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