at 18:30 (JST), January 17

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/20230117183000_english_1.mp3


Key words : 28th hanshin-awaji remember
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20230117_20/

Japan is marking the 28th anniversary on Tuesday of the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake, which left 6,434 people dead.

The powerful quake jolted the western prefecture of Hyogo and nearby areas on January 17, 1995, causing scores of buildings to collapse and fires to break out across affected areas.

A memorial service at Kobe East Park in the prefectural capital, Kobe City, featured roughly 10,000 lanterns arranged to form the numbers "1.17" and the characters for "musubu," or "bond," in Japanese.

Officials hope that the events will help bring generations together so that the lessons learned from the disaster can be passed on to young people.

Participants offered a silent prayer at 5:46 a.m., the exact moment the earthquake occurred.

A man who lost his 20-year-old daughter gave a speech as a representative of the bereaved families. He said his daughter died, possibly without realizing her dreams, and he hopes to keep telling people about the meaning of life.

A 34-year-old teacher said he gives disaster-prevention lessons at a local elementary school. He said he was a first grader at the time of the quake, and vividly remembers the mess at home and black smoke rising from fires. He said he came to the event for the first time, as he wanted to see with his own eyes how many people are still mourning the victims. He added that he hopes to teach children the importance of life, as well as ways to protect themselves from disaster.

The annual event had been downsized since the onset of the pandemic. But this year, organizers decided to return to the previous scale, featuring double the number of lanterns used last year.

The city said about 5,000 people had visited the event as of 7 a.m. on Tuesday. That's 1,000 more than last year.

Key words : japanese and south wartime labor
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20230116_36/

Senior officials from the Japanese and South Korean foreign ministries have agreed to continue communications on a new proposal planned by Seoul regarding the issue of wartime labor.

Funakoshi Takehiro, who heads the Japanese Foreign Ministry's Asian and Oceanian affairs bureau, and South Korea's director general for Asia and Pacific affairs, Seo Min-jung, held talks for about two-and-a-half hours in Tokyo on Monday.

They discussed the idea of calling for a public foundation to offer payments to the plaintiffs in wartime labor lawsuits in place of Japanese companies that have been ordered to pay damages by South Korea's Supreme Court. The foundation is a public service corporation set up under a South Korean ministry in 2014 based on a special law.

The Japanese government maintains that any right to claims was settled completely and finally in 1965, when Japan and South Korea normalized ties.

In the meeting, the officials agreed the two foreign ministries will continue communications so that ties will return to a healthy state by putting an end to the matter and the relationship will develop further.

In South Korea, some groups rejected the proposal and insist on an apology and compensation from Japan.

Tokyo will watch whether Seoul will be able to form an official proposal after the coordination of differences in domestic opinions in the country.

Sources at the South Korean foreign ministry said the South Korean government will only be able to announce an official solution if Japan's "sincere measures" are guaranteed.

Key words : at least 69 nepal
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20230117_04/

At least 69 people have been confirmed dead after Sunday's plane crash in Nepal.

The Yeti Airlines flight with 72 passengers and crew crashed into a gorge near the resort city of Pokhara.

Airline officials said that as of Monday, 69 bodies had been recovered. The search for three others still missing would continue into Tuesday.

It remains unclear what caused the crash. Footage released by Reuters news agency showed the plane suddenly tilting to the left while descending. The aircraft is believed to have crashed soon afterward.

Investigators are analyzing the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder recovered from the crash site.

Key words : china reacted sharply
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20230117_02/

A Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson has reacted sharply after the leaders of Japan and the US agreed at their summit on Saturday to oppose any attempts to change the status quo by force, apparently with China in mind.

During a news conference on Monday, Wang Wenbin touched on the summit by Japan's Prime Minister Kishida Fumio and US President Joe Biden at the White House in Washington.

Kishida and Biden agreed to strongly oppose any unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force in the East and South China seas. They stressed the importance of maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and encouraging the peaceful resolution of issues in the region.

Wang accused Japan and the US of being complicit in efforts to tarnish China's image and intervene in the country's internal affairs. He revealed that Beijing has lodged a protest with both countries.

Wang called on the US and Japan to discard the "Cold-War mentality" and not to try to contain or repress China. He said he hopes the two countries will get back on the "right" path of peace and friendly cooperation.

Key words : population fell
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20230117_29/

China's official figure shows its population declined last year for the first time in 61 years.

The National Bureau of Statistics said on Tuesday that the total population on the mainland stood at an estimated 1.4118 billion as of the end of 2022. That's down 850,000 from the previous year.

The last time the country's population dropped was in 1960 and 1961, when the "Great Leap Forward" policy failed, and subsequent famines reportedly killed tens of millions of people.

The number of children born in 2022 fell by more than 1 million to an estimated 9.56 million. The birthrate dropped to 6.77 per 1,000 people, the lowest since the country's foundation in 1949.

Meanwhile, the number of people aged 65 or older was the largest since 1990, when comparable data became available.

The elderly population rose by 9 million from the previous year to 209 million, accounting for nearly 15 percent of the national total.

China abandoned its one-child policy in 2016 to deal with a labor shortage in the rapidly aging demographic. Since 2021, people have been allowed to have up to three children.

But the birthrate remains low due to the high cost of raising children and changes in views about marriage and parenthood.

Driven by its growing population, China has become the world's second largest economy. But observers say, if the population continues to decline, the country's economic growth may be affected.

Last year, the United Nations said India may overtake China in 2023 to become the world's most populous nation.

A previously released UN estimate puts India's population at 1.412 billion. The sources of the two figures are different, but China may no longer be the world's most populous country.

Key words : pharmaceutical
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20230116_12/

Japanese pharmaceutical firm Eisai on Monday said it has applied to Japan's health ministry for approval of its Alzheimer's drug.

Eisai developed lecanemab with US partner Biogen.

The drug is designed to slow the progression of the neurodegenerative disease by reducing the accumulation of amyloid beta in the brains of Alzheimer's patients. The abnormal protein is believed to induce neuronal cell death.

The drug utilizes an antibody that binds to the protein and removes it.

Eisai says the drug reduced the rate of cognitive decline in patients by 27 percent compared to a placebo in an 18-month clinical trial.

The drug reportedly increased risks of brain swelling and bleeding. But Eisai says there was no difference in the rate of death between patients on lecanemab and the placebo group during the trial.

The US Food and Drug Administration granted lecanemab fast-track approval as an Alzheimer's drug on January 6.

Eisai says it hopes to receive authorization of the drug in Japan by the end of this year.

Key words : third time ingredient
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20230116_37/

McDonald's Japan has hiked its restaurant prices for the third time in a year to cover the surging cost of raw ingredients.

The company raised prices by about 10 percent in yen terms on Monday. The change applies to roughly 80 percent of items on the menu, including the Big Mac, which is up by 40 yen to 450 yen, or three dollars and 50 cents.

The firm previously hiked its prices last September, and before that, last March.

NHK interviewed customers at a McDonald's in Tokyo's Ikebukuro district.

A man in 70s said that it was disappointing to see "prices suddenly go up again given they just went up a while ago".

A woman in her 20s said that "wages are not going up, but prices are." She said inflationary pressure is making life tough.

Some other major restaurant chains are also planning to raise their prices.