the viage of rokunohe is located in the northern part of tohoku.t 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 proct and raise his rice. mechanized agricultu allows an agi population to continue to farm. the fields are irrigated. irrigation is crucial. the rice seedlings depend on water, rather than soil, for much-needed nutrients. rice farmersn northeastern japan ha

in tokyo metropolitan area, tepco -- i'm sorry -- tohoku area first, went down to 16%. recovered to 83% in three days, and in week time 95%. tokyo area, this is not only tokyo but quite a big area from chiba, shizuoka, those places, it went down to 79% and went up to -- in week time to 100%. so these infrastructure recovery was pretty quick. even quicker than a lot of people thought.was, as you can dama damage. as for human life and also jobs, 81,000 people lost their lives -- jobs, i'm sorry. 51,000 acres were inundated. 21,000 ships were lost. so there a lot of damage. we are trying to recover it by putting lot of budget now into this. and government is saying in four years time we will recover 95% of all those land that was inundated. but the serious issue here is still this nuclear issue. i will put this into perspective. in iaea, international atomic energy agency, they have a scale called international nuclear events scale which is from the lowest one to highest seven. seven is the most serious accident. one is the most minor. and three miles, 30 years ago is clas

. >> it is a hard heard message from a survivor in thailand to children of tohoku. hope will keep us alive. that's it for our bulletin. >>> pop singer cindy lauper urges people to support survivors of the disasters by buying products from the hard hit region. lauper is visiting japan onfrom. lauper is visiting japan on a concert tour. ibuying products from the hard hit region. lauper is visiting japan on a concert tour. she made the appeal at a news conference for foreign media in tokyo. the singer visited miyagi prefecture, she noticed slow progress of moving debris. she also talked about shock when a friend from fukushima gave her candy saying it wasn't contaminated with radiation. people in fukushima and the region are isolated and need support to revitalize their businesses and economy. >> don't isolate these people. buy from the areas that were hit, where the stores are still opened. just keep the money moving so people can recover and get back on their feet. >> she promised to continue helping the affected areas to rebuild from the disaster. last year, she was

but still picking up waves in the tohoku region.n the next 24 hours, things will be clearing out and the pacific side will remain devoid of precipitation. high pressure will be dominant in much of the country. that will be bringing some sunny spells for us in tokyo. the temperatures are still very cold at 9 degrees single digits on tuesday. it will be a chilly day for us. seoul here at 7 degrees on tuesday. the forecast for thursday is actually 12 degrees. it will be on the rise. still very chilly and frigid out there in kuala lumpur at minus 6 degrees. in bangkok, 34 degrees. that will be a chance of thunderstorms skirting across the area. plus, manila with 31 degrees. let's head over to the americas. we had a tornado touchdown reported in louisiana. this system is finally tapering off moving -- exiting the country. as it weakens, it will still bring some severe weather just around the great lakes region. we are talking about tornadic activities not being ruled out just yet. widespread areas will have a chance of severe thunderstor

tohoku region looking at snow, but may change over to rain from this afternoon and it could become heavywell, and in hokkaido , good chance of blowing snow tonight into tuesday. in southern china, because of the frontal system, most of the precipitation will move out to sea by this evening. up towards the north, a separate system is moving across northeastern china bringing quite a bit of snow here as well as the northern peninsula and rain in south korea. temperatures are as follows. almost averaging with 10 degrees but tokyo only 6 degrees expected but it will warm up to 15 degrees on tuesday. that's definitely something we are looking forward to. and very warm for this time of year in taipei and 35 in bangkok. now, moving over to the americas, last week tornadoes damaged the eastern u.s. the system that brought severe weather has moved out to sea so things are getting much calmer in the east. however, the exception is going to be the lower appalachian. winter-some conditions will continue throughout the nighttime hours. the combination of dry weather, as well as lots of warmer air, is

snow is also possible in tohoku starting sunday.eading over to the americas, a long frontal line has been sliding over the eastern u.s. and canada, spreading heavy precipitation and strong winds from eastern canada all the way down to the southern plains. however, finally, severe weather in eastern texas, louisiana and mississippi will come to an end on friday. so that's good news. however, torrential rain will continue over the weekend. so you do want to watch out for flooding. as the rain comes in, temperatures will drop significantly. we will show you the details in just a moment. meanwhile, drying out across most of the rest of the u.s. however, a pacific low pressure system is moving into british columbia and pacific northwest. so another round of stormy weather is on the way. temperaturewise, getting up to 8 degrees in vancouver and 11 degrees in seattle. summer-like conditions in los angeles with 27 degrees. out towards the east, as i mentioned, it's temperatures drop significantly on your friday. cooling down to 9 degrees in

in northern japan, in tohoku as well as hokkaido, fresh snow of 20 to 30 centimeters could be pilingp, so that could lead to some surface avalanche and landslides as well as mud slides to be aware of. but rapidly this will be moving away from landmasses by thursday. we have a low pressure system that is going to be intensifying as it moves towards the northeastern china. and that will be dumping some snow. making appearance of snow here in inland china as well, and this rain band will be stretching all the way towards western japan by this weekend. in northern philippines, still ongoing story with some isolated thunderstorm possibilities to be touching down. and manila, temperaturewise, 30 degrees. tokyo, looking at 12. as well as shanghai. and seoul, 11 degrees. finally, we're looking at positive digits in ulan batur at 4r 4, but that's dipping down to minus 8 on saturday. heading over to the americas, we have a wave of systems that will be impacting much of the pacific northwest. and in the similar areas we already have reports of some heavy snowfall in the cascades. it could accum

some making its way over to eastern tohoku.will be staying mostly dry here in the pacific edge of the country down toward the south. yes, still a little bit chilly. much of the rest of the region will be dry. the korean peninsula and mongolia and china. showers contue for the southern coast. while it will be fairly light on tuesday, areas south of the asean sea could be heavy on wednesday. we will see showers continuing in western china. scattered thunderstorms across indo-china and northern philippines. temperatures are going to continue to be a little bit on the cool side for this time of year. just 15 degrees in hong kong. we usually see about 22 in the middle of march. 11 in shanghai. a chilly day in tokyo today at just 9 degrees. all right. as we head on into north america, another winter storm in the pacific northwest. now it is really going to get fairly intense for the northern mountains of california. you can see about 90 centimeters of snow in the next 24 hours. it will be accompanied by strong gusts. that will make t

some of the precipitation moved to the tohoku region.s i said, by saturday afternoon things will be clearing up across much of japan and in tokyo, there will be a slight chance of snow on saturday morning. it stays dry, but the east coast may see a wintry mix. as with china, in and around the shanghai area, things will get drier. however, the south coast will continue to see rain over the next several days. inland china will continue to see snow as well. down towards southeast asia, heavy thundershowers are expanding, particularly in cambodia as well as parts of laos. in the philippines mostly dry, but mindanao will continue to see scattered showers on friday. and 17 degrees in hong kong, up towards the north, cooling down to 90 degrees in seoul. -- 9 degrees in seoul. and again we may see some snow tomorrow morning. heading over to the americas we have a line with weather, ample moisture is coming in from the south, the conditions are particularly severe in parts of eastern texas, louisiana, as well as mississippi, louisiana may be seei

in tohoku, we're seeing some wet weather already, accumulating there, but gusts will be remaining heren northern japan. the wintry pattern will be left behind. so sunday we may even see some blowing snow up here in hokkaido. temperaturewise, tokyo, looking at 16 degrees. then beijing at 17, reaching up there. meanwhile, in the tropics we're looking at chances of thunderstorms in manila at 30 degrees. let's head over to the americas, the pacific northwest will be battered with very gusty and also coastally heavy rains yet again, targeting the oregon and northern california coasts in the next few hours. accumulation could be as much as 120 millimeters in some areas. and winter storm after winter storm these areas have been battered by very heavy rain. so avalanche risk, also mud slide, landslides, rock slides. these are all going to be very high concern here and accumulation of snow could be staggering amounts as well in the cascades and blowing snow, gusts reaching up to 100 kilometers per hour. these are all going to be very huge concern. gusts are very, very strong ahead of this syste

year on decline of 20% in the number of people that stayed at inns and hotels at six prefectures in tohoku. >> i want to do something to support people there, by buying food or souvenirs. >> i'm going to eat and buy things. that's my plan. >> the special events include tours of fukushima by bullet train from tokyo station. the tourism agency hopes visitor numbers will return to predisaster levels during the yearlong campaign. >>> the march 11th disaster killed nearly 16,000 people, and left more than 3,000 others unaccounted for. we bring you a report about a girl and her grandmother helping each other to heal their pain. >> she's a second grader at elementary school. she lives with her grandparents in iwate prefecture. a year ago, her father was engulfed in the tsunami working. her mother and elder sister swept away while fleeing by car. konan is the only member of her immediate family that survived. this is a picture she drew last september. she depicted a family of three, enjoying looking at the moon together. and a tearful girl on the other side of a wall. >> translator: i'm the only o

a lot of people there saw how the giant wave killed so many in last year's disaster in tohoku. they are determined to avoid the same fate. >> reporter: children take part in a drill in yaizu. a community on the coast of the prefecture. wearing protective hoods, the children prepare for a major earthquake. first, they climb to a higher location. then they put on life jackets. a bank in the same prefecture is also depending on the jackets to protect customers and staff. 43 branches of this bank along the prefecture's coast are also taking the same precautions. at an emergency devices exhibition in february, five companies displayed newly-developed life jackets. they are designed to protect people from tsunamis. pulling the string or contact with water causes the jacket to inflate. children can attach this gear to the backpack. it helps keep them safe traveling to or from school. many people at the exhibition took a good look at this device. >> translator: it's hard. it's the jacket's main selling point. if it is too soft, it cannot absorb the impact from the rubble. >> reporter:

the balance of loans across tohoku amount to more than $200 billion, according to the bank of japan. sakai's home on the hilltop suffered some damage, though it is liveable. but down in the town, the tsunami left nothing. sakai was left with more than $200,000 in debt. he lost his income and got no financial support. he thought of giving up. then a volunteer group that helps businesses get going again arrived with what sakai needed to rebuild. >> this makes me feel like okay, i'm ready. >> sakai took his first step forward in this makeshift stand. he started to sell frozen chinese dumplings. he is making 20 to $30 a day, but has to feed a family of five, and he'll need to rebuild his restaurant if he wants to get back on his feet. he'll have to take out another loan almost as big as his first. his overlapping debt, more than $400,000. he'll have to repay more than 3,000 every month. that's about twice as much as before the disaster. >> translator: i must restart no matter how good or bad it will be, it's like a gamble. >> government leaders established a cooperation that will buy bus

as the system moves towards the northeast, rain should change over to snow in northern tohoku. heavy snow is in the cards over the weekend here. meanwhile, rain in the southern half of the korea peninsula will move out to sea, but instead snow will be moving into the northern half of the peninsula on -- over the next 24 hours. as for china, ongoing heavy showers will dissipate so that's good news. down towards the iindochina, he rain will occur as well as in southern vietnam on saturday. another scorching day for you in bangkok with 37 degrees, cooler than nanaverage in shanghai wit 11. tokyo dipping down to 9 degrees on friday but back to 15 degrees on saturday. very changing weather here. >>> change over to the americas, we can zero tating clouds over the central u.s. so severe thunderstorms are still impacting this area and it hasn't moved very much so the rainfall total will become even more significant currently parts of alabama and mississippi are experiencing the brunt of it. tornado watches have been issued here. over the next 24 hours, as i mentioned, it won't moch vev

we'll be seeing rain as the low moves to the north and hits tohoku, it turns to snow. quickly moving out. by saturday, it should be much clearer here. still just a little chilly. beginning of next week, we'll see a big rise in temperatures and be feeling very much like spring. looking forward to that. as we head to the continent, we have quite a lot of precipitation spreading through southern and eastern china. down towards the south is going to be light to moderate. you can see some thundershowers in with that. then it turns to snow, from west of shanghai, up towards northern china. you can see quite a lot of precipitation moving through mongolia as well, that's also in the form of snow. still very chilly across much of mongolia. seeing heavy rape for myanmar and eastern india, bangladesh, continuing today as well. but light precipitation for indochina and the philippines, looking clear across much of the philippines. just a few scattered thunderstorms. here are the temperatures. 21 in taipei and hong kong. then we cool off to the north. but not too bad. 10 in tokyo,

as the system moves towards the northeast, rain should change over to snow in northern tohoku. heavy snow is on the course over weekend here. meanwhile, rain in the southern half of the korean peninsula will move out to sea, but instead snow will be moving into the northern half of the peninsula on -- over the next 24 hours. as for china, ongoing heavy showers will dissipate, so that's good news. down towards the indochina peninsula, heavy rain will occur in cambodia as well as southern vietnam on your saturday. as for the highs, scorching day for you in bangkok with 37 degrees. cooler than average in shanghai with 11. tokyo dipping down to 9 degrees on friday, but 15 degrees on saturday. so very changing weather here. heading over to the americas. we can see rotating clouds over the central u.s., so severe thunderstorms are still impacting this area, and it hasn't moved very much, so the rainfall total will become even more significant. currently parts of alabama and mississippi are experiencing the brunt of it. tornado watches have been issued here. over the next 24 hours, as

even the precipitation that will be covering in the tohoku regions will be rain rather than snow in the weekend. these are very heavy -- could be heavy at times in and around these areas in china, though, so we're expecting accumulation, as much as 100 millimeters in the next 24 hours. scattered showers and thundery activity will be persistent here for the next couple of days in the philippines. manila, 30 degrees temperaturewise. misty in the morning and nighttime for you in hong kong at 22, as well as taipei. tokyo reaching up to 17 degrees for thursday. so that's going to be warm for us tomorrow. heading over to the americas now, it's going to be very severe here in the southern plains area, especially in louisiana, arkansas and mississippi, where the rain is ongoing for a few days now. and that's going to be a huge concern for flash flooding as well as some flooding. we have cold air surging in towards this frontal system. and out towards the eastern area, the high pressure that's responsible for the warmth that is persisting is very strong, remaining strong. so that's why this syst

the balance of loans across tohoku amount to more than $200 billion, according to the bank of japan.akai's home on the hilltop suffered some damage, though it's livable. but down in the town the tsunami left nothing. smtd amount kmtd sakai was left with more than $200,000 in debt. he lost his income and got no financial support. he thought of giving up. then, a volunteer group that helps businesses get going again arrived with what he needed to rebuild. >> translator: this makes me feel like, okay, i'm ready again. >> reporter: sakai took his first step forward in this makeshift stand. he started selling frozen chinese dumplings. he's making $20 to $30 a day, but he has to feed a family of five, and he'll need to rebuild his restaurant if he wants to get back on his feet. he had to take out another loan, almost as big as his first. his overlapping debt, more than $400,000. he'll have to repay more than $3,000 every month. that's about twice as mu as before the disaster. >> translator: i must restart no matter how good or bad it will be. it's like a gamble. >> reporter: government lea

up until last year, one of hong kong's most important sources of japanese abalone was tohoku, but last year's earthquake knocked out the seafood industry there. now, producers are aworking to resume shipments to these markets. >> reporter: this abalone is prized not just for its taste, but also for its appearance. >> translator: abalone produced in japan has a rich flavor. abalone from other countries never tastes as good. >> reporter: but experts of abalone have been badly hit by last year's disaster. supplies dropped by a quarter and prices have risen as much as 50%. this led to more people buying cheap eer abalone from the midd east and china. >> translator: japanese abalone is expensive so customers have started buying other abalone. >> reporter: they have been exporting dried abalone to china for more than 60 years. this man has been in the abalone business for 40 years. >> translator: this one has the perfect shape, like a treasure ship. >> reporter: the dried abalone is the finest in shape, color and size. before the disaster they commanded a wholesale price of $1,200 per kilogr

so maybe this precipitation could turn to snow and in tohoku region it could accumulate as much as 50entimeters. this is wet snow piling up very quickly. so avalanche risk is very high. in hokkaido, even 30 centimeters could pile up in the next 24 hours. now, elsewhere here in eastern continental asia things are looking very clear and dry. mongolia, eastern china, and this is very good news for the area where the land is very saturated. that high pressure system will be drying things there. but actually inviting yellow sand as well. already affecting in and around shanghai overnight tonight and moving through kyushu by saturday affecting the air here. temperaturewise, looking at tokyo 17 degrees for saturday's high. not bad at all. dipping down at 6 in seoul. we're looking at some chances of thunderstorms in manila and in bangkok, both in the 30s temperaturewise. all right, heading over to the americas, you can clearly see this spiral. we have been talking about this storm for a while now and it is moving ever so slowly towards mid-atlantic. and underneath it, numerous showers, plus s

by the time it hits tohoku, it should be changing over the snow. a little chillier towards the north. but not too bad in tokyo. today ten degrees forecast for the high, eight in seoul and five in beijing. eight in shanghai as well, taipei and hong kong both at 21 degrees but a hot day in bangkok. 36 for your high. into north america we go. to the northwest we're seeing a system here starting to dissipate as it moves farther inland, which is certainly good news. this one a windy system bringing snow as well as coastal rain in the last 24 hour. but even as thins settle down here, there's going to be yet another system coming in on its heals friday night. something to keep in mind. go out to the east because really severe storms have been just ripping up the midwest and eastern united states over the last couple of days. you can see this front moving away out over the atlanta. but there's only going to be a short break, i afraid. this low here in the south is getting ready to develop, move into the east and bring yet more severe weather on friday. tor

so maybe this precipitation could turn to snow and in tohoku region it could accumulate as much as 50 centimeters. this is wet snow piling up very quickly. so avalanche risk is very high. in hokkaido, even 30 centimeters could pile up in the next 24 hours. now, elsewhere here in eastern continental asia things are looking very clear and dry. mongolia, eastern china, and this is very good news for the area where the land is very saturated. that high pressure system will be drying things there. but actually inviting yellow sand as well. already affecting in and around shanghai overnight tonight and moving through kyushu by saturday affecting the air here. temperaturewise, looking at tokyo 17 degrees for saturday's high. not bad at all. dipping down at 6 in seoul. we're looking at some chances of thunderstorms in manila and in bangkok, both in the 30s temperaturewise. all right, heading over to the americas, you can clearly see this spiral. we have been talking about this storm for a while now and it is moving ever so slowly towards mid-atlantic. and underneath it, numerous showers, plus

in tohoku, we're seeing some wet weather already, accumulating there, but gusts will be remaining here in northern japan. the wintry pattern will be left behind. so sunday we may even see some blowing snow up here in hokkaido. temperaturewise, tokyo, looking at 16 degrees. then beijing at 17, reaching up there. meanwhile, in the tropics we're looking at chances of thunderstorms in manila at 30 degrees. let's head over to the americas, the pacific northwest will be battered with very gusty and also coastally heavy rains yet again, targeting the oregon and northern california coasts in the next few hours. accumulation could be as much as 120 millimeters in some areas. and winter storm after winter storm these areas have been battered by very heavy rain. so avalanche risk, also mud slide, landslides, rock slides. these are all going to be very high concern here and accumulation of snow could be staggering amounts as well in the cascades and blowing snow, gusts reaching up to 100 kilometers per hour. these are all going to be very huge concern. gusts are very, very strong ahead of this sys

a benefit concert for the children of tohoku, japan.rting at 6:00 p.m. helping orphans from northern japan's earthquake over there. over here, kid fest, south bay. head over to morgan hill. locals will know. operation kid safe will be there to help register your kids, too. best of all, a portion of the entrance fees will benefit rebecca children's services, a south valley centered mental health group. it's all for the kids, but real they's a little bit in there for the kid in me. the san jose super toy comic book and collectible show is on at the santa clara county fairgrounds. hot wheels, g.i. joes, legos and transformers and star wars, remember lando, yes, he'll be there. billy dee williams. he had no choice. the empire beat to solo to cloud city. you have a choice so make it a great one today in the bay. and makes teeth up to 2 times stronger. act. stronger teeth and fresher breath in every bottle. ♪ [ female announcer ] if whole grain isn't the first ingredient in your breakfast cereal, what is? now, in every box of general mills bi

the doctor visited the hard hit tohoku region to provide treatment immediately after the disaster. participants sang a japanese song for those still facing tough conditions one year after the disaster. and that concludes this edition of "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. tokyo. thanks for joining us. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com