Friday marks 74 years since an atomic bomb was dropped over Japan's western city of Nagasaki.
Japan's GDP has grown for a third straight quarter.
Japan's top government spokesperson says the country will take various factors into consideration to ensure safe navigation in the Middle East.
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/upld/medias/en/radio/news/20190809200000_english_1.mp3
Key words : Friday marks mayor called
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20190809_16/
Friday marks 74 years since an atomic bomb was dropped over Japan's western city of Nagasaki. At a memorial ceremony in the city, the mayor called on Japan's government to join a UN treaty on banning nuclear weapons.
The ceremony began at the city's Peace Park at 10:40 a.m. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe attended, along with survivors of the bombing, known as hibakusha. Families of those who died as a result of the attack also participated.
A register of 182,601 people who experienced the bombing and have since died were placed into a cenotaph. They include 3,402 who passed away in the past year.
The participants observed a moment of silence at 11:02 a.m., the exact time the bomb exploded on August 9, 1945.
Nagasaki Mayor Tomihisa Taue read out a peace declaration, quoting a poem by one of the hibakusha. The poem depicts the terrible damage caused by the bombing and calls for the tragedy never to be repeated.
Taue urged countries with nuclear arms to fulfill their duties under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.
The mayor urged Japan's government to sign and ratify the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which was adopted by the United Nations in 2017.
Key words : prosecutor
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20190809_30/
Prosecutors in Osaka, western Japan, have wrapped up their investigation into a sale of state-owned land to a school operator, without charging anyone.
A special squad of prosecutors said on Friday that they've decided not to indict 10 current and former government officials over the case.
It's the second time they've reached the decision. The officials were initially cleared of all charges in May last year.
But an inquest panel of randomly-selected citizens concluded in March this year that the non-indictment of the 10 officials was unjust. This prompted the prosecutors to investigate again.
Four government officials were accused of breach of trust over the land sale in 2016. The Finance Ministry had sold the plot to school operator Moritomo Gakuen at a fraction of the market value.
Six other officials were accused of falsifying official documents about the land transaction. They include former Finance Ministry bureau chief Nobuhisa Sagawa who repeatedly defended the deal.
Osaka prosecutors say they have concluded that it would be difficult to hold any of the 10 people criminally responsible, even when the inquest panel's decision is considered. This means the case is now officially closed.
The land deal sparked allegations of favoritism, as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's wife was at one point set to become the honorary principle of a new school planned for the plot.
Key words : GDP
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20190809_25/
Japan's GDP has grown for a third straight quarter. The data show that robust consumer spending and corporate investment have been shoring up sluggish export numbers.
The Cabinet Office has released GDP figures showing annualized growth of 1.8 percent in the April-to-June quarter. That's down one percentage point from the previous quarter.
Consumer spending accounts for more than half of Japan's GDP.
The figure was up 0.6 percent, as people splashed out during a 10-day spring holiday to celebrate the start of the new era.
Corporate investment increased 1.5 percent. The construction and manufacturing industries spent more on automation to deal with a labor shortage.
Exports were down 0.1 percent.
The value of products shipped to China and Europe decreased amid the US-China trade frictions.
Weak demand hit makers of machines used in manufacturing semiconductors.
Key words : nikkei
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Key words : top government various factor
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20190809_26/
Japan's top government spokesperson says the country will take various factors into consideration in deciding what it should do to ensure safe navigation in the Middle East.
The United States is sounding out other countries on a plan to form a coalition to ensure maritime security in the Strait of Hormuz amid the current tensions with Iran.
US Defense Secretary Mark Esper requested Japan's cooperation when he met his Japanese counterpart, Takeshi Iwaya, in Tokyo on Wednesday.
The Japanese government is said to be studying a plan to guard ships linked to Japan outside the Strait of Hormuz, in consideration of the country's friendly relations with Iran.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters on Friday that the government will study what steps would be effective from various angles and will make a comprehensive decision.
Suga cited the need to ensure stable supplies of crude oil, as well as relations with both the United States and Iran, as factors that will be taken into consideration.
Suga declined to comment when asked if the government is considering specific maritime regions where the Self-Defense Forces could be deployed.
Key words : moon mark
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20190809_32/
South Korean President Moon Jae-in and US Defense Secretary Mark Esper have affirmed the importance of trilateral cooperation by their countries with Japan.
The two met in Seoul on Friday. Esper earlier visited Tokyo.
A South Korean presidential official said Moon and Esper also agreed on the need to resolve the issue of continuing an intelligence-sharing pact between Japan and South Korea. But the official said the two did not discuss the issue in further detail.
Amid worsening relations with Japan over trade and historical issues, calls are rising in South Korea for the agreement to be terminated. Esper has indicated that he wants the two US allies to retain the pact.
Moon and Esper also discussed North Korea. The official said Moon offered to support denuclearization talks between the US and the North to make sure the negotiations succeed.
Esper is said to have expressed hope for an early resumption of dialogue with North Korea.
Key words : south defense security cooperation
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20190809_27/
The South Korean defense minister says measures taken by Japan on exports hurt security cooperation between the two countries and the United States.
Jeong Kyeong-doo met US Defense Secretary Mark Esper in Seoul on Friday and touched on Japan's decision to remove South Korea from a list of countries entitled to simplified export procedures.
Jeong called it economic retaliation and said it poses a negative impact on bilateral relations and trilateral security ties.
Details of the talks have not been disclosed. One of the possible topics is an intelligence-sharing pact between Japan and South Korea.
There are calls in the South to scrap the agreement amid worsening bilateral relations over trade and historical issues. Esper has expressed his support for the pact.
The two defense chiefs reaffirmed that they will support diplomatic efforts to achieve the complete denuclearization of North Korea and establish peace on the Korean Peninsula.
Jeong and Esper also agreed on boosting bilateral cooperation for regional stability.
They are also believed to have discussed a US-led international mission for safe navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, and US President Donald Trump's call for Seoul to share more costs for American troops in South Korea.
Key words : government body
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20190809_06/
A government body advising on decommissioning of the disaster-hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant says removal of molten fuel should start in the facility's No.2 reactor.
Three of the plant's reactors suffered meltdowns in the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. Fuel debris is believed to lie at the bottom of their containment vessels.
Removal of the molten fuel is extremely dangerous work because it is emitting deadly levels of radiation.
The government and plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Company seek to start the removal in 2021.
The advising body, Nuclear Damage Compensation and Decommissioning Facilitation Corporation, released a draft plan for fuel debris removal. It stresses that reactor No.2 is where the work should begin.
It says robot and other surveys have provided the most detailed images and data from inside the No.2 reactor, and that routes to send robots into the containment vessel for cleaning up have already been set.
The plan recommends keeping the recovered fuel debris in air-cooled metal containers. It says it has been sufficiently cooled by water in the years since the disaster.
The government and TEPCO are expected to finalize the procedures by next March.
Key words : Michiko breast cancer make arrangement
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20190809_40/
Japan's Imperial Household Agency says Empress Emerita Michiko has been diagnosed with a relatively early stage of breast cancer.
Agency officials say they will make arrangements for a surgery.
Key words : learned
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20190809_12/
NHK has learned that a study suggests an anti-heat measure for next year's Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics may have an effect opposite to that intended.
The Tokyo Metropolitan and central governments are applying a special coating to more than 100 kilometers of roads, including the Olympic marathon course, to reduce surface temperatures.
A group of researchers at the Tokyo University of Agriculture led by Professor Osamu Kashimura compared normal and coated roads on sunny days this month and in July to evaluate the coating's effectiveness.
The results show surface temperatures on the special roads were about 10 degrees Celsius cooler than those on the normal roads.
But when measured at the heights of 50, 150 and 200 centimeters, average temperatures on the coated roads were higher.
When the sunlight was especially strong, the average temperatures were about 1.5 degrees higher. The difference exceeded more than 3 degrees at some times of the day.
Professor Kashimura says the special coating lowers surface temperatures by reflecting sunlight, but the reflected sunlight makes people standing on the road feel hotter.
Kashimura points out that there's a risk of heatstroke among athletes and spectators of the Olympics. He says authorities should examine the effectiveness of the coating and take necessary steps to prevent heatstroke.
Land ministry officials say athletes who ran on the coated roads reported that they felt cooler. The officials say they consider the measure effective based on various assessments.
Key words : railway
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20190809_28/
Railways, airports and expressways in Japan are likely to be jammed with holidaymakers on Saturday.
Departures for the "bon" summer holidays are expected to peak, with many people heading out to their home towns and vacation spots.
Japan Railway group companies say shinkansen bullet trains heading out of major cities are almost fully booked for the whole day.
Airline companies say domestic flights from Tokyo's Haneda and Osaka airports are also mostly booked.
On expressways, traffic jams of more than 30 kilometers are expected on some sections heading out of Tokyo from the morning.
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