i'm yoshi ogasawara in tokyo.apan is imposing stricer rovirus measesn response to a spike in cases, the government has declared a quasi-emergency in three prefectures where the virus is quickly spreading. tnslator: w have decided to apply this intensive measure to curb the spread o infection in hiroshi, yamaghi and observing in a way prefecture >>esmonyill be ilace from january 9 9th to january 31st. >> the meareill allow goveorin the thr prefecreto impose rged measures iars of outbrk. 'so ensure tt dical systems e not overwhelmed. local officials will be able to ask bars and restaurants to take stricter precautions that could mean stopping alcohol sales, closing early or limiting the number of sters. okinawrerted more an,400 new cas friday, sti the recordorhe second y a row. the tally does not include more than 250 new infections reported by u.s. mita bases in e efture. officials in yamaguchiave liwise seen apike inon-base cases following risen ses in the citth hosts t. e yor has suesd the highly tnsssible varian

this week we are exploring the japanese capital tokyo.city and known for its cherry blossom in the springtime. i wanted to show you one pretty cool addition to the landscape, and here it is. this is yoyogi's new transparent loo, part of the tokyo toilet project, an attempt by some of the country's best known architects to give us somewhere more beautiful to go about our business. these ones, for example, took mushrooms as inspiration as they sit in front of woodland. while this has hygiene at its heart with everything operating on voice command. from my mind though, these at yoyogi are the most outrageous. this is how it works. now you see me, now you don't. well, sort of. it takes a while to become opaque so i hope you're not in a rush. i've never seen anything like this. i felt a bit strange at first. were you worried people might see you? yes, i was a bit worried at first but then it gets darker towards when the time has passed so i felt safe. let's face it, japanese toilets have always been ahead of the game. with their hygiene sprays

tokyo hero.he double olympic champion. after _ tokyo hero. adam pt is the double olympic champion. after winning l tokyo hero. adam pt is the double i olympic champion. after winning such an emhatic olympic champion. after winning such an emphatic gold. _ olympic champion. after winning such an emphatic gold, adam _ olympic champion. after winning such an emphatic gold, adam said - olympic champion. after winning such an emphatic gold, adam said this - olympic champion. after winning such an emphatic gold, adam said this wasi an emphatic gold, adam said this was more of a shock. ibtn an emphatic gold, adam said this was more of a shock.— more of a shock. an incredible surprise- _ more of a shock. an incredible surprise- we _ more of a shock. an incredible surprise. we went _ more of a shock. an incredible surprise. we went to - more of a shock. an incredible surprise. we went to my - more of a shock. an incredible - surprise. we went to my mother's address and she rang me, like, a moment to know

there are about 40 sumo stables in tokyo. in this 113 young men live together. it's very crowded with 0 privacy. a large part of the afternoon is reserved for a nap. 2 and a half hours of sleep to recover from training and to store the fat from lunch more candidates good at them and it's among those gonna come with oh, bugging wellness. the last ones to have joined the stables. sleep in the dining room. they arrive 3 months ago, most weren't last year. the afternoon program is the same as the morning training house work and a meal. then bed at 10 p. m. it's a tough, isolated, almost monastic lifestyle. yet children from across japan strive to join the sumo stable children like show escape. a heady math. at 13 years old, cheerfully is a 173 thing to be his tall and weighs a 124 kilograms. he's been practicing sumo since he was 9 and has many trophies that he might be a wrestling prodigy. but when faced with a mathematical equation, he struggles, fortunately, his classmates, helping them with the quote, a case of really bring up oh, mar, begin with that. is he phy

from all of us here in tokyo, it's goodbye. hello. indeed until at least the start of next week. there isn't going to be a huge amount of this either — blue sky and sunshine this weekend. cloud increased in the west on friday, looks like it is cloud that is going to win out across most places as the weekend goes on. temperatures edge a little bit higher. you'll notice that most in northern ireland and scotland, especially in northern scotland. so what's going on? high pressure close by, that is why we are having a lot of dry weather. around it, bringing in a lot of cloud from the atlantic. it does limit the extent and severity of frost as saturday starts. a touch of it in north—east scotland, patchy in wales and england, where we had any clear spells overnight. and a chance for some early mist and fog patches. you can see the extent of the cloud across the uk for saturday. just a few brighter breaks here and there. they are most likely across eastern parts of scotland and england, whereas towards north—west scotland, we are going to s

i'm raja pradhan in tokyo.oming up next is "newsline" busy with ramin mellegard, so stay right there. ♪ >>> this is "newsline biz." i'm ramin mellegard. china's total trade surge to the an all-time high last year. rising shipments to the united states and europe and surging raw material costs pushed the annual total to over the $6 trillion mark for the first time ever. china's customs authorities said friday the figure for 2021 spiked 30% for the previous year. exports jumped by around 30% fueled by increased shipments of electronic devices and garments to the u.s. and europe, where economic activity rebounded for the pandemic. imports also rocketed about 30%. this was mainly due to higher prices of energy and raw materials. the export jump is bolstering china's economy, but the soaring raw material prices are weighing on businesses, contributing to an economic slowdown. the trade surplus for the u.s. grew by 25% from a year earlier to around $390 billion. the widening trade imbalance could be a source of furth

rupert wingfield-hayes, bbc news, and tokyo. -- in tokyo. joining me now for more as ever have denmark. he formerly served as a deputy assistant secretary. he is now vice president of programs at the wilson center here in waington. i want to start on that endpoint in the report. do you think this is the start of north korea manufacturing a crisis to push for talks? >> it seems that they are beginning a new cycle of escalation. the goal though is always that they may be looking to enhance their negotiation. they may be trying to influence their own domestic politics as the north korean economy has been in very difficult shape. but also, south korea has a presidential election coming up in march. it may be an attempt to influence that. there are a lot of different factors that go into this. really, there is a lot of uncertainty with kim jong-un at any moment. nada: if you are the administration, certainly biden has departed from trump stylistically, but the u.s. has be relying on sanctions. is there another approach that would be more effectiv

we are seeing an uptick in cases in tokyo, for example.result in more curbs being introduced, then you have to question what will that mean for consumers? what will that mean for prices? i think the inflation story is picking up around the margins but there's certainly a lot of qualifiers. david: hopefully not. otherwise, we are in trouble. thank you. our chief asia economics correspondent. if you are getting giddy with it as we are, check it out. the boj decision. we are running a blog on our function. commentary and analysis. that should be beginning in a couple of hours. check that out on your bloomberg terminal's. there is plenty more ahead. this is bloomberg. ♪ >> we are continuing to watch crude today. we see oil prices continuing to rally. if you take a look at brent, it is nearing its highest level since 2014. the market is tightening. concerns about the impact of omicron are starting to fade. we are speaking to gas. it gets a 50% spike in prices that we had last year. what are the fundamentals telling us about? >> the big factor i

now, is this affecting ties between tokyo and sold? this is inside stored. ah hello, welcome to the program. i'm kim vanelle. south koreans are marking 30 years since they began weekly protest against japan's war time, sex, slavery scandal. that demanding a sincere apology and compensation for thousands of women who were victims of human and sex trafficking, soul and tokyo reached an agreement in 2015 when japan agreed to pay a total of almost 9000000 dollars. but last year, south korean course and the unification ministry concluded that was not enough, increasing tensions between the 2 nations. the japanese prime minister for me. ok, shita who was foreign minister when the 2015 deal was done last month. earth, south korea to abide by the bilateral agreement, saying that at least the promise between states must be kept or any discussion from now on will be meaningless. the term concert women refers to a system of sexual slavery and was created and controlled by the imperial japanese government between 19321945. it is the largest case of government sponsored

let's g aheck on th maet ♪ ♪ >>th's it for "newsline biz" from tokyo. i'm ramin mellegard.or watching. ■úxx sites. al jazeera, tripoli. ♪ host: it's good to have you with us. the headlines on al jazeera. the w.h.o. is warning of an approaching tidal wave of coronavirus infections in europe. this is more than half of people there are likely to be infected by the omicron variant in the next two months. more people in the u.s. than ever before. -- in the u.s. in the hospital with covid-19 than ever before. quebec could soo

a cadillac. pass over to craig, mark in tokyo. do you agree with that assessment? in terms of japan's, how is it described fluctuating response? do you, do you think japan has shown true? remorse continues to show true rule. no, i wouldn't say japan has continued to show remorse, certainly not from the recent government under sins a lot by and now why prime minister assume you kisha as it was mentioned at the start mr. case, it was the foreign minister when the agreement was concluded in 2015 under the previous president puck in hay. and since president moon, the current president decided to discontinue cooperation with the agreement in $29.00 . ever since the japanese government's position has been that will it's up to south korea to resume that agreement. and mister kisa is in no mood to compromise on that stairs at all. particularly when he's under pressure from the conservative elements in his ruling liberal democratic party who are largely responsible for him winning the leadership last october. and that includes a former prime minister ave, who is now head of

we do get into some market open in seoul in tokyo.berg. ♪ every day in business brings something new. so get the flexibility of the new mobile service designed for your small business. introducing comcast business mobile. you get the most reliable network with nationwide 5g included. and you can get unlimited data for just $30 per line per month when you get four lines or mix and match data options. available now for comcast business internet customers with no line-activation fees or term contract required. see if you can save by switching today. comcast business. powering possibilities. ♪ shery: welcome to daybreak asia. haidi: asia's major markets have just open trade. our top stories this hour. stock set to extend their drop in asia following a surge in treasury yields. china's central bank pledging to use more policy tools to ease credit stress. hong kong's travel curbs. the american chamber of commerce joins us this hour. shery: we are seeing broad downside with the open in japan and south korea with materials and industrials lea

rupertingfield-hayes, bbc news, in tokyo.now, british simon which is on course to become a legally recognized -- sign language is on course to become a legally recognized language in britain, ireland, and wales. they wanted more widely used and we have more. >> outside parliament, the biggest demonstration by deaf people for more than 20 years, backing a call for british sign language to be given legal status, just like welsh or gaelic. giving the bsl legal status will help with other returns. >> it will give deaf people, deaf children the right to do exams in their own language, and it will be seen as an equal, like spanish, for example. >> he is known to his tv viewers as the punk chef. >> deaf people more opportunities, to flourish, for example, employment. there are so many barriers that we face. we get discriminated against. we just keep facing the barriers. >> she brought british sign language to the attention of millions when she won "strictly come dancing" last year. >> government departments must recognize and use si

tokyo and other parts of japan spent a good chunk of 2021 under a full or quasi-state of emergency. japanese government has taken several steps to slow down the sixth wave of infection. so far, they have extended travel restrictions, essentially banning all non-residents until the end of february. they have suspended a program that would allow people who were fully vaccinated or have a negative test result to be exempt from covid-19 restrictions. and today, just about 30 minutes ago, the government did declare a quasi-state of emergency order for 13 prefectures, including tokyo, which expands the total to 16. here's a map of the affected areas. this authorization from the national government allows local governors to request that bars and restaurants limit their operating hours, and can ask bars and restaurants to stop serving alcohol. businesses could be fined for non-compliance. now, for the first time ever, japan's covid case count topped 30,000 yesterday. that's an increase of more than 415% compared to the same day last week. the previous record, 25,000 cases recorded last augu

tokyo has about 7000 hospital beds.ever, the ability to expand that further is restricted because covid-19 is classified as the second-highest in terms of the disease. which limits the number of hospitals they can take patients. if they were to downgrade the level, it would allow or hospitals to accept patients which would ease the strain on the medical system that is focusing on a handful of hospitals the moment. shery: what are the expectations right now and when could we see a decision? >> at this point, the debate is still fairly balanced. there have been strong opposition against it. for example, if they were to downgrade it, it would impact the perception of the virus. people might be less cautious about it. or that my downgrading it, it means that the vaccination that is underway, people would have to fork out their own personal money because of the lower classification. that might reduce the number of people willing to get vaccinated. there's a lot of debate going on. the prime minister hasn't really made a stan

federal reserve laid out plans for pairing back the pandemic measures of the past 2 years exchanges in tokyo, hong kong and shanghai, all sinking as the fed signal. it would raise borrowing rates in march and wind down asset purchases. european markets also opened with losses. fed chairman drone, powell said, rising prices and strong job growth, make tightening necessary. higher interest rates make borrowing more expensive for both companies and individuals. now exactly when the u. s. might see relief from rising prices is still a big question. here's powell for. so there are multiple forces which should be working over the course of the year for inflation to come down. we do realize that the timing and pace of that or are highly uncertain and that inflation has persisted longer than we and than we thought. and of course, we're prepared to use our tools to assure that higher inflation does not become entrenched. our business work is under st. joins be in studio for moral this cassandra very parent that inflation is a big part of this decision. exactly. so rates were low to encourage people t

rupert wingfield—hayes, bbc news, tokyo.oncentration camp at auschwitz returned there to mark the anniversary of its liberation by soviet forces in 1916. three women spoke about being on the first train transporting jews to auschwitz from slovakia. during the second world war, the nazis murdered more thani million people, most of them jewish, at the auschwitz camp in occupied poland. the national governments of europe have also been marking the day, too. in austria, which was occupied by the nazis throughout the second world war, israeli foreign minister and alternate prime minister yarr lapeed, commemorated the victims of concentration camps. and in poland's capital, warsaw, a wreath—laying ceremony was held at a monument commemorating the 1943 uprising in the warsaw ghetto. here in the uk, different artists have painted the portraits of some of britain's last remaining holocaust survivors. the project was commissioned by prince charles and the portraits have gone on display at the queen's gallery in buckingham palace. 0ur

there is also an 0be for another tokyo hero. adam peaty is the double olympic champion.s more of a shock. an incredible surprise. it went to my mum's address and she rang me, like, "am i meant to know this?" so i opened it and itjust makes you feel an immense pride. there is an 0be for hannah mills who became the 0lympics' most successful female sailor while there are mbes in bmx for gold medallist charlotte worthington and bethany shriever and also one for lauren price, the wales football international turned 0lympic boxing champion. i came home from camp and my nana said there was a letter for me. i didn't open it for a couple of days and didn't think anything of it. it was an mbe from the queen. does not get much better than that, does it? britain's successful paralympians are also recognised including a cbe for cyclistjody cundy, an 0be for kadeena cox — who helped to launch the queen's baton relay for this year's commonwealth games — and an mbe for swimmer maisie summers—newton, a double paralympic champion at just 19. without my mum and my grandad being a taxi serv

we're looking toward the lunch break there in tokyo.rently the situation is the nikkei to 25 coming down, 1.8% at the moment. against a backdrop of continued yen weakness. we also have an play various restrictions on movement in the capital of tokyo and that's also playing out with negative sentiments that seem pervasive there in japan. we and there you have it. woah. wireless on the most reliable network nationwide. wow. big deal. we get unlimited for just 30 bucks. sweet, but mine has 5g included. relax people. my wireless is crushing it. that's because you all have xfinity mobile with your internet. it's wireless so good, it keeps one-upping itself. take the savings challenge at xfinitymobile.com/mysavings or visit an xfinity store to learn how our switch squad makes it easy to switch and save hundreds. every day in business brings something new. so get the flexibility of the new mobile service designed for your small business. introducing comcast business mobile. you get the most reliable network with nationwide 5g included. and you

rupert wingfield—hayes, bbc news, tokyo.ile test in north korea this month.— this month. in fact, six to date so — this month. in fact, six to date so far. _ it's been nearly two weeks since an undersea volcanic eruption and tsunami devastated the island nation of tonga, and since then, the international community has been scrambling to deliver aid to people on the ground. the australian and new zealand governments were some of the first to react, sending emergency supplies by sea. the uk is also helping in the relief efforts. britain's royal navy ship which is carrying aid arrived off the coast of the island on wednesday. we managed to talk to captain mike proudman from the royal navy. his ship, hms spey, is now on standby off the coast of tonga. the mission has been incredibly successful so far. we sailed at a very short notice from our previous port, having embarked a significant amount of disaster relief supplies to come and assist the tongan people. we sailed across approximately 1600 nautical miles across four days to

they say tokyo electric power company holdings should pay more than $5000000.00 in compensation. after that, clients were exposed to radiation following the 2011 nuclear disaster in fukushima, one of the 6 plaintiffs who doesn't want to be identified says cancer has ruined her life or going out. got it. you've been anybody's ebony. i always wanted to be a career woman whacking hot in tokyo, but i was diagnosed with cancer and i still felt ill after i had surgery since then . i'm in a situation where i have to prioritize my health over everything. in march 2011, a magnitude 9 earthquake stroke japan's eastern coast, it triggered us unami that st. huge waves surging as far as tank element is inland . the fukushima nuclear power plant was also overwhelmed and see water flooded its react, his radiation leaked out, forcing more than a 150000 people to flee. the 6 people suing the operator, lived in fukushima in 2011 and later developed thyroid cancer. lawyers say cases at the disease in fuque ashima or significantly higher than the national average go, dolphin gone through, you know,

shery: tokyo has raised its covid alert to the second highest level. omicron variant is quickly taking over as the dominant type of infection. for the latest, let's bring in a bloomberg managing editor. how are hospitals in japan coping right now? >> more and more patients are being hospitalized. tokyo recorded over 3000 cases yesterday. that is up nearly eight times over the past week. the tokyo government has laid out guidelines implementing countermeasures should the bed capacity rate rise to 20%. as of yesterday, it was about team percent. we are edging closer to the level where business restrictions on restaurants and bars could be restricted at some point. haidi: in addition to some of these potential restrictions, what are other policy measures being discussed particularly when it comes to providing more support to the economy if needed? >> the government has said that it will support the economy throughout and it has been mulling cash handouts to those eligible. that has yet to be finalized, given the impact of the initial handouts, they can't

a slight mess for tokyo cpi in the month of january.nie: chinese authorities are set to be considering a proposal to split up evergrande. the move would be china's guest step yet to prevent a disorderly collapse of the developer. taiwan's economy is set for another bump this year after growing at the fastest pace in more than a decade in 2021. the largest company planning capital expenditure of $44 billion. that equates to 5% of national gbp -- gdp. singapore will host the formula one grand prix later this year. it signed a contract to hold it for another seven years. singapore is trying to reposition as an auto sports and tourist destination. the transport minister says the events renewal will sustain singapore's reputation as a global city. global news 24 hours a day on air and on bloomberg quicktake. powered by more than 2700 journalists and analysts in over 120 countries. i'm vonnie quinn. this is bloomberg. shery: as part of an effort to turn the page on the carlos ghosn crisis, companies are booting -- rebooting their alliance. pl

rupert wingfield—hayes, bbc news, tokyo. you're watching newsday on the bbc.a. the captain of the royal navy's hms speyjoins us to explain the difficulties they are facing. this is the moment that millions and iran have been waiting for. after his long years in exile, the first hesitant steps on a rainy and soil. the next south africa's white government has offered its black opponents concessions on unparalleled in history of the party. the leader is to be set free unconditionally.— unconditionally. three, two, one. account down _ unconditionally. three, two, one. account down to _ unconditionally. three, two, one. account down to a _ unconditionally. three, two, one. account down to a critical- unconditionally. three, two, one. i account down to a critical moment. the world's most powerful rocket ignited all 27 of the engines at once, and apart from its power commits this recycling of the racket, slashing the cost of the launch that makes this a break there in the business of space travel. tiara in the business of space travel. two americans have _ in the bus

the metaphor in their mind was tokyo. so we have we're using precision bombing. but it's in the mind of adversaries. they know that this conventional bombing can eventually get to tokyo so it becomes a major determine. there are certain operations. in american military history that have that are stuck in our mind to potential potential adversaries forever. one is inshan. everybody we fight against is worried. the marines are going to come come ashore in their beaches. but another one that seems to be tokyo that they as much as and and i've worked with the air force they're targeting is meticulous the care they mean hansel the dream has been realized. i mean precision bombing is the way we're going to do it. we're going to be effective. we're going to be humane. but in the mind of our adversaries they know how far this can go. so we have this conventional deterrent because of what lemay did i mean we can talk about the controversy about tokyo, but tokyo is out there as an example if you go to the i mean it that's the image of american airpower you go to the the mu

cnn's selena wang is live inside tokyo with more now. how many spectators will there be, and how will the government be choosing them? >> reporter: well, ana, it's hard to believe we're only 17 days away from the start of the games and we still don't know how many spectators are allowed or how they will be chosen. all we know from organizers is that anyone allowed to attend is going to have to follow strict covid rules before, during and after the games. international spectators have already been banned and with the latest change reflects just the growing restrictions and what is already an extraordinarily restricted olympic games, even for than what i experienced in the tokyo summer games. i'll be traveling in a couple of weeks but already i've had to download an olympic health tracking app, put in my daily temperature and once i enter beijing i'll be part of this massive bubble which is being called a closed loop system. there's even special transportation to go between the venues and even who arrives at these games unvaccinated will h

blake, let's start where you are in tokyo. how are hospitalizations, how are case numbers?s it being contained? >> reporter: well, you know, isa, here in japan the daily case count remains relatively low. but earlier this week, japan's southernmost prefecture of okinawa reported 103 new cases, its highest single-day total since last september. okinawa's local government is blaming the u.s. military for failing to contain the spread of infection of u.s.-based personnel. on monday, the u.s. military reported nearly 3700 cases across the prefecture, and more than 500 cases from a single base. u.s. officials say 47% of the cases are believed to be omicron. now, here's what okinawa's governor recently had to say about the situation. >> translator: i'm outraged because the rise in the number of infected among u.s. military personnel suggests that their management is not enough. >> reporter: a response to the recent surge in cases among u.s. military personnel, u.s. forces, japan says, that they recognize that everyone has a part to play in keeping our community safe and they have

and how is this affecting ties between tokyo and seoul? this is "inside story."th koreans are marking 30 years since they began protests against japan's wartime sex slavery scandal. they are demanding a sincere apology and compensation with thousands of women who were victims of sex trafficking. seoul and tokyo agreed to pay almost $9 million, but last year, a south korean court and the unification ministry concluded that was not enough, increasing tensions between the nations. the japanese prime minister who was foreign minister when the deal was done last month urged south korea to abide by the agreement, saying that at least the promise between states must be kept or any discussion from now on will be meaningless. the term "comfort women" refers to a system of sexual slavery that was created and controlled by the imperial japanese government between 1932 and 1945. it is the largest case of government-sponsored human trafficking and sexual slavery in modern history. based on the 2015 accord, japan paid 8.7 million dollars. the money was distributed through a fo

paul: john herskovitz in tokyo. should be looking out for in the year of the tiger, justin chang joins us with the feng shui index next. this is bloomberg. ♪ shery: here is a check of headlines, blackstone is doubling down on asia putting together about $11 billion for its second private equity fund for the region the world's biggest alternative asset managers as it has raised $6.4 billion from investors and will receive an extra $6.4 billion from its global fund. blackstone has invested in asia since 2016. china evergrande says certain creditors have seized upon of land in hong kong used as security for $520 million financial transaction. evergrande told the hong kong stock exchange the potential sale will not affect its operations and debt restructuring. the developers says it is seeking legal advice and is an active discussion with the lenders. paul: as the year of the ox comes to an end let's discuss what we can expect for a hong kong markets in the year of the tiger. someone is forecasting a good year. we are j