the tohoku region is practically synonymous with rice farming. more than a quarter of japan's domestic rice output comes from this region. the village of rokunohe is located in the northern part of tohoku. it is a marginal place to grow rice. as one moves north, the available light and the important temperature that's necessary for growing rice is limited. in other words, the growing season is limited. japanese scientists had to invent hybrid rice seeds-- seedlings-- that would grow in this environment in order for tohoku to become "the rice bowl of japan." so we really see a huge intervention by people-- science and technology-- in order to... for this particular region to become the rice bowl that it is now. narrator: by mid-may, the long winter has finally ended and it is time to plant. kobayashi fukuzo is a farmer of recognized skill. at 71, he knows how unforgiving the weather can be. he worries constantly about what he should do to protect and raise his rice. mechanized agriculture allows an aging population to continue to farm. the fields

as we head up into tohoku, we are going to have to add to these totals. so it is going to be continuing to move at quite a clip. by tomorrow afternoon, we should be rid of this storm. however, there is going to be a lingering after effect and that is the risk of mud slides. anywhere you're seeing here in the shaded area is at risk for mud slides into the coming days as the water starts to move down off the mountains into lower lying areas and moves down river as well. >>> sout delegate wi ng concern. sungni met f three hours in beijing on wedsday. wiai the ntheast must halt it uniumnrhmt pgr d censctns b t internationatoney agency as conditions for restarting the six-party talks. ro said the proam is for peaceful power generation and called for an unconditional resumption of talks. >> translator: today's dialogue was constructive and beneficial. baseon the results, i will continue to makefftso rearthx-rtal without conditions as quickly as possible. >> translator: holding this kind of dialogue will create an atmosphere that could lead to restarting the tal

the judge said general contractors rigged bids for public works projects in japan's northeastern tohoku region. he noted the lawmakers office had decision making power regarding projects. the judge also said contractors thought instructions from the former aides represented the intentions of ozawa's office. they took about $1.3 million from the firm in return for helping it win the bid for a dam project. despite denials, evidence shows the two former aides did in fact receive the money. >>> earlier michio kijima spoke about the court's decision. >> so what is your take on today's ruling? >> the decision will damage ozawa. he said again and again he and his former aides did nothing wrong. but they did make some mistakes. still recognized a construction company gave the former aides illegal funds in connection with a public works project. it's a multipurpose dam being built in iwate. the project will cost more than $3 billion. and it's scheduled to be completed in 2013. the firm that allegedly paid $1.3 million to the former aides is a subcontractor. this court decision isn't just a blow

the typhoon passed through the disaster-stricken tohoku region wednesday. the flooding had caused in miyagi prefecture, isolated hundreds of people in temporary housing overnight. local officials asked residents to evacuate. but they were unable to reach their designated locations on higher ground because of flooded roads. >> translator: we had no choice but to stay in temporary shelter. it was very scary. >> the evacuees had to spend the night in a nearby community center until ground self-defense force personnel reached the area early thursday morning. the typhoon also approached the crippled fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant on wednesday night. but it cause the no major damage. >>> this picture shows rainwater flowing into the basement of the number 6 reactor building. four reactor buildings whose basements are flooded with contaminated water. the water levels rose between 10 and 44 centimeters because of the rain. rain also halted operations to remove salt from the contaminated water. tokyo electric power company said several cameras used to monitor

the figure for tohoku electric power fell by just under 16%. households used about 15% less electricity compared do a year ago, even though they did not have to cut down usage by law, the second-largest drop since august of 2003. when a cooler-than-average summer reduced the use of air conditioner. >>> the eighth round of talks on the establishment of a free trade zone around the pacific, known as the trans-pacific partnership or the tpp came to a close on thursday, some participants have voiced concern about japan's delayed decisions on whether to join the talks. delegates from the united states, australia and several other asia-pacific nations gave a news conference after the talks in chicago. >> we can leave chicago feeling good about our progress. however, everyone should be realistic about what remains to be done. >> the u.s. chief negotiator told reporters that challenges remain on some issues, including exceptions to a tariff waiver program. she indicated that nine countries hope to reach a draft deal at the next round of talks in peru i

the typhoon passed through disaster-stricken tohoku region wednesday. the flooding it caused in miyagi prefecture isolated hundreds of people in temporary housing overnight. local officials asked residents to evacuate, but they were unable to reach their designated locations on higher ground, because of flooded roads. >> translator: we had no choice but to stay in this temporary shelter. it was very scary. >> the evacuees had to spend the night in a nearby community center until ground self-defense force personnel reached the area early thursday morning. the typhoon also approached the fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant on wednesday night, but it caused no major damage. this picture shows rain water flowing into the basement of the number six reactor building. at four other reactor buildings whose basements are flood with contaminated water, the water rose between 10 and 14 centimeters because of the rain. it halted operations to remove salt from the contaminated water. tokyo electric power company said several cameras used to monitor the compounds s

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. >> the tohoku people wanted to search for they loved ones themselves. but because of the level of radioactivities and because of the lack of equipment or many other things, they couldn't go. so we decided that we have to go on their behalf. >> reporter: with debris from the tsunami still littering the area, the job is not easy. they have to wear protective gear and constantly watch radiation levels. matsumoto has led many drills himself. >> we had to wear protective suits which are airtight. and that kind of hinders the movement. also goggles become foggy and it becomes hard to breathe. we have to work in a different environment. >> reporter: ten years ago when the 9/11 terrorist attacks took place, matsumoto was in charge of intelligence at the former defense agency. although he is an expert in crisis management, matsumoto admitted that it was difficult to anticipate an incident that in terms of scale and devastation was one of the worst nuclear disasters ever. >> we tend to neglect those risks but i believe that we to use our imagination to think abou

and seven meters all the way for the very flood prone areas in tohoku as well. this is into saturday. please do stay away from those coastal areas. we have a low pressure system, a remnant just hanging oto that southeastern coast of china. taiwan will be affected as well as laos and vietnam from this remnant low bringing heavy rain in towards the weekend. but where we really want that rain we're not getting any in chongoing, 40 degrees. shanghai heating up to 31 as well. tokyo another hot day for us at 31 degrees for our saturday high. here in north america let's talk about the gulf of mexico. just thoroughfare we have a tropical depression that has a potential to become a severe tropical storm by later tonight actually we have tropical storm warnings just posted in the coast of louisiana and we're going to be seeing very heavy rain coming in associated with this storm, bulk of rain which is a very stationary one right see, slow moving system that will be packing up those buckets of rain. louisiana, mississippi, alabama we may see reason up to 500 millimeters an

the survey asked what voters expect most of the noda administration. 30% want him to rebuild tohoku and solve the nuclear crisis, 15% strengthen social programs, 13% cut wasteful spending and 12% say he should concentrate on fiscal reform. respondents are split on whether he'll be able to implement the policies. the survey asked about the timing of japan's next general election. 10% want a national vote to be held right away. 13% say it should happen before the end of this year. 26% say by the end of next year, and 4 % say they don't want a general election until 2013, when the government is supposed to schedule one. >>> we asked nhk world's senior commentator masayo nakajima to give us his take on this new poll. here's what he had to say to michio kijima. >> what is your take on this result? >> noda is enjoying a higher approval rating than prime minister kan did in his final days of his administration. in that sense the ruling dpj's leadership change can be considered a success but even the administration has its honeymoon period, every administration has its honeyperiod but everyone

almost a third of respondents want the prime minister to focus on rebuilding the tohoku region and solving the nuclear crisis at the plant. 15% strengthen social programs including pension and healthcare. 13% want him to cut wasteful spending, and 12% say to concentrate on fiscal reform. respondents are split on the question of whether noda will be able to implement his policies. 47% say yes. 48% say no. our survey also asked about the timing of japan's next general election. 10% want a national vote to be held right away. 13% say it should happen before the end of this year. 26% say by the end of next year. and 42% say they don't want a general election until 2013 when the government is supposed to schedule one. >>> we asked a world commentator to give us his take on this new poll. here is what he had to say. >> what's your take on this result? >> noda is enjoying much higher public approval rating than former prime kan did. in that sense, the leadership change can be considered a success, but even as the administration has its honeymoon, you know, every administration has its honeymoon p

. >> the pop-up movie theater will travel around the tohoku region until mid november. >>> time to check on some of the stories we've gathered from broadcasters around asia. we begin tonight with this item cc china. after ala thsd,china's first space lab module has successfully entered into orbit. 350 kilometers above the earth. during its first orbits, the tiangong 1 made an adjustment on friday to establish a near-secular path around the planet. during the past two years, the unmanned module well execute docking tests and work as a space experimental platform to pave the way for short sojourns of astronauts. the launch is considered an important step in cha' efrttostli a mne spe atn 20. >> a three-da j.e.t.sian urm irrt thudayn banglash itim t promote trism in bangladesh and networking among asian countries. cha, india, and ten other asian nations are participating in the affair. it's the biggest event of its kind in bangladesh. local to operators, airlines and hotels have set up 190 stalls to showcase their services and cultural assets. about 30,000 people are expected to visit the fa

>> translator: nobuo shuto, professor emeritus at tohoku university, who is well-known for his studies of tsunamis, was invited as a guest speaker. it is quite unusual for someone who is not a member of the society to give a lecture at the conference. in a thesis published 23 years ago, dr. shuto warned about a danger of a tsunami crippling electrical systems at a nuclear power plant, but it was not given much attention in drawing up safety measures for nuclear power plants. >> translator: it is important to use one's imagination when preparing for tsunami. we have to imagine how past tsunami would have affected today's coastal areas. >> translator: how will the society and the japanese nuclear physicists, researchers try to cope with the fukushima daiichi nuclear accident into the future? >> translator: the most important thing is that evacuees from fukushima will be able to return home as early as possible. the atomic energy society says it will work closely with experts around the world to help decontaminate the region as much as possible. to bring the crisis under control, fuel rod

we don't want this rain in tohoku, the land is very prone to flooding since 3-1-1. it looks like we may have locally showers as well as thunderstorms. the showers may up to about 100 millimeters in the span of 24 hours, jus in towards tuesday evening. especially in aomori prefecture. this wave wille bringing central and eastern china heavy rain, also. it will be falling through chongqing province. we had an accumulation of 78 millimeters in eastern sichuan province. >>> indochina peninsula looking messy as well. we had an upper-level disturbance, so we'll be lking at laos, vietnam,s ll as myanmar and wtern seaboards t be coming wh strg nd hi waves and heavy rain. coastaloding will be an issue there. chongqing at 28 degrees. another hot day in japan and tokyo. north america, let's talk about tropical storm maria. maria is going to be heading towards bermuda. as it does so, it looks like it will at some point become a hurricane. we'll keep a close eye on this system. as of now it is going to be bringing lots of rain towards puerto rico and then well offshore of the ba

>> translator: nobu shuto, professor emeritus at tohoku university, who was well-known for his studies of tsunamis, was invited. it is quite unusual for someone who is not a member of the society to give a lecture at the conference. in a thesis published 26 years ago, dr. shuto warned about a tsunami but it was not given much attention in drawing up safety measures for nuclear power plants. >> translator: it is important to use one's imagination when preparing for tsunami. we have to imagine how past tsunami would have affected today's coastal areas. >> translator: how will the society and the japanese nuclear physicists, researchers try to cope with the fukushima daiichi nuclear accident into the future? >> translator: the most important thing is that evacuees from fukushima will be able to return home as early as possible. the atomic energy society says it will work closely with experts around the world to help decontaminate the region as much as possible. to bring the crisis under control, fuel rods must be taken out from reactors and nuclear wastes must be disposed properly. to sol

build the facilities in tokyo and four other neighboring prefectures, and in three prefectures in the tohoku region. the ministry says it will soon explain the plan to each local government. >>> "newsline" is the place to turn to for the latest on japan post-march 11th. we have two segments offering two unique perspectives on the fallout if the earthquake and tsunami. "nuclear watch" brings you insight and information on the impact of the fukushima daiichi crisis." and "the road ahead" examines japan's efforts to recover and rebuild. don't miss "nuclear watch" and "the road ahead" on "newsline." >>> the death toll from the march 11th earthquake and tsunami is close to 16,000. and 4,000 people are still not accounted for. next we meet a man who's spent more than six months searching for the missing. >> reporter: hirofumi onadera is the captain of a japan coast guard patrol boat in ket noouma, miyagi prefecture. he's been searching for missing people ever since the disaster. he's helped recover dozens of bodies. >> translator: the search teams are gradually being scaled down, so people with mi

also moving through parts of the sea of japan side of the country and up into the north, northern tohoku could see about 120 millimeters of rain, this is coming off of a front being exacerbated by our tropical storm down here further towards the south. and then another area of heavy rain will be found in central china. this is going to get a little bit worse before it gets better. but by the end of the weekend it should start to settle down a bit. out towards the north is where we'll find the fairer weather, but it is going to be a little bit on the chilly side, 9 degrees in ulan bator, lows down around freezing. 20 in beijing. 29 in seoul and 30 in tokyo and fairly warm as we head further towards the south. especially in chongqing at 35. maria, the hurricane that we've been tracking for the past several days is now headed for newfoundland. we have warnings, tropical storm warnings, hurricane warnings posted across eastern locations. it's a very fast-moving system. moving at 7 2 kilometers per hour. it is going to be heading straight up through and then should start to lose steam after i

>> a professor emeritus at tohoku university who is well known for his studies of tsunami, was invited as a guest speaker. who is quite unusual for someone who is not a member of the society to give a lecture at this conference. in a thesis published 23 years ago, this professor had warned about the danger of tsunami crippling electrical systems at a nuclear power plant. but his warning was not given much attention in drawing up safety measures for nuclear power plants. >> translator: it is important to use one's imagination when preparing for tsunami. we have to imagine how past tsunami would have affected today's coastal areas. >> how will the society and the japanese nuclear physicists, researchers, try to cope with the fukushima daiichi nuclear accident into the future? >> the most important thing is that evacuees from fukushima will be able to return home as early as possible. the atomic energy society says it will work closely with experts around the world to help decontaminate the region as much as possible. to bring the crisis under control, fuel rods must be taken out from rea