at 18:00 (JST), November 21 (Ai-CC by Clipchamp)

 

20241121180000_english_1.mp3

Welcome to NHK Newsline. I'm Yoko Nishimura in Tokyo with the latest news. 

People in central Japan are still struggling to recover, two months after torrential downpours hit Ishikawa Prefecture. It was the second major disaster to devastate the Noto Peninsula this year and left 15 people dead.

Officials say the record rainfall damaged or destroyed at least 2,000 houses. 
More than 360 people in the cities of Wajima and Suzu are still living in shelters. Residents had already been dealing with the aftermath of an earthquake that hit on New Year's Day. The disaster killed 447 people in the prefecture and surrounding areas. The number includes those who died from disaster-related causes. The quake damaged more than 90,000 houses in Ishikawa alone.

As municipalities prepare to protect evacuees from the approaching cold, some are struggling to rebuild due to shortages of workers. Roads in many areas are also too narrow for heavy machinery to remove mud that flowed into houses. Volunteers are helping with the clean-up efforts.
Officials say they need a total of 20,000, but only half of that number participated in volunteer work as of November 4. Twenty-eight firms and organizations have offered help. Ishikawa wants to finish the removal work in Wajima, Noto Town and Suzu by mid-December before the snow arrives.
For kids in Suzu City, it's been a school year like no other. Many were displaced or watched their classmates adjust to life in temporary housing. Some are using music to overcome hardship.

Choir practice. The kind you'd find in any junior high across Japan. But these students sing a song that's special for them. The lyrics, about relying on each other to get through painful times, are their story. Their city was hit hard this year by the quake on New Year's and by floods in September. At Midorigaoka Junior High School, over one in five kids still live in temporary housing. In the aftermath of the mass evacuations, the school's music teacher, Nakatani Hyaku, got an idea. He had students write down their thoughts and feelings. The notes led him to a central theme, a craving for a place to call home.

When we say we have a place to belong, it can be any place like Iozen or Suzu, or a place we evacuated to. No matter where we go, we still have a place to belong, even if you come back to Suzu. We wanted to show you should feel like you can live here again.
He crafted a song with them, Ibasho, or a place where you belong, resonated. 

For me, I like when we sing, let's support each other in times of trouble. That's what my friends and family did for me.

My favorite lyric is there's always a place we belong. It makes me feel relieved.

Our homes collapsed, but Suzu is still here. I have a place to belong.

The gym had been partially serving as an evacuation center. It's also where the school's annual festival is held and Ibasho will be performed. Student Council President Morita Asahi will conduct.
On top of music, he's got a passion for baseball. After the quake, he had to practice his swing in an evacuation center, and despite the odds, his team won this year's prefectural tournament.

There's no denying the earthquake happened, so I want to use this experience to get stronger. I hope we can recover and bring our lives back to normal. Ibasho's message also hits close to home for him.

I didn't feel safe anywhere, not even at home. But now I live with peace of mind, so I believe this is where I belong.

Parents and students gather for the festival. There's a play put on by the older kids and other performances by students. And then, the main event.

♪　♫　♬

I'm deeply moved. Our kids had to endure so much, especially when they had to live away from home. They said they were fine, but I'm sure it was tough.

If the kids haven't given up hope, we parents shouldn't give up either.

Some from their community couldn't attend, forced to move away as Suzu recovers. So the school says it's sharing the performance online.
No matter where the kids of Midorigaoka Junior High go, they can hear Ibasho and know this is where theyalong.

 
Sources say Japanese police have obtained an arrest warrant for a Chinese teen on suspicion of involvement in a graffiti case at Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo. The boy has already left Japan.
Sources close to the investigation say the warrant was issued on Thursday. It states the 14-year-old is suspected of damaging property and desecrating a place of worship. The graffiti was discovered in August on a stone pillar at the entrance of the shrine. It included characters for a Chinese word meaning toilet. Security camera footage showed an image of a person approaching the pillar at night. The sources say the boy arrived in Japan with at least one other person several days before the incident. They say he visited the shrine alone and returned to China on the day the graffiti was found. In a separate case in May, the same pillar was vandalized with red paint. Tokyo police have put two Chinese nationals on a wanted list in connection to that incident. Yasukuni Shrine honors Japan's war dead. Those remembered include leaders convicted of war crimes after World War II.

Entrepreneurs Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy have outlined their plan to reduce US government spending. They say slashing regulations would allow for huge cuts in the federal workforce.
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump tapped them to lead the upcoming Department of Government Efficiency. The two men shared a blueprint for the reforms in an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal Wednesday. They said Trump asked them to cut the federal government down to size.
They said they would do things differently by serving as outside volunteers, not federal officials or employees. Musk and Ramaswamy said they will focus on three major areas of reform: retracting regulations, reducing administration, and seeking cost savings. They said reducing federal regulations would allow for mass headcount reductions across the civil service. The Federal Spending Review will also target certain annual expenditures totaling about $500 billion. Specifically, it will look at those not authorized by Congress, or being used in ways they say Congress never intended. Examples include funding for international organizations and US public broadcast services.
The two men say they hope to achieve their goals by America's 250th anniversary in 2026.

 
Iraq is conducting its first census in nearly 40 years. Officials hope the data will help enable infrastructure development, education, and other aspects of reconstruction.
Iraq last conducted a census in 1987.
Officials have not since been able to count the population because of the Iraq War and turmoil caused by the Islamic State group. The AP News Agency says about 120,000 workers are collecting data. In the city of Erbil, in the Kurdish Autonomous Region, they've been going door-to-door. They're entering information such as numbers of family members and dates of birth on tablets.

I hope the census results will be analyzed to help draw up plans.

To enable the census, the government has imposed a nationwide curfew. People are only allowed out in emergencies. Officials expect to release the final results in a few months.
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It's now time to check out the world weather. A storm off the coast of the Pacific U.S. and Canada has been pummeling the region. Our meteorologist Yumi Hirano has the details.

 

A circulating low pressure system is bringing stormy conditions to wide earlier. Hurricane force gusts of over 150 kilometers per hour were reported in one part of California, and over 170 kilometers per hour in British Columbia. High winds are also impacting Washington state.
It's brought widespread disruption to parts of the state this week. Powerful winds knocked down trees and power lines, causing large blackouts. Authorities say fallen trees have blocked many roads, causing traffic disruptions, people having urged to stay at home unless absolutely necessary. More rain is expected in Oregon as well as Northern California by Friday.

Unfortunately, the system is moving slowly, so windy conditions are expected to continue at least into Friday. In addition, heavy snow and downpours are also an issue. Intense heavy rain could lead to flash flats and landslides.
And another storm is impacting the Great Lakes regions. So Chicago will see snow with a high of only 7, but sunny skies are expected in Denver and LA.

Moving to Asia, a low pressure system will bring a wintry weather to northern Japan on Friday, but a high pressure system will dominate from central and western Japan to northern China on Friday. So dry conditions are likely in Beijing and Seoul. Sunny skies are coming back to Tokyo, the high will jump up to 18, but the next cold snap is coming again over the weekend. So the high will be only 13 on Sunday. Kanazawa may see the first snow of the season. That's it for me. Have a nice day.

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And that's it for now on NHK Newsline. I'm Yoko Nishimura in Tokyo.

Thanks for joining us.