yuko fukushima, nhk world. >>> japan's opposition lawmakers plan to question economic revitalization minister akira amari in diet debate on his political funds reports. amari is in charge of transpacific partnership free trade negotiations. magazine published on thursday reports that a construction company offered cash to amari's office. a source close to the minister says amari's office received a total of about $8,500 in 2013 and 2014 but may have failed to record it in political funds reports. amari said he'll look into the claim by the magazine. >> translator: i'll check the facts and fulfill my responsibility to explain what happened to clear any public doubt. >> he has also suggested he'll revise his political funds reports if it's confirmed that any donations were not recorded. some members of the governing coalition say it's not a serious matter that could lead to the minister's resignation, but others are concerned it could affect management of the government and diet deliberations, as he has played a key role in leading the tpp talks. opposition lawmakers say they'll urge a

nhk world's yuko fukushima has more. >> reporter: in 1997, asia suffered a major financial crisis. countries like thailand, indonesia and south korea saw a massive outflow of funds, and their currencies plunged against the dollar. they immediately turned to the imf for financial assistance, and in return, they implemented drastic programs of structural reform. japan wasn't happy with the imf's response. it proposed setting up a new institution called the asian monetary fund to help manage future crises. the man who led the initiative explains why. >> at the time of sort of proposal of asian monetary fund, we very much dissatisfied with international monetary fund. we had the asian crisis in 1997, 1998, and imf, you know, mishandled the asian crisis. and more or less deepened the crisis, rather than saving asian countries from the crisis. >> reporter: in the end, japan's initiative failed due to opposition from the united states. he says leaders in tokyo weren't willing to risk a diplomatic crisis with their closest ally, but in china's case, washington's absence from the aiib wasn'

yuko fukushima, nhk world. >>> tomorrow we'll bring you part two of our series on vietnam with a look at expatriates who are returning home to be entrepreneurs. >>> that's it for business news. i'm going to leave you with the markets. >>> the islamic state group confirmed the death of jihadi john. at announcement comes one year after he appeared in a video threatening the lives of kenji goto and another japanese citizen. the journalist and self-proclaimed military contractor were eventually killed by the group. since then, the international fight against the militants have stepped up. we look at the state of the conflict. >> reporter: air strike after air strike have taken place in territories held by the islam state militant group. the coalition and russian forces have been bombing for months in syria and iraq. but what impact have the air strikes really had? an egyptian organization that monitors radical activity says the strikes are disrupting the group's propaganda machine. the once frequent number of video posts by the group has dropped dramatically in recent months. fighters als

yuko fukushima, nhk world. >>> here's a look at some of the other business stories we're following. >>> the new zealand government has announced that a signing ceremony will be held in auckland on february 4th. ministers from 12 countries including japan and the u.s. reached an agreement on it in october after 5 1/2 years of negotiations. >> japanes automar se is hoping t capture a slice of the market for hybrid cars. they've designed a new model in a bid to take on the get tickets. suzuki officials say the compact sport utility vehicle, the ignis has a 1.2 liter gasoline engine and electric mortar. they say it can get 29 kilometers per liter. that's it for business news. i'll leave you with the markets. >>> "newsline" comes to you live from our studios here in tokyo. we now have a story about how one buddhist priest is turning to a form of recycling to help families in need. >> reporter: theodore is the chief priest in the prefect tour. he funded a club called snack club. many of them single-parent families. it was inspired by a tragic incident. the bodies of a mother and her child w

yuko fukushima, nhk world. >>> here's a look at some of the other business stories we're following. >>> the japanese land ministry imposed penalties on three construction firms over data fabrication. one of them, construction materials was to have fake records on 360 projects, including a condominium building in yokohama that began leaning. they were instructed to stop operations for 15 days. all three were ordered to improve business practices. >>> japanese corporate bankruptcies have fallen below 9,000 for the first time in a decade. private credit research firm data bank says 2015 saw a drop of more than 7% from the previous year. this marks a sixth straight year of decline. there were fewer failures in the fields of construction, telecoms and transportation. >>> that's it for business news. i'll leave you with the marks. >>> two groups of skiers in japan have been brought to safety after they became stranded, both groups were tourists, one from finland and the other from australia. police say they rescued the finnish skiers by helicopter on wednesday morning. they ventured off the