. >>> the man in charge of japan's uniqlo has looked at his ambitious goals. gene otani has more on that. >> operator of the uniqlo stores said sales will hit $50 billion by 2020. but on thursday admitted the target is out of reach. he has revised its goal to nearly $30 billion. the announcement came as fast retailing released an earnings report for the year through august. the company notched a sales increase of about 6% from the previousus year. but net profit down 56%. executives blame the strengthening yen as well as poor sales of winter cloththing over the colder months. >> translator: we'd need $50 billion in sales to become the world's number one. we have to make changes throughout the company too achieve this. >> he hopes to boost the company's fortunes by online sales. >>> sony has become the latest contender in the market for virtual realality headsets. they released the playstation vr on thursday. ga fans got their hands on the new product. >> translator: we believe this is a household innovation whose introduction matches the importance of the tv s

the operator off the uniqlo clothing brand with a record operatingg profitt this fiscal year. as for the week, the nikkei ended almost flat following worse than expected chinese data. they're nowow bracing for gdp da from the world's second largest economy out next wednesday. i'm giang nguyen. >>> moving on to other markets. thailand had no disruption after the death of the king. thai's insex rebounded -- index by 4.6%. the tie bhatt went up. limited effect in the country. the shanghai composite ended just slightly higher. but the figures boosted shares. >>> the southern region of kyushu is getting much needed help. a typhoon hit the area last month as a severe natural disaster. the move will m make eligible f state assistance. typhoon malakakas brought recor rainfall to southern kyushu submerging farmlands across the region. cabinet office officials have been calculating the cost of damage to farms and agricultural facilities. it comes to $23 million and $13 million. the typhoon is thought to have caused a total o of $54 million mainly in west japan. they plan to issue next w

the same day, the owner of the uniqlo will announce numbers. on friday, china will look at consumer prices and producer prices. >>> every week we ask specialists to share their perspective on the coming week. in today's edition of expert view we hear from kobayashi. japan's machinery orders stayed positive in june and july. he expects to see some corrections for the month of august. >> translator: we are predicting the machinery orders to fall 3% from the previous month. but machinery orders rose 4.9% in july and 8.3% in june. so these figures are still running at a high level. we think machinery orders will go into a temporary adjustment phase. >> kobayashi said companies are making investments to deal with labor shortages. but therefore lacks the strength to boost economic growth. >> translator: domestic production is falling and that accounts for the lackluster investment in plant and increasing capacity. that's why we haven't seen such an increase for the manufacturing industry. >> kobayashi is concecerned by e global slowdown. he predicts

and on the same day, japan's fast retailing operator of casual clothing chain, uniqlo, will announcearning for the business year ending friday. on friday, china will release two key gauges. >>> every week, we ask experts their viewpoint. this week, japan's machinery orders stayed positive in june and july but he expects to see some correction in august. >> in our firm we're predicting orders to fall 3% from the previous month, but machinery orders rows 4.9% in july and 8.3% in june so these figures are still running at a high level. we think machinery orders will go into a temporary adjustment phase. >> he says companies are making small investments to deal with labor shortages. large scale spending lacks the boost for economic growth. >> it accounts for the lust luster growth for machinery. >> he's concerned by the global slowdown. he predicts managers will remain reluctant to spend despite low interest rates. >> translator: looking globally, we don't see a situation where demand is expanding. the united states' economy seems to be going into a slowdown phase and china's high-growth