the village 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 mechanized agriculture allows to anto continue to farm.rice. the fields are irrigated. irrigation is crucial. the rice seedlings depend on water, rather than soil, for much-needed nutrients. rice farmers in northeastern japan have a traditional enemy. called

but under this theory, waves in northern tohoku would have been much lower than 20 meters. waves of that height washed ashore last month. professor emeritus takashi ngata wanted to find out why the theory fails to explain why the tsunami were magnified. he discovered a previously undetected active undersea fault. the conventional theory was that a tectonic plate on the landward side moved drastically, triggering a five-meter tsunami. that kata simulated what would have happened if the active fault shifted along with the plate. he says researchers should pay attention to similar undersea faults such as the nankai trough. experts predict a megaquake will occur there. these red lines are believed to be such faults running from the tokai region to off kyushu. >> i think we can more realistically prepare for disasters if we use simulations that active faults can cause tsunami. >> he says researchers need to examine the undersea faults as soon as possible. >>> even though south korea's economy is growing fast, six out of ten graduates couldn't find work last year. many are taking

it is now a tropical storm and is located just towards the east of tohoku region. so it has moved out over the water now. it's going to be moving towards the east of hokkaido today. we're still seeing sustained winds up above a hundred kilometers an hour with gusts over 140 kilometers per hour. the storm surge combined with spring tides could bring certainly the risk of coastal flooding. waves could be around six to eight meters for northeastern japan. and in terms of the rainfall, hokkaido is likely to see another hundred millimeters or so. certainly as we head into the day, it'll be drier across the day. another tropical expression has formed here. this one does look like it's going to be intensifying. it'll certainly be bringing heavy rain across the philippines today. then if i step out of the way to the east of the islands, yet another tropical depression. this one also looking right for intensification. by the end of the day, we could have two other tropical storms here. this to the east of the islands. heading up towards the northwest. this could be a proble

but for people in the disaster area of tohoku, it has a deeper significance. >> reporter: the red brick building of tokyo station. the open entry showing major refurbishment. it's being restored to the way it looked when it was first built a century ago. the roof is from world war ii. it's now covered with tiles. they have made of natural slate. when the station was originally built in 1914, the slates covering the roofs all came from the town of ogatsu in miyagi prefecture. for the recent refurbishment, the railway company decided to use slate again. then the massive earthquake hit the region. ogatsu was devastated by the tsunami. the entire building where the slates were being stored was washed away. amazingly, many slates survived intact. after the disaster, zazaki was the first on the scene. he found slates all covered with debris. but he was convinced they were still usable. >> translator: it's a miracle they survived the tsunami. because tokyo station is a japanese icon, i really wanted slates from ogatsu to be used on it. >> reporter: after the disaster, there was no electricity

a lot of folks, especially after the tohoku event, seeing the water going over six miles inland in japan, have been a little bit more worried about our tsunami evacuation zones. however, they're based on the latest scientific data and we are very confident in them. but i do need to get going. >> oh, okay, all right. we appreciate your time. we know you're very busy, shelley kunashige with the state civil defense, thank you very much. it looks like with 20 minutes to go until this wave is expected to hit hawaii that there are still many cars on the road, and it's a congested situation. at least, we're getting that from oahu. the people there on a busy saturday night, many parties going on. you can expect it's been a little bit difficult to get them in their cars and get them away from the ocean and out of harm easily way. let's go now to the mayor of honolulu who's speaking live. >> so assess your own situation and remember, you can if necessary get out of the car if there is an available way for you to get to higher ground quickly or vertical evacuation. because of the amount of time we'

as for the rest of japan, looking dry, but as you can see, the osaka and tohoku areas may be seeing showers. out west, dry across the korean peninsula. clear skies to the east. southwestern china will continue to deal with lig showers. down towards the south, this low is what was once tropical storm gaemi. today the heaviest rain is going to be found bangladesh, northeastern india, as well as the northern half of myanmar. out toward the east we're still monitoring prapiroon. the eastern half of taiwan, as well as okinawa islands, waves could reach five meters today. if it's going to continue to move at a slow pace. so again, rough seas could continue and it could move through the okinawa islands or taiwan early next week. we'll keep you posted on the storm's progress. temperatures are looking like this. quite warm for this time of year. tokyo out 26 degrees. looking at 19 degrees in seoul. out towards the west, 8 degrees in ulan bator. should be cooling down into minus 2 degrees as we head into your friday. alright, finally let's go over to the americas, then. lots of wintry precipitation a