Key words : Japan and China economic talk expected
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20190414_20/
Japan and China are holding high-level economic talks in Beijing. Japan is expected to call for stronger protection of intellectual property rights.
Six Japanese cabinet ministers, including Foreign Minister Taro Kono and Trade Minister Hiroshige Seko, are participating.
Similar meetings took place in Tokyo in April 2018... the first such dialogue in about eight years.
The Japanese side is pressing Beijing to increase protection of technology owned by Japanese companies operating in China.
The Japanese delegates are also expected to ask China to lift an import ban on certain agricultural products.
Beijing imposed the embargo following the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in 2011.
Beijing's Belt and Road initiative is also expected to be on the agenda.
The Japanese government hopes to pave the way for Chinese President Xi Jinping to visit in June...when a G20 summit will be held in Osaka.
Key words : Kumamoto governor
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20190414_12/
A memorial service has been held in Kumamoto Prefecture, southwestern Japan, to mark three years since the start of a series of devastating earthquakes.
The quakes claimed the lives of 273 people, including those who died from causes related to the quakes.
The ceremony at the prefectural office began at 10 a.m. on Sunday. Participants first observed a moment of silence.
Kumamoto Governor Ikuo Kabashima said nearly 17,000 people are still living in temporary housing due to the quakes. He said he will stand by every one of them and work hard to secure permanent homes for all.
One of the attendees was 81-year-old Keisuke Masuda, who lost his wife, Fumiyo, who was 79 years old.
He said the main quake suddenly hit them in the early hours of April 16. He said his wife was found under the rubble of their home, and she never regained consciousness.
Masuda said Minamiaso Village is where he and his wife lived together for 60 years. He said he hopes to continue leading a self-sufficient life and also help recovery efforts.
Participants then laid flowers for the victims.
Key words : Holland
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20190414_14/
DNA tests have revealed that a fertility doctor at a clinic near Rotterdam, Holland, impregnated patients with his sperm without their consent and fathered 49 children. The doctor died two years ago at the age of 89.
The AFP news agency says some children and some parents noticed that the children looked like the doctor. They filed a lawsuit against the doctor's family to make the results of his DNA test available to them.
The clinic was known as the largest sperm bank in the region in the 1980s and 90s.
The children who were born around that time are now in their 20s and 30s.
A non-governmental organization supporting the children and their parents say there may be other women who were impregnated with the doctor's sperm, and are calling on former patients to have their children take DNA tests.
Key words : Syria
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20190414_09/
Syria's state-run news agency has reported that Israel launched an air strike on a military position in the center of the country.
The report says Israeli warplanes carried out the attack on a suburban area in Hama province early Saturday morning.
It says Syria's air defense systems intercepted some of the missiles, but that three soldiers were wounded and buildings were damaged.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says Israel targeted an training camp and a medium-range missile development center used by Iranian forces.
Israel has repeatedly carried out air strikes on Iranian targets in Syria. But it has not commented on the reports.
Key words : officials Ethiopia victim
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20190414_07/
Japanese Embassy officials in Ethiopia say DNA tests have identified one of the five victims in an armed attack in the country in March as a Japanese woman in her 40s.
The five people were killed when gunmen stormed a vehicle on March 19 in the state of Oromia, around 500 kilometers west of the capital, Addis Ababa.
Officials at the Japanese Embassy in Ethiopia were trying to confirm reports that the victims include a Japanese citizen.
The officials did not disclose the woman's name and other personal information, saying her family asked them not to do so.
But sources say the woman was living in Ethiopia and was attacked while she was doing mine-related work.
The Japanese officials say they will continue looking into the case in cooperation with local police.
Key words : US treasury
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20190414_10/
US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has reiterated Washington's demand that a trade agreement with Japan include a provision to prevent competitive currency devaluation.
Mnuchin was speaking to reporters on Saturday, two days before Japanese and US negotiators meet in Washington to discuss concluding a trade deal between the two countries.
Mnuchin said the US government does not want countries to manipulate their currency to gain competitive advantage. He said Washington aims to ensure there are currency provisions in whatever trade agreements the US signs.
The US wants to prevent Japan from artificially devaluating its currency to make its exports cheaper.
Washington has already succeeded in inserting a currency clause into the revised free trade pact with Canada and Mexico. It is making a similar demand in trade negotiations with China.
The US keeps a close eye on exchange rates, as it hopes to prevent the dollar from becoming stronger and to curb its trade deficits with other countries.
The US Treasury Department keeps Japan, China, Germany and three other nations on a monitoring list to make sure they are not manipulating their currency.
Key words : Iran hand
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20190414_08/
Japan has offered emergency relief goods for people in Iran, which has been hit with what is said to be the worst flooding in 70 years.
Record rainfall has been battering Iran since mid-March, causing floods across the nation. At least 77 people have died and 65,000 households have been evacuated.
The Japanese Embassy in Tehran handed over relief goods to the Iranian government on Saturday to help people affected by the floods.
Japanese Ambassador to Iran Mitsugu Saito said that Japan received significant support from the Iranian government when the country was hit by a major earthquake and tsunami in 2011.
Saito said Japan's support at this time is a token of the friendship between the two countries.
Mahmoud Farazandeh, an Iranian foreign ministry official who serves as Director General of the Department of East Asia and Oceania, said Japan has a good deal of knowledge and expertise on natural disasters, and that Iran is grateful for Japan's support.
Officials say the donated items, including 190 tents and 1,150 sleeping pads, will soon arrive in affected areas.
Iran has received emergency relief goods also from European and Middle Eastern nations.
But officials say US sanctions against Iran ban countries from providing financial relief.
Key words : language school
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20190414_11/
Japan's Justice Ministry plans to set tougher standards for establishing language schools for foreign students studying Japanese. The number of such schools in the country has almost doubled over the past 10 years.
The Immigration Agency says the figure now stands at 749, and has been on the rise since the government announced about a decade ago a plan to increase the number of foreign students to 300,000.
The current standards include how many class hours the schools provide and how many teachers they have.
Companies are allowed to set up new schools if they meets those requirements. Some firms are believed to be using students from their schools as workers at the factories they also operate.
The ministry plans to tighten the standards as soon as possible. That includes requiring schools to make public its students' Japanese proficiency test pass rates.
The Association for the Promotion of Japanese Language Education says there are schools that are well-managed and those that are not. It adds that it is necessary to have a mechanism to check schools regularly.
Key words : (weather forecast)
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Key words : parade
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20190414_06/
A parade to celebrate the gift of cherry trees from Japan to the United States more than 100 years ago has drawn large crowds in Washington.
People flocked to the main event of the annual National Cherry Blossom Festival on Saturday. They applauded as American singers and brass bands performed and marched while university students from Tokyo played Japanese drums and danced.
Sakura Queens chosen from Japan and the US, and Sakura Princesses selected from each US state joined the parade. They waved to spectators while smiling.
The spring festival symbolizes the friendly ties between Japan and the US. In recent years, it has attracted more than 1.5 million visitors.
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