at 20:00 (JST), December 17 AS

Japan's government has compiled a set of draft measures aimed at making it easier for more foreigners to live and work in the country.

Police in Sapporo City, northern Japan, say they suspect that an explosion there may have been caused by a roomful of aerosol spray.

Japan Post held a ceremony in Tokyo on Monday to mark the start of the season for sending New Year's greeting cards.

https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/upld/medias/en/radio/news/20181217200000_english_1.mp3


Key words : government compiled
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20181217_24/

Japan's government has compiled a set of draft measures aimed at making it easier for more foreigners to live and work in the country.

The draft was drawn up in line with the revised immigration law, designed to allow more foreigners to work in Japan starting next April.

The measures, released by the Justice Ministry on Monday, are also to help students. They include setting up about 100 support centers for foreigners nationwide.

Efforts will also be made to expand multilingual services at administrative functions and elsewhere, including medical institutions and job-placement centers.

Written tests for driver's licenses will be available in multiple languages, as will information given out at times of disaster, and calls to emergency services.

Mobile phone carriers will be asked to provide services in various languages to allow non-Japanese nationals to smoothly obtain contracts. Foreigners will also be able to use their residence cards as identification.

To ensure that foreign workers do not only concentrate in big metropolises, the central government will provide financial assistance to rural areas. The state will also assist workers hoping to change their place of work.

Japanese language proficiency tests for applicants who wish to obtain residency status will be available in 9 countries instead of the initially planned 8.

Japanese language schools in Japan will be obligated to publicize the results of their proficiency tests as a means of ensuring quality.

To encourage firms to enroll non-Japanese on social insurance programs, those that have previously failed to pay the premiums will not be eligible to employ foreigners.

Under the measures, the government will also provide information on accommodation, including apartments that do not turn away non-Japanese residents. To ensure appropriate wages, financial institutions will be requested to call on foreign residents to open bank accounts.

The Justice Ministry plans to formally endorse the draft on Thursday, with a view to the government adopting it next week.

Key words : Police in Sapporo
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20181217_20/

Police in Sapporo City, northern Japan, say they suspect that an explosion may have been set off when a roomful of aerosol spray ignited.

The blast took place on Sunday night at a 2-story building in Toyohira Ward. The building houses a real estate agency, which was completely destroyed.

The fire that followed the blast left 42 people injured, including a 33-year-old employee of the real estate agency who suffered facial burns.

Police say a person related to the real estate agency had released gas from a large number of cans of aerosol disinfectant for disposal, when the blast occurred.

Police suspect that the explosion likely occurred after an office water heater ignited the spray.

The explosion shattered windows and damaged at least 20 buildings and 26 vehicles.

Key words : Japanese member
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20181217_28/

A Japanese member of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees says that Syria is not fully prepared to accept the displaced people that are coming back to the country.

The head of the UNHCR office in Syria's northern city of Aleppo, Yumiko Takashima, spoke to NHK in Tokyo on Monday during her brief visit to Japan.

Takashima said that half of Aleppo's city center, which was once controlled by anti-government forces, remains badly damaged.

She expressed concern about the safety of the returnees, citing occasional shelling at night.

Takashima said social services are insufficient but that the UNHCR hopes to help improve the situation.

She indicated as examples of support remedial classes for children who could not go to school during their absence and repairing bakeries.

The refugee agency estimates that 250,000 out of the roughly 5.6 million people that have fled Syria will return next year.

Takashima said the displaced Syrians are struggling but looking ahead. She called on the international community to offer its help.

Key words : Japan post
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20181217_19/

Japan Post held a ceremony in Tokyo on Monday to mark the start of the season for sending New Year's greeting cards.

Post offices across Japan started accepting the cards on Saturday.

The president of Japan Post, Kunio Yokoyama, noted that 2019 will be the final year of the Heisei era due to the abdication of Emperor Akihito. He says he hopes people will use New Year's cards to exchange their thoughts and feelings at a significant moment in Japan's history.

A member of the pop group Arashi, Kazunari Ninomiya, dropped his New Year's cards into a special mail box.
He called on people to send lots of cards for the final year of Heisei.

Japan Post has been delivering fewer cards in recent years as greetings are increasingly being sent through email and social media.

It sold about 3 billion cards last year, or about two-thirds of the peak level. The company is trying to put the brakes on this decline by selling cards with numbers for a lottery to win tickets for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.

Japan Post says New Year's cards should be mailed by December 25th to ensure delivery on January 1st.

Key words : today's news key word segment new year's greeting card
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Key words : efforts to detect
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20181217_26/

Efforts to detect signs of massive downpours that take place in Japan have begun at sea on an experimental basis.

Some areas of western Japan have been battered by deadly torrential rains over the past 2 years. Experts pointed out that huge amounts of water vapor had flowed in from the sea at the time of the storms, but they lacked actual observation data.

Researchers at the Meteorological Research Institute on Monday installed devices on a cargo vessel at a port in Fukuoka City, western Japan, that monitor the amount of water vapor in the air.

This can be done because signals from GPS satellites take slightly longer to reach the Earth when there is a lot of water vapor in the atmosphere.

The researchers aim to collect data from 6 commercial vessels that navigate mainly in the East China Sea for over 2 years, and utilize the data to predict downpours.

The head of the group, Yoshinori Shoji, expressed the hope that the data will enhance their predictions of heavy downpours.

Key words : campaign safe use
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20181217_18/

A campaign to promote the safe use of escalators has begun at Tokyo Station ahead of the year-end and New Year's travel season.

The Tokyo branch of East Japan Railway, or JR East, launched the campaign at one of the capital's busiest transport hubs on Monday.

The firm has been using posters to call on passengers to stand still on escalators to prevent falls and boost the machines' efficiency. But people in Japan tend to stand on one side of escalators to allow others to walk up or down on the other side.

At escalators for the Chuo and Keiyo lines, station staff called on commuters and tourists to stand 2 abreast without walking up or down.

Security guards wearing neon-colored vests walked around making the appeal.

Illustrations of people standing in 2 lines and holding onto the escalator's handrails have been placed on the floors in front of the escalators. Walls and handrails now carry messages saying such things as "Please do not walk."

JR East says that on the first day of the campaign, many people were seen walking fast on escalators, but that some stopped walking.

Railway official Ikuo Tomita says his firm wants to spread information on the safe use of escalators throughout society. He says changing people's habit is not easy, but that his firm will not give up on it.

The campaign will last until February first.

Key words : two Japanese
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20181217_23/

Two Japanese table tennis players have returned home one day after clinching their first titles at the World Tour Grand Finals.

Tomokazu Harimoto arrived at Narita Airport, near Tokyo, from South Korea on Monday.

The 15-year-old Harimoto set another record on Sunday. The world's fifth-ranked player became the youngest- ever winner of a singles title in the grand finals when he beat a player from China.

Harimoto told reporters at the airport that the victory has finally started to sink in. He said most of the players at the grand finals will take part in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, so he thinks the title is as valuable as an Olympic gold.

He added that there is much room for improvement, and that he will keep on working hard.

Also on Monday, fans welcomed Mima Ito home at Kansai Airport in Osaka Prefecture.

Ito and Hina Hayata defeated their Chinese rivals in the women's doubles final on Sunday. This is the Japanese pair's first win in the grand finals.

Ito said she was just happy about her first win in the event. She also said this has been a great year because she has had a variety of experiences in table tennis.

Key words : officials Narita
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20181217_17/

Officials at Narita International Airport, near Tokyo, are predicting a 5-percent rise in the number of people who will use the airport during the New Year holidays.

Airport officials say about 1.28 million passengers are expected to use the airport between December 21st and January 3rd. That's up 5 percent from the same period a year ago.

December 29th is likely to be the busiest day when more than 55,000 people will take overseas flights from Narita.

The officials forecast that the return rush will peak on January 3rd, with over 49,000 passengers arriving at the airport.

They expect year-on-year increases in the number of passengers flying to Hawaii, Guam, and Bali, as airlines are providing more charter flights to those destinations.

South Korea and Taiwan are also popular as budget carriers have added extra flights.

The officials say the airport will be more crowded than usual until January 6th, and additional guides and security guards will be on duty during the holiday period.