this one provides electricity to osaka, the country's second largest city. if the situation continues all units in the country will be out of operation by the end of april. the question of when or even if to restart the new reactors has become a national issue. key players in this process are the local governments that host nuclear facilities. nhk conducted a nationwide survey last week of these host communities. we received replies from 29 municipalities excluding those in fukushima prefecture. the main question was do you support the restarting of nuclear reactors? in today's nuclear watch, our reporter is going to explain the results of the survey. our conversation will be conducted in japanese with simultaneous interpreters. >> translator: nuclear safety has become a hot issue since the fukushima daiichi accident not just in japan, some countries have decided to abolish or phase out nuclear energy. why is it important to hear what local governments in japan think? >> translator: in japan the approval of the local government is needed to resume the operat

. >> reporter: musicians that survived the march 11 earthquake and tsunami have held a concert in osaka, western japan in memory of the victims. the musicians are from miyagi, one of the hardest-hit prefectures. they want to be sure the people that died in the disaster aren't forgotten. >> translator: this part is made all from debris. >> reporter: he organized the concert. he used to work in sendai and lost friends in the tsunami. he thought about what he could do to honor the people that died. he came up with the idea of creating musical instruments, using debris from the disaster areas. >> translator: i feel like pressing my hands together before the instruments to show my respect to the victims. >> reporter: he rushed to many emergency shelters after march 11th to distribute aid supplies sent from around the country. >> translator: many supplies were sent from western japan and they reached us soon after the disaster. i am so grateful to those people. >> reporter: he remembered another powerful quake that hit western japan 17 years ago. the great earthquake killed more than 6,000 pe

. >> reporter: the concert was held at a department store in osaka. >> translator: received great support after the march disaster after people in western japan know what the survivors are facing. i hope you will enjoy our concert. >> reporter: the sound created from the salvaged debris is touching the hearts of the audiences. >> translator: the concert reminded me of the disasters in western and northeastern japan. and i cried. i believe long-term support is necessary. i'll try to remember last year's disaster by putting myself in the survivors' shoes. >> reporter: to hand down the memories of the disaster he will continue to strike the chords of his new guitar. >> more news in brief from around the world. a new report warns that up to 4.7 million people in south sudan could face famine this year. the number has jumped from 3.3 million in 2011. the u.n. food and agriculture organization says demand for food in south sudan has jumped significantly since the country gained i understand pence from sudan last july. they warn the situation would worsen iffeth nick unrest continues. the united

professor masaaki murakami of osaka under led a team that conducted experiments on mice. the scientists discovered that stimulating nerves in the legs creates holes in the brain and spinal cord. the holes allow the cells to enter. >> translator: we found a mechanism of how they can enter the body. we can control the immune cells by opening and closing the holes artificially. >> professor murakami added the development could lead to new cancer treatments in addition to helping slow the onset of disea diseases. >>> japan will begin test drilling for methane off the pacific coast. it is the first offshore attempt to extract the substance widely seen as an energy source. methane is formed deep underground when methane gas is formed in crystals. it can be burned like natural gas once extracted. the metals national corporation says drilling will begin in mid-february kilometers off the coast of japan. they will try to extract by next january to see if stable long-term drilling is possible. >> translator: extracting the methane is a really big challenge. if we can start producti

like the ones we've had with kristi yamaguchi and always dreaming foundation and being part of the osaka sister city association, founder member of course, and asian-american journalist association, again, others following her. for david and for jan, if you look at television today, no matter what channel you turn to, there are asian americans on the journalism positions. and i believe and i know it's because of both david and jan's work behind the scenes, in front, bringing just that whole professional care to what they do every day. and i remember a very unique story. as i was a first-year law student at berkeley, jan was covering this whole issue about affirm active action and whether or not asian americans were still going to be part of affirmative action in the law school admissions. after i had been successful in passing my first semester of my required law school, i was out with the asian law caucus and other asian lawyers and asian law students protesting the admissions criteria, the elimination of agents from the admissions criteria. and there was janana here r invitingly and ot

a patient's heart, they emit over 20 substances that help repair heart muscles. 13 patients at the osaka university hospital had the procedure. one patient is no longer bedridden, after undergoing the treatment. the pharmaceuticals and medical devices agency has approved the clinical trials. the company hopes to commercialize the product in five years. >> translator: the patient's age is not a problem. their condition will improve if the treatment is started while they are still resilient. >>> i made my way to work through sleet and snow this morning. it is quite cold out there today. just how much more of this winter weather can we expect? rachel ferguson joins us with the world weather forecast. >> the good news is it won't be too much. certainly today many commuters are waking up to some sleety and snowy conditions. instead we have some video showing you the scene outside. now, we're going to go to hachioji to show you. people are trying to make their way to work just with a couple centimeters of snow there on the ground, but, you know, here in tokyo, we don't get so much snow, so eve

. >> reporter: the concert was held at a department store in osaka. >> translator: we received great support after the march disaster as people in western japan know what the survivors are facing. i hope you will enjoy our concert. >> reporter: the sound created from the salvaged debris is touching the hearts of the audiences. >> translator: the concert reminded me of the disasters in western and northeastern japan. and i cried. >> translator: i believe long-term support is necessary. i'll try to remember last year's disaster by putting myself in the survivors' shoes. >> reporter: to hand down the memories of the disaster, he will continue to strike the chords of his new guitar. >> more news in brief from around the world. a new report warns that up to 4.7 people in south sudan could face famine this year. the number has jumped from 3.3 million in 2011. the u.n. food and agriculture organization says demand for food in south sudan has jumped significantly since the country gained independence from sudan last july. the situation would coursen if ethnic unrest continues. the united nat

this one provides electricity to osa osaka, the second largest city. if the situation continues, all units in the country will be out of operation by the end of april. the question of when or even if to restart the history has become a national issue. key players in this process are the local governments that host nuclear facilities. nhk conducted a nationwide survey last week of the host communities. we received replies from 29 municipalities, excluding those in fukushima prefecture. the main question was do you support the restarting of nuclear reactors? in today's "nuclear watch" we asked about the results of the survey. we started asking why local governments play such key roles in restarting reactors. >> translator: in japan, the approval of the local government is needed to resume the operation of the nuclear power plants. right now, the electric power companies are conducting stress tests, which is the new government safety standard. and the nuclear industrial and safety agency is insisting until the resumption of the operation, and the governme

other exchanges in osaka, nagoya and puke wokka are trading normally. they opened higher on the tokyo ock exchange this morning. this follows an overnight rise on european and u.s. stock markets. the nikkei index now stands at 8,888. up nearly 80 points, a gain of .9%, and the broader topics trading higher by 1%. the index values do not reflect the issues being halted right now. wednesday's stock values are being on these halted issues. now in the currency market, the dollar is moving in a narrow range at the lower 76-yen level. they're watching players in the greek sovereign debt talks. the dollar is now changing hands at 76.12 to 14 yen and the euro is trading at 100. sources say trading is light as speculation is building that greece and its private sector lenders are getting closer to a deal. participants are also waiting for the u.s. jobs data due out on friday. more updates about the tse for you next hour. katherine, back to you. >> thank you very much, ai. we will continue to follow this developing story from the tokyo stock exchange here on "new

a patient's heart, they emit over 20 substances that help repair heart muscles. 13 patients at the osaka university hospital have had the procedure. one patient is no longer bed ridden after undergoing the treatment. the pharmaceuticals and medical devices agency has approved the clinical trials. the company hopes to commercialize the product in five years. >> translator: the patient's age is not a problem. their condition will improve if the treatment is started while they are still resilient. >> all right. next let's go to bangkok to find out what's making headlines in the region. >> nepal has been rocked by a rare bomb blast. suspicion for the attacks has fallen on a little-known ethnic separatist group. the bomb went off in the center of the capital. police believe the explosive was homemade. three confirmed dead, at least seven people were injured. the blast happened neither headquarters of the state oil company on monday afternoon. residents of the capital expressed shock. >> translator: i just can't believe such an explosion happened in broad daylight. it must be a security failur

switzerland over took tokyo as the priciest city to live in in the world the swiss city of geneva tied with osaka japan third, oslo norway 5th, new york ranking 44th imagine the prices right the survey compares hundreds of prices across 160 products and services including food household supplies transportation utilityeducation. >> can't believe that new york 44th. >> well, what a bargain. >> compared to that you are right. >> coming up dc council chair kwame brown weighs in on a heated debate between two council members. >> plus an unusual approach to get kids to school in oh my owe we will tell you why it is -- ohio we will tell you why it is creating controversy  oh will you grab us some yoplait? sure. what flavor? mm, one of each. lemon burst, hm, cherry orchard, blackberry harvest... my daughter's grabbing some yoplait. pina colada, orange creme. i can't imagine where she is... strawberry cheesecake. [ grocery store pa ] clean up in aisle eight. found her! [ female announcer ] yoplait original. 25 flavors for you to love. it is so good. and enjoying it less and less? stop paying fo