Japanese scientist is sharing this year's Nobel Prize in Chemistry with two American researchers for work that led to the invention on rechargeable lithium-ion batteries.
A large and violent typhoon will likely approach Japan over the weekend.
Diplomats from Japan, the United States and South Korea reaffirmed the importance of cooperation in working toward the denuclearization of North Korea.
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/upld/medias/en/radio/news/20191009200000_english_1.mp3
Key words : Japanese scientist battery
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20191009_50/
Japanese scientist Akira Yoshino is sharing this year's Nobel Prize in Chemistry with two American researchers -- John B. Goodenough and M. Stanley Whittingham -- for their work on rechargeable lithium-ion batteries.
Goodenough studied materials for batteries at Oxford University in Britain. He discovered that batteries have higher voltages and last longer if a chemical compound called lithium cobalt oxide is used in positive electrodes.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences says Whittingham worked on developing methods that could lead to energy technologies that don't rely on fossil fuels.
In 1985, Yoshino created a lithium-ion battery prototype using carbon fiber in the negative electrode.
The innovation was pivotal for consumer electronics. Today, these long-lasting batteries are used in laptops, smartphones and a range of other portable devices. They also paved the way for electric cars.
Key words : large typhoon likely
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20191009_41/
A large and violent typhoon will likely approach Japan over the weekend.
The Meteorological Agency says Typhoon Hagibis is moving north-northwest over waters near the Ogasawara Islands.
Hagibis is expected to approach eastern and western Japan on Saturday and Sunday, and may eventually make landfall.
The storm is forecast to bring winds of up to 125 kilometers per hour and waves of up to 10 meters high to around the Ogasawara islands on Thursday.
There is also a possibility of storm surges in eastern and western parts of the country over the weekend.
From Friday onward, heavy rain is expected in the Pacific coastal areas due to an influx of damp air brought in by the storm.
Officials are calling on people living in or near the projected path of the typhoon to prepare for potential severe weather.
Key words : railway operator
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20191009_38/
Railway operators in the Greater Tokyo area are considering suspending some of their train services this weekend, as a large and violent typhoon is forecast to hit the area on Saturday and Sunday.
Typhoon Hagibis is currently over the Pacific far south of Japan, but the storm is expected to hit Japan's mainland over the weekend.
East Japan Railway, Odakyu, Tobu and many other train operators in the Greater Tokyo area have told NHK that they will give train users one-day advance notice of any cancellations caused by the typhoon. They say the information will be made available on their websites and social media.
When the approach of a previous typhoon forced the train operators to suspend their services in early September, East Japan Railway's website nearly crashed as many people tried to access it for information.
The company says that to avoid a similar problem this weekend, it will post any information about train service cancellations on a simplified separate website that specializes in operational information.
Key words : diplomats from reaffirm
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20191009_13/
Diplomats from Japan, the United States and South Korea meeting in Washington on Tuesday reaffirmed the importance of cooperation in working toward the denuclearization of North Korea.
The meeting was between Shigeki Takizaki, the Director-General of the Japanese Foreign Ministry's Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, Stephen Biegun, the US Special Representative for North Korea, and Lee Do-hoon, South Korea's Special Representative for Korean Peninsula Peace and Security Affairs.
Biegun is believed to have briefed the others on last week's working-level talks between the US and North Korea in Sweden, the first of its kind in seven months.
North Korea said the talks had "broken off," while the US said the two sides had "good discussions."
The US State Department said the three countries confirmed they would work closely toward denuclearization and permanent peace on the Korean Peninsula.
Lee told reporters that they spent a long time discussing how to maintain the momentum of the denuclearization talks.
The US has expressed its intention to resume talks two weeks after the Stockholm meeting. But North Korea says it will decide whether to continue the talks depending on how the US behaves.
Pyongyang wants guarantees to safeguard its political system and an easing of sanctions in exchange for steps toward denuclearization.
Key words : chairman of Kansai Yagi step
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20191009_45/
The Chairman of Kansai Electric Power Company has bowed to pressure over a cash-and-gift scandal. Makoto Yagi stepped down on Wednesday to take responsibility for the affair.
Yagi told a news conference: "The situation has caused our company to lose public trust and created enormous trouble. We have reached the decision that the president and I should step down -- to clarify management's responsibility."
The KEPCO board approved Yagi's resignation at an extraordinary meeting.
President Shigeki Iwane will stay in his post for the duration of an independent investigation into the scandal. Once it is complete, he will also resign.
KEPCO says the independent panel of 4 lawyers will report the results of its investigation in late December and the company will disclose them immediately.
The utility says Yagi and Iwane are among 20 executives and other employees who accepted some 3 million dollars' worth of cash and gifts, which included shopping vouchers and gold coins.
The offerings came from Eiji Moriyama, the late former deputy mayor of Takahama Town in Fukui Prefecture.
The town is home to one of the utility's nuclear plants.
Yagi and Iwane both initially said they had no intention of resigning.
Key words : senior Japanese lawmaker
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20191009_34/
A senior Japanese lawmaker has been found to have received about 56,000 dollars from a company linked to a former deputy town mayor who gave millions of dollars in gifts to Kansai Electric Power Company executives.
Eiji Moriyama served as deputy mayor of Takahama Town in Fukui Prefecture, which hosts a nuclear plant run by KEPCO. Moriyama gave cash and gifts worth about 3 million dollars to executives of the utility. He died this year.
A political funds report shows that a fund management body for Hiroshige Seko, secretary general for the Liberal Democratic Party's Upper House members, received donations from Yanagida Industries over four years through 2015.
The maintenance firm based in Hyogo Prefecture once employed Moriyama as an adviser.
It received orders for projects worth about 140 million dollars from Kansai Electric and its subsidiaries over five years through fiscal 2018.
Seko's office has told NHK it has no reason to decline donations from an individual supporter, and no intention of returning the money. The office also says Seko never met Moriyama.
An official for Yanagida Industries has told NHK the firm cannot comment because it is not accepting media interviews.
Key words : nationwide marine resource
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20191009_33/
A nationwide group of Japanese fishers has asked the country's fisheries minister to crack down on illegal fishing by North Korea and take steps to safeguard Japan's marine resources.
The move comes after a Japanese Fisheries Agency patrol boat collided with a North Korean fishing boat on Monday in Japan's exclusive economic zone in the Sea of Japan. The patrol boat was calling on the North Korean vessel to leave the zone.
The president of the National Federation of Fisheries Cooperative Associations, Hiroshi Kishi, visited the fisheries ministry on Wednesday with fishers from Ishikawa Prefecture, which is closest to the collision site. They handed a letter of request to Minister Taku Eto.
The group said the collision shocked local fishers because similar accidents could happen between Japanese and North Korean fishing boats, and local fishers are being forced to leave a good fishing ground.
Eto reportedly responded that his ministry will deal firmly with the matter.
Key words : Japan nuclear watchdog
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20191009_12/
Japan's nuclear watchdog says it is creating a manual with a wide range of treatments for accidental exposures to radiation, the first of its kind.
The Nuclear Regulation Authority says it decided to compile the manual because the use of radioactive materials in medicine and industry is growing.
Such materials are not only being used at nuclear power plants and related facilities, but also in radiotherapy for cancer treatment and for the internal testing of industrial products.
The watchdog has asked the National Institutes for Quantum and Radiological Science and Technology, a government-funded institute in charge of research of such treatments, to compile it.
It says the manual will also draw on guidelines created by the International Atomic Energy Agency and contain the latest information about treatment in cases of accidental exposure in Japan as well as in other countries.
It will also include examples of symptoms typically shown by patients and details on the types of drugs that should be taken as well as the right timing to administer them.
It will cover everything from high-level exposure, such as in criticality accidents, to low-level exposure, as well as the inhalation of radioactive materials.
Japan experienced its first fatal nuclear criticality accident in 1999 when two workers died at a fuel processing plant in Ibaraki Prefecture, northeast of Tokyo.
University of Tokyo Professor Emeritus Kazuhiko Maekawa who treated the workers at the time notes that some European countries have created medical manuals envisioning nuclear terrorist attacks.
He says Japan must also organize and compile the knowhow that it has accumulated over the years.
Key words : world economic
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20191009_18/
The World Economic Forum has ranked Singapore in the top spot for global business competitiveness this year.
Singapore beat the US into second place as the Asian city-state was recognized for its infrastructure, labor market and financial system development. The WEF rankings are based on assessments of 141 countries and territories.
Hong Kong rose to third from seventh last year on what the report called its stable macro-economy and improved healthcare.
Japan fell one spot to sixth. Japan was rated highly for its low crime rate, healthcare, and infrastructure. But the country came in at 62nd for gender wage equality.
Vietnam made the biggest jump in the rankings to 67 from 77.
The report says the Asia-Pacific region is the world's most competitive economic area.
Key words : renowned comic artist
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20191009_37/
A group that includes a renowned Japanese comic artist has launched a manga research institute in China.
On Wednesday, Tetsuya Chiba attended an event to mark the launch of the research lab, which is named after him.
The 80-year-old Chiba counts the boxing manga series "Ashita no Joe" as one of the works he was involved in.
He played a major role in setting up the new lab at a university in Nanjing, which has ties to a Japanese art university that Chiba heads.
At the event, about 200 students eagerly listened to Chiba speak about how to depict characters' expressions while drawing at the same time.
The institute says its aim is to explore new forms of expression in the digital age through exchange programs between young people in both countries.
Chiba serves as head of the research lab. He called China his second home, as he had lived in the country until the age of six.
Chiba said he wants to contribute to the development of culture in China.
Key words : Japanese government survey shows
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20191009_23/
A Japanese government survey shows that business outlook among workers worsened in September, the month before the consumption tax hike.
The Cabinet Office on Tuesday released the results of the Economy Watchers Survey. It questioned more than 2,000 workers including retail store clerks and taxi drivers.
The diffusion index, gauging the economic outlook in the coming months, fell 2.8 points from August to 36.9.
This is the third consecutive monthly drop and the lowest since 33.5 in March 2014, the month before the consumption tax rate was raised to 8 percent from 5 percent.
A reading below 50 indicates that there were more respondents who thought conditions were worsening than those who expected an improvement.
Home electronics stores and department stores whose sales went up due to last-minute shopping before the tax hike worried that demand would later decline.
The index showing how respondents feel about the current state of the economy rose 3.9 points from August to 46.7, marking the second straight month of increase.
Stores said sales of home appliances and expensive items increased before the tax hike, but there was almost no rush demand for new cars and houses.
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