nhk world mitsuko nishikawa reports. >> reporter: this is the sometimes brutal reality of japan's rainy season, towns and villages littered with torn up trees and vegetation, twisted train tracks, and streets that look like swampy, muddy messes. the last time this 72-year-old resident faced a cleanup like this was 25 years ago. >> translator: we have to get this mud out quickly. otherwise, it will get sticky and then harden. >> reporter: the rain started coming down around dawn in most places, and it came down hard, pelting the ground and lashing buildings. people woke to find usually calm rivers have turned into warring torrents. crews tried to keep the water at bay, but in some areas they just couldn't. rivers swamped neighborhoods. and rescuers had to go in with boats to whisk away residents. in some cases, they had to drop down from the sky to save people. whenever people got a break in the rain, they started cleaning up. families scooped water and mud out of their living rooms. and crews attacked piles of rubble. this is what it looked like when employees of this cell phone company

mitsuko nishikawa, nhk world. >>> fighting in the syrian capital is intensifying. opposition forces are battling against government soldiers for control of damascus. their 16-month-long campaign to topple president bashar al assad is rung on momentum gained wednesday after an explosion killed three senior figures, including assad's brother-in-law. but anti-government activists in damascus said the clashes in the capital continued overnight wednesday and into thursday. the activist says government forces are using artillery and helicopters and they might be poised to launch a full-scale retaliatory attack. >> anti-government forces say more than 180 people died across the country on wednesday alone. they say an attack on a funeral outside damascus killed about 60. some reports say armed militia groups loyal to president assad have been going after residents. members of the u.n. security council will be meeting soon to try to find some common ground on the syria issue. they are voting on a new restlugs impose sanctions on the assad regime. syria's key allies are expe

. >>> nhk world's mitsuk mitsuko nishikawa has spent the day reading the report. you've read the script in detail. this diet appointed panel says fukushima daiichi accident clearly was a manmade disaster. how did member comes to that conclusion? >> well, they argue collusion between the government, tepco and nuclear regulators caused the accident. they point out all three groups showed a lack of governance. and they say they failed to correctly develop the most basic safety requirements. for example, assessing the probability of damage and developing evacuation plans. they say the disaster could have and should have foreseen and prevented. >> the report criticized then prime minister naoto kan and his office saying their actions actually got in the way of efforts to respond to the disaster. can you give us an example of what they did wrong? >> well, the report says communication between kan's office, tepco and nuclear regulators was unimaginably disorganized. they didn't use technology that would have enabled them to talk in realtime. and the experts say the lack