i'm raja pradhan in tokyo. and from all of us at nhk world, thanks for watching and have a good day wherever you are.

i'm gene otani in tokyo.rom all of us here at nhk world, thanks for joining us. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com .

spring here in tokyo. let me first show up a video from a couple of places and to yesterday where temperatures rose to about 21 degrees speeding up the blooming process here. that cherry blooms first appeared last saturday, ten ds earlier than usual. people got out to enjoy the beautiful scenery on this and the flowers are expected to be in full bloom this coming sat. what a beautiful view with the new building. that's the sky tree in the back. moving to the satellite picture. bad news with the winter coming back to northern japan. it's a very different story here yet again with wintry pressure pattern kicking in here with gusts reaching about 122 kilometers per hour. 30 centimeters of snow is falling. the rest of the country is feeling this gusty conditions. we can still eny the flower season all the way up to may. it should start blooming in a few days. already tokyo has been blooming but we can still enjoy it for another week. rest of the asia is looking like this with high pressure covering much of the

nhk world, tokyo. >>> winter seems like it was back in tokyo today.ut to warmer temperatures are >> and here are the latest market figures. >>> winter seems like it was back in tokyo today. but to warmer temperatures are in store. meteorologist robert speta is here. he has the forecast. robert? >> yes, gene, we saw the frontal area moving off. we're seeing cooler temperatures today. still snowfall out here. you're right, it is going it start to warm up here. after this frontal area that pushed off towards the east. it did bring the weather through wednesday into thursday night or thursday morning across japan. and the tail end of that front even brought some thunderstorms today across portions of the philippines and manila. you saw reports of hail with a few of the storms. the good news, that's getting a move on. high pressure starting to ridge back in. that's what's going to bring in the warm air from the south. out of the south china sea, pushing it off towards the north. north into the tibetan plateau, you have a decent snow pack on hand right now.

let's go to the tokyo stock exchange. are we seeing positive momentum continuing in tokyo? >> very good morning. it does look that way. a bit of a mixed picture. we saw the dow ending higher. let's have a look at the dow's opening levels for today, wednesday, march 27th. that's what we're seeing there. a bit of a mixed picture. nikkei in the negative. only marginally. not a massive move. we'll see how that develops. with the rebound in the dow, backed up by the rise in the schiller price home index and other data. we're seeing a little bit of continuation in the nikkei. investors also aware of what just happened in cyprus and that may have critical repercussions in the global markets. still a little bit of hesitancy. that's what we're seeing at the open, a bit of mixed picture. we already had the new bank of japan chief talking up his stance on meeting the 2% inflation goal here in japan. the euro has not really budged that much telling us markets are not convinced the form of the cyprus bailout may actually help future crisis especially given the social upheavals we have b

tokyo were looking at 23 for our high. moving over to the north american continent you can see cloud masses moving across. this is bringing blizzard warnings as well as minnesota that could create white out conditions. it's going to be traveling toward the eastern seaboard. new england states you may see white out conditions that's dangerous for traveling. oklahoma city seeing 17 degrees. i'll leave you now for your extended forecast.

akane nakajima, nhk world, tokyo. >> for those planning to visit tokyo this weekend, you will be in for a treat as robert speta tells us in the latest world weather report. >>> we're taking a look out of most of japan here, looks like weather will be decent on and off throughout the weekend. first i want to talk about farther towards the west. here in eastern china, you have been getting a mess of weather. we have a frontal weather. that will push off towards the east, cause some thunderstorm activity, and it's going to drift to the south for the tail end of it. hong kong, you will get some whether too. that's not all that's in store over the weekend. northern china, we have winds coming in, that will kick up the dust out of the desert. that will reduce the air quality there across beijing, and douwn towards the south and the tropics, upwards of 50 milliliters reported. so this will press across southern japan into saturday and sunday off here towards tokyo. the good news, northern japan and england areas, saturday it will be nice, even into sunday here as that front starts to push in f

thanks for that update from the tokyo stock exchange. precisio says they still hope to carry out their investments in ailing sharp, this after sharp was unable to receive funding from hon hai by the tuesday deadline. the two companies originally agreed in march last year, hon ha will invest in sharp through a stock purchase. they said executives on both companies met on sunday and agreed to continue their tie-up talks. hon hai expects to acquire a sition in two months. it stalled when sharp price plunged and hoped to share its technology for liquid crystals to hon ha. i'll leave you with a check on the markets. >>> opposition forces in syria have a diplomatic boost. their delegates have taken the country's seat at a summit of the arab league. qatar and sheikh tully invited opposition to take the place of the syrian government. the head of the syrian national coalition was leading the group. members of the temporary government plan to administer areas held by opposition forces. the man elected prime minister was also in the delegation. ha

i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. do stay with us. we'll be back with more updates at the top of the hour.

from our studios here in tokyo, this is "newsline." crews at fukushima daiichi worked all night and through the day to fix a problem that could have had dangerous consequences. the system's designed to cool four spent fuel rod pools at the nuclear plant stopped working. tokyo electric power company engineers announced that things should be back up and running again by wednesday. >> translator: this is our target, but this plan could be subject to slight delays. we're trying our best to get the systems working again. >> a blackout happened at the facility early on monday evening. for a short while, people working inside the plant's accident response center were left in the dark. then tepco engineers noticed the system used to cool spent fuel in pools connected to reactors one, three, and four, along with another pool, had stopped working. these pools contain about 8,500 spent fuel rods. tepco needs to keep cooling water flowing into them, or temperatures will rise. if it gets too hot, fuel can melt down and release a massive amount of r

they came to tokyo to lay some of the ground work. last week former japanese prime minister mori paid a similar visit to moscow. abe commented on the disputed islands. he said he wants to base discussions on a statement japanese and russian officials issued in 2001. the state reaffirmed a 1956 declaration that russia would return two of the islands in the two sides signed a peace treaty. russian and japanese leaders never signed. he will relay abe's message to russia's president. . >> translator: japan and russia should boost economic activity between the two islands. >> russian leaders were at one point prepared to invite japanese businesses to the islan islands. government officials in tokyo remain cautious about the development offer. they say any project should be conducted in way that will not violate japanese law. companies from other countries are trying to get a foothold on the islands. a south korean firm is working on a port project. >>> americans plan to spend $60 million in the coming months. >> united states has decided t

tokyo getting up to 23. dropping down to 11.ow, remember, this is not so much of a cold snap because these temperatures will be looking more like average. time to get back to re-al a ti. into the southern hemisphere we have a tropical cyclone sandra. sandra is moving off to the east about 8 kilometers per hour. a very stagnant system to say the least. quite erratic. it does push off here. still everybody here at french polynesia across new caldonia, watch it closely. it could affect you here and even the east coast of queensland. very unlikely. around the system, keep a close eye on it. we'll keep you updated on norld about it. let's look at a europe. across central, western europe, rainshowers on tap. even in italy, thunderstorms in france, aa cross spain. this is bringing gusty winds. 80 kilometers per hour winds. the wet warm air pushing on shore. there will be a change. dry cold air coming in. temperatures cooling to the freezing mark around the start of the week. quickly into the americas. the southwest, see the low spinnin

jun yutsomoto, nhk world, tokyo. >>> thousands of u.s. and south korean troops have begun an annual joint exercise. they're preparing for any fresh provocation by north korea. the drill hasn't gone unnoticed in pyongyang where officials are calling it a declaration of war. the "foal eagle" joint drill began on friday, that involves training for field combat and transporting supplies. the drill will last two months. officials from south korea's defense ministry say the north's military has been stepping up its winter time training and suspect north korean forces may conduct a large-scale exercise in early march. the u.s./south korea joint command notified north korea about the drills in advance. the north has come under intense criticism for carrying out a third nuclear test last month. it also launched a rocket in december which other countries suspect was a ballistic missile. the drill is being carried out amid heightening tensions on the peninsula. the north korea newspaper, "rodong sinmun," says the country cannot allow a threat that w

the site hosted the gymnastics events in the 1964 tokyo olympics.so where the table tennis world championships and other international events were held. some of the ioc officials enjoyed rallies with japanese players. including ai sukuhara. she won a silver medal in the london olympics. sukuhara said she was nervous. she said she tried her best to convey tokyo's enthusiasm to host the games. >> translator: i think i was able to show the interesting, fun parts of table tennis. ioc officials were all smiling. they seemed to have a good time. it was a big success. >> the ioc inspection will continue until thursday. the latest ioc survey shows that 70% of tokyoites support the bid to host the 2020 games. that's up 23 percentage points from may of last year. the president of the japanese olympic committee unveiled the survey results. >> translator: we shouldn't be content with getting a 70% support rate. we'll continue making efforts to gain more support for hosting the games in 2020. >> the support made for tokyo's 2016 olympic games bid was as obseers

nhk world, tokyo. >>> the sun's out here in tokyo. we see what's up ahead in world weather. >> it's going to be chilly throughout the day. it's mostly dry throughout the country. we are seeing snow showers lingering in the north western flank of the nation. that should be easing as this high pressure system moves in from the west. we are looking at rain showers, actually snow showers for the north. that should be reaching north eastern china today. to the south a rainy day for your southern china. risk of hail and thunder storms likely here as well as gusty winds. we'll probably see as much as 100 millimeters of rain into this evening. watch out for flash flood. some of the precipitation should be reaching taiwan as follows. down towards the south scattered rain for much of the philippines and the south eastern corner of the peninsula. you have had hail early this morning. here are your highs on tuesday. very hot across the south. 37 degrees in bangkok. warmer than seasonal with a high of 217 and shanghai a few degrees colder than sea

the annual event opened on thursday at the tokyo international forum. the fair is the largest of its kind in japan and attracts more than 50,000 visitors. its organizers say this year the weaker yen may attract more art collectors from overseas. >> translator: the yen is weaker and tokyo stock prices are higher. they indicate the country is getting a shot in the arm. >> translator: the weaker yen is good news for overseas buyers. japan has a lot of good art items, so i think the country's market will grow. >> 24 young japanese artists living together are selling their building and works of art as a package for about $2.6 million. >> translator: a number of visitors from abroad are coming to see this art fair. as an organizer, this trend is definitely giving us a leg up. >> the organizer says japanese contemporary art has been popular among overseas collectors for years and recently its investment value has been rising. >>> people in some areas of china are dealing with severe weather conditions. >> good morning. some quite famished here across southern

tokyo, you're going to get up near the 20-degree mark nearing friday.s that front pushes by, that will usher in much colder air. things will be cooling off across much of the region. and it is going to be quite a foul weekend in store. meanwhile though in southeastern china, we're also looking at pretty unsettled weather. this morning there in macao outside of hong kong, you saw 127 millimeters reported of rainfall on the ground in the next 24 hours the same area could see 50 to 100 millimeters on top of what you saw earlier in the week, too. there is a risk of some flooding here because the ground is already saturated. that rain cannot soak quite in and that's going to be piling up. something to watch for the next 24 to 48 hours. teatures at least on the warm side. hong kong, 24 for your high. bank cook, absolutely sizzling -- 38. beijing at 1. tokyo, that warm-up starting to push in place on your thursday, 19 here for your high. now over towards the americas, things are very, very coal here in fact. actually we're seeing high pressure pull in from the

i'm gene otani in tokyo.

but even into saturday, tokyo will get in on this too. now, if you are in tokyo, don't expect to go outside and find a layer of dust on your car, but definitely anybody with respiratory issues and also if you are out and about in the evening hours, it's going to be a rather fantastic sunset, that orange and red haze in the sky. now, temperatures reflecting that. actually in all these areas here you're going to be impacted by that yellow sand. temperatures in tokyo going up to 23 degrees here on your sunday. that's about 10 degrees above the average. now let's take a look over towards the americas where we're watching several systems. the first one now moving off the northeast coast. it's actually been bringing some gusty winds here as well, up to 98 kilometer winds in nantucket, along the east coast of massachusetts there. a little farther inland you still could be seeing snow here into central massachusetts, about 20 centimeters. but the good news is throughout your day on friday and especially around noon time, conditions are going to b

nhk world, tokyo. >>> rain on and off today in tokyo. it should clear up by tomorrow. for more, here's meteorologist robert speta. >>> the good news is high pressure coming in from behind today's storm, that's bringing fair weather. a little to the north, you have pressure moving through china there. let's look farther towards the south. unfortunately, japan here, you're going to be seeing the sunny skies, but that will start coming in. they are bringing heavy showers across there. you can be seeing 50 to 150 millimeters. we saw severe storms in the same year last week, and there is the risk of large hail, gusty winds, and you cannot rule out a tornado with this. cooler air to the north, warm temperatures to the south. hong kong alt 22 here for your high, shanghai getting down there 11 degrees cooler. meanwhile, tokyo with 14 here. that's average for this time of year. that same temperature you should be seeing here into late march. let's look towards the americas. a very late season snowstorm bringing heavy accumulations across much of the midwest. i wanted to show yo

but visitors can also look at new japan with the tokyo sky tree and view behind the blossoms. the sky tree is even joining in the fun with a special light show. people can see this cherry blossom lighting until april 10th. now, there's a saying in japanese which means dumping over flowers.ling over flowers. as you can see here the scenery and the food are being enjoyed. now, let's see. many people, family, friends, co-workers, are enjoying food and festivities. oh, and look here. this food looks very good. let's go take a look. now, i'm going to ask them a question about how their hanami experience is. [ speaking foreign language ] >> reporter: she says it's the best hanami experience she's had. with refreshments and drinks with her boyfriend and also a look at the sky tree. thank you very much. you can see this illumination from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. and i suggest you guys come out because there's only a few days until the full bloom of the cherry blossoms. i'm akani nakijuma, nhk world, tokyo. >>> fair weather across japan today but not all of eastern asia is the same. robert is

here in tokyo the nikkei is trading higher. let's see how other regional markets are doing. >>> cradle of culture. economic powerhouse. many enjoy the fruits of prosperity along the path to a new china. but millions are still missing out, and public discontent is growing. against that backdrop, officials are choosing a fresh slate of government leaders. "newsline" correspondents will bring you full coverage of incoming president jinping's new ideas. >>> japanese government leaders say they don't like the pace of the cleanup at fukushima daichii. so they've launched a panel to speed up the deconditioning of reactors at the nuclear plant. industry minister will lead the oup. the power president will sit on it along with the presidents of major manufacturers of electrical equipment. members met for the first time on thursday. they discussed a timetable drawn up by officials from the former government, he told them to review the schedule and come up with a new one by the end of june. >> translator: the deconditioning work should be

the line connects tokyo and osaka. they make at least 150 return journeys every day. central japan railway engineers will restore sections totaling 240 kilometers, that's nearly half of the route. workers will add steel plates to elevate tracks or tunnels to reinforce plates. company officials say the renovations will add decades to the life span of the infrastructure. they say the repair work won't affect services. >>> many japanese companies are making money because of rising stock prices. analysts at a securities brokerage say the unrealized gains for those companies have more than doubled over the past six months. the nikkei 225 stock index has climbed over 40% since mid-november. prime minister abe's plans to revitalize the economy sent the yen tumbling and stock prices surging. analysts at securities estimate the unrealized gains on shares held by more than 1800 listed japanese firms. they say those gains came to $118 billion over six months. that's an increase of 160%. and analysts who helped put the report together say managers at companies need to implement a

the men started back for tokyo. some had still not told their families what they'd been doing. >> (translated): when i got home, i was told off. my wife said, "so where have you been? a phone call would have been nice." >> narrator: with radiation levels lower, tepco seized their chance. the hundreds of workers who'd been on standby headed into the plant. their mission was to lay miles of pipes that would channel a constant flow of water into the reactor cores. they had to work fast in case radiation levels spiked again. >> (translated): at the time, in march, we didn't wear dosimeters. tepco didn't tell us directly where radiation levels were highest. >> narrator: tepco now says most of their dosimeters were washed away in the tsunami, but that they ensured each group of workers had one. >> (translated): it was an emergency operation and we were in a hurry. no one complained, we all understood. even if it broke the rules, we kept quiet about it. >> narrator: when the pipes were laid, a steady flow of water at last

this is ahead of the front, 21 here into tokyo, accompanied by gusty winds.ow let's take a look over towards the americas. now pushing off towards the east, into new england, you're seeing rain showers here, a decent snow patch, you have runoff, there is a chance of refer flooding now. we want to mention into the pacific northwest, there is a risk of also avalanche here as well as well as river flooding and down towards the south. summer like temperatures in los angeles, 26 for the high, expected to get to 28 there into your wednesday. that's a look at your world weather. here is the extended forecast. >>> we're back in 30 minutes with more of the latest, i'm gene otani in tokyo.

to see how stocks are performing this wednesday morning, let's go to the tokyo stock exchange. the dow just barely in the positive after having been down most of tuesday. the nasdaq ending lower. could we see stocks pairibarin baring -- pearing back a touch here? >> good morning. seeing the highs on the nikkei as well, i'm not surprised we're seeing paring back and the yen has strengthened against the dollar and euro and could see exporters and financials trade lower. let's have a look at the opening levels and we can see exactly where we stand. that's what i'm talking about, a little bit of mixed picture. nikkei just a touch lower from the close we saw yesterday but positive and we'll see how that progresses during the day. the rise of the nikkei recently has been due to the weakening yen and monitoring measures set by the prime minister abe. not a surprise the focus is on the next governor nominee of japan. a lot of focus on that individual and the governor of the bank of japan and other nominees really set to be approved by both chambers of parliant, also expected the names

tokyo was reduced to rubble at the end of world war ii. and the only building standing was buildings left standing. and in 65 years, that city has been billed to what is today. the country has been billed to what is today. that was just really kind of eye opening to me. a testament to human work and what can be accomplished in the short amount of time. >> is there anything about this film that you mentioned will be controversial inside japan? to my read of it i have not seen that as of yet but it is always fascinating how when a movie comes out about two countries, about a piece of history, and that history gets interpreted and it comes out in one country, someone does not like the way they are being portrayed. >> i think that will be the case on both sides. tavis: tell me more. >> when it comes to making movies, you know, ultimately, you're trying to tell a story that is cohesive and hopefully very moving and potentially thought-provoking and you are using a moment in time, in history in this film. we're using the time in history to tell

this man is a curator of old photographs at a tokyo museum. he thought his know-how could save the collection. >> translator: originally, all i thought i would have to do is to wash them but the damage is far worse than ai'd imagined. >> reporter: the sea water damaged the photographic fixer. chemicals from nearby factories compounded the damage. about 60 volunteers are working on the project four days a week. they meticulously blow off the dust, no matter how bad the damage, everything is kept. it could be of interest to researchers in the future. >> translator: we removed the sand so slowly. >> reporter: someone with the images salvaged are very interesting. this photo of a volcano was taken over 100 years ago. this lion dance is a performance that is unique to the city. >> translator: each photograph sheds light on life before the tsunami. every egg has to be handled with great care. >> reporter: the group creates a digital record of every exhibit, front and back. it's important to preserve the notes written by past curators on the specimen

tokyo we're looking at the 20s as we progress through this week. sapporo will be looking at 6 degrees. this will up the risk of avalanc avalanche. i'll leave you now for your extended forecast. people in northern japan are that and more in world weather. >>> roman catholics around the world are eagerly awaiting the selection of the next pope so are tailors in italy. they have prepared new robes for the next head of the chur. pedestrian could see the robes on display in a historic tailor shop. cardinals will begin a conclave to elect a new pope. >> translator: we've prepared three sizes. small, medium and large. we hope we've guessed the right size for the new pope. >> tailors are following a tradition that's lasted more than 100

the first was built in central tokyo in the late 19th century. it has been rebuilt four times since then. workers have just put finishing touches on the newest version. this theater is already turning heads with the redesign. the lanterns draw attention of the passersby. dozens of the lights decorate the front of the new theater. the craftsman uses special techniques to make his lanterns glow. >> translator: i make the colors lighter. that allows the light to shine more brightly. >> lanterns are typically round. he cuts them in half so they take up less pace. they take up less space. he has been working for months crafting lanterns for the new theater. in all, he paints 600 of them, all on his own. >> kabuki really should be performed there. i'm determined to get the lanterns finished on time. >> when actors go on stage, he will be in the wings, cheering them on. nhk world, tokyo. >>> next, let's take a brief : look at what we can expect in world weather. >> unlike yesterday it's going to be warm. good news if more people in tokyo with exception

this colder air mass is starting to sink in, and that will dive the temperatures down in tokyo. looking the temperatures in the lower portions of the teens, and sunday there is a frontal area pushing in, that's coming from here, where you have just been getting absolutely pounded by heavy rains for the past week there now into southeastern china. you can see here, some of these areas in the darker reds, that's 400 or 500 milliliters of rain. it will continue to linger over the next several days, and thunderstorms in here could be severe at times, definitely going to keep an eye out here. let's look at the americas, it has been dry, rather clear out here, but there is a change in forecast. we have a low pressure area coming in out of texas, that will bring in cold air, every time we talk about cold air and warm air coming in from the south. you will see that threat of hail, damaging winds, and going into easter sunday, through the midwest and the greatlakes regions, that will be pushing through. and bringing in this cold air, and in some places you will see a significant temperat

welcome do this hour's "newsline" i'm james tengan in tokyo. prime minister shinzo abe said the time to talk trade is now. he just announced his country will join negotiations for the transpacific partnership. the agreement will link at least a dozen countries and eliminate the trade barriers that divide their markets. >> translator: i finally reached the decision today on joining the trade agreement, which has been dividing public opinion. but before making up my mind, i talked with many people and thoroughly examined the issue from every possible angle. >> abe said government estimates suggest if all tariffs are eliminated among tpp member nations, the japanese economy would benefit. an the prime minister said now is the last chance to join the talks. he pointed out that the negotiations started two years ago. and he said it's clear any rules participants have already agreed upon would be difficult to reverse. abe stressed japan is for now just joining the talks. he promised to work out an agreement that suits the nation's interests and use j

i mean, here in tokyo, tuesday, look at that, 17 for the high. possibly into the low 20s by wednesday. seoul getting up to 12. on the other hand, well, northeast monsoon dominating you here in the tropics. so it's pretty much consistently warm down here, 33 for the high in manila, 35 in bangkok. let's take a look towards the americas. we're also talking about snowfall from this storm system. that classic comma shape yet again. a low-pressure area pushing through. on the northwestern periphery, that cold air mass, we'll be seeing about 25 centimeters of snow across wisconsin, michigan, ontario, you could see about 20 centimeters extending towards quebec. farther towards the south, rain and thunderstorms expected from the ohio river valley through louisiana. that's going to push off towards the east. nothing too severe, but still want to wash out for lightning, gusty winds. right where these two air masses cly colli collide, you could see freezing rain. anybody with travel plans out of here, do want to watch out for that as that system pushes off t

tokyo share prices are trading higher today. the nikkei average has the 12,000 mark. market sources say tokyo in vesters are hopeful about an economic recovery in the u.s.in economic recovery in the u.s.rs economic recovery in the u.s.or economic recovery in the u.s. the dollar is trading higher against the japanese currency. market sources say following the beige book report investors are more confident about the u.s. economy. strong job numbers from private payroll survey adp has encouraged investors to buy the dollar. taking a look at the euro against the yen that's changing handing against 121.98. taking a look at other markets in the asia pacific. seoul's kospi we will keep track of trade moves for you over the course of the day. >>> u.s. democrats and republicans are seeking ways to prevent the expiring of the provisional budget from adversely affecting people's lives. congress has yet to enact this year's budget due to disagreements between the two parties. the republican controlled house of representatives passed a bill on wednesday to extend the budget until

tokyo it was 21 degrees for the high yesterday. dropping down by about 10 degrees today. however, things will be recovering to more typical levels on friday and warming up significantly over the weekend. all right. as for north america blizzard conditions have eased across the northeast. however, heavy rain is continuing across the west as well as the northeast. we have seen drenching rain continuing across the coast. an additional 120 millimeters of rain is likely into thursday. snow will be piling up across the mountains for thursday and wet conditions continuing into the weekend. the risk of avenue flooding is higher. again, getting dry across the eastern sea board but strong northerly winds are coming in. that's pushing down temperatures and also causing heavy snow showers for the great lakes region and the north appalachians. the rest of the u.s. looking dry up towards the northwest. 27 degrees in l.a. 30 degrees in las vegas. we should be at 20 degrees this time of year so 10 degrees colder than seasonal. it's a different story across the eastern seaboard. very chil

ran is at the tokyo stock exchange to tell us re. u.s. markets ended first quarter on an upbea sentiment. we also have key data here in japan. >> we do. let me go over some of the numbers here. industrial out put for february fell 0.1%. that's the first fall in three months. we're going to see what kind of repercussion that has on the rket. both indexes are trading higher. there's a focus fundamental economic data or getting back to basics but lingering concerns about cyprus's bailout is still hanging over the markets. investors may be looking for a reason to check their portfols and perhaps book some profits or wait for further market cues. here we're going to get a big market cue when the bank of japan meets next weekend. it's going to be the big focus. of course, the first bank of japan policy board meeting. the new bank of japan chief and lot of focus there on what measures he may take. the nikkei has risen to fresh highs and the yen has weakened on the premise of the government and the bank of japan are going to do everything possibl

how is tokyo kicking off? >> the euro fell again but this time about the political situation in italy and the formation of a government. following the elections from last month also the stricter conditions for cyprus's banks as they prepared to open later today and all of that has continued to weigh on sentiment in financial markets but let's have a look at how tokyo markets are opening up for the nikkei and the topix. both indexes in the negative. in the first few minutes of trading on the screens. the nikkei closing the positive on wednesday which keeps it in the positive so far this week as we approach the month end and the fiscal year end here in japan. in terms of uncertainty global funds tend to move towards safer assets such as the japanese yen as well as the swiss frank. we've seen the yen gain against the dollar and the euro in pretty volatile trading. that's putting more and more pressure on the next bank of japan meeting, the policy meeting and that is likely to show or is expected to show more aggr

we hear what we can expect in world weather. >> it was cold yesterday in tokyo. we'll see a huge warm up today. expect highs 18 degrees. five degrees higher and things will get warmer on wednesday. 21 degrees. the warmth will affect northern japan as well. 12 in sendai on tuesday and 17 on wednesday. the warmth is by this high pressure system bringing plenty of sunshine. it's not always good news because melting snow could cause some avalanches in some locations. another dry day for you across the korean peninsula. there's a couple of low pressure systems. this one to the north is bringing a mixture of rain and snow and this one to the south is bringing mostly rain. this one will heads toward the east while strengthening. the precipitation will cross japan as we look ahead to wednesday. here is the high for east asia. very warm for this time of year. 24 degrees expected. the same goes for hong kong. warming up to 22. down towards the south staying in the 30s across the tropics. down towards the southern hemisphere we have a cyclone. the northern half of the islan