at 18:00 (JST), May 21

20250521180000_english_1.mp3

 Hello, a very warm welcome to NHK Newsline. I'm Yamamoto Miki in Tokyo.

With mounting criticism over his controversial remarks about rice, Japan's agriculture minister was forced to submit his resignation. Eto Taku had told a town meeting that his household had so much rice that he could sell it. The gaffe was made amid national concerns over rising prices of the staple food.

People are now having a hard time dealing with soaring rice prices. Amid these circumstances, I made extremely inappropriate remarks as the minister in charge. I would like to offer my sincere apologies to everyone.

Eto met with Prime Minister Ishibashigeru on Wednesday morning. Itoh later told reporters that lowering prices by building trust among the people is one of the government's most important strategies, and his comment undermined that trust. Eto said on Sunday that he has never bought rice because he receives so much for free from his supporters. He later made a retraction.

Eto said he decided to resign because if the confusion over his remark had continued, it would affect the implementation of agricultural policies. I approved his offer.

Ishiba initially indicated he would like Eto to fulfill his responsibilities as a minister. Opposition lawmakers had been demanding Eto's early replacement.

I believe this resignation is de facto dismissal, so the move was quite natural.

Noda is calling on the government to devise and make all-out efforts to quickly and effectively lower prices.
Ishiba has appointed Koizumi Shinjiro as Eto's successor. He is known for his expertise in agricultural policy and strong drive for reform. For more on the matter, I spoke earlier with NHK World's political commentator, Kikuyama Kengo.
So Kengo, why did Ishiba accept Eto's resignation, even though he had initially planned to keep him in his post?

Public frustration had been mounting over the minister's remarks, especially amid surging rice prices, a staple food in Japan. The price has nearly doubled compared to the same time last year.
One key factor is that the Ishiba administration is running a minority government in the lower house.
Ishiba wanted Eto to stay on because of the public concern over soaring rice prices. He believed continuity on the rice issue was important, but things changed quickly.
Five opposition parties demanded Eto's resignation. They warned if he didn't step down, they would jointly submit a no-confidence motion against him. As I said, since this is a minority government, there was a risk that such a motion could pass. And while it lacks legal force, it would have effectively paralyzed diet proceedings.
So I think Ishiba likely decided replacing Eto was the only way to avoid further chaos.

And how will this affect the government's ability to manage the diet?

Well, it definitely hurt the administration, especially at a time when its approval ratings are already low. One LDP lawmaker even told me Eto should have been replaced earlier over the past three days since he made the remarks.

Now, because of his resignation, the no-confidence motion will likely be dropped, but the opposition isn't going to back off. They will keep pressing the government on this matter. Another lawmaker told NHK that the only way to improve the situation is to bring down rice prices. With upper health elections coming up this summer, the Shiba administration is under pressure to respond to surging inflation, including rice prices and US tariffs.

A female school student has been arrested after attacking three fellow students with a knife in the western prefecture of Hiroshima. The attack occurred Wednesday morning at a correspondence high school in Fukuyama city. Police detained the 17-year-old for attempted murder. They say the three victims were taken to hospital with shoulder, back and arm injuries. Their condition is not believed to be life-threatening. Police also say the suspect has admitted to the charge. She told investigators during questioning she stabbed her schoolmates because she wanted to kill them.

Now let's see what's happening in the world of business. Here's Gene Otani from The Biz Desk.

Thanks, Mickey. Leading off this hour's business newscast.

Group of seven finance officials are set to meet for discussions that are expected to be dominated by US tariffs and the impact on the global economy.

The two-day gathering of G7 finance ministers and central bank governors will kick off on Wednesday in Banff, Canada. The tariffs introduced this year by the Trump administration will likely top the agenda. Ministers and governors are set to evaluate the risks posed to the global economy and the responses from individual nations.
The agenda includes economic sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
China's rapid increase in exports of electric vehicles is another topic.
Japan and Europe have raised concerns about the destabilizing effect of overproduction of the EVs. The current chair of the G7 is Canada. The challenge for the country will be to pull together a united joint statement at the end of the meeting to reaffirm support for free trade.

A Japanese company that runs a popular online site for resale of goods says it has started using AI to combat fraud. The operator, known as Mercari , is responding to an increase in scams and criticism that existing countermeasures built into its app are insufficient.
Mercari says its tougher measures, introduced on Wednesday, will identify and block users abusing the service.
It says AI will be used to track suspicious transactions. One type of fraud involves buyers who return items asking for a refund, but the products they sent back are not the original ones they received. Mercari says it was it will also crack down on trade in counterfeit brand goods. A company official says Mercari aims to take the lead in fighting fraud using technologies such as AI.

Japan posted its first trade deficit in three months in April. The finance ministry says it will keep a close watch on the effects of the US Trump administration's additional trade tariffs. The deficit stood at 115 billion yen, or about $800 million. Exports grew 2% from a year earlier to more than 9 trillion yen, or roughly $63.5 billion. Car shipments to the US dropped in value for the first time in four months by nearly 5% on the back of a stronger yen. Imports fell 2.2% in yen terms to $64 billion.
This was mainly due to cheaper coal and crude oil as energy prices fell.

The Japanese operator of the 7-Eleven convenience store chain is planning to sell part of its banking unit to major trading firm Itochu.
Sources say that Seven & i is in talks to sell part of its 46% stake in Seven Bank to Itochu. The shares come with voting rights. The two firms are yet to determine the size of the stake, but Seven & i aims to cut its ownership to less than 40%.
That would allow it to remove the banking unit from the group's consolidated accounting statements. The plan is part of a strategic review by Seven & i as it seeks to fend off a takeover bid from Canada's Alimentation Kushtar, which runs convenience stores in North America. The review includes shedding non-core businesses to improve efficiency and focus on its main convenience store operation.
Seven & i has also introduced governance reforms to gain support from shareholders. Seven Bank operates ATMs, mainly at 7-Eleven stores.
Itochu has the Family Mart convenience store chain under its umbrella. The ATMs in those stores are outsourced. The trading firm may replace the machines with those of Seven Bank.

Japan is seeing a surge in inbound tourism after the pandemic with some 37 million people visiting the country in 2024. However, not all areas are sharing the benefits. Kyoto and Osaka in western Japan attract many of the travelers, while nearby Shiga remains largely overlooked. That could be about to change with a campaign to promote the prefecture.

Shiga Prefecture is on the tourism Golden Route. It takes just 9 minutes by train from Kyoto.

Shiga's governor was in Paris to sell the joys of the prefecture to the French market.
The push includes Shiga's history, art and nature. His team introduced Hikone Castle, a designated national treasure. Traditional Shigaraki pottery making and cycling tours around Japan's largest lake were also highlighted.

Lake Biwa and Hikone Castle would suit French tastes perfectly. They're not well known, but would be of interest to our clients. Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka are popular with tourists from France, but proposing a destination that's so easily accessible is a great idea.

We looked at anonymized and privacy-protected cell phone data from inbound visitors to Shiga and Kyoto last year. That revealed an estimate for the number per square kilometer, with darker colors representing the busiest areas.
Central Kyoto's Kyomizu-dera Temple and the popular tourist draw of Arashiyama were particularly popular. But Shiga Prefecture is mostly white, revealing a clear opportunity if tourists can be persuaded to take a short train ride.
The prefecture has high hopes for Hieizan Enryakuji. The entire mountain, where it's located, is a sacred Buddhist site and is world cultural heritage listed. The thousand-year-old temple is ideally placed to share a little traditional culture with visitors. After consulting with the monks, a menu of the options, such as Zazen meditation, is tailored to the individual.
And the rooms have been upgraded to create an authentic Japanese atmosphere.
Combined with shakyo, the art of copying sutras, visitors can get away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life.

Shiga Prefecture is a hidden gem, as the streets of Kyoto, Tokyo, and Osaka are already overflowing with people. This temple represents a religion with a history of more than 1,200 years, so I hope visitors can really feel the atmosphere.

As for how to appeal to potential visitors,Internet outreach plays a major part. The local government asked domestic firms to highlight Shiga online and spread the word about the updated site.

In the tourism industry, we talk about resonance. So in order to attract tourists to come to Shiga, it's very important to have an attraction that resonates with them.

If Shiga is to take part in Japan's inbound travel explosion, it seems clear that highlighting the prefecture's charms and ease of access will be key.

And that's a look at business news. Miki, I'm going to hand it back to you.

Thank you very much, Gene.

North Korean defectors took to the podium at the United Nations during a meeting addressing human rights abuses and violations in the country.
Silence is complicity. The defectors shared their experiences with members of the General Assembly. One woman said that in North Korea, it's better to be shot than to starve.
Another said that young people have been executed in the country for secretly watching South Korean dramas.
Nations, including the US, contend that the North's human rights violationare closely tied to the country's nuclear and missile development.

The DPRK's unlawful nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles programs is inextricably linked to the regime's human rights abuses, as the programs are financed through the forced labor of North Korean citizens at home and abroad.

Pyongyang's representative strongly lashed out at the meeting itself.

We call on all member states Aspiring after independence and justice to categorically oppose and reject the plot of ulterior forces in their attempt to politicize and weaponize of the human rights.

Japan's UN Ambassador Yamazaki Kazuyuki brought up the abductees issue.
The Japanese government recognizes 17 citizens as having been abducted by the North in the 1970s and 80s. Twelve are still unaccounted for.
Yamazaki strongly urged Pyongyang to immediately return all of them. He also asked the international community to unite to help.

UN members have also been focused on the South China Sea. During a Security Council meeting on maritime security, the US and China accused each other of causing trouble. The acting US representative brought up a dispute between Beijing and Manila over territorial rights to part of the waters.

The United States stands with the Philippines. Once again, we condemn China's dangerous and unlawful actions in the South China Sea.

A Chinese representative mentioned the US maritime presence in the area.

The United States, under the banner of the Freedom of Navigation, sends its military vessels to the South China Sea to flex its muscles and stir up confrontation.

Gun Xuan says the situation in the area remains generally stable and that Beijing is confident it can make it a sea of peace, friendship and cooperation.
Washington and Manila staged a series of joint drills in the area that wrapped up earlier this month. The two have been increasing pressure on China in response to Beijing's growing assertiveness in the South China Sea and around Taiwan.

Qatar says efforts to broker a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas have reached a deadlock.

The rounds of negotiations that took place in Doha in the past couple of weeks unfortunately didn't lead us anywhere yet because there is a fundamental gap between the two parties.

The prime minister says one side is looking for a partial deal and the other a one-off deal. He says their proposals fail to bridge the divide between them.
Israeli media reports say Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is considering pulling out his delegation. His forces in the Gaza Strip are pressing ahead with airstrikes and ground assaults. They're expanding the scope of their evacuation warnings. Residents of the southern city of Han Yunis have been forced to evacuate. They fled with only whatever household items they could carry.

We've been forced to evacuate many times these days. I want the world to know that we are seeking a ceasefire and mercy.

Health authorities say the violence on Tuesday alone killed more than 50 people.

Forecasters in Japan are warning this summer could be a scorcher. It was hot across the country this week with temperatures exceeding 35 degrees Celsius in central Japan Wednesday.
In Tokyo Tuesday, temperatures climbed above 30 degrees Celsius for the first time this year. Some Rd. services reached over 50 degrees. Tokyoese had to scramble to beat the heat.

I had to quickly get my summer wardrobe ready.

I've had about a liter of water since this morning. I tend to sweat a lot when it's like this.

Now I'm worried about what summer will be like.

The Japan Meteorological Agency is forecasting higher than average temperatures from June to August, coming on the heels of last year's record-breaking heat waves. At the same time, researchers have launched a new organization to study extreme weather events here. The Weather Attribution Center is the first of its kind in Japan.
Scientists will use simulations to compare real world patterns with those in a world without global warming to better understand the impacts of climate change.

We want to increase the spread of this information on a regular basis. We know there will be more extreme weather events this year and beyond.

Like many countries, Japan has recently grappled with hazardous weather, including torrential rains that triggered flooding in the Noto region last year.
And earlier, I spoke with our meteorologist Tsetsi Monade for more insight.
Tsitsi, how does this new organization fit in with you know other climate change monitoring bodies around the world?

Yeah, well, we have quite a lot of these bodies that are doing their research on climate change, such as the IPCC, which writes a lot of reports almost every three or four years about the state of climate change across the world, and the UNFFFC as well.
And their goals are mostly to give actions that we all need to take to make sure we do not exceed certain Goal points or targets like the two degree target that we should try not to exceed because once we get there it is at a point of almost no return. In the United States you've got nonprofit organizations such as Climate Central and they are trying their best to bring all the scientific data. To people, you know, in a manner that is more understandable and they're trying to raise awareness as much as possible. When I myself have also engaged with many other organizations such as WMO, which is World Meteorological Organization, as well as Climate Without Borders, and our goal is mostly to break it down.
A lot more because these terms are very technical. Climate change is very difficult and so you need something or someone to sort of break it down for everyday people to understand. And that's what I've been doing and that's what I'm trying to work on as well. And now with this new group that's been formed here of expert, it is quite interesting and exciting because that will help sort of determine where we stand here in Japan in our unique situation and do more Japan specific. Related research. 

So what sorts of climate related events are we expecting in Japan or perhaps are already affecting us?

Yeah, let's not even go far. We've already mentioned about the heat and how hot it was the beginning of the week, how hot it was last summer where where Japan reported over 97,000 cases of heat strokes, heat illnesses.
With warming temperatures we get warming oceans as well and when the oceans warm up is. We recently have been discovering that we've got these things called ocean heat waves and they keep the sea surface temperatures much warmer than usual for longer periods of time. And when that happens is it gives a lot of energy and fuel to tropical storms such as typhoons and hurricanes and severe flood situations that can happen. I mean, since I started working here as a meteorologist, I don't know if you remember my first week on air, I had to report on Typhoon Vaksai, I think, which was quite intense. So those are increasing. The frequency is increasing every single year and the intensity is getting a lot worse. The flooding destroy buildings, claim people's lives, mudslides, landslides, you know, the situation in Atami. We really need to do all our research and we need to get it out there as quickly as possible so that we can learn to adapt and mitigate to see what how we're going to survive in the future.

Yeah, so we need to be prepared for future situations. But besides like building flood walls and like opening up cooling shelters during the summer, what else do you think we can do?

Well, look, the science and the information is already there. Scientists have done quite a lot and they are going to continue doing a lot, such as we've seen with the new group that's being open. So there will be more research being done. But what you and I can do small things, you know, like reduce. Our waste. Try not to consume as much as we do. Single use plastic, for example. You know we need to cut that up. Take your own bag to the supermarket in your house. Sometimes we leave like I still do it. We leave lights on by mistake or we just forget it. Just try to pick up a little bit more and reduce the amount of energy that we use. It will save you electricity bills, so you'll save money at the same time.
Try to use public transportation more. We try to do our best here in Japan, but all over the world people should do. The same.

Thank you very much for your insights, Tsetsi and HK World's senior meteorologist Tsetsi Monare.

♪

All right, let's check in with our Jonathan Oh for weather updates. So Jonathan, yes, people across Japan have been feeling the heat and also increasing humidity Wednesday. Is this trend going to change for the rest of the week?

Hello, we have been talking about temperatures that are way above average for this time of year. Tokyo made it up to 31 on Tuesday, getting kind of close to that on Wednesday as well, the high of 29.7 degrees. And it's not just Tokyo, that's all the warm weather.
I mean all across Japan we're seeing the temperatures elevated. And as we go toward later this week, as we head towards Friday and Saturday, we might be talking about temperatures that are going to back off a bit, which is going to be a. Some relief after seeing these temperatures that are feeling more like summer as opposed to late May, we have a couple of factors in place that's going to help bring some wet weather into the picture. We have a low pressure system moving along what is the rainy season frontal boundary and as that pushes across from Kyushu toward the east over the next couple of days, we're talking about increasing clouds and also a bit more rain and the temperatures start to fall. So we're talking about highs in the teens. By the weekend in Tokyo, meanwhile, up to the north, another stationary frontal boundary is in place.
That's going to help continue to bring some wet weather as you go through the day on Thursday. By the time going to Friday, things might back off a bit, but then another push of moisture along that frontal boundary from China into western Japan will be bringing some more wet weather. So here's a look at the forecast here, 28 in Tokyo on Thursday, down to 18. On Sunday as we see the rain and the colder weather taking place to Osaka also dropping off as well by Sunday. Naha looking at stretches from wet weather as well up into Hokkaido walls to see temperatures still in the upper teens for the next few days.
Meanwhile in Europe we have one low pressure so up toward the Scandinavian peninsula and another one down to the South. In general we're talking about a slight cool down here. Some may see 20s but some areas will be in the upper teens for daytime highs as you go through Wednesday. Quick look. At North America, low pressure system moving across the Ohio River Valley might see possible strong thunderstorms into the Carolinas and also over into push to the southeast in places like Arkansas, Missouri. So been the lookout for that as we go through day on Wednesday with heat down toward the South for the middle of the week.
Hope you have a good day wherever you are.

♫～

And that's NHK Newsline for this hour.
I'm Yamamoto Miki in Tokyo. Thanks for staying with us.