daichi takahashi, nhk world. >>> it is time now for a check of the weather.e in many areas of western europe are digging out of heavy snow. meteorologist robert speta has all the details in world weather. >> yes. so what we are seeing out here is really one storm after another. it's been riding along this jet stream which has been skirting down through the mediterranean. at least at this time. high pressure has moved in overhead across western portions of europe. but that was not the case earlier this week and into the past weekend. let's actually go to some ridiovideo out of this area. first starting in northern spain where snow definitely came down. a very serious snowstorm trapped many people. officials were deployed here. you see them traveling by foot to deliver daily needs, medicine and livestock. also into austria many roads were -- well really created some traffic chaos on the roads out here due to heavy snowfall. resulted in a massive car pileup involving over 60 vehicles and several people were injured. trying to move his car out of the way. 1,300 w

nhk world's jun takahashi has more. [ chanting ] >> reporter: in hokkaido some people are getting very about the arrival of a new bullet train line. for march next year, the new hokkaido shinkansen will link the hakodate area with tokyo. the locals are hoping it will bring in a flood of tourists. masaoki kobayashi runs a construction business. he loves the shinkansen so much he got his smartphone cover designed in the same colors. he carries a special bullet train purse for his coins. and he's customized his own cell phone charm. his garage is where he stores his shinkansen gear. the head 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

kazuo takahashi is a professor at the open university in jan and and gave us his insight. >> i think this is a wake-up call for the japanese nation. it's about time that the japanese should be discussing its position its policy toward the middle east. i think prime minister abe should be talking more to the japanese public about his policy to the middle east and japanese media should be questioning him about his foreign policy and japanese public should be more interested in his policy towards the middle east. he should explain to the japanese public what does pro-active policy involves. what risks. what benefits. i think japanese should be armed with better knowledge of the middle east. we don't have enough experts. so money should be spent on educate more experts. so that in the crisis we have more experts to rely on. i don't see the continuation of the japanese policy up until now, that is to support the middle eastern countries with humanitarian assistance and help in the efforts to build up the economy. i think that basic alliance is correct, but personally i'd like to see more