo where it's fair with a current temperature reading of around 8 degrees celsius, 46 degrees fahrenheit. jonathan oh fills us in on world weather starting with severe conditions in houston, texas. jonathan? >> for those living over texas in the southern plains, the weather should be improving for you. but for those who are further toward the east, the same storm system is likely to spark off a few thunderstorms as we go throughout the day on wednesday. let me take you to the houston metro area and look at this video, give you an idea of some of the damage that the tornados created in t this area. severe weather ripped through the state of texas tuesday. we see homes that were

many bridges, and people e cross them to go downtownanand, um, i b bet a lot of peoplele don't even lolook dn to see that the river is even still there. now in portland, ththe willamite river has a really badd reputation, especialllly among young people, because all the things that they've heard about the river. "the river is really dirty, don't touch it, there's sewage in there." and what they don't reale isis the amomount workk that's bbeen done on ththe rive, and the accomplishments that have been made in decreasing polluion. we're doing a great job, but obviously we're not done yet. it's not going to be fixed in 5 years, or 10 years, or 15 years.s. it's a multigeneneratil effort. you know, looking at it as a community, and as a community of neighbors, um, nobody likes a bad neighbor. so, i i think that knowing that, um, all of your neighborss are doing go t things for r the rivever also encncourages you to start doing good things for the river as well. i think that we're all interacting wi t the pple e th were herbebefores. we're ieracacti with h story, andwe're also teractining with t