his garage is where he stores his shinkansen gear.d gear has been lovingly carved out of styrofoam and painted exactly the right colors. kobayashi has been working with 12 other people, most of them friends from the local chamber of commerce. they want to promote hakodate as a tourist destination. >> translator: this is a great opportunity to draw attention to the city, where i was born and bred. that's why i decided to do these really embarrassing things, like wearing tights and the bullet train head gear. >> reporter: in december a ceremony was held to mark the start of test runs on the line. once the shinkansen goes into full operation, it will take just over four hours to reach hakodate from tokyo. about two hours less than at present. this is expected to boost the number of visitors significantly. ♪ kobayashi's team were there to add some extra color. they've also been taking part in local events. the aim is to encourage tourists to come back to hakodate on the bullet train. >> translator: we are the hakodate hayabusa, public rel

the winds have been continuing to kick up in akita prefecture we even saw one shinkansen at a total stop because of the high winds. that's at an elevated platform typically. and then as far as the forecast winds gusting up to 126 kilometers per hour. and yes, there is the possibility of some thunderstorms mixed in with this rough weather as well at least until it starts to cool off by saturday into sunday. i'll leave you now with your extended forecast. ♪ ♪ ♪ et cetera ♪ ♪ >>> let's go back to a breaking story out of japan. officials from japan's defense ministry say a rescue team has reached a crashed maritime self-defense force helicopter in southwestern japan. they say all three of the crew members have been found unconscious. the helicopter disappeared in a mountainous area during training on thursday. the officials say that the oh-6 helicopter took off from the kayuna base from kag hooema prefecture in the morning. the crew last made contact at 11:00 a.m. japan time. the officials say the crew changed their initial training route due to bad weather and were returning to the base. we