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00:00Welcome to Newsroom Tokyo. I'm Yamasawa Rina and I'm Raja Prada. Here are the headlines.
00:17Japan sends another letter to the UN chief rebutting China's assertions regarding remarks the Japanese prime minister made about Taiwan.
00:26Russian President Vladimir Putin visits India for talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
00:33We look at what emerged from the summit.
00:36And can Japanese workers expect their wages to rise faster than inflation?
00:41We ask an expert on the outlook for 2026.
00:46The diplomatic back and forth between Japan and China continues, with Tokyo taking its case to the UN chief again.
00:55It's standing by its rebuttal of Beijing's claims over the prime minister's remark on Taiwan.
01:02Last month, Takaichi Sanae told the Diet a possible Taiwan emergency involving the use of force could be considered a situation threatening Japan's survival.
01:12On Thursday, Japan's UN envoy, Yamazaki Kazuyuki, presented his latest letter of rebuttal to Secretary General Antonio Guterres.
01:21It calls assertions Beijing made in a second letter to Guterres unsubstantiated and categorically unacceptable.
01:29Yamazaki stressed Japan will continue to contribute to international peace and stability as a peace-loving nation.
01:36He said Japan will continue to respond calmly through dialogue.
01:40The letter will be circulated to all UN member states.
01:44China's UN ambassador Fu Song sent a letter to Guterres on November 21, demanding Takaichi retract her remark.
01:52Japan then sent its own letter to the Secretary General on November 24, rejecting China's claims.
01:59On Monday, Fu sent a second letter accusing Japan of trying to shift blame and repeating China's demand for Takaichi to withdraw her remark.
02:09Meanwhile, Japan and South Korea plan to hold a bilateral summit as early as mid-January.
02:16The meeting is likely to take place in Nara Prefecture, Takaichi's home district.
02:22In October, Takaichi and South Korean President Lee Jemion held their first official in-person meeting on the sidelines of the APEC conference in South Korea.
02:34They also held one-on-one talks in November while both leaders were in South Africa for the G20 summit.
02:42During those meetings, they agreed to develop a stable, future-oriented bilateral relationship.
02:49They also agreed to continue face-to-face meetings when possible, engaging in what they described as shuttle diplomacy.
02:58Lee said in their October meeting that it would be his turn to visit Japan next.
03:05He added that he wanted to meet Takaichi somewhere outside Tokyo.
03:10Observers believe Takaichi wants to invite Lee to her home prefecture in Western Japan as a gesture of trust.
03:19The two sides are expected to set a date for the summit soon, taking the diet schedule into consideration.
03:34The leaders of Russia and India have held summit talks in New Delhi.
03:38Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged President Vladimir Putin to accelerate negotiations toward a peaceful resolution of the war in Ukraine.
03:48Putin arrived in India's capital on Thursday for a two-day state visit.
03:55It's his first visit to the country since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.
04:00At the start of the meeting, Modi talked about the situation in Ukraine.
04:05The welfare of the world can only be achieved on the path of peace.
04:14All of us should look for peaceful ways.
04:16Looking at the efforts being made in the last few days, I firmly believe that the world will return to the path of peace.
04:23Putin thanked Modi for giving him a chance to explain his views on the conflict in detail.
04:32The leaders are believed to have exchanged opinions on strengthening cooperation in the fields of the economy, security and energy.
04:39Putin reportedly hopes to use proceeds from crude oil sales to India to help bankroll Russia's war effort in Ukraine.
04:47India has ramped up its purchases of Russian oil, whose price has fallen due to sanctions.
04:53India is also a major buyer of Russian weaponry.
04:57Before the meeting, the Russian presidential office said the leaders would discuss India's possible purchase of Russia's latest surface-to-air missile system and a state-of-the-art fighter jet.
05:08NHK's New Delhi bureau chief Yamaka Michitaka joins us now.
05:13So, Michitaka, the talks wrapped up about two hours ago.
05:17So, what are you hearing about them?
05:19Indian government officials say the meeting between Modi and Putin was held in a warm and friendly atmosphere from start to finish.
05:32After the meeting, the leaders adopted a joint statement.
05:36It calls for economic cooperation through 2030 and strengthening ties in civilian nuclear energy and defense.
05:45After the meeting, Modi and Putin are attending a business forum.
05:49Later, there is a banquet.
05:52Security is tied around the summit venue.
05:55Just last month, there was a terrorist attack in New Delhi.
05:59A car bomb exploded near the Red Fort, a world heritage site, crowded with tourists, killing 10 people and enjoying more than 30.
06:10Police and security forces raised the alert level and have stepped up patrols in the capital.
06:16Thank you, Michitaka.
06:17We'll come back to you, Reisa.
06:20And we have NHK's Moscow bureau chief Noda Junko in the Russian capital.
06:25So, Junko, what do you see Putin aiming for in this meeting?
06:32One of his key aims is to show that Russia is not isolated internationally.
06:37He wants to highlight that his country's traditional friendly ties with India remain intact, especially as the US, Europe and Japan continue tightening sanctions over Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
06:51Attention is also on whether India will keep importing Russian crude.
06:56India has sharply increased its purchases as Russian oil prices have fallen under sanctions.
07:03It bought 35 percent of Russia's oil exports last year, making it the second largest importer after China, which bought 44 percent.
07:13The U.S. has urged India to stop buying Russian oil as part of efforts to achieve a ceasefire in Ukraine.
07:21Washington has raised additional tariffs on imports from New Delhi to 50 percent.
07:27And this October, the U.S. imposed sanctions on two major Russian oil firms.
07:33That pressure has led some Indian companies to hold imports of Russian crude.
07:40Earlier, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told Indian media that Russia's economic ties with India are the most important element of their relationship.
07:50What concerns us is the way we're going to continue and enlarge the volume of our bilateral business with India, not letting anyone interfere in that.
08:02And this will be definitely discussed.
08:05His comments suggest that Putin urged India to continue importing Russian crude to help fund Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
08:16Putin said on Friday he had explained to Modi the situation in Ukraine and efforts underway to resolve the conflict.
08:24He thanked the prime minister for his attention to the matter.
08:28India has remained neutral and has not taken part in the sanctions against Russia.
08:34I believe Putin is trying to promote it closer to Russia at the time of when relations between India and the U.S. are strained.
08:43All right. Thank you very much for that, Junko.
08:45NHK is Moscow bureau chief Noda Junko.
08:49And now let's go back to Yamaka Michitaka in New Delhi.
08:52So Michitaka, we just heard what Putin hopes to get out of this talk.
08:56So what is Modi aiming to achieve?
08:59One of his key priorities is strengthening India's hand in negotiations with the United States.
09:08Right now, tariff talks with President Donald Trump are a major challenge.
09:13Trump slapped an additional 50 percent tariff on India to punish it for buying cheap Russian crude.
09:20India calls the move unfair, unjustified and unreasonable.
09:26For now, there's no sign either side is ready to compromise.
09:31A Japanese expert says closer ties with Russia could give India a stronger card in negotiations with the U.S. over trade and investment.
09:43For India, Russia can function as an insurance card.
09:48If relations with other major powers stall, New Delhi can fall back on Moscow, a traditional friend.
09:57By using its relationship with Russia, India can keep the U.S. in check.
10:05India isn't only dealing with the U.S.
10:10It also has border tensions with China and Pakistan.
10:15In particular, the conflict with Pakistan has worsened since the terrorist attack in Kashmir in April.
10:21The two sides agreed to a ceasefire, but the situation remains tense.
10:28An Indian government official told NHK that New Delhi sees strong security ties with Russia as essential to maintaining its defense capabilities.
10:38Beyond access to cheap Russian crude, Russia's international influence backed by military power is another attraction for India.
10:49India is trying to secure enough energy for its more than 1.4 billion people to sustain high economic growth.
10:57That's the main reason why New Delhi is deepening ties with Moscow.
11:02NHK's New Delhi Bureau Chief Yamaka Michitaka, thank you.
11:08And now let's go to Tara Chirakao-san in our Bangkok studio for stories making headlines across the Asia-Pacific.
11:17The death toll from the devastating rains and floods across South and Southeast Asia has surpassed 1,600.
11:24Officials are concerned more downpours could hamper rescue and recovery efforts.
11:31Sri Lanka's disaster management authorities say 481 people have been killed and more than 300 remain missing.
11:39Deadly flooding and landslides have battered wide areas of the country,
11:43with the president saying the nation is facing the most challenging natural disaster in its history.
11:50A team from Japan's overseas aid agency, JICA, has started operations in Sri Lanka.
11:57Medical professionals are treating victims in the western town of Chilau, which suffered severe damage.
12:04The team expects to operate in the country for about two weeks.
12:09In Indonesia, officials say more than 800 have died and over 500 remain missing.
12:15Some areas are still isolated and disaster hit Sumatra Island after roads and bridges were cut off.
12:23Weather officials warn of more heavy rains in parts of the island over the weekend.
12:29With less than a month until general election voting kicks off in Myanmar,
12:34a shadow government official has called on the international community not to recognize the polling results,
12:40as pro-democracy groups have been excluded from the process.
12:47NHK spoke with Xin Maong, who serves as foreign minister in the pro-democracy national unity government.
12:55Junta leaders claim the polls set to start on December 28th are paving the way for a transition to civilian rule,
13:02but she said the voting lacks legitimacy.
13:06Almost entire elected government, civilian government, were arrested.
13:14We call like it is like kind of the sham elections.
13:17It is like a performance to performing like elections.
13:22She spoke of the pro-democracy side's intention to keep up the resistance against military control post-election.
13:29As long as they don't take responsibility and accountability,
13:36so I don't think that, you know, it will not be room for dialogue.
13:42Meanwhile, she expressed concern over the U.S. administration's announcement last week
13:48that it would end temporary protected status for people from Myanmar.
13:52I think U.S. government should align their immigration policy and their foreign policy, you know, to make it happen and to have benefit, not just only, you know, the American interests.
14:10The military seized power in a coup in 2021, claiming that there had been fraud in previous general elections that led pro-democratic party NLD to a landslide victory.
14:24The junta is also tightening control over speech and actions critical of the voting process under a new law enacted in July.
14:32Israel has identified the body of a hostage handed over by Hamas earlier this week as that of a Thai national.
14:42The Thai government says Sutisak Rinthalak was the last of the country's hostages in Gaza.
14:47The embassy will work with the relevant Israeli agencies to return Mr. Sutisak's body to Thailand for religious rights as soon as possible.
15:00Sutisak was killed during the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, and his body was taken captive.
15:09The remains of the agricultural worker were transferred to Israel through the International Committee of the Red Cross on Wednesday.
15:16Dozens of Thais, many of them farmhands, were caught up in the Hamas assault two years ago.
15:22Thailand's foreign ministry says now all 31 Thai hostages, living and deceased, have been released.
15:29That was the largest group of foreigners held in captivity.
15:33Of those, 28 were returned alive and three dead.
15:38And that wraps up our Bull Chen. I'm Thra Thira Khao San in Bangkok.
15:42In business, we'll be taking a look at what to expect as we head into the coming year, 2026.
15:58And Yuko Fukushima joins us now to give us an idea of where wages in Japan are headed.
16:04A concern for many who've been struggling to make ends meet, right Yuko?
16:07Yes. The government just announced on Friday that households spent an average of 3% less in October compared to the same month last year.
16:14Officials say consumers are especially cutting back on food purchases as prices have soared.
16:21Part of this can be blamed on wages not keeping pace with inflation.
16:25This chart shows the latest trend in real wages.
16:29That's take-home pay after accounting for rising prices of goods and services.
16:33As you can see, real wages have actually been sliding backward throughout the year.
16:39So why aren't wages keeping pace?
16:43Economist Kumano Hideo says to understand that it is worth comparing with the United States.
16:49He says in the U.S., real wages have been growing, a stark contrast with Japan.
16:56The pay of U.S. workers relative to prices has been going up for several years now.
17:00Kumano says the key difference is what is happening in the services sector.
17:06In the United States, the prices of goods are relatively low.
17:14On the other hand, the prices of services are high.
17:18That means higher wages in the services sector, which is why real wages have been increasing.
17:25But in Japan, the situation is the opposite.
17:28Price for services have been rising slowly, while those of goods have been climbing fast.
17:37That causes real wages to lag behind.
17:41Kumano says the reason both service prices and wages in the U.S. are so high is because of the companies offering high-value-added services.
17:49The creation of high-value-added services is quite large relative to labor input.
17:59This is the key difference.
18:01Unfortunately, there is no tech industry in Japan anything like the one in the U.S. led by the so-called Magnificent Seven, including Amazon and Microsoft.
18:10Wages are driven up by firms with high productivity, but that's not the case in Japan.
18:16I should say it's totally the opposite.
18:19There are no industries to drive wages higher, and industries such as medicine, social services, and nursing offer pay that is very low.
18:27Kumano adds that even if medical firms in Japan want to offer high-quality services at higher prices, they cannot.
18:38That's because government sets the prices in many medical fields.
18:41Looking next year, Kumano points to two challenges to getting paychecks growing at a healthy clip.
18:49One is the tariffs imposed by the Trump administration.
18:53Just looking at the auto industry, based on the earnings reports of seven major car makers,
18:59they will be paying 3 trillion yen, or about 19 billion dollars, to the U.S. for tariffs annually.
19:05These funds should have been used to increase pay.
19:08The other thing that could make it harder to raise pay is the political row between Japan and China.
19:15Tourists from mainland China and Hong Kong make up about one-third of inbound tourism demand.
19:20That's also about 19 billion dollars.
19:23So income in the tourism industry could decline, with an impact on wages.
19:28Kumano expects Japan's inflation rate to come down to around 2 percent next year,
19:33and overall nominal wage growth to also be 2 percent.
19:38So real wage gains will likely be around zero.
19:41Kumano says to get things moving, small and medium-sized companies need to venture beyond Japan.
19:47The Japanese currency is horribly weak right now.
19:52That means Japanese firms are competitive against others in exporting to the U.S. and Europe.
19:58Increasing exports is ultimately a way to grow wages.
20:02Major companies are turning big profits through exports.
20:06And 85 percent of exporters are major companies.
20:09But their domestic suppliers hardly export anything.
20:13That's even truer further down the supply chain.
20:16If they can export, the value added by small and medium-sized companies goes up.
20:22So it seems to really see some meaningful wage gains in Japan.
20:26Companies may need to rethink their business models.
20:29And it could take some time for fatter paychecks to start rolling in.
20:34Well, beyond the coming year.
20:36In other business news, the yield on Japan's benchmark government bond has hit an 18-year high
20:43as investors become convinced a rate hike by the Bank of Japan is just around the corner.
20:48The 10-year bond yield rose to 1.95 percent on Friday.
20:52Yields rise when bond prices fall.
20:54The selling was driven by expectations the central bank will raise its policy rate at its meeting this month.
20:59Investors are also wary of Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae's expansive spending policy.
21:06We have kept a close eye on market trends to maintain financial sustainability so as not to lose the trust of investors.
21:17We will continue holding in-depth dialogue with market participants for proper government bond management.
21:25Attention is now focused on whether the rate will climb above 2 percent, a key threshold.
21:32Now we'll look at other markets.
21:34Well, expectations for a rate hike by the Bank of Japan also moved foreign exchange markets.
21:38The yen strengthened against the dollar, increasing odds that the Federal Reserve in the U.S. will cut its policy rate next week.
21:45Also fueled yen buying.
21:48Here's how the pair is changing hands now.
21:51And two stocks in Tokyo.
21:53The Nikkei fell more than 1 percent to end the week at 50,491.
21:59Some sold on profit-taking and ship-related stocks.
22:02Others are waiting for the results of the central bank meetings later this month.
22:06And here's how other indexes in the region played out.
22:09The KOSPI in South Korea jumped almost 1.8 percent, led by car makers such as Hyundai Motor.
22:16That was on reports the U.S. had announced a cut to tariffs on car imports from the country.
22:23And that's the biz for this week.
22:24The Japanese government is planning to overhaul the way it conveys disaster information to the public.
22:43The DIET approved the legal revisions on Friday, following a unanimous decision by the upper house.
22:49The changes will involve the Japan Meteorological Agency and the Land Ministry,
22:57which will introduce standardized scales for different types of disasters.
23:02Overflowing rivers, flooding caused by torrential rain, landslides and storm surges will now be graded from 1 to 5.
23:11The new system will combine an alert level with a corresponding name.
23:15The changes come in response to concerns from experts who say the current system has too many information types without a unified naming pattern.
23:27They argue it's too complicated to understand.
23:31The agency plans to introduce the new scale in time for the rainy season next year.
23:36The agency and the land ministry are expected to start informing local governments, nursing homes and other facilities about the changes.
23:47And now let's look at the world weather with our meteorologist, Yumi Hirano.
23:52Tokyo had its coldest morning of the season. The temperature dropped to 1.2 degrees on Friday morning.
24:02And parts of eastern Japan have been experiencing heavy snowfall.
24:06Heavy snow piled up in Niigata Prefecture late this week.
24:14In one part of a prefecture, the depth of snow went from zero on Wednesday to over 60 centimeters by Friday.
24:22The snow accumulation is five times greater than usual.
24:25On the local highway, a vehicle with no snow tire became stranded.
24:31Officials are asking drivers to use winter tires and carry chains.
24:37Fortunately, the snow is expected to ease and the sunny skies will soon be back in Niigata and Sapporo.
24:44But people in Hokkaido and Hokuriku should watch out for avalanches.
24:48Tokyo will stay on the dry side with a high of 12.
24:51A high pressure system is likely to cover not only Japan but also the Korean Peninsula and eastern China.
24:59But for the south, people in the Philippines need to monitor a tropical depression.
25:05The system is likely to move toward eastern Visayas, bringing gusty winds and high waves.
25:11Downpours could be also a big concern.
25:13Up to 200 millimeters of rain is possible by Saturday and another 200 millimeters by Sunday.
25:21There is a risk of fresh floods and landslides.
25:25Finally, in Europe, severe weather has been reported across the Balkans with wind gas exceeding 200 kilometers per hour.
25:33And Athens had over 150 millimeters of rain in just 11 hours.
25:40The severe conditions will continue due to a slow-moving low pressure system near the Balkans.
25:46Isolated downpours and gusty winds are still likely.
25:50That's it for now. Stay safe.
26:21And before we wrap up, men clad only in traditional garb
26:29braved the winter chill Thursday to pound sticky rice into mochi rice cakes
26:34at a temple in Yamagata Prefecture, northern Japan.
26:44The men gathered at Sengenji Temple in Yonezawa City
26:48to carry on the annual tradition.
26:50Legend has it that a bumper harvest occurred about 380 years ago
26:55after farmers sprinkled sand from the temple onto their crops.
26:59They then offered mochi at the temple to express their gratitude.
27:03The men wielded mallets to mash steamed rice into dough while chanting.
27:08They finished the ritual by smashing the mochi onto the ceiling.
27:13The mochi was then divided up and topped with sweet red bean paste.
27:17The rice cakes were served to worshippers
27:19as well as local elementary school students.
27:24It must be really cool to make this mochi in that costume.
27:33I'm sure.
27:34And that's it for this edition of Newsroom Tokyo.
27:37Don't forget, you can always catch our program on our website as well.
27:40I'm Raja Pradhan.
27:41And I'm Yamasawa Rina.
27:42Thank you very much for watching.
27:43Have a wonderful weekend.
27:45Join with two more meetings and resources.
27:47We'll be back then.
27:49Have a great one.
27:50We'll be back then.
28:05We'll be back then.
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