sinji has come from the miyagi prefecture. he's the ceo of a fish processing company and he brought some sea squirts with him. >> translator: sea squirts from miyagi have nowhere to go. >> reporter: miyagi used to export 70% of the sea squirts to south korea but after the nuclear disaster the country imposed a ban on japanese seafood imports. japan wants the ban lifted but last year thehe world trade organization ruled in south korea'a's favor. so takeda has decided to try koreatown in los angeles. at a local supermarket he was reassured to find sea squirts on display. and the restaurant he visited was serving sea squirts. >> yeah, i like it, maybe one or two times. >> reporter: he found there's demand, but people in koreatown have concerns. >> japanese -- it's a kind of fish, i'm scared. >> reporter: takeda had planned to meet a south korean trader in l.a. but he suddenly canceled the meeting. >> transnslator: there was a series of developments such as strained japan/soututh koreaa relations and thehewto's final decision on t

the torch will arrive friday in miyagi prefecture.thehered along a cann monday to set up about 160 bamboo lanterns. the disaster left more than 1,0000 of the city's residents dead or missing. the same number of lanterns will be placed in three locations, including a monument in a park that was built to pray for the city's recovery. >> translator: the community was united in assembling the bamboo lanterns. i hope they help express the city's thanks to the rest of the world for its support. >> the lanterns are scheduled to be lit thursday evening. >>> and that wraps up this edition of nhk "newsline." i'm raja pradhan in tokyo. thanks for joining us. >>> welcome to "newsline in depth." i'm marie yanaka. going to the zoo can be a fun way to learn about animals. but the facilities actually do so much more than just provide us with entertainment. today, we have some stories about animals, as well as the people helping them to survive and thrive. >>> now, zoos are always popular, especially with kids. but with japan's low birthrate and decli

a special transport plane carrying the flame from greece landed in miyagi prefecture. in a welcome ceremony, judo athlete tadahiro nomura and saori yoshida received the flame. the ceremony also featured a flyover by the air self-defense force's acrobatic team. they painted the sky with the olympic symbol colors. the olympic torch relay will start on march 26th from the j-village soccer training facility in fukushima prefecture. organizers intend to use the summer games to showcase recovery efforts in the area. but there are still questions about whether the games will go ahead as scheduled. and the head of the international olympic committee says they are considering different scenarios. "the new york times" published an interview thursday with ioc president thomasas bach. they asked if there was a deadline to decide whether the games will take place. bach said it would be irresponsible to set a date or make a final decision now because of the uncerertainty surrounding the crisis. but he reiterated that canceling the games wawas not on the agen. the head of japan's oly

prefecture will host some of the olympics softball and baseball games while another prefecture affected by the disaster miyagis home to one of japan's olympic soccer venues. the olympic torch relay also aims to shine a light on reconstruction efforts with the first leg starting on march 26th in fukushima. ♪ >>> tokyo had a wet tuesday here with the domestic and international outlook is jonathan oh. how are you feeling today? >> well, we are talking about some warm weather as well on top of that. probably helped out with rain at least, may have helped out with some people dealing with the pollen. guess what? as we go into wednesday and the rest of the week, if you are a hay fever sufferer you're going to definitely feel it. it's going to be dry and it's going to be warm. now we did see a lot of rain as it went through the daytime hours across japan and some places like the prefecture, some video from there, and that video showing us the high waves with some of the stronger winds but a high amount of rainfall as well. those of you in nagasaki you had record-breaking amounts of rainfall into the prefecture for t