- 2 days ago
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00Welcome to Newsroom Tokyo. I'm Miamasawa Rina and I'm Raja Prada. Here are the headlines.
00:17A massive fire that burned through more than 170 buildings in a city in southwestern Japan
00:24has been brought under control. Japan's government says it's committed to pursuing
00:29dialogue with China as a diplomatic rift between the countries threatens to widen.
00:34And a court in the Philippines sentences a former local mayor to life in prison
00:39for her involvement in so-called scam hub operations.
00:45First, fire officials in Oita City say they have brought under control a large fire in residential areas.
00:53The blaze consumed about 170 structures, including houses.
00:57One person has been found dead.
01:01The head of the city's fire department reported on Thursday that there is no risk of the flames
01:07spreading in the district of Saganoseki as of 11 a.m. But he said firefighters will continue
01:15operations until it is complete. He added that the fire is still burning on an uninhabited island
01:23about one kilometer offshore, where the flames have spread.
01:29The blaze broke out on Tuesday evening.
01:32Whipped up by strong winds, it quickly engulfed houses and forested areas.
01:38More than 100 people had evacuated to a community center as of Thursday noon.
01:43Japan's government says it's committed to pursuing dialogue with China to stop a diplomatic rift that
01:53began earlier this month from growing any wider.
01:56Prime Minister Takai Chisanae's comments about Taiwan have prompted a series of strong responses
02:01from Beijing. And efforts to heal the divide so far appear unsuccessful.
02:06Beijing's latest move involves Japanese seafood. Sources in Japan's government say China has told
02:14them it'll effectively halt imports of marine products. A two-year suspension had been recently
02:20lifted, but Beijing's spokesperson made these claims.
02:25Japan promised to ensure the quality and the safety of these seafood products.
02:30This was a prerequisite for their export, but Japan has so far failed to provide the promised technical materials.
02:39The spokesperson claims even if Japanese seafood were exported to China, it would not find a market.
02:46Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Kihara Minoru says the two sides are still communicating.
02:51We will continue to call on the Chinese side to facilitate exports, including the re-registration
03:02of related facilities and strongly demand the lifting of import bans on seafood products
03:08from the remaining 10 prefectures.
03:13Beijing's notification reportedly cites concerns about treated and diluted water released from the
03:19Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in northeastern Japan. The facility suffered a triple meltdown
03:25after the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami. Water used to cool molten fuel has been mixing with rain
03:31and groundwater. The water has been treated to remove most radioactive substances except tritium.
03:38It's then diluted, reducing levels of tritium to well below the World Health Organization's guidance
03:43for drinking water before it can be released into the ocean.
03:46Senior Japanese diplomat Kanai Masaaki met with Takaichi after traveling to Beijing for talks with
03:53his Chinese counterpart earlier this week. Tokyo has been facing strong pushback from Beijing since
03:59November 7th, when Takaichi told lawmakers a military emergency involving Taiwan could be considered
04:06something that might threaten Japan's survival. Government sources say Kanai lodged a strong
04:12protest against the social media post by the Chinese consul general in Osaka in reaction to the prime
04:18minister's comments. They say Kanai demanded that Beijing take appropriate steps, including having
04:24the diplomat voluntarily return home. Meanwhile, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning insisted
04:31Takaichi retract her comments. She says if Japan refuses or continues to make what she calls
04:37mistakes, China will be forced to take stern and resolute countermeasures.
04:44Next, the surge in bear attacks around Japan this year still shows no sign of abating.
04:50Two more people have been injured in separate incidents.
04:53But first, some dramatic footage showing a bear on the loose in the middle of a city in the country's
05:00northeast. A security camera captured the moment the animal slammed into the entrance of an
05:06education center in Iwate's prefectural capital. The bear speeds off, leaving locals unsettled.
05:13For a bear to appear in the city like this, something has obviously changed. The bear also ran so fast
05:23in the security camera footage, so I'm scared if I ever encounter it.
05:33No injuries have been reported in relation to this sighting. But in Fukui prefecture in central Japan,
05:40a man in his 80s was found with head injuries Thursday morning.
05:44He told authorities he'd been attacked by a bear while out walking.
05:48Hunters and police are now searching for the animal.
05:52And in Yamagata prefecture in northeastern Japan,
05:55a woman in her 70s was clawed on the face and arms while working in a field next to her home.
06:01Her family says the bear was lurking in a persimmon tree when it came down and attacked her.
06:06The animal fled the scene, and officials are urging locals to be on the alert until it's caught.
06:13NHK estimates there have been at least 29 bear attacks across Japan so far this month,
06:18including one fatality. That's in addition to almost 200 attacks and 12 deaths logged by the
06:25Environment Ministry from April through the end of October. Japanese officials have promised to
06:30address the spike in incidents, including equipping some police units with rifles to shoot bears
06:36that pose a threat to public safety.
06:48We saw big moves in the financial markets today, both in currencies and stocks.
06:54And as always, Yuko Fukushima from our business desk is here to explain all the chart action.
06:58So, Yuko, a lot of volatility in the markets recently. Could you walk us through what happened on Thursday?
07:03Sure, stocks are going up and down, but for Japan's currency, we're only seeing it go one way these
07:10days, and that's down. So, let's start with the foreign exchange market. The yen was again sold
07:14against the dollar. The Japanese currency weakened to a level not seen since January. Now, the selling
07:20of the yen comes as the government prepares a big supplementary budget. Investors worry all the
07:26spending will worsen the country's finances. Now, here's how the pair is trading now. Now, in contrast,
07:33stocks in Tokyo jumped on Thursday as semiconductor-related shares rallied. The buy orders flowed in
07:39after U.S. chip giant NVIDIA posted strong results, easing concerns about the AI bubble.
07:45The key benchmark, Nikkei, surged more than 4% in the morning session, but gave up some of the gain as
07:51investors sold shares to lock-in profits. The index ended the day at 49,823, up 2.6% from Wednesday's
08:00close. Now, hackers have unleashed chaos at some major Japanese companies in recent months, and
08:07ransomware attack on Asahi breweries disrupted both production and sales. Managers are still cleaning up
08:14the mess two months later. And the latest firm under digital siege is e-commerce platform Askel. Now,
08:22this case could have wider consequences for Japan's economy. It's now been one month since Askel's
08:29cyber defenses were breached, and operations have still not fully recovered. The firm this week allowed
08:35the media to see some of the disruption caused at its logistics center in Yokohama near Tokyo.
08:40This is where products are stored and shipped. The online system serving medical institutions remains
08:47out of action. Employees are confirming orders on paper and sticking shipping labels by hand,
08:55a serious downgrade of what is normally an automated operation. The company plans to resume full operations
09:02to its corporate customers in the first half of December. So what is Askel's business exactly?
09:08I talked to Kazahaya Takahiro, a UBS securities analyst, who has been following the company for
09:14more than a decade. He says Askel is a B2B company used by firms across Japan, big and small.
09:27Askel is one of the largest office supply companies in Japan. For example, if you check the number of
09:33companies registered on Askel's e-commerce site, the figure is 4.69 million firms. Askel provides
09:40customers with copier paper and other stationery, and the company also supplies medical equipment
09:46online. Overall, I think you can describe Askel as a company that supports daily business operations
09:53for Japanese companies.
09:54So here's what we know about the Askel cyber attack. Askel raised the alarm on October 19th,
10:03announcing system failures that forced it to halt operations. The company said the problems were
10:09focused on logistics. But the damage wasn't confined to the targeted company. Major retail brand Muji also
10:16suspended online sales in Japan about the same time. Muji outsources some of its deliveries to a subsidiary
10:23of Askel. We learned more at the end of last month. A security expert told NHK that a hacker group called
10:30Ransom House had claimed responsibility. The source said the group posted a statement on the dark web
10:37claiming it had obtained more than one terabyte of data, which appears to include client information.
10:43Kazahaya has been calculating the financial impact on Askel. The numbers are not small.
10:50We had estimated Askel's operating profit for this financial year at about 70 million dollars. We now
11:00forecast they are losing about 880 thousand dollars a day. With operations halted for a month,
11:06that's 25 million dollars in lost profit. Subtract that from our forecast and there's only about 40
11:135 million dollars in annual profit. And the damage will not be limited to the hijacked company.
11:23We are now gradually seeing the wider impact of Askel's operational shutdown. For example, during the
11:28COVID pandemic, the company tied up with the health ministry and provided companies with things like
11:34much-needed protective gear, masks and disinfectants. So now small and medium-sized medical institutions are
11:41struggling as they cannot get the medical supplies they need on a daily basis.
11:48In the past, victims of cyber attacks in Japan have been criticized for lax security. But according
11:53to Kazahaya, Askel was well aware of the risks.
12:00The firm's main business is e-commerce where it operates online. So cyber security was one of the top
12:07priorities for management. The executives see it as one of the highest risk factors for the company.
12:13And the company had been taking various measures to prevent cyber attacks. So I think the view we
12:19should take is that this incident occurred not because it was Askel, but it just happened to be
12:24the target among many other companies.
12:31Kazahaya says the technology capabilities of hackers are advancing rapidly and it's becoming harder to
12:38defend against their attacks, especially for one company acting on their own. That means everyone,
12:44including the government, needs to get involved in cyber security. After all, the victims are no longer
12:50just companies, they're economies. Now back to the market and a brief look at the rest of Asia.
12:56The tech-heavy KOSPI in South Korea shot up 1.9 percent, joining the NVIDIA rally. The U.S.
13:02company's earnings were higher than traders had expected and the CEO's comments suggested more
13:07demand ahead for ships from cloud providers. In China, the Chennai composite slipped four-tenths of a
13:13percent on profit-taking after a strong performance this year. Others sold on some tech earnings that came
13:19out weaker than forecast. That's the news for this Thursday. All right, thank you very much for that,
13:24Yuko. Now let's go to Tra Tirako-san at our bureau in Bangkok for other stories making headlines in the
13:30Asia-Pacific. Tra. A court in the Philippines on Thursday found a former local mayor guilty over
13:38her involvement in so-called scam hub operations. Alice Guo, who was mayor of the town of Bamban in northern
13:47Tarlac province until last year, was sentenced to life in prison for qualified trafficking in persons.
13:54Seven others, including five non-Filipinos, were also found guilty of the same crime.
14:00All eight were ordered to pay nearly $34,000 each to several victims who filed the complaints.
14:08The regional court also ordered the forfeiture to the government of an eight-hectare property in the town.
14:15The site, owned by a private firm linked to Guo, was used as an illegal online gambling hub.
14:22It housed human trafficking victims, including foreign nationals, who were forced into international
14:28cybercrime activities. In June, a court in another city identified the former mayor as a Chinese national
14:36named Guo Huaping. She faked Filipino nationality and won the Bamban mayoral race in 2022.
14:45She was removed as mayor in August 2024 for grave misconduct.
14:52People in India have taken to the streets to protest a court direction to eliminate street dogs from
14:59public spaces. The move was spurred by the rising number of injuries they caused to people.
15:05Animal lovers claim the decision violates the animal's dignity.
15:14Animal aid groups demonstrated in the capital, New Delhi, on Wednesday, holding signs saying,
15:20don't be mean to dogs and stop the massacre. Earlier this month, the Supreme Court ordered
15:26all states and territories to relocate stray dogs from public facilities, such as train stations and
15:33schools, to shelters. Protesters say the order should be withdrawn immediately.
15:38There is not a single shelter in India. A healthy dog cannot be condemned to a cage for his whole life.
15:46That is imprisonment and that is death. That is a death warrant.
15:51Others support the initiative, citing the threat posed by dog bites, including rabies.
15:59These dogs should be removed because they can always bite people in the street.
16:04I'm afraid of them at night, as they sometimes chase me when I'm going home.
16:12It's believed there are some 60 million stray dogs in India, with increasing reports of attacks on humans.
16:20Turning now to Laos, where Japan's Princess Aiko has visited the northern city of Longprabang.
16:26It's part of her first official overseas trip, which began on Monday.
16:31The ancient capital is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Princess Aiko, who is the daughter of Emperor
16:40Naruhito and Empress Masako, toured Wachingtang, the town's symbolic temple. Her father also visited
16:47in 2012, when he was still crown prince. The princess later visited a children's hospital established by
16:54a Japanese NPO 10 years ago. The hospital provides medical services for free to more than 30,000 babies
17:02and children each year. She talked with several patients and passed on words of encouragement for
17:08their recovery. Princess Aiko has been attracting attention for the traditional Lao costumes she's been
17:15wearing during the trip. The outfits were gifts from the Lao government. Their designer says she closely
17:22studied the colors the princess might like and considered how to enhance the friendship between
17:27the two countries. I and the Lao people are proud that Princess Aiko wore our traditional costume.
17:38The princess will stay in the country until Friday night.
17:48And that wraps up our bulletin. I'm Traa Chirakau-san in Bangkok.
17:51Traa, thank you very much. Next, a human rights committee of the UN General Assembly has once again
17:57adopted a resolution urging North Korea to return the people the state has abducted from other countries.
18:03The European Union submitted the text. It was co-sponsored by more than 60 countries including
18:10Japan and South Korea and approved on Wednesday for the 21st straight year. The resolution says it
18:17condemns in the strongest terms the long-standing and ongoing systematic widespread and gross violations
18:24of human rights in and by North Korea. Considering the tremendous suffering that the victims and their
18:31families have endured over the years, there is no time to spare. Before the measure was approved,
18:39North Korea's ambassador to the UN left the chamber. Kim Song called the resolution a political plot
18:45intended to defame his country's dignity and undermine its sovereignty.
18:50Japan says North Korean agents kidnapped at least 17 of its citizens in the 1970s and 80s.
18:59Five were returned in 2002, but the other 12 remain unaccounted for.
19:04One of them is Yokota Megumi, who was abducted 48 years ago. Her mother, 89-year-old Yokota Sakie,
19:13is the last surviving parent of the abductees.
19:16She has waited for her daughter's return for nearly half a century. I spoke with Sakie and her family
19:24about the long wait to be reunited.
19:27It is events like this one that keep Sakie's hope alive. People gathered at this visual
19:39in Tokyo last week to pray for Megumi's return. Megumi went missing on November 15th. At that time,
19:50I was completely confused and upset. Every day was unbearably painful, as if I couldn't breathe,
19:57and I was crying out in anguish. Megumi was born in 1964 when Sakie was 28. Megumi was her and her husband,
20:09Shigeru's long-awaited first child. Then twin brothers joined the family.
20:16Shigeru took this photo of his daughter standing in the school yard in front of a cherry blossom tree in full
20:23bloom. She went missing about six months after this. She was only 13.
20:33Sakie recalls cooking her daughter's favorite meal, cream stew, and waiting for her to come home.
20:40She disappeared so suddenly. The only way to describe it is that she vanished like smoke.
20:50You often see things like that in dramas or movies, but I had no idea this could happen in real life.
20:56I was utterly confused and left in the dark.
20:59Sakie and Shigeru worked tirelessly at public events and protests over the years, desperate to get their
21:09daughter back. Together, they devoted nearly half of their lives to her return. For a long time,
21:17there was no news about Megumi's whereabouts. But that changed in 2002, 25 years after she vanished.
21:29In a summit with the Japanese prime minister, North Korea admitted to the kidnapping and said
21:36Megumi had died. But that admission was full of contradictions.
21:41In 2004, North Korea returned what they said were Megumi's remains. But the DNA was from someone else.
21:52And the medical records they provided contained the wrong age.
22:00Sakie showed us a photo that North Korea had given Japanese officials.
22:05They claimed it showed Megumi as an adult.
22:08I was surprised when I saw the photo and I thought that she was well.
22:15Seeing her all grown up is hopeful, right? It shows that at least she lived until then.
22:23Though we can't really know how much of it is true, it puts me at ease. Even now,
22:28I continue to believe that she's alive. If I didn't, I wouldn't be able to carry on.
22:34Sakiye may one day see her daughter again. But Shigeru will never get that chance.
22:44He died in 2020 at the age of 87.
22:51Sakiye doesn't want that fate.
22:53I am calling out to leader Kim Jong-un clearly with a loud voice. I want to talk with him. I want him
23:04to think about how he would feel if his daughter suddenly disappeared, just like mine, and he found
23:10out that another country had taken her and that he can neither bring her back nor see her.
23:16Because Sakiye's generation has grown older, Megumi's younger brother, Takuya, now has a group of Japanese abductees' families.
23:28He has become a central figure in efforts to bring back his sister and the others.
23:33Sakiye's daughter, Megumi's daughter, Megumi's daughter.
23:36Last Saturday, exactly 48 years after Megumi was abducted, Takuya showed me around Niigata city on the sea of Japan coast where the family used to live.
23:50Megumi went missing after saying goodbye to her friend at this intersection on her way home from school.
23:57Honestly, coming here is painful. Considering this is the last place where Megumi was seen, it brings up even more complicated feelings.
24:15Just outside her old junior high school, the cherry tree in the photo that her father took is still standing.
24:24It too waits for her return.
24:27It's not flowering right now and half of its trunk is rotting, giving you the sense of time passing.
24:40Megumi is aging just like this tree. It makes me worry about whether she's staying healthy or not.
24:47Takuya's heart breaks watching his mother now suffer alone.
25:00I think my mother wants to hug Megumi while she's still healthy.
25:04I hope both mother and child get the chance to live a bright and fulfilling life together.
25:16Sakiye collapsed a few years ago and no longer advocates as actively as she used to.
25:22As I reach my 90s, if this remains unresolved, the reality is that there may come a time when I can no longer see Megumi.
25:39So I think I need to face that firmly and not be too dreamy about it.
25:46But until then, I always pray that myself and other families can see our loved ones at least one more time.
25:54And Rina, there's been some movement on this issue recently, right?
26:02Last month, U.S. President Donald Trump visited Japan and met with the families of abductees.
26:07And Japanese Prime Minister, Takaichi, recently told reporters there isn't a moment to spare to solve the issue.
26:14And Raja, you know, Megumi turned 61 last month.
26:18And Sakiye often says her dream is to lie in a meadow with Megumi and say, we're finally free.
26:28And it's really heartbreaking to think that something so simple hasn't been possible for them for nearly 50 years.
26:35I think any parent or child should be able to do something so ordinary.
26:52Let's take a look at weather forecasts for cities around the world.
27:051
27:062
27:083
27:095
27:126
27:166
27:177
27:187
27:268
27:268
27:2610
27:278
27:279
27:289
27:289
27:3010
27:308
27:319
27:329
27:3210
27:33And that concludes this edition of Newsroom Tokyo.
27:36Don't forget, you can always catch our program on our website as well.
27:40I'm Rajapada.
27:41And I'm Yamasawa Rina.
27:42Thank you very much for watching.
27:44Please join us again tomorrow.
Recommended
27:59
|
Up next
27:55
27:58
29:15
21:27
1:18:40
21:27
37:50
46:28
44:50
37:54
56:56
37:54
28:30
44:50
44:40
46:10
2:28:37
1:21:39
44:58
44:58
Be the first to comment