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00:12Welcome to newsroom Tokyo. I'm Yamasawa Rina. And I'm Raja Prada. Here are the headlines.
00:17Nuclear talks are underway between the U.S. and Iran as Washington continues to dial up the
00:23military pressure on Tehran. The number of deaths in Japan hit a record
00:28low for the 10th consecutive year. We look at the reasons why and how South Korea is
00:34wrestling with a similar dilemma. And Japan's key stock index climbs to another
00:39all-time high as investors cheer two nominations to join the central bank.
00:45The United States and Iran had begun their third round of nuclear talks.
00:50High-level indirect talks resumed earlier this month for the first time in eight months.
00:57Both delegations arrived Thursday at the venue in Geneva. The Iranians said the only issues on the
01:03table were Iran's nuclear development and the lifting of sanctions. Iranian Foreign Minister
01:08Abbas Arochi told an Indian media outlet ahead of the talks Iran will not develop nuclear weapons,
01:15but pursue nuclear development for peaceful purposes.
01:18We are ready to answer questions. We are ready to remove concerns. There is every possibility to come
01:27to an agreed solution which is fair and balanced.
01:34According to sources quoted by the U.S. news website Axios, White House Envoy Steve Witkoff said the Trump
01:41administration is demanding Iran agree any future nuclear deal remain in effect indefinitely.
01:47The media have pointed to provisions in the 2015 nuclear deal that said most of the limitations on
01:53Iran's nuclear program would gradually expire a certain period after the signing.
01:59The Trump administration has stepped up military pressure on Iran by sending two aircraft carrier
02:04strike groups to the Middle East. North Korean state media reports that Pyongyang will continue to
02:12build nuclear weapons and missiles. But while it's shoring up its arsenal,
02:17the country is also leaving the door open to a diplomatic thaw with the United States.
02:23leader Kim Jong-un reportedly revealed the country's nuclear plans at the ruling Workers' Party Congress.
02:30The week-long session in Pyongyang ended Wednesday. Kim said the North has a long-term plan to strengthen
02:37its nuclear force. That includes increasing the number of weapons and expanding nuclear operations.
02:44He also mentioned secret arsenals that are set to include ground or submarine-launched intercontinental
02:52ballistic missiles and spoke of strategic assets for attacking enemy satellites.
02:58Kim reportedly said the North will fully prepare for confrontation with the U.S.
03:04But he also said there is no reason why the two countries can't get along
03:09if Washington abandons its hostile policy towards Pyongyang. Kim also criticized South Korea,
03:17calling President Lee Jae-min's attempt to establish dialogue with the North deceptive.
03:23Kim said Pyongyang will continue to treat its neighbor as a hostile enemy.
03:29Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Larry Summers says he'll resign as a professor at Harvard University.
03:35This comes after the release of documents showing he had a close relationship with the late financier
03:41and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Summers said in a statement he would retire from his professorship
03:48at the end of the academic year, calling the decision difficult. Media reports say emails released last
03:55November show Summers maintained a deeply personal relationship with Epstein even after the latter became
04:01a registered sex offender. But they also say there's no evidence Summers committed any wrongdoing.
04:08Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal says Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has apologized for bringing
04:13executives from his Gates Foundation into meetings with Epstein. It quotes Gates as saying this was a huge
04:20mistake, but also that he did and saw nothing illicit. A growing number of business executives in the United
04:27States have stepped down after their ties to Epstein became known.
04:42Tokyo's Nikkei 225 stock index posted its highest ever close on Thursday, resetting the record for a
04:49second straight session. That followed an overnight rally in New York. For more, we bring in Yuko Fukushima.
04:55So, Yuko, Wall Street pushing higher. Were there any other reasons for the rally in Tokyo stocks?
05:00Actually, yes, there were. Investors piled into stocks again amid speculation that the Bank of Japan
05:06may not raise its policy rate as early as expected. The markets saw that as a sign of more money
05:12for
05:13buying stocks. Loosen monetary policy could also prolong the yen's weakness, a trend that benefits Japan's
05:19exporters. Riding that wave, the stock market benchmark finished at 58,753, adding nearly
05:27three-tenths of a percent. Software-related shares led the way. The Nikkei briefly topped the 59,000 level
05:34for the first time, but later lost steam on profit-taking. The index gained 2.2 percent from the day
05:40before. Investors chair the government's two nominees to join the central bank's board. Both are seen as
05:48aligned with Prime Minister Takaichi Sanai's economic strategy and supportive of a looser monetary policy.
05:54The Bank of Japan nominees are Sato Ayano at Aoyama Gakuin University and Asada Toichiro from Chuo University.
06:03If the diet gives its approval, they would replace two people on the BOJ's nine-member board, which
06:09votes on interest rate policies. U.S. semiconductor giant NVIDIA reported record quarterly net income
06:17and revenue in the November to January period, thanks to strong jet demand at data centers.
06:23NVIDIA on Wednesday said net income for the three months jumped 94 percent year-on-year to nearly 43
06:31billion dollars. Revenue surged 73 percent to more than 68 billion dollars. Sales said its data center
06:39division soared 75 percent, reflecting a surge in spending on AI-related infrastructure by U.S.
06:45technology companies. NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang said the agentic AI inflection point has arrived. He said
06:53adoption of AI agents by companies is skyrocketing, fueling a race by his firm's clients to invest in
07:00AI computing. Department store sales in Japan rebounded in January. The stores saw strong demand
07:08for luxury goods, making up for a decline in business from overseas travelers. The Japan Department
07:14Stores Association tabled the data. It says revenues at existing stores rose 2.3 percent from the same
07:21month last year to about 490 billion yen or 3 billion dollars. That's the first year-on-year increase in
07:29two
07:29months. The association attributes the rebound to higher demand for brand name watches, bags and other
07:36luxury items. Sales in this category, which includes artworks, jewelry and precious metals, surged more
07:42than 17 percent from the year before. An association official says affluent customers are eager to spend
07:48thanks to a stock market rally that's adding to their wealth. Meanwhile, sales of tax-free goods for
07:55inbound visitors tumbled 19 percent to 320 million dollars, marking the third straight month of
08:01decline. China's call for its citizens to refrain from traveling to Japan is thought to have contributed
08:07to the fall. And to the markets elsewhere in Asia and South Korea, the cost speed continued to rise,
08:14renewing its record high for the third day. It added 3.67 percent from Wednesday. Trader spot tech shares
08:20after NVIDIA's stellar earnings. The Bank of Korea upgraded its forecast of the country's GDP,
08:26which got the bulls running even harder. China's composite ended almost unchanged.
08:31Investors are becoming cautious ahead of the National People's Congress,
08:35where leaders decide the annual growth target. And that's the news for this Thursday.
08:51Japan is facing a population crisis, and preliminary figures announced Thursday by the health ministry
08:57offer little cause for comfort. They show the number of births during 2025
09:02hit a record low for the 10th consecutive year. A survey by the Ministry of Health,
09:09Labor and Welfare found the number of children born in 2025, including foreign nationals,
09:15was 705,809. That's over 15,000 fewer babies than the previous year, a drop of 2.1 percent.
09:24The rate of the decrease has caught researchers off guard. In 2023, the National Institute of Population
09:31and Social Security Research projected the number of births would fall below 710,000 in 2042. But Japan
09:39ended up crossing that threshold 17 years earlier than expected. For more on this,
09:46NHK World's Katsumata Chieko spoke with Kim Myon-jun, a senior research fellow at the NLI Research
09:53Institute. He's an expert on demographic trends in East Asia. The decline of Japan's birth rate and the
10:01aging of its population are both progressing faster than expected. And the situation for young people has
10:08become even more severe. I think it's highly likely that the downward trend in the number of babies born
10:15in Japan will continue. The causes of Japan's declining birth rate are complex. Expert side factors
10:23including economic issues and changing attitudes among younger generations.
10:32One major factor they note is that fewer people are getting married. This graph shows the number of
10:41marriages in Japan. It peaked in 1972 at over one million. That's when people born during the first baby
10:50boom reached their twenties. Early figures show that in 2025, this number had fallen to almost half. And this was
11:00actually a slight increase from the previous year. But over the past decade, the trend has been downward.
11:13Some young people have been getting married who weren't able to do so during the COVID-19 pandemic.
11:20I think that may be a contributing factor for the slight uptick in the number of marriages.
11:26Compared to the US and European countries, I think in Japan there's a closer correlation between marriage and
11:33births. So the trend of couples getting married later or not at all is having a major influence on the
11:40declining birth rate. Japan isn't the only country facing this situation. On Wednesday, South Korea
11:54announced that its total fertility rate in 2025 stood at just 0.8 among the lowest in the world.
12:04And this was a small rise from the previous year. Like Japan, South Korea has seen a small post-pandemic
12:13wedding boom among young people. But the overall trend is the same. Experts think high property prices are one of
12:23the factors keeping young people from getting married. South Korea has a deep-rooted tradition where the
12:31husband is expected to provide a home. But that's difficult in Seoul. The average price of a condominium
12:40is around one million dollars. And despite new regulations introduced last year to curb speculation
12:48by foreign buyers, it continues to rise. And as Kim explains, this has a knock-on effect.
12:59In South Korea, only 10 or 15 percent of people work at major firms. The remaining 85 percent are employed
13:08by
13:08small and medium-sized companies. And there's a big difference in their standard of living.
13:14They don't earn as much as people working at major firms. So they can't buy or even rent a good
13:21apartment.
13:23And if people don't have a home, it's hard to get married, which means it's also hard to have children.
13:35The city of Incheon, located New Seoul, has drawn attention for achieving one of South Korea's
13:42highest birth rate increases. Over 16,000 babies were born there last year, an increase of 8.8 percent.
13:52Two years ago, the city introduced a program to provide financial support to households with children.
14:01Under the scheme, families receive a total of 100 million won, about 70,000 dollars,
14:08for each child by the time they turn 18. The city has also been taking steps to ease the burden
14:16of
14:17high property prices. It offers housing units to engaged and newlywed couples at a rent of less than
14:25one dollar per day. However, experts point out that these policies are limited by the fact
14:33they focus on life after marriage.
14:39Policies for married couples are very important, but I think it is vital to create an environment
14:46that's conducive to getting married in the first place. In other words, I think it is necessary to
14:53understand the concerns that young people have about marriage and offer stronger support measures for them.
15:02In Japan as well, local governments are beginning to take a more active role in encouraging marriage.
15:10Tokyo, for example, has launched a government-backed matchmaking app. It uses AI to help people find
15:18potential partners. At the end of the day, marriage is a personal choice. Authorities hope they can give more
15:27people the confidence to say, I do.
15:42Now, let's go to Tera Tera Kao-san in our Bangkok studio for stories making headlines across the Asia-Pacific.
15:51Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has traveled to Israel for a two-day state visit.
15:57Modi is keen to strengthen cooperation between the countries in security and other areas.
16:05The Indian leader delivered his first-ever speech at the Israeli parliament on Wednesday.
16:11He expressed his condolences for the victims of the Hamas attack on Israel in October 2023.
16:19We feel your pain. We share your grief.
16:30India stands with Israel firmly with full conviction in this moment and beyond.
16:43Modi also spoke in support of the U.S.-brokered Gaza peace plan,
16:48which he said holds the promise of a just and durable peace for all.
16:53This is Modi's second trip to Israel. He became the first Indian prime minister to travel to the
16:59country in 2017. The visit comes amid an effort by India to diversify its weapons procurement and reduce
17:07its dependence on Russia. Observers also believe India is highlighting its ties with Israel as a
17:15warning to its neighbors, Pakistan and China. India has territorial disputes with both countries.
17:23Thailand's jailed former Prime Minister Thaksin Chinawat is set to be released on parole in May.
17:29The influential former premier is serving a one-year term for corruption and other offenses.
17:37Thailand's Department of Corrections said in a statement that on May 10th,
17:42Thaksin will have served two-thirds of his sentence. It says that will make him eligible for parole under
17:48Thai law. Thaksin initially attempted to serve his sentence in a hospital, but he was sent to a prison
17:55in September after the Supreme Court ruled hospital detention could not count toward the sentence.
18:02The 76-year-old billionaire returned to Thailand in 2023 after spending years in self-imposed exile
18:10following his ouster in a coup in 2006. Even from overseas, he remained an influential political figure.
18:18His daughter, Patong Thanh Chinawat, another former prime minister, visited her father in prison on Thursday.
18:26She told reporters he's likely to step away from politics. The pro-Taksin Pyutai party suffered a heavy
18:34defeat in a general election earlier this month. Even so, the party is set to join a coalition government
18:41led by the ruling Pumtai Thai party. Here in Bangkok, the city is testing out a fleet of new electric
18:50water
18:50taxis along its canals. The pilot project is part of an effort to tackle traffic and pollution issues
18:57with a shift to green public transportation. The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration is offering free
19:05rides for the trial, which runs until the end of the month. The EV taxi boats serve 14 peers that
19:14give
19:14easy access to transport hubs, historic districts and residential areas. Passengers can book rides with
19:22a smartphone app. The taxis can carry up to six passengers and travel at an average speed of 12 kilometers
19:29per hour.
19:32There's no smell from the engine. If we used regular boats, there'd be a smell. But this one was totally
19:38fine. It's such a big difference. The operator currently has eight boats in service but will expand the fleet
19:46after launching its commercial run in March. It plans to start fares from 35 baht or about one US dollar.
19:55With EVs, the problem of noise and air pollution is gone. We want to revive a traditional mode of
20:02transport but using the latest technology. The Bangkok government is also promoting EV tech for the
20:11city's three-wheel tuk-tuks and motorcycle taxis. And that wraps up our Bolten. I'm Traatirakau-san in Bangkok.
20:45Years of work to bring a threatened bird species back to northern Japan's Akita prefecture. It's paying off.
20:52Yes, and the area has become a winter bird paradise that attracts about a hundred wild species.
21:01A flock of swans.
21:05A short-eared owl.
21:09Greater white-fronted geese are here too.
21:14Orgata village has become a center for bird watching.
21:17The farming hamlet used to be a 22,000 hectare coastal lake.
21:23But about half a century ago, it was filled in to create rice fields.
21:29White-tailed eagles endangered in Japan are here.
21:34So is the stellar sea eagle.
21:36Only an estimated 5,000 of them exist worldwide.
21:48Local farmer Tsumi Akiya also works on wild bird conservation.
21:54Every day, he counts the size of flocks.
21:58Every wild bird has its charm.
22:00Thanks to the farmland environment, many birds come here.
22:06These are rice leavings that geese have eaten.
22:10Rice fields provide abundant nutrition for migratory birds.
22:14Snow doesn't accumulate much in this area, so birds have access to a stable food supply all winter.
22:23A canal surrounding the village helps prevent predators from entering and gives birds of prey a place to catch fish.
22:32Birds migrate from further north as Orgata's warmer climate and open rice fields make it an ideal destination.
22:41Recently, bird watchers have noted a large increase in the number of snow geese in the area.
22:47The species had nearly disappeared from Japan in the early 20th century because of over-hunting.
22:54It's still listed as a threatened species in the country.
22:59A joint project of experts in Japan, US and Russia has helped snow geese recover in the area, and now
23:07their numbers are rising.
23:09A bird watching event was held in the village.
23:12A Russian researcher involved in the restoration project from the beginning, attended.
23:23A rare snow geese scene was observed.
23:27Males pursue a single female in a courtship ritual.
23:38It's good for population because they will back this result, and I'm very happy that I was part of this
23:48project.
23:51Tsutsumi says he hopes people will appreciate nature more by watching the birds.
23:57I feel a sense of romance. This environment is important, and I want to take care of it and protect
24:04it to sustain the ecology.
24:08Snow geese migrate north in February. A record high 2,000 were counted this season,
24:14the only sighting of large winter flocks in Asia. It's a big success. Many hope will be repeated.
24:24Next, the use of artificial intelligence is spreading across many fields. Now,
24:29researchers here in Japan have developed a robot that offers advice based on Buddhist teachings.
24:42Kumagai Seiji, Kyoto University professor and a Buddhist priest,
24:46along with other researchers, developed the 1.3-meter-tall robot. It's equipped with AI,
24:52which has learned Buddhist scriptures. An NHK reporter has a question for Buddha-roid.
25:22The robot then pressed its palms together in a gesture of prayer. It's also capable of walking,
25:28and even sitting cross-legged. The researchers say making it humanoid has enabled more fulfilling and engaging dialogue.
25:38We're working to enable the robot to generate the words that Buddha might use.
25:42We're having a dialogue. I think that's where the practical application begins.
25:49Kumagai says he wants to further develop the technology,
25:52while discussing how it can be used from an ethical standpoint as well.
26:07Now, let's take a look at weather forecasts for cities around the world.
26:23At the U.S.
26:23.
26:23.
26:23.
26:5122
27:35And that concludes this edition of Newsroom Tokyo.
27:38Make sure you catch our program on our website as well.
27:40I'm Rajapada.
27:41And I'm Yamasawa Arena.
27:43Thank you very much for watching.
27:44Please join us again tomorrow.
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