at 20:00 (JST), May 15

Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary says he confirmed US government's support for Japanese efforts to bring home its nationals abducted by North Korea.

Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei Average managed to stop its 7-day losing streak, marking its first rise in the new Reiwa era.

Economic data out of China suggests the trade dispute with the US is hurting businesses and creating uncertainty for consumers.

https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/upld/medias/en/radio/news/20190515200000_english_1.mp3


Key words : chief cabinet confirmed
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20190515_21/

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga says he confirmed during his recent trip to the United States the US government's support for Japanese efforts to bring home its nationals abducted by North Korea.

Suga made the comment on Wednesday at a meeting of the main governing Liberal Democratic Party's taskforce on the abduction issue. Suga is also the minister in charge of this issue.

Suga said all the US officials he met with, including Vice President Mike Pence, appeared to fully understand everything he was explaining.

He said this shows that not only President Donald Trump but many others in his administration are fully aware of the importance of resolving the abduction issue.

Suga also referred to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's recent remark that he aims to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un without preconditions, adding that the abduction issue is now at a crucial point.

He said the government will do its utmost to bring home all those taken by North Korea, whether they are listed as abductees or not.

Suga also attended a meeting of nonpartisan lawmakers seeking a quick resolution to the abduction issue. He asked for their cooperation, saying Japan needs to coordinate its efforts with the United States on a variety of levels.

Key words : nikkei average first rise
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20190515_31/

Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei Average managed to end its 7-day losing streak, marking its first rise in the new imperial era of "Reiwa".

The Nikkei index ended Wednesday's session at 21,188. That's 121 points or 0.6 percent higher from Tuesday's close. Sentiment improved after President Trump indicated trade talks with China will continue.

The Nikkei's losing streak started on April 26. That was one day before Japan began a 10-day holiday due to the emperor's ascension. The fall continued after the break, pushed along by the tit-for-tat between the US and China over tariffs.

Analyst say the rise in the Shanghai stock market also supported the Nikkei. The main index in China rose nearly 2 percent on investors' hopes for government stimulus. That came after key data for April fell short of market expectations.

Key words : trade industry body
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20190515_32/

The head of a Japanese trade industry body says a US-China summit that's expected to take place in June would be a good opportunity for the countries to work out a compromise in their trade war.

President Donald Trump says he intends to meet President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the G20 meeting in Osaka.

The Chairman of the Japan Foreign Trade Council, Kuniharu Nakamura, spoke to reporters in Tokyo on Wednesday.

He said, "Japanese trading houses with investments in companies that are affected by higher tariffs could see their earnings suffer. I hope a meeting between President Trump and President Xi will create a path toward a resolution."
Nakamura said higher US levies on smartphones and other Chinese goods will have an immediate effect on retail prices.

He said the Trump administration will have to be extremely careful about how it proceeds.

Key words : Iranian Abe meet
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Key words : economic data
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20190515_35/

Economic data out of China suggests the trade dispute with the US is hurting businesses and creating uncertainty for consumers.

The April figures, released by the National Bureau of Statistics, fell short of market expectations on a handful of fronts.

Retail sales rose 7.2 percent, the slowest pace of growth in 16 years. A drop in sales of new cars was a major factor.

Industrial output grew just 5.4 percent from a year earlier, about 3 percentage points lower than the result for March. Production of cars and textiles was weak.

A Chinese official suggested that if the economy continues to weaken, the government may pursue a stimulus policy.

Key words : Xi called for unity
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20190515_30/

China's President Xi Jinping has called for unity among Asian countries through economic and cultural exchange amid his country's trade dispute with the United States.

Xi was speaking at the opening ceremony of the Conference on Dialogue of Asian Civilizations in Beijing on Wednesday.

Government, cultural and educational representatives from more than 40 mostly Asian countries are taking part in the event hosted by China's government.

Xi said the people of Asia expect the region to prosper. He proposed promoting exchange in literature, film and other cultural fields, and economic exchange in areas such as infrastructure building and trade.

He called for mutual respect and exchange on an equal basis, saying it is foolish to believe one's civilization is superior to others and to try to reshape others.

Xi did not directly refer to the ongoing trade dispute with the administration of US President Donald Trump.

But observers see Xi's repeated emphasis on mutual respect and equal treatment as indicating a sense of rivalry with the Trump administration, which has been increasing pressure on China.

Key words : Health and
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20190515_19/

A health and welfare ministry panel has decided to allow a new cancer treatment known as Kymriah to be covered under Japan's public health insurance system.

The panel also set the price of the treatment on Wednesday at about 33.5 million yen, or about 305,000 dollars -- making it the most expensive treatment covered by public health insurance.

Kymriah is used to treat leukemia and some other types of blood cancer. It is marketed by Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis and was approved in Japan in March as the country's first cancer treatment involving CAR-T cell therapy.

The treatment involves extracting a patient's own immune system T-cells. These are genetically reprogrammed to boost their power to fight cancer and infused into the patient's body.

Judging that Kymriah has already been approved in the United States and Europe and reported to be highly effective in clinical tests, the panel decided to start the public health insurance coverage on Wednesday of next week.

Patients eligible to the coverage must be aged 25 or under for whom standard treatments no longer work. More than 200 patients are expected to receive the treatment in Japan every year.

Under Japan's universal health insurance coverage, an upper limit is set for a patient's burden of medical costs, with the rest being paid from pooled insurance contributions and taxpayer funds.

Some have expressed concern that allowing public insurance to cover such expensive treatments could undermine the nation's public health insurance system.

Key words : Japanese researcher worm
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20190515_26/

Japanese researchers say they've proven that infection with a type of parasitic worm is effective to control weight gain. They say their discovery is the first of its kind in the world.

Researchers at Gunma University and the National Institute of Infectious Diseases put mice on a high-fat diet and infected some of them with a naturally-occurring type of gastrointestinal roundworm.

They compared the weights of infected mice and uninfected mice.

The researchers observed that weight gain among the mice with helminthic infections was much less than that of the other group.

They explained that a type of protein that enhances the metabolism increased in the infected rats, which suppressed obesity.

Hajime Hisaeda of the National Institute of Infectious Diseases says he hopes that the findings will be applied to developing new types of supplements effective in controlling weight in humans.

Key words : drone help
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20190515_13/

Drones are being used to help restore vegetation to mountainous parts of western Japan where torrential rains caused 8,500 landslides last July.

Drone operators based in Tokyo and Hiroshima held a trial operation Tuesday on a mountainside in the city of Kure in Hiroshima Prefecture.

A drone carrying three kinds of seeds flew up to the summit.

It is designed to automatically sow seeds in areas of 100 square meters where brown soil is exposed on the surface.

The drone operators will check each month to see whether the seeds planted by the aircraft have taken root.

Kazuya Shiraishi, a senior official at the Tokyo drone operating company, says he hopes the test will cheer up people living in the area.

Key words : train UK
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20190515_17/

The first of a new fleet of high-speed trains built with Hitachi technology is set to start service in the UK. The train, named "Azuma," or "east" in Japanese, will connect London with Leeds in central Britain.

UK government and Hitachi officials attended the Azuma inauguration ceremony in London. It will start commercial operation from Wednesday.

Hitachi built the train body at its plant in western Japan and assembles it in the UK.

The Azuma can travel at speeds topping 200 kilometers an hour. It will eventually run from London to Scotland, a distance of about 930 kilometers.

Shinkansen bullet train technologies were reportedly used to build the Azuma to reduce noise inside the passenger carriage.

Junichi Kawahata of Hitachi said, "We want to provide a high-quality product using the best of Japanese technology."

Hitachi is also bidding for one of the largest railway projects in Europe. That will link London and other UK cities with trains that can run at 360 kilometers an hour.

Key words : guidance
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20190515_27/

A counterterrorism drill with an emphasis on providing guidance in foreign languages has been held at Tokyo's Haneda airport in the lead up to the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games next year.

The drill was held on Wednesday at two railway stations that directly service the airport's international passenger terminal. About 250 people, including railway officials and police officers, took part.

The drill was based on the scenario of explosive devices being planted at each of the stations. At the station on the Tokyo Monorail line, staff urged people to evacuate in Japanese, English, Chinese and Korean.

Others used placards written in those languages to show people the evacuation route.

Airport officials expect a boost in the number of non-Japanese passengers in the run-up to the 2020 games.

The Japanese government plans to increase the number of international flights by 70% from the current level.

A Tokyo Monorail official said the railway needs to fully brace itself for possible terrorist attacks at a time when air traffic is expanding. He added that practice is needed to coordinate action promptly and appropriately.