Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says his wife has consistently denied allegations that she urged a school operator to press ahead with a controversial land deal.
South Korea has won an exemption from US President Donald Trump's steel tariffs.
Saudi Arabia says debris from ballistic missiles fired from neighboring Yemen has killed one Egyptian citizen and injured 2 others in the capital Riyadh.
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/upld/medias/en/radio/news/20180326200000_english_1.mp3
Key words : Abe consistently
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20180326_14/
Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says his wife has consistently denied allegations that she urged a school operator to press ahead with a controversial land deal.
Abe spoke at an Upper House committee meeting on Monday. Former Finance Ministry official Nobuhisa Sagawa is scheduled to give sworn testimony in the Diet on Tuesday on changes made to documents related to the deal.
The ministry recently admitted to altering the documents.
It sold state-owned land to school operator Moritomo Gakuen for a fraction of its market price. This has sparked allegations of preferential treatment.
Abe's wife, Akie, was the honorary principal of a new school to be opened on the plot.
References to Akie were among the entries removed from the original. They include a remark she reportedly made urging Moritomo to press ahead with the transaction.
A member of the opposition Democratic Party told Abe that Moritomo's former head, Yasunori Kagoike, told opposition lawmakers last week that Akie made the comment. He asked Abe whether he thinks his wife could be held accountable.
Abe rejected Kagoike's comment. He said his wife has denied the allegations, and an unaltered document clearly shows she had nothing to do with the deal.
Abe said he has not shied away from answering questions about his wife.
Abe also said he hopes former Financial Bureau chief, Sagawa, will clarify what happened in his upcoming testimony.
Abe added the government has to do whatever is needed to uncover the truth and that he supports setting up an investigation body in the Diet.
Sagawa's successor, Mitsuru Ota, told the committee that the Finance Ministry has identified an employee who altered the documents. But he declined to reveal who it is citing the ongoing investigation to determine who gave the order.
Key words : Abe will not categorically
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20180326_13/
Japan's prime minister says he will not categorically rule out the possibility of a trilateral summit among Japan, the United States and North Korea sometime in the future to solve the issue of Japanese nationals abducted by the North.
Shinzo Abe was answering questions in an Upper House committee on Monday. He said now is not the time to hold 3-way talks, and that such a summit can take place only when progress on the abductions issue can be expected.
On the possibility of a bilateral summit between Japan and North Korea, Abe said Japan is communicating with North Korea through its embassy in Beijing and other channels, but that he would not go into detail.
Abe also said there is no point in holding talks merely for the sake of holding talks. He stressed that resolving the abductions issue is crucial for Japan.
Abe also said he hopes to see progress on the issue at the planned US-North Korean summit and that he plans to use the preceding Japan-US summit in April for that purpose.
Key words : south tariff
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20180326_20/
South Korea has won an exemption from US President Donald Trump's steel tariffs. But the country has accepted a quota on exports of the metal to the United States.
South Korea's trade minister Kim Hyun-chong says this removes uncertainties for domestic steelmakers.
The country is one of seven US trading partners given temporary waivers from steel and aluminum tariffs that Washington implemented on Friday. South Korea is the first to get the US to exclude duties on steel.
In exchange, the country will cap its exports of the metal at 2.68 million tons a year, which equals 70 percent of South Korea's annual average shipments to the US between 2015 and 2017.
Analysts say Washington granted the exemptions in return for concessions from Seoul in amending the Free Trade Agreement between the two countries. Trump has said the deal is unfair.
The US secured a 20-year delay in eliminating tariffs on South Korean pickup trucks.
Japan, along with China, was not granted a reprieve.
Talks had been underway since January.
Key words : saudi
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20180326_23/
Saudi Arabia says debris from ballistic missiles fired from neighboring Yemen has killed one Egyptian citizen and injured 2 others in the capital Riyadh.
The Saudi military says it shot down 7 missiles late Sunday night.
Riyadh has been the target of similar attacks, but this is the first one that has resulted in a fatality.
Saudi authorities say Houthi anti-government forces in Yemen were responsible for the attack. The Shia forces are supported by Saudi Arabia's longtime adversary, Iran.
In a televised speech that almost coincided with the launch, a Houthi leader said their missiles would destroy the Saudi air-defense system.
The attack is believed to have been a show of resolve by the Houthi to keep on fighting, as Monday marks 3 years since Saudi Arabia and its Sunni coalition partners began a military intervention in Yemen's civil war.
The conflict is increasingly being seen as a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran.
The fatal missile attack is raising fears that the row between the 2 regional powerhouses could escalate.
Key words : Insight spring sumo tournament
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Key words : transport asked
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20180326_18/
Japan's transport ministry has asked a local district court to impose a fine on Nissan for conducting improper vehicle safety checks.
Ministry officials have concluded that the Japanese automaker's management bears extremely grave responsibility for lax oversight that led to the scandal.
Nissan allowed unauthorized workers to conduct final vehicle inspections for years. And even after the company disclosed the problem, improper testing at one plant continued.
The ministry has decided to seek a court order to slap an administrative fine on the company, although it stopped short of filing a criminal complaint.
Nissan President and CEO Hiroto Saikawa was summoned to the ministry on Monday.
Transport Minister Keiichi Ishii handed him a business improvement order, the second since last September.
Saikawa told reporters that Nissan will fully implement measures to prevent a recurrence and strive to win back trust.
Saikawa said, "My responsibility is to steer Nissan to put a thorough end to this long-running malicious practice. It is a very serious duty."
Ministry officials want to make sure Nissan honors its pledge to fix the problem.
They plan to conduct unannounced on-site inspections, and ask the company to report 4 times a year on how it's implementing preventative steps.
Key words : Toshiba
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20180326_19/
Toshiba might not be able to sell its semiconductor subsidiary by the end of this month as planned.
Officials at the struggling electronics firm say that's because China's anti-trust watchdog has yet to approve the deal.
Toshiba decided in September to sell the subsidiary to a Japan-US-South Korean consortium for 2 trillion yen, or about 19 billion dollars.
Company officials say anti-trust authorities in Japan, the US, the EU, South Korea, Taiwan, the Philippines and Brazil have approved the sale. But so far China hasn't.
Toshiba wanted to complete the deal by the end of March to help pay off its debts ... and avoid being delisted from the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
The company raised over 5 billion dollars in December by selling shares to overseas investors. That would prevent Toshiba from being delisted even if the sale of the chip unit is delayed. Still, the firm wants to sell the subsidiary as soon as possible.
Shareholders may oppose selling the profitable chip unit if China's antitrust assessment process drags on .....or if the country comes up with conditions that could lead to a transfer of Japanese technology.
Key words : robot
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20180326_16/
Robots are a common sight on factory floors. But recently robotic technology is going beyond, and now helping automate office work at Japanese companies that are facing major labor shortages.
Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance has rolled out robotic technology that can handle over 300 different tasks.
Computers have replaced workers, collecting the name, age and vehicle type of each policyholder in calculating car insurance premiums.
Teppei Oka of Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance said, "According to our calculations, each year the technology cut about 350 thousand work hours."
That's the average number of work hours put in by about 200 people in a full year.
A major rental property firm adopted similar technology last year.
Computers scan hand-written information from customers and fill in spreadsheets. The goal is to cut about 20 thousand work hours annually.
Tetsuo Murayama of Leopalace21 said, "We hope to improve customer satisfaction and strengthen the operations that only humans can handle."
Officials of a consulting firm specializing in such technology say that last year robotic process systems were adopted by more than 400 companies.
Key words : crowds domestic
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20180326_21/
Crowds of domestic and foreign tourists are enjoying the sight of cherry blossoms in full bloom at a park in Wuhan City in China's inland province of Hubei.
The park at East Lake is one of the country's major cherry blossom spots with more than 10,000 trees of around 60 varieties.
Up to 80,000 people a day visit the scenic location during the cherry blossom season.
The first cherry trees at the park were presented by former Japanese prime minister Kakuei Tanaka to the widow of former Chinese premier Zhou Enlai in1979. The gift came after the 2 countries signed a peace and friendship treaty 40 years ago.
The park operator started developing the cherry trees 20 years ago with the aim of making East Lake equal to the world's leading cherry blossom spots, such as Hirosaki City in northeastern Japan and Washington DC.
A tree doctor from Hirosaki has been providing technical advice.
The operator says the trees went into peak bloom one week earlier than usual due to the warm weather. The season for viewing will continue until mid-April.
A local resident says cherry blossoms are a symbol of Japan, but they are popular in China as well.
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