local government, anger is rising over the remarks. >> he served as a council general in okinawa for several years. it's rather pathetic that, as a diplomate, he has such a poor understanding of the situation. it makes the futenma issue more complicated. >> they voted unanimously in favor of a resolution urging maher to retract his comments and apologize. >>> translator: maher's remarks trampled on the feelings of the okinawa people. the remark he made were mocking, disparaging and inexcusable. >> reporter: in a phone conversation on tuesday, japan's chief cabinet secretary launched a statement saying if true the comments were introept. in response roos said expressed his regrets that the controversial statements have caused offense. japanese government officials say maher has cancelled a trip to attend talk on thursday. >>> the japanese government is hoping the u.s. ambassador's apology will put the controversy to rest. the two nations are trying to schedule a meeting of foreign and defense ministers in late april or early may to decide on a formal relocation plan for the futenma ba

last december that okinawa wants are masters of manipulation and extortion. he was referring to the relocation of the u.s. marines air station. in the talks, campbell said maher's comment is unacceptable and contrary to the u.s. policy and the respect for okinawa. >>> japan downgraded the economic growth by 0.2% to 1.3% on an annual basis. they downward revision comes as consumer spending fell short of previous estimates. the cabinet office said on thursday that the nation's gross domestic product shrank 0.3%. that translates in to a 1.3% drop in annualized terms. nominal gdp was downgraded by 0.3 percentage points to minus 2.8% annually. the officials say it underscores the sluggish growth of the economy at the time. he said while the economy is likely back on a recovery path there are some risk including rising oil prices due to the unrest in the middle east and africa and political uncertainties in in japan over the state budget for the fiscal year. we will be back with more news in 30 minutes. i'm gene otani in tokyo. .

last april chinese naval fleet sailed east passing between okinawa's main island and the smaller island. china has also carried out naval exercises close to japanese territorial waters. then last september a chinese fishing vessel collided with two japan coast guard ships near the senkaku islands. they're japanese territory, but china claims them as its own. >> so what is japan doing to counter china's growing presence in and around this territorial waters? >> the government is investing more in defending these remote islands. this was approved in its new defense guidelines in december. japan is also trying to strengthen its alliance with the u.s., but with the majority of american military bases on okinawa's main island, local people are growing tired of shouldering the burden. the central government and the okinawa government are at odds over how to deal with the american military presence in the future. this is having an impact on the japan-u.s. alliance. >> is the u.s. also concerned about china's military might? >> yes. experts say they still have the dominant military presence in

and that relocation of the marines from okinawa will be faced with completion of suitable infrastructure on guam. consequences in such a way to maintain unit cohesion and operational readiness. and that's why this entire process has to move in lockstep and why we need to look at all of the different indicators as we go along including for one other item to offer, japanese financing for infrastructure improvements on guam as part of this continuing that comprises tangible progress and will enable us to relocate from the air station to the replacement facility and to relocate the marines from okinawa. >> thank you, mr. secretary. i have one quick question, mr. chairman, this is for secretary. as you know, the defense authorization bill contained a provision that gave the secretary of defense to intergrate the water and wastewater lines on guam. i have long believed that the navy indeed all services should be out of the business of being a utility provider. and that said i continue to believe that the integration of power in guam provides us the right model for utility integration. in that

japan and okinawa felt the impact. 1960 emerges as the most disastrous earthquake year of modern time >>> looking inside the shanobel power plant. the role scientists played in designing the plant. >>> and we'll tell you about plans to allow tourists to visit the shanobel nuclear spill zone. >>> japan's damaged nuclear power plants have -- next month the world marks the 25th anniversary of the worse nuclear disaster in history. the 1986 reactor leak and explosions in the ukraine. it spewed radiation upward and led to 31 radiation deaths in the near by area. in recent years, united nations scientists have said their earlier estimates of 12, 12,000 deaths were probably too high. one of the most vexing problems has been the structure built around the plant. there's been plans to build another structure over it. but when we filed this report, it already had serious flaws. >> reporter: ukrainian workers today are still risking their lives, surveying inside the lethally radio active nuclear plant. >> they all eventually failed so they had to use the -- what they called the biobots and that

in okinawa city 300 homes washed away in an instant. after that destructive fires burning out of control, entire neighborhoods on fire. oil refineries shooting flames high into the air for hours. several nuclear power plants shut down because of system failures. the terror lasted for hours with dozens of aftershocks with magnitude 6.5. president obama says the u.s. will help the country. >> the images of destruction, flooding coming out of japan is heartbreaking. >> the city of over 12 million people major disruption. public transportation shut down. the city's two major airports closed. total damage is still being assessed but the dollar figure is expected to be astonishing. >> we asked the people of japan to continue to be cautious and vigilant, and we ask the people of japan to act calmly. >> japan's earthquake is the fifth largest in the world since the u.s. started keeping records in the 1900s. the strongest was a magnitude 9.5 in chile back in 1960. four years later a magnitude 9.2 in alaska. japan's quake quick triggered tsunami

in okinawa city 300 homes washed away in an instant. after that destructive fires burning out of control, entire neighborhoods on fire. oil refineries shooting flames high into the air for hours. several nuclear power plants shut down because of system failures. the terror lasted for hours with dozens of aftershocks with magnitude 6.5. president obama says the u.s. will help the country. >> the images of destruction, flooding coming out of japan is heartbreaking. >> the city of over 12 million people major disruption. public transportation shut down. the city's two major airports closed. total damage is still being assessed but the dollar figure is expected to be astonishing. >> we asked the people of japan to continue to be cautious and vigilant, and we ask the people of japan to act calmly. >> japan's earthquake is the fifth largest in the world since the u.s. started keeping records in the 1900s. the strongest was a magnitude 9.5 in chile back in 1960. four years later a magnitude 9.2 in alaska. japan's quake quick triggered tsunami

it has three stars representing the battle stars earned by the battleship for okinawa, north africa and jima. why can americans be proud of this ship? >> the symbology that's clearly part of this ship. there's something that was so tragic and so horrible, and we've transformed that now, and it's part of the global force for good. >> reporter: what is the motto of this ship? >> the motto is "strength forged through sacrifice." never forget. >> reporter: throughout history, every great accomplishment begins with just an idea. scott koen provides us with a perfect example of that. >> it's kind of funny because i started out with freedom plaza, and i ended up with the "uss new york." you know, sometimes you don't end up where you started out going for. sometimes you don't get your goal. but sometimes another door opens up along the way that's even greater. >> if you don't set your goals high, you'll never know how high you can get. if you put them high enough, even if you never get to them, you'll probably get further than you ever thought you could. >> reporter: from the captain's chair on

i, ambassador togo referred to the use of assets on okinawa, and for the american contribution here, and that is probably not trivial. i hope it improves the environment. i think americans have also learned in the last couple of weeks that it's better not to say too much about okinawa at all. [laughter] >> thank you. >> yes, please. >> thank you very much. i noticed two things. the first one is that -- >> could you identify yourself? >> i come from -- [inaudible] , and my name is jin. the first thing is that president obama nominated nuclear actor to the secretary of the doe and the nuclear crisis, the stock market of europe dropped more than the stock market of usa. so my question is, actually, what kind of reaction there will be to the energy policy of usa and europe respectively? and my colleague also wants to ask you another question. this crisis will have, what kind of impact about u.s. economics? thank you very much. >> charlie, do you want to talk about energy policy? >> well, i think in europe it will have a profound impact. you've already seen mrs. merkle come out very stron

minister was forced to resign in shame when he failed on a promise to move a big american base off okinawa. so, perhaps those perceptions could change, if the japanese could see americans saving lives by the hour. and when we come back, could it happen in america? we'll take a look at u.s. nuclear plants built on fault lines and ask, how safe are they really? host: could switching to geico really save you 15% or more on car insurance? host: what, do you live under a rock? man: no way! man: hey rick check this out! anncr: geico. 15 minutes could save 15% or more on car insurance. [music playing] confidence available in color. depend® colors for women. looks and fits like underwear. protects like nothing else. depend®. good morning. great day. i'm friend, secret-keeper and playmate. do you think i'd let osteoporosis slow me down? so i asked my doctor about reclast because i heard it's the only once-a-year iv osteoporosis treatment. he told me all about it and i said that's the one for nana. he said reclast can help restrengthen my bones to help make them resistant to fracture for twelve mont

- could potentially hit parts of japan and russia, even as far away as guam and taiwan, could hit okinawa within the next three hours. this is 1:00 hour time and also in russia could make it there about the same time, the next two to three hours. guam was in the next three hours and again we're talking about hawaii, too, something a bit closer to us. these tsunamis can be fairly devastating especially with a quake of this magnitude and that dent, 15.2 miles. that's a moderately deep quake and these can reach far away coastlines. right now the usgs has not mentioned any watches or alerts for the u.s. coastline, but hawaii is under a watch right now for 3:00 in the morning is when that would be expected to roll in if it does make it to hawaii. >> at 2:46 japanese time there have been a series of aftershocks, large aftershocks, hitting japan. we are going to continue to follow this story and bring you updates throughout the newscast but again, a major, a massive earthquake has hit japan, 8.9 according to the usgs and there is damage including tsunami warnings which have been triggered there.

ambassador togo referred to the use of assets on okinawa. and for the american contribution here, and that is probably not trivial. i hope that improves the environment. i think americans have also learned in the last couple of weeks that it is better to say not -- say -- better not to say too much about okinawa at all. >> i noted two things. the first thing is that president obama nominated a secretary, after the nuclear crisis, the markets of europe dropped more than the stock market of the usa. [unintelligible] my colleagues also want to ask you another question. the prices -- >> do you want to talk about energy policy? >> in europe there is a severe impact. you've seen mrs. merkel come out strongly about not only inspecting a number of reactors but now going further in saying that perhaps the old german nuclear program should be phased out over time. you've seen negative responses in sweden, in italy where they were just beginning to reverse longstanding nuclear policy. i think the u.k., you will see continued -- they have a very vigorou

in oakland in a what,okinawa, marines helped people have to stand in line for help. in many towns with grocery stores the shelves are emptying out. in areas into your the nuclear power plants, authorities are checking radiation levels. many cities are without electricity because the reactors are offline, which means millions will have to spend another night in the cold. randall pinkston, cbs news, new york. >>> four days after that earthquake triggered the tsunami, some new video shows the moment it hit. amateur video shows this wall of water pushing into a narrow bay lifting these boats right over the seawall. the torrent moves everything in its path, cars, houses. water eventually rushes through the neighborhood turning those streets into raging rivers. the boats in the bay get caught in the flow, some like this one get crushed as they are forced beneath that overpass. >>> flights in and out of japan are up and running again today from sfo. a bay area team of general electric workers arrived home this morning. they had just finished overhauling the fukushima power

base in in okinawa have been accounted for. the quake hit at 9:46 p.m. last night our time. it was centered off the japanese coast. charlie d'agata continues our coverage. >> it looks like the tsunami has engulfed several cities. >> reporter: a wall of water raced across farmland in northeastern japan sweeping cars and even buildings aside. a massive 8.9 earthquake off the coast triggered a 30-foot tsunami that washed away everything in its path. a tsunami warning has been issued throughout most of the pacific ocean including the entire west coast of the united states, hawaii, alaska and canada. cars bobbed in the water in the port cities. people raced to higher ground. the quake sparked fires that burned-out of control up and down the coast and at one oil refinery east of tokyo. a government spokesman urged people to stay calm. office workers were caught in swaying buildings in the capital. the quake struck in the middle of the afternoon. they are used to earthquakes in japan but this is the biggest in 140 years. the pacific tsunami warning center says the tsunami warning s

marines from okinawa and dozens more transport helicopters have moved up the coast of japan. at least 100 air force personnel are working to restore electricity to an air base near the most affected areas. and the 150-member search and rescue teams from virginia and california that have been called upon in so many tragedies will be moving out into the strike p towns in a matter of hours. an indication of just how desperate the japanese are. in 1995, the earthquake there claimed 6,000 lives and the japanese refused almost all foreign aid. this time, they are accepting aid from rivals like china and south korea. david? >> martha raddatz, we thank you. i'll have much more from japan in just a moment. but first, dan harris and dr. besser standing by in new york with more on the dangers from the radiation here in japan and so much concern about the children tonight. on our car insurance. great! at progressive, you can compare rates side by side, so you get the same coverage, often for less. wow! that is huge! [ disco playing ] and this is to remind you that you could save hundreds

there were issues with japan wanting to move our forces from okinawa.g to see with this incident how our forces are perceived and have they are involved in humanitarian issues in japan. it is a great move for this country. host: what does it mean for possible pentagon cuts putting more resources in japan? guest: those assets are already in japan. i am in iraq war veteran. i think i have a role as a conservative on this committee in terms of looking at defense cuts. the military today -- there is a big bureaucracy that needs to be slimmed down. we need to look at some of our weapons system programs. there are question marks about it. i think every dollar wasted in defense is an option to defend the country. host: next caller. caller: i would like to remind republicans that are so critical of this administration that when it took office, they walked into a number of messes. messy wars that were not paid for. a collapsing economy in which employment was losing thousands of jobs each month. and a decimated interior department to run by secretary cheney's en

. >> reporter: marines from okinawa and dozens more transport helicopters have moved up the coast of japan. at least 100 air force personnel are working to restore electricity to an air base near the most effected areas. and the 150-member search and rescue teams from virginia and california that have been called upon in so many tragedies, will be moving out into the stricken towns. an indication just how desperate the japanese are for aid, in the 1995 earthquake there where 6,000 people died, the japanese refused most foreign aid. this time they are accepting aid from even rivals like china and south korea. martha raddatz, abc news, washington. >> that is certainly telling. >>> now, at ground level, as you can imagine, it is hard to exactly take in the size and scope of the destruction in japan. abc's christiane amanpour has a different perspective after taking an aerial tour. >> reporter: with search and rescue under way in the earthquake and tsunami zone, we wondered how much of the country is affected by this kind of chaos and destruction. the helicopters taking on fuel and we're

now, this earthquake and tsunami clearly gives an opportunity that the marines in okinawa have a totally different role to play. but the image i have been is a kind of massive flying for the marines. and supplying blankets, food, to all those refugee areas. as ambassador fujisaki rightly mentioned, at the same time i can't help wondering, is it the maximum extent of assistance with your military can provide to us? i may be wrong. i may be wrong about this, but please come in my view the extent of the assistance is not shown enough through the television screen in japan. it has to have two sides. the fact it has been shown through the television screen that the marines can put a totally different role than being just something else. my question, do you think that our substantial cooperation, and whether if there is co-op or eight, do you think it is sufficiently shown in the japanese media through their screens? because the japanese people have instinct that the united states military can and does play a totally different role. >> i have no question that the testes is doing whatever it ca

to reach the tangible progress in okinawa? >> thank you. as we look to the tangible progress on the replacement facility, we see it as not one with a single specific event but rather a series of steps roughly in parallel between japan and the united states as spelled out in the realignment road map in guam international agreement and other bilateral agreements. it will allow one us to move forward with the government of japan as the progress is made on the fr to take steps we have to take. on guam. there are a number of different indicators that we are looking at. starting with the decision on the runway configuration for the frf that we expect in the upcoming two plus two meeting with japan and then other issues we expect to come down the line including the issuance of the land fill permit construction of the sea wall and progress on the land fill itself. you understand, is the preparation on guam needs to begin well in advance of actual construction on the ground for the replacement facility at the camp. and that relocation of the marines

there were issues with japan wanting to move our forces from okinawa. it will be interesting to see with this incident how our forces are perceived and have they are involved in humanitarian issues in japan. it is a great move for this country. host: what does it mean for possible pentagon cuts putting more resources in japan? guest: those assets are already in japan. i am in iraq war veteran. i think i have a role as a conservative on this committee in terms of looking at defense cuts. the military today -- there is a big bureaucracy that needs to be slimmed down. we need to look at some of our weapons system programs. there are question marks about it. i think every dollar wasted in defense is an option to defend the country. host: next caller. caller: i would like to remind republicans that are so critical of this administration that when it took office, they walked into a number of messes. messy wars that were not paid for. a collapsing economy in which employment was losing thousands of jobs each month. and a decimated interior department to run by

is clear that that >> with the earthquake and tsunami, there is an opportunity that the marines in okinawa have a totally different role to play. supply and blankets, food to all those in the area. there is a sense of gratitude in japan. i can help wondering -- i cannot help wondering, is a the maximum assistance which your military can provide to us? i may be wrong. i may be wrong. in my view, the extent of the assistance -- they have not shown enough to the television screen. it has to have two sides. real assistance. the marines can play a totally different role. do you think that there is cooperation -- do you think is this something the japanese media? the united states military plays a totally different role. >> i have no question that the united states is doing whatever it can to be helpful in the situation. i think we moved very quickly. we have demonstrated again that we're the only country in the world that has this kind of capacity to move quickly. i expect that the united states is not getting enough credit yet. for our assistance and for our desire to assist. that does not sur

i would take 15,000 marines off okinawa, they have no function. i would keep the air and sea power that we need in the middle east... in the far east and i would keep troops in south korea because off lunatic there. but, no, we don't need american bases and troops in western europe. >> rose: do we need an american base if bahrain? >> yes we probably do need a naval base there in a limited way. >> rose: do we need a base in qatar? we have a base there? >> i think we're overextended over there and we coulding a ask our european allies to do more. they are all cutting back. we could reduce our military basis substantially if the british and french and germans were willing to do more. and the japanese. world war ii is over. for a long time we said we can't expect japan to do anything. i think now when you look at the economics of it... the alternative is the $700 billion american military budget that is the greater form of foreign aid in the history of the world that goes to rich countries that allow them to cut their own military budgets. >> rose: do

there were issues with japan wanting to move our forces from okinawa. see with this incident how our forces are perceived and have they are involved in humanitarian issues in japan. it is a great move for this country. host: what does it mean for possible pentagon cuts putting more resources in japan? guest: those assets are already in japan. i am in iraq war veteran. i think i have a role as a conservative on this committee in terms of looking at defense cuts. the military today -- there is a big bureaucracy that needs to be slimmed down. we need to look at some of our weapons system programs. there are question marks about it. i think every dollar wasted in defense is an option to defend the country. host: next caller. caller: i would like to remind republicans that are so critical of this administration that when it took office, they walked into a number of messes. messy wars that were not paid for. a collapsing economy in which employment was losing thousands of jobs each month. and a decimated interior department to run by secretary cheney's energy

at the same time, it is clear that the alliance has difficulty in relation to okinawa, the marines there. this gives the opportunity that the marines have a totally different role to play. the image that i have is of a kind of massive -- supplying blankets and food to all those areas. as the ambassador mentioned, -- at the same time, i cannot help wondering if it is the maximum, the extent of the assistance which your military can provide. i might be wrong but at least in my view, the extent of the assistance is not shown through the television screen in japan. it has to have two sides. it has been shown to the screens that the marines can play a totally different role. do you think that there is sufficient cooperation? if there is cooperation, is this efficiently thrown through the screen? javanese people should get the instinct that the u.s. military can and does play a totally different role than the -- >> we have moved very quickly. we have demonstrated that we are the only country in the world that has this kind of capacity to move quickly in this kind of situation. i expected that