at 18:30 (JST), January 26

Asian View

"Asian View" is a five-minute news segment broadcast by NHK WORLD-JAPAN. It features the latest news and deep analysis from Japan and the rest of Asia. Listen to "Asian View" and get the latest information from a region that's playing an increasingly important role in the world.

https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/upld/medias/en/radio/news/20220126183000_english_1.mp3


Key words : plan to deploy
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20220126_04/

Japan and the United States plan to deploy US unmanned military aircraft at a base of Japan's Self-Defense Forces for the first time to step up surveillance amid China's increasing maritime activities.

The two sides are considering deploying around seven MQ-9 aerial vehicles to the Maritime Self-Defense Force's Kanoya base in Kagoshima Prefecture, southern Japan.

About 100 US personnel are expected to operate and maintain the aircraft.

The Japanese and US governments say officials will visit the base as early as next month to inspect hangars and accommodations.

The plan comes after the foreign affairs and defense chiefs of the two countries agreed that their personnel should increase shared use of facilities.

Japan's Defense Ministry plans to brief the mayor of Kanoya City on the matter.

Key words : sports minister
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20220126_02/

South Korea says it will send its sports minister to the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics.

The government announced on Tuesday that Hwang Hee will attend the ceremony next week.

But President Moon Jae-in will not be traveling to the Games.

Separately, National Assembly Speaker Park Byeong-seug will visit Beijing at the invitation of the Chinese Communist Party's number-three official Li Zhanshu.

Park will hold talks with Li, attend the opening ceremony and a luncheon to be hosted by Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian told reporters on Tuesday that China welcomes the speaker.

Zhao said South Korea has been actively supporting China in hosting a successful Games, which is in line with the Olympic spirit and embodies bilateral friendship.

President Moon is believed to have decided against attending the Games in line with the US diplomatic boycott.

But South Korea is apparently sending the sports minister out of consideration for the Olympic host.

Key words : automakers
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20220125_20/

Japan's Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors and their French partner Renault plan to invest tens of billions of dollars to boost their alliance and accelerate development of electric vehicles.

The three automakers have been working together on common platforms and components.

Sources say the trio will invest 23 billion euros-that's about 26 billion dollars-over the next five years to develop EVs.

The same sources say the carmakers also plan to share solid-state batteries and install them in new EV models once the technology is commercially viable.
Those batteries can store more electricity than lithium-ion ones.

Nissan, Mitsubishi and Renault were early entrants into the EV market that's getting more competitive all the time.

Key words : kobe
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/videos/20220113075345851/

A singer-songwriter who lost his sister in the massive Kobe earthquake 27 years ago has turned his experiences into a song to convey the dearness of life and the importance of overcoming tragedy.

 (text converter and manual correction as follows)

27 years ago, on January 17th a magnitude 7.3 earthquake struck Kobe a large city in Western Japan. About 250,000 houses collapsed in over 6,000 people perished. A local singer has been sharing his experiences of the disaster through his music. NHK World Ide Mizuha reports. 

Tashiro Sakuto is a singer-songwriter from Kobe. 

Tashiro is the fourth of five siblings. When he was 10, his house was torn down by the earthquake. His sister was killed. She was 17 at the time. I'll never forget when my mother came out shaking her head, saying my sister didn't make it. Tashiro’s parents divorced after the disaster. For a while he was homeless. In his most desperate moments memories of the sister came to mind. She had looked after the family everyday while studying tore her dreams. 

I realized I was too ashamed to face my sister like this. 

Tashiro decided to make a living with his passion for music. He composed dear sister a song in which he bowed to face his feelings on the quake and his sister's death. 

He made his professional debut with the song. He sings it each year when the anniversary of the earthquake approaches. The song  resulted a request to share his stories of the disaster with children who are unaware of it. 

I’ve been invited to elementary and junior high school as a guest teacher and talk about the earthquake. I’m grateful in many ways for being a singer.

Tashiro will continue to sing about overcoming the tragedy of the disaster and the preciousness of life. As he cherishes the promise made to his sister. 

Ide Mizuha, NHK World Kobe.