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00:03these candles hold people's feelings of mourning and their hopes for the future
00:08throughout the day many people have come here to remember the losses of their loved ones
00:14and their hometown good evening i'm yamasa arena i'm standing about four kilometers away from the
00:21tokyo electric power company's fukushima daichi nuclear power plant 15 years ago an earthquake
00:29and tsunami devastated northeastern japan and triggered one of the world's worst nuclear
00:35accidents we will be bringing you an in-depth look at what we can learn from the 2011 disaster
00:42from the communities here but first back to tokyo thank you very much reena welcome to newsroom
00:49tokyo i'm raja prada we'll hear more from reena later but first we go to the middle east sources
00:55say a vessel belonging to the japanese company mitsui osk lines has been damaged in the persian
01:01gulf the incident comes at a time when regional tensions are boiling over sources connected to
01:07both the company and japan's transport ministry say crew members of one majesty checked the vessel after
01:14hearing an impact they found a hole in the rear of the ship the incident took place on wednesday
01:20with the vessel unable to leave the gulf no injuries have been reported a senior japanese
01:26foreign ministry official told nhk the ship sustained some damage but the crew members are all safe
01:32the official added the vessel can sail on its own the official also said it's unlikely the ship was
01:39attacked meanwhile cnn is reporting iran has laid dozens of mines in the strait of hormuz
01:46it cited sources familiar with u.s intelligence u.s president donald trump responded by saying there
01:53were no reports of iran laying mines but if any were placed they should be removed immediately
01:59he added the military consequences will be at a level never seen before he later said 10 inactive
02:07mine laying vessels had been destroyed the u.s military released a video of docked ships being bombed
02:14it said multiple iranian naval vessels were eliminated on tuesday including 16 mine layers near
02:20the strait iran's elite military force the islamic revolutionary guard corps posted wednesday on
02:27social media it said control of the strait of hormuz has made iran's influence in global economic
02:34relations outstanding the irgc did not mention whether the country had laid mines in the area
02:40the critical sea channel has been effectively closed since the conflict began according to the
02:46u.n the average number of ships passing through each day has fallen from 129 down to just four on
02:54saturday the situation is disrupting energy markets leading to higher prices reuters news agency reports
03:01the u.s navy has told the shipping industry it's unable to escort ships through the strait for the time
03:07being the report said it would only be possible once the risk of attack was reduced news outlets
03:14bloomberg and afp report the united arab emirates biggest refinery has halted operations that's after
03:21a drone strike caused the fire nearby the ruweiss plant can process over 900 000 barrels of oil a day
03:30now the g7 leaders are set to meet online to discuss disruptions to global energy supplies
03:36yuko fukushima joins us now from our business desk yuko yes this comes as japan's prime minister has
03:42just announced the country will release oil reserves on its own as early as monday countries around the
03:48world are worried about what will happen to their economies if their access to middle east crude is
03:53cut off the index for global oil the wti has been on a roller coaster ride as investors digest the
04:01news
04:01coming out of the middle east it recently went over 100 dollars touching the highest in more than three
04:06and a half years the price has since come down but it's still volatile as traders fix their attention on
04:13the key oil producing region here's how wti is being traded now now france which holds the g7 presidency
04:21announced the online summit the gathering will follow a conference call between g7 energy ministers on
04:27tuesday that's led by the international energy agency we asked the aie which was hosting the meeting
04:37to work on numbers to update the stockpiling data to the most recent date less q said the latest figures
04:47will help countries decide on the amounts of oil that could be released from reserves
04:53a u.s newspaper reports the agency is proposing the largest release of crude oil reserves in its
04:59history to reduce energy prices the wall street journal says iea head fati birol made the proposal
05:07at a meeting of member countries on tuesday it cited officials familiar with the matter the newspaper
05:12says the iea's 32 members are expected to decide whether to approve the proposal on wednesday
05:27wednesday marks 15 years since the great east japan earthquake the magnitude 9 quake triggered a
05:34massive tsunami devastating areas across eastern japan's pacific coast 19 711 people were killed
05:42including those who died from complications caused by the disaster even now 15 years later
05:48two thousand five hundred and nineteen people remained missing
06:10the quake struck at exactly 2 46 pm people in the hardest hit prefectures observed a moment of silence
06:19from early morning people offered prayers for the victims
06:25i prayed that those who remain missing can return to their families as soon as possible
06:34dyak toshiko prayed for his wife parents brother and nephew who died in the tsunami
06:44i came here to pray i tell them i'm doing well
06:51in otsushi iwate prefecture the disaster left 1 286 people dead or missing about 10 percent of the town's
07:00population yamazaki makoto's father is still unaccounted for i've never forgotten him even for one day
07:09it feels like 15 years went by in the blink of an eye
07:14a memorial ceremony was held in fukushima prefecture which was heavily affected by the nuclear accident that
07:20followed the quake and tsunami prime minister takai sanai was among those in attendance
07:28we will accelerate preparations to set up a disaster management agency by the end of the year
07:33it will serve as a control center for disaster response and help build a country that is resilient
07:38against disasters it was a day of prayer and reflection across japan as people look for ways to carry on
07:46after the disaster
07:57and we return now to my co-anchor yamasawa rina in futaba serena what's been happening where you are
08:06hi raja memorial events are being held today across the region and behind me
08:13one thousand candles have been lit with messages and wishes written by visitors here in futaba the
08:21earthquake and tsunami devastated the community leaving 21 people dead or missing another 160
08:29later died in the aftermath that natural disaster also caused a triple meltdown at the fukushima daichi
08:37nuclear power plant plant the resulting evacuation orders forced residents of the town out of their
08:43homes for many years despite enormous enormous efforts to clean up the site there is still lots of work
08:51left to do here's how the nuclear disaster began and where things stand today
09:00after the quake tsunami waves over 10 meters high begin hitting
09:05fukushima daichi nuclear power plant sea water floods the facility cutting almost all the power
09:13vital for it to function safely the fuel rods inside the reactors begin to overheat liquefying and escaping
09:22through the bottom of the reactor's core the resulting explosions release radioactive substances into the
09:29environment it's a nuclear disaster that goes down as one of the worst in history
09:38last month an nhk crew went inside fukushima daichi to see what it looks like today tokyo electric power
09:47company or tepco runs the plant it's been busy trying to make the area as safe as possible that means
09:55major
09:55improvements for the people working here 96 percent of the plants grounds are now so-called green zones
10:04it's a far cry from years past when higher radiation forced workers into full suits and face masks
10:12one of their jobs is releasing treated and diluted water into the ocean
10:19three of the reactors still contain melted fuel debris created by the accident tepco has to keep
10:27injecting them with water to keep the nuclear material cool the process creates 60 tons of contaminated water every day
10:38the water is treated to remove most radioactive substances
10:42but some elements like tritium can't be removed instead the water is diluted below national regulations
10:52more than 130 000 tons of it has been released into the ocean so far
10:59tepco says tritium levels in its seawater samples are well below the world health organization's guideline
11:05for drinking water the latest process is speeding up the cleanup allowing tepco to begin dismantling the
11:13over 1 000 storage tanks it had been using for the treated water 14 have so far been removed
11:22but radiation levels inside several of the reactor buildings remain high and it's believed about 880 tons
11:31of nuclear fuel debris are still inside the company has already run two trials to remove the melted fuel
11:40this footage shows a robotic arm retrieving samples it is so far recovered less than a gram
11:48tepco is planning a full-scale debris cleanup in one of the reactors but not for at least another decade
11:57that's part of a massive undertaking that includes dismantling the reactor buildings entirely eventually
12:04putting the plant out of commission for good the government and tepco say they're hoping to finish the
12:11entire job by 2051 another 25 years in the future we think that there is currently no need to push
12:23back the
12:23original target of completing the decommissioning within 30 to 40 years we will continue working toward this goal by taking
12:32steady and solid steps
12:34but they have not yet revealed a detailed plan to accomplish that goal
12:39leaving lingering questions about whether it can be done within that timeline
12:48after the accident the japanese government tried to reduce the country's dependence on nuclear power
12:55as much as possible but that changed when new policies were implemented in 2023
13:02the government is now trying to make the most of japan's nuclear power while prioritizing safety
13:08let's take a closer look at now rebuilding efforts in one of the communities most directly affected by the disaster
13:17the fukushima daichi facility is just a short distance away from the center of the town of okuma
13:25last year a new commercial complex opened in front of the train station once the gateway to the town
13:31the facility includes restaurants and shops the hope is that it will become a place where residents and
13:38visitors can gather and interact the last time i came here there were collapsed houses and hardly anyone
13:49living around this area so it really feels much livelier now
13:56a school promoting innovative education has also opened attracting new residents
14:03this new community was built in a decontaminated area of the town but much of okuma is designated a
14:11difficult to return zone where only temporary visits are allowed i went to see what conditions are like
14:18there and meet a former resident working to educate others
14:24just getting into this part of okuma is an ordeal access is still restricted
14:34my team and i have to register at the entrance and we're given dosimeters
14:40we don't need to wear protective clothing but we have to be screened for radioactivity when we leave
14:51the room inside we see signs of the work left to be done there are places storing the soil and
14:58other
14:58material collected during decontamination by law it all must be cleared away by 2045
15:10and elsewhere we see parts of a town frozen in time
15:19it's as if time has stood still here since the disaster businesses schools and homes have been left
15:27almost untouched since their original occupants fled the overgrown grass and vegetation show what the passage of
15:3415 years does we're not the only ones seeing this part of okuma up close we are part of a
15:43group tour
15:47a local 60 year old kimura norio is our guide
15:54he takes us to the ruins of their community center as well as a kindergarten
16:02and a primary school left untouched
16:09many of the students supplies and belongings remain just as they were on that day
16:20take a look inside the entrance area for a moment if you look closely you might notice something
16:27do you see it those are the students outdoor shoes which were left there it shows how on that day
16:33the
16:33kids evacuated just as they had practiced in drills they left their belongings behind and went out in their
16:39indoor shoes afterward no one was able to come back
16:49one of the students was kimura's seven-year-old daughter yuna
16:56he takes us to where they used to live
17:01this is where our entrance used to be
17:07kimura was at work when the disaster struck
17:10he rushed home to learn yuna as well as his wife and father were missing
17:17he began a desperate search but had to evacuate the next day when the nuclear accident occurred
17:25a month later the bodies of his wife and father were recovered but yuna remained unaccounted for
17:34as radiation levels decreased and residents were allowed to make short trips
17:40kimura resumed his search it wasn't until 2016 that one of yuna's tiny bone fragments was located
17:52if the nuclear accident hadn't happened she might have been found the next day and i sometimes think
17:58that there was even a chance however small that she could have still been alive when her bones returned
18:05to us it didn't really feel real still part of me felt relieved that she had finally come home
18:15not all of yuna's remains have been found so kimura keeps searching
18:23and since 2022 he's been bringing people to this place he passes on his memories and reminds them
18:32that the effects of the nuclear disaster are far from over
18:38i do what i do now because of yuna for me there is no reconstruction it would mean
18:47my family coming back that would be my reconstruction that's impossible and so i don't think i will ever
18:56experience true recovery but at the very least if i can help connect others to what we experienced
19:05that feels like a form of reconstruction in a way
19:12kimura told me that for him there is no reconstruction that's a powerful phrase and it
19:20drives home just how much the nuclear accident still affects residents lives even after 15 years
19:27and i'm now joined by yoast crowd especially appointed assistant professor at fukushima university
19:34he has been living in fukushima since 2015 and works closely with local communities and students
19:41sharing the lessons of the disaster with the world thank you very much for joining me thank you for
19:46having me so first of all what do you make of how much progress has been made rebuilding here i
19:53think
19:53there's still a long road ahead but the actual progress has been remarkable over the last 15 years
19:58the government has been investing so much in creating the physical conditions for people to
20:03return the infrastructure and there's a lot of people coming in to bring entrepreneurial new ideas
20:10and trying to make the area more self-sustaining the biggest challenge i think is actually getting
20:15the original residents to return that's very very difficult because you do want to of course really
20:20uh preserve the original cultural identity and you can't do that without the actual original population
20:26and from your perspective were there any missteps over the past 15 years in how the the aftermath
20:34aftermath was handled i think it's a difficult question um i think there's the initial
20:40underestimation of risks that led to maybe an under preparedness that led to a lot of chaos in the
20:46evacuation for example people evacuate into areas that they probably shouldn't have uh evacuation
20:51starting too late or uh sometimes evacuation uh taking place of of um that that led to unnecessary
20:59disruption of people's lives and i think this translates back to an overall inherent risk uh that all
21:05kind of um uh how do you say that uh any kind of industry carries um and i think the
21:13best way to
21:14mitigate that is through open and constructive dialogue between the industries and the populations
21:19that they potentially affect um if the the right questions have been asked prior to 2011 i think
21:25decision would would have probably been made that would have led to different results than the ones
21:29that we've seen in the end so what other lessons should we take from this accident do you think
21:36um what other questions well i think one of the lessons lessons i think one of the the things that
21:42really
21:42the world can can learn from is of course the the decommissioning that is taking place right now
21:47because we see in the world that there's a move towards um more and more reevaluation of nuclear power
21:54and i think that the process that's taking place of taking apart the the nuclear power plant right now
21:58offers lessons that can really be um valuable to the rest of the world in terms of the nuclear industry
22:05thank you very much for your insight
22:06thank you as we've seen throughout tonight's show the sentiment of many disaster victims is that
22:13no one should experience the same pain they went through they want to ensure the lessons we've been
22:20learned are forgotten by younger generations back to you raja
22:34now yuko fukushima is back with more business news yuko yes one of japan's biggest rail operators is
22:40raising fares for the first time in nearly 40 years east japan railway says prices will go up by an
22:47average of just over seven percent on saturday now this is jr east's first across the board price hike
22:53since its found founding in 1987 not including adjustments to keep up with the consumption tax
23:00the move is expected to raise more than 550 million dollars in additional revenue for upgrades and
23:06repairs jr east's president said the company wasn't bringing in enough money to keep pace with inflation
23:16we will further improve levels of safety and service to build a railway that is secure and
23:22comfortable for passengers to use this is something we are determined to accomplish
23:29ticket offices have been crowded with people wanting to pick fares or buy commuter passes before prices rise
23:38i frequently use the trains so even a small fare increase is an extra burden for me considering
23:46the inflation we are dealing with it's probably inevitable because the facilities are aging
23:52and the costs of labor and other things are just going up jr east says passenger numbers have not
23:58been rising as japan's population shrinks and more people are working from home and now to the markets
24:04well in tokyo the nikki rose 1.43 percent many managers reacted to the news that the iea may release
24:10a
24:11record amount of oil reserves the index added almost 1500 points but profit taking kicked in as others reacted to
24:17the continued uncertainty in the middle east and we saw mixed performances in the broader region investors
24:23across asia also took in the reports on the iea some see it as potentially easing pressure on asian
24:31governments facing oil supply disruptions but others are still cautious as the conflict in iran
24:35continues to unfold the kospi in south korea closed up one point four percent but the sunsaks in india
24:42a drop one point seven percent and that's the biz for this wednesday thank you very much yuko we now
24:48turn to cholopasa narula at our bureau in bangkok to hear how governments in southeast and south asia
24:54are coping with the oil supply disruptions cholopasa
24:58the philippines has directed government agencies and other offices to adopt flexible work arrangements
25:04to conserve energy that means employees will report to the office four days a week instead of five
25:11the measure has been in effect since monday the government says total working hours remain
25:16unchanged employees can choose either to work one day from home or to shift to a compressed work week
25:22four days with longer hours essential workers such as police officers firefighters and medical personnel
25:28are exempt from the directive it is advantageous for us and for the government employee because we could
25:35save money we could save time we could save effort in going to work
25:44president fredinand marcos jr said earlier this month that his country maintains about 50 to 60
25:49days of oil reserves he has instructed government agencies to cut their electricity and fuel consumption
25:55by 10 to 20 percent india's western state of maharashtra has reportedly suspended gas-based
26:02cremations after the government restricted the commercial use of liquefied petroleum gas
26:07the government says it is prioritizing domestic supply for households india is one of the world's
26:13largest importers of lpg with the most coming from the middle east
26:19australia granted visas to two more members of the iranian women's soccer team who could face punishment
26:25upon returning home for failing to sing the national anthem
26:28during an asian cup match but later one of them changed her mind the australian government announced
26:35on tuesday that it had granted humanitarian visas to five members who accepted the offer
26:40the following day it announced that the additional visas had been issued but later one of the two had
26:46a change of heart and sought to return home in australia people are able to change their mind people are
26:54able to travel uh and so we respect the context in which she has made that decision home affairs
27:03minister tony burke also said the individuals who are staying in australia have been moved to a new
27:08location after the member who reversed her decision contacted the iranian embassy revealing their location
27:15the remaining team players and staff are on their way back home reuters and other media outlets reported
27:21that team members did not sing the anthem on march 2nd a host on iranian state-run television reportedly
27:27said their actions showed a lack of patriotism and labeled them wartime traitors that's up our bulletin
27:34i'm chola pansa narula in bangkok thank you very much chola pansa and that's all for this edition of newsroom
27:41tokyo i'm raja pradhan and from all of us at nhk world japan thanks for watching and please join us
27:47again on thursday
27:54thank you
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