will noda get his way, though? >> well, i think noda will have a hard time getting what he wants into law. he and his democrat colleagues pledged to introduce a program that would give every japanese at least a minimum pension. the ldp is now demanding that democrats take back that promise. the prime minister doesn't like to be called a liar. but in some ways noda has no choice. the opposition controls the upper house and even some members of his own party oppose the tax hike. you know, noda wants this bill to be enacted so he will have to accept the opposition's main demand in any case. >> masayo, thanks. nhk world's masayo nakajima. >>> nuclear crisis minister goshi hosono has met fukui governor nishikawa to talk about restarting the facility. hosono explained the government's efforts to hash nuclear safety and sought the governor's support. >> translator: the government has worked to increase nuclear safety since the accident at fukushima daiichi. some safety standards are provisional and have not yet been legis

nhk world has been following noda's changing fortune. why is is the prime minister insisting on raising the tax consumption tax when he knows not all but many japanese are against such a move? >> that's because japan is calling a greater proportion of debt on its books than any other developed nation in the world. experts point towards greece as a warning of the need to get this country's finances in order. debt as a percentage of gross domestic product in japan is higher than in any other industrialized nation. and net public debt, the figure is rising second by second. but the consumption tax, when you compare it to that in other worthy nations is relatively low. on top of that, japan has one of highest proportions of citizens older than 65 as noda mentioned. paying for social security is putting an increasing strain on national policies. >> i guess the question is, will this work? will it support the aging population at the same time get rid of a lot of the debt that japan has? >> noda is focusing on a two-stage increase towards 10% t

but anyhow, i think noda -- prime minister noda has to weigh the risk of those who still believe the nuclear power is not safe. >> restarting ohi almost sounds like it is a done deal. but noda didn't look too comfortable when talking to everybody. why was that? >> well, the ohi issue is just one of the two big issues noda is facing now. the other is the consumption tax to cover the increasing social security costs and to avoid a fiscal debt crisis like in greece. it is no secret that japan carries a greater percentage of debt on its books than any other developed nation. noda vowed to risk his political career to push through the tax hike. but this is not providing to be easy because of strong opposition in the diet. i'm not sure whether the unpopular prime minister will be able to regain much public support with the decision on ohi. if he fails in the tax hike, he'll have to resign or call a general election because japan may lose trust in how the government is dealing with finances. you know, japan has had a number of prime ministers in recent years and it is called revolving door

but anyhow, i think noda -- prime minister noda has to weigh the risk of those who still believe the nuclear power is not safe. >> restarting ohi almost sounds like it is a done deal. but noda didn't look too comfortable when talking to everybody. why was that? >> well, the ohi issue is just one of the two big issues noda is facing now. the other is the consumption tax in increasing social security costs and avoid a fiscal debt crisis like in greece. it is no secret that japan carries a greater percentage of debt on its books than any other developed nation. noda howed to risk his political career to push through the tax hike. but this is not providing to be easy because of strong opposition in the diet. i'm not sure whether the unpopular prime minister will be able to regain much public support with the decision on ohi. if he fails in the tax hike, he'll have to resign or call a general election because japan may lose trust in how the government is dealing with finances. you know, japan has had a number of prime ministers in recent years and it is called revolving door of prime mini

so prime minister yoshihiko noda is trying to shore up finances. he and other members of l lower house of the diet passed a set of bills to double the consumption tax and change the social security system. one bill would increase the tax on goods and services from 5% to 10% by 2015. 363 lawmakers voted in favor of it. 96 voted against it. politicians hope the revenues will help them pay down japan's substantial debt. they also want to cover the rapid rise in spending on things such as pensions. the opposition liberal democratic party and new komeito party voted with the governing coalition but 57 members of the ruling democratic party voted against the consumption tax bill. they include former party leader ichiro osawa. 16 other dpj members abstained or were absent. the state of reforms were sent to the upper house where they're expected to be passed into law. prime minister noda spoke a few hours after the lower house vote and stressed significance of the reform bills. >> translator: there is no time to waste in reforming the social security syste

the explanation from noda is the last of nishikawa's conditions. the governor is expected to give his approval as early as next week. >>> workers have entered the basements of two reactor buildings at the troubled fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant. they are trying to find the source of water that's collected there. the crew was sent by tokyo electric, the plant's operator. they inspected the room's housing the suppression chambers of the number two and three reactors for the first time since the nuclear accident last year. the workers were unable to pinpoint the source of the leak. photos released after the inspection showed no signs of major damage to the facilities or equipment. tokyo electric says more than 5 meters of contaminated water have collected in each unit. that's more than half the height of the doughnut shaped suppression chambers which are about 9 meters in diameter. tokyo electric will continue to search for the source of the leak. damage to the reactor's containment vessels must be repaired before the reactor can be decommissio

the explanation from noda is the last of nishakawa's conditions. the governor is is expected to give his approval as early as next week. >>> people who rate government bonds are worried that spain can't escape european debt woes. ai uchida joins us now from the business desk. ai, i understand there's been a credit downgrade? >> one of our analysts at one of the agencies thinks spain is barely of investment grade. credit rating agency fitch downgraded spain's sovereign bonds amid concern the european debt crisis could spread further. fitch slashed its rating for spanish government bonds three notches from "a" to bbb. the agency attributed the downgrade to the growing possibility that the spanish government will request a bailout from the european union. fitch estimates the cost of restructurinrecapitalizing spanish banks could reach as high as 100 billion euro. it also forecasts that spain will remain in recession through 2013 before showing signs of economic recovery. the spanish government is commissioning outside auditors to estimate the cost of

on top of that, ja the highestproportions of than 65, as noda paying is ng strain onfinances. >> so i will this he aging same time the debt has? >> focusing on toward 10e've been about. a personal changes year by that will revenues by billions doll knows the restoring said it be a step toward the budget. economists still room to the tax rate10%. at the fund have recommended thincrease theion tax to a >> noda f his own dpjf his his affec administration? >> i noda has repeatedly sai political care so now he may fulfilled his prom time, once agai you said 57 lawmakers of own par the20% of the ruling lose their i more than 54 land that would openibility of a motion. in minister neral election or he will have and that could near future. 200,000 people diar ii. e. anniversary on the 90-year-old woma memories come year. >> reporter: h orps she'sn living in this town60 >> translator: planes fly untiisy. forces landed in1945.army put upe the fighting claim to her town. up for military service. she time. helter in a cave with near the her neighbors were killtor: i was inside theand i could hear

noda later met ministers responsible for nuclear power issues. he said they were winning some local consent. he said he'll take responsibility for making a decision if authorities in fuku i prefecture and town approve a restart. after meeting with nishakawa, he explained the government's position. >> translator: fukui has accumulated knowledge and where experts discuss the issue. we're awaiting f f ukui's decision. >> the government plans to call on ministerial meeting for an official approval to restart. >>> officials have dug in to the past. they found evidence that their predecessors bowed to pressure of utility companies when drafting safety measures more than 20 years ago. documents show that japan nuclear safety commissioning considering an overhaul of safety measures covering a total loss of power at a nuclear plant but officials say the commission scrapped the idea after utility company officials objected. they argued that there was little risk of a total power loss. the commission's report of the time shows it set up a task force in 1991

. >>> prime minister noda is dealing with a problem many of his bread sister fe predecessor faced. plunging popularity. a new nhk poll suggests support for yoshihiko noda and his cabinet has dropped to its lowest level since he took office last september. the approval rating is now at 27%. that's down two percentage points from last month. the disapproval rating is sitting at 51%. it's down slightly. the poll also looked at the prime minister's decision to restart two units at the ohi nuclear plant in western japan. all 50 reactors in the country are currently offline. noda says he wants to avoid power shortages this summer. 25% say they support his decision to restart the ohi units. 32% say they are against it. 38% say they cannot decide. engineers shut down japan's last nuclear reactor in may. it's the first time the country hasn't been using atomic energy in 42 years. reactors must pass new safety tests before they can go back online because of the accident at fukushima daiichi. >>> the government is investigating possible misconduct by a panel of the japan atomic energy commiss

noda said they were winning some local consent. he said he'll take responsibility for making a decision if authorities in fukui prefecture and ohi town approve a restart. after meeting nishikawa, hosono explained to or theers the government's decision. >> translator: fukui prefecture has accumulated knowledge and it's very experts discuss the issue. we're waiting for fukui's decision. >> the government plans to call a ministerial meeting to make an official decision to restart if fukui's governor approves such action. >>> officials at japan's nuclear safety commission say they have found evidence that the agency bowed to pressure from utility companies when drafting nuclear safety measures more than 20 years ago. the commission found the archived documents after a parliamentary panel began investigating the fukushima daiichi power plant accident that was caused by a total loss of power. according to the document, the nuclear watchdog set up a task force in 1991 to study the effects of such an event. the commission says archive docu

noda later met ministers responsible for nuclear power issues. he said they were win something local consent. he said he'll take the responsibility for making a decision if authorities in fukui prefecture and ohi town approve a restart. after meeting nishikawa, hosono explained to reporters the government's position. >> translator: fukui prefecture has accumulated knowledge and it's the way experts discuss the issue. we're waiting for fukui's decision. >> the government plans to call a ministerial meeting to make an official decision to restart if fukui's governor approves such action. >>> officials at japan's nuclear safety commission say they found evidence that the agency bowed to pressure from utility companies when drafting nuclear safety measures more than 20 years ago. the commission found archived documents after a parliamentary panel began investigating the fukushima daiichi power plant accident that was caused by a total loss of power. according to the document the nuclear watchdog set up a task force in 1991 to study the effects of suc

engineers began the process of starting reactor three last weekend after prime minister noda gave the go ahead to put it back online. inspectors are stationed at the plant to deal with the accidents and other problems electric representatives say they didn't make the information about the alarm public on tuesday because the incident didn't require disclosure by law or in-house rules. the nuclear and industrial safety official apologized saying his lapse in judgment delayed disclosure. residents in the town which hosts the plant are criticizing the time it took to release the information. >> translator: it makes me scared about the restart. >> translator: quick action in cases like this is vital. >> the reactors are expected to start generating power before the end of july. >>> politicians in greece are getting together to forming a government to help the country implement a debt reduction strategy and win much needed bailout funds. members of the small democratic left party say they're interested in joining a coalition. they would work with the pro austerity new democracy party. it wo

noda is to decide whether to take disciplinary action against them. the opposition liberal democrats insist the dissidents should be punished severely. that would increase the chances of those members leaving the ruling party. members of the opposition groups are expected to limit their cooperation with the democrats to the tax bills t they are hoping for an early dissolution of the lower house and a general election. >>> people in japan's northeast are focused 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 at 1:00 p.m. japan time here on "newsline." >>> priceless historical buildings dotted around northeast japan. many were damaged or destroyed in last year's disaster. in most cases the owners must repair the buildings them selves. and unlike national treasures they're not covered by government funds. that means they face demolition. one man is leading a project to repair and pres

t noda is making every effort to convince japanese about another issue. he wants them to know his government will take stronger safety measures when it comes to nuclear power. noda and his department are trying to regain approval to restart a plant in jern japan. goshi hosono will meet later in the day with the governor of fukui nishikawa. for example, the government will station a senior official at the facility. they've also proposed a video link between the plant and the prime minister's office. government leaders hope to restart the reactors by summer when demand for electricity will peak. but experts say it will take about three weeks for the facility to move back into full-scale operation. the prime minister says he hopes to make his decision by the end of the week. >>> trade ministers from the asian pacific region will discuss concrete steps toward liberalizing trade and investment by 2020. the 21 member asia pacific economic cooperation forum includes the united states, china, and japan. the two-day ministerial meeting will kick off on monday in t

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noda and other politicians vote tuesday on a controversial bill to double the consumption tax. he has staked his political career on passing the legislation during his parliamentary session. noda's running democratic party and two main opposition parties agreed to put eight bills to a vote in the lower house. one of them would double the 5% sales tax by 2015. the prime minister says japa needs the revenue to finance its deficit and pay for its aging society. noda has called for party unity on the issue, but the legislation is strongly contested from within the dpj. some members are threatening to leave the party if the bill is adopted. they include political heavy weight ichiro ozawa. >>> people in northeastern japan can now buy limited amounts of seafood caught off fukushima prefecture. last year's nuclear accident polluted the sea prompting fisherman to suspend their work. they found no radioactive contaminants. so supermarkets are selling octopus and shellfish. managers set prices about 30% lower than before the meltdowns at the fukushima daiichi plant. >> translator: fisher

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japanese prime minister noda and us president barack obama met briefly on tuesday. they reached an agreement after it was announced just before the summit began that mexico would join the tpp talks. noda had a brief conversation with european counselor president and they said they would continue to work together for setting up a free trade agreement between japan and the european union. >>> microsoft unveiled its version of the popular format it take on apple's dominance in the field. microsoft introduced the surface tablet on monday in los angeles. the software giant he new product will come loaded with windows 8 operating system. its cover features a keyboard on the inside flap. the company plans to reduce its dependence on operating software. it is shifting from traditional computers to mobile devices. microsoft says it'll launch a new family of computer-related products in the near future. >>> a full scale investigation is launched into toyota vehicles. it is feared the cars may catch fire due to an electrical fault near a power bin dough switch. officials at hi

a new nhk poll suggests support for northbound heeko noda and his cabinet has dropped to its lowest level since he took office last september. the approval rating is at 27%. that's down 2 percentage points from last month. the disapproval rating is sitting at 51%. it's down slightly. the poll also looked at the prime minister's decision to restart two units theatohi nuclear plant in western japan. all 50 reactors in the country are offline. noda says he wants to avoid power shortages this summer. 25% say they support his decision to restart the ohi units. 32% say they're against it. 38% say they cannot decide. engineers shut down japan's last nuclear reactor in may. it's the first time the country hasn't been using atomic energy in 42 years. reactors must pass new safety tests before they can go back online because of the accident at fukushima daiichi. >>> the next generation of nuclear engineers is in japan. they are taking part in a program run by the international atomic energy agency. the young professionals will learn about nuclear power and they'll also study the accident at the fuk

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prime minister noda will be battling to push through his increase in the consumption tax. and that's also going tbe a cus for the markets. let's see how everything is kicking off today for the nikkei and the topix. a little bit of a negative start here for this thursday morning. and we might see the nikkei trading in a bit of a range opening currently now at 8,538. topix 723. already on wednesday we did see below average volume. investors still waiting to see what transpires in europe and of course domestically here. and also some economic data out of the u.s. now, spain, of course is a big focus as well. and apart from the elections in greece it doesn't help market sentiment. we saw that filtered through to the euro as well as it weakened such on the news. let's have a look at the foreign currency levels as well this thursday morning in tokyo. dollar/yen. gaining a touch. 30-37. and euro/yen 99.75-80. falling toh. >> going back to the bank of japan meeting starting today, what are markets expecting this time around? >> yeah. markets really expecting monetary policy to rem

noda remembers how serious it was. >> translator: we lost our pepper crops and were left with debt to repay. for the farmers the future looked bleak. >> reporter: the farmers realized it was too risky to depend on a single crop, so they turned to horticulture focusing on crops resistant to disease and bugs. they created plantations almost as diverse as forests with a wide range of plants. having many different crops gives the farmers a constant, reliable source of income. it also helps to improve the quality. the shade from the trees means that less weeds grow, so the farmers now use far fewer condemn kalchemi chemicals. they hold regular meetings to improve their cultivation methods. >> as well as revitalizing the soil, horticulture gives farmers ideal crops. it also regenerates the crops and this helps to reduce global warming. >> this community turned to horticulture after years of trial and error. the same approach is now spreading in neighbors countries such as bolivia. horticulture will also be introduced as an eco-friendly method of farming that promotes sustainability. >>> 50,

. >>> today i'm one-on-one with executive chef david noda and there is an historic resort in pennsylvania. it's only two hours away. it offers more than rest relaxation. they have fabulous food. i'm talking about bedford springs it's just north of cumberland. and the chef is here to prepare what? >> we're going to prepare some ricotta gnocchis, we have made some fresh ricotta cheese. a little bit of salt and pepper. >> you gave me the recipe and it's on jchayward.com. you can get this recipe. of this gnocchi. >> gnocchi. >> gnocchi. >> we're going to add some flour. >> uh-huh. >> and it's that simple. >> okay. and the resort -- when i say it's historic, it's how old? when was it started? >> it originated -- the lands was originally brought in 1796. actually the name of one of the restaurants. >> oh my goodness and you're famous for this? >> this is one that's on the new in the crystal room. our new concept in there. we make the cheese, we're trying to make everything as close to farm to table and fresh as we can get it. so we're making it from the cheese all the way through to the sauce.

. >>> prime minister yoshihiko noda is a little closer to his goal of hiking japan's consumption tax. the two main opposition parties now say they are ready to discuss tax and social security reform. the liberal democratic party and new komeito announced their decision a day after democratic party secretary-general azuma koshiishi hinted the government was ready to compromise if that meant reaching agreement by june 15th. ldp president sadakazu tanigaki announced the decision at a meeting of party executives. they agreed to demand the government put the revised bills to a vote before the current session of parliament closes on june 21st. the new komeito party also decided to join talks on the reforms. the party had refused to even enter the debate over increasing the consumption tax. >>> a series of rituals and ceremonies have begun for prince tomohito of mikasa. the cousin of emperor akihito. prince tomohito died on wednesday at the age of 66 after a long battle with cancer. the emperor and empress paid a last farewell at the prince's residence in tokyo. following a ceremony to lay t

prime minister yoshihiko noda and other ministers have announced the plans. >> translator: we are sorry for this inconvenience but we'd like to ask users for their understanding and cooperation. >> the government decided last week to restart two idled nuclear power reactors at the ohi nuclear plant operated by konsai electric power company. if one of the two reactors goes into full operation in early july, the government plans to ease power saving requirements in the region covered by konsei electric from 15% or more to 10% or more. it also decided to allow four major power companies, including konsei electric to impose rolling blackouts in case of power shortages in their regions. they'll go ahead with the blackout plans when they think power consuchtion would exceed 99% of their capacity. >>> two longtime rivals are forging an alliance. japanese electronics firms panasonic and sony are close to collaborating on the next generation tv set. the new televisions will feature organic electroluminesen. l.e.o. tvs are thinner and show a sharper picture than conventional lcd units. they hope

he had earlier expressed his wish to meet with prime minister yoshihiko noda in july and discuss the final start of the trade talks. >>> for an update on the weather forecast, sheers mai shoji. >> we have been tracking the tropical storm. it will be moving toward the eastern coast of the philippines and likely to turn into a hurricane. storm warning posted against eastern luzon and some of the islands of the philippines. it is now moving at the speed of 20 kilometers per hour and wind gusts packing 126 kilometers per hour and likely on sunday morning, just around that local time, this could pack winds and gusts up to about 200 kph. now this is directly impacting the area with high waves as much as five meters in the eastern seaboards but also enhancing and exacerbating the southwestern monsoon. we have been talking about this for a long while now. the western seaboards will also see those high waves as much as five inches. and also the torrential rain to be targeted in the next 24. now take a look at this stationary front. it is lingering over taiwan yet again. and this is going to b

. >> japan's prime minister yoshihiko noda has asked the public to support his plan to restart nuclearctors that were shut down after the fukushima disaster. he says there will be a shortage of power otherwise. the role of japan's nuclear power plants have been offline for about a month now. >> a bomb has exploded on the government bus in pakistan, killing 19 and injuring 42 people. it took place in the northwest of the country. police believe the bomb was planted in the rear of the bus and was detonated by a timing device. >> china has promised closer cooperation with afghanistan. president hu jintao and his afghan counterpart ahmadinejad karzai signed a joint declaration in beijing on friday that would give china more influence in afghanistan's to vomit after foreign troops leave in two years' time. -- development after foreign troops leave in two years' time. coming up, we will have a lot more about euro 2012. ♪ ♪ >> what is so powerful that it can make you overcome your greatest fear, turn your brother into an enemy, and leave wounds that scar long after the fighting is over? >> wh

noda's government has set up a special monitoring system to improve safety. inspectors are stationed at the plant to deal with accidents and other problems. the representatives say they didn't make the information about the alarm public tuesday, because the incident require disclosure by law or by in-house rules. but the nuclear and industrial safety agency official who's based at the plant, apologized, saying his lapse in judgment delayed disclosure. residents in the town of ohi, which host the plant, are criticizing the time it took to release the information. >> translator: it makes me scared about the restart. >> translator: quick action in cases like this is vital. >> the ohi reactors are expected to start generating power before the end of july. >>> the uncertainty hanging over the middle east has left many in e asia-pacific region concerned about energy supplies. with this in mind members of the asia pacific economic cooperation forum are prepared to meet to address the issue. officials from the 21-member apec forum will gather in st. petersburg, russi

if that's the case, noda starts to look pretty good. we've actually had some development, some process. some people are comparing him. if he can push policies through, i think his popularity could rise and that could bring about a degree of political stability we haven't had for a while. that's, i think, the risk. but short term europe financial markets globally, that's the driver and we would say stay strong for now. >> well, considering that japanese tech companies have been facing a tough time trying to catch up with rivals such as south korea's samsung electroni electronics, they have had to seek support for major shareholders and banks as it struggles to keep up. the strong yen had trouble on the european front making the situation more unbearable for the sector. shares closed down almost 6% today and for the year it's lost more than a third of its value.. joining us for more is mark newman, senior analyst for consumer electronics. mark, a pretty big drop there for this company. is the tech sector more broadly in japan at risk of b

i think that this is more a political coup for prime minister noda than anything else.ut if we do have growth running substantially below 2% and if we're still in deflation come march 2014 i really doubt that they will step in and actually enforce the legislation that they've just passed. >> the corporate sector in japan is really the source of a lot of its weakness over the last couple of decade. you point out now that have of topix listed companies have no or negative debt. they got yen strength. will we see a return to the 1980s where japan starts snapping up -- showing its strength all over the world? >> well, in my report actually one of the things that i discuss is the potential that japanese firms are actually overpaying for their overseas acquisitions. if you look at the premiums paid for overseas acquisitions they are larger than their domestic acquisitions and if you look at those overseas acquisitions three years on, return on equity actually declines not improves. while it improves mildly for domestic acquisitions. so, while we know that japanese companies a

approval is virtually guaranteed thanks to a deal prime minister noticed noda made with two oppositionarties. it's a step to curb the massive debt but japan has a long way to go before financial debt is fully restored. the government's target calls for a primary balance surplus in fiscal 2020. yet the cabinet office estimates doubling the sales tax to 10% won't be enough. the rate would need to be at least 16% to erase the deficit on its own. the government's failure to tackle the ailing social security system is still raising fears of never-ending tax hikes. but so far efforts to curb benefits have gone nowhere. as for the tax bills, impact on economy, consumers and businesses will likely go on a spending spree ahead of the first hike in april 2014. but with advanced purchases eating into future demand, spending is forecast to shrink post-hike pushing down the gdp by 1.8% if fiscal 2014. back to you, ross. >> thank you very much. >>> gina sanchez is still with us as well. gina, it's interesting. you look at the japanese stock market first quarter of this year a long with the dax, one