and our drive from soporo, around 30% of the hotel's reservations are for non-japanese guests. about 400,000 japanese visas were issued last year at this time. tourists, japan may have to get used to more visitors. nhk world. >>> the annual chocolate rush is underway in japan. people are flocking to confectionary stores ahead of valentine's day. chocolate makers never satisfied of course. they wants more customers and have come up with mouth watering ways to get them. >> chocolate makers starting to get creative around valentine's day. some of their offerings stand out. like this neck tie, a novel way to get sweet with an office worker. while others need explaining. these, are for diabetics. so no sugar, and fewer calories. let's not forget flavor. this source sells a range of single products that focus on the essential ingredients, the bean. it imports raw cacao beans from nine different countries, the taste and flavor different from where the beans were grilled. all production is done in store, from roasting to mixing. it takes three days to make one bar of chocolate. >> tran

soporo getting up to 17 by saturday. 20, into tokyo, 18 by sunday. but it could even push into the 20s. something to watch out for, definitely going to be warm. not as hot as our friends farther down the southern hemisphere. it has been bringing heat across the region. perth, do stay inside, stay cool and hydrated. linger that way until it goes down to a reasonable temperature, into the mid 30s, but not until the weekend. europe, what we have going on is that severe weather, storm system continuing to roll through here. already has brought some damaging biwinds, spain, large hail, damaging wind gusts, even a threat down here towards the south, flash flooding and also toward the higher elevations. do expect snowfall. now, behind this, this is dragging in the cold air london, a high of 8. paris getting up to 9, showers in your forecast. east, vienna, heading toward the mid part of the week. americas, fairly quick here. we have going on is the storm system. bringing some of that lake effect across the great lakes. satellite looks a little white. that's