Here in Japan, it's 6 p.m. on a Friday. I'm James Tengah in Tokyo. This is NHK Newsline.
BREAKING NEWS
TAKAICHI HOLDS FIRST ONE-ON-ONE WITH XI
Japanese Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae has met with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
It's their first time meeting face-to-face.
The talks were held on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum.
00:00:31 話者 2
China is an important neighbor for Japan.
Japan and China have an important responsibility for the peace and prosperity of the region and the international community.
00:00:43 話者 1
Takaichi said she wants to build constructive and stable bilateral relations.
She also said she wants to reduce the challenges lying between their two countries.
She's believed to have expressed Japan's concerns over China's maritime activities.
and moves to pressure its trading partners.
Xi Jinping said China and Japan need to build constructive and stable ties.
He added the relationship should be strategic and mutually beneficial.
APEC SUMMIT LEADERS START TALKS IN S. KOREA
APIC leaders have gathered in South Korea for the summit.
The country's president opened proceedings by warning that the global trade order is at a critical inflection point.
He's calling on the group to cooperate amid Washington's tariff measures.
00:01:30 話者 2
I hope that the APEC. Spirit, which has proved the effects of cooperation, solidarity, and mutual trust, will be fully demonstrated in Gyeongju.
00:01:40 話者 1
On the agenda for APEC's 21 members, issues such as artificial intelligence, aging societies, and declining birth rates.
But much of the focus is on whether the leaders can reach a consensus on trade policy.
Chinese President Xi was at the gathering.
Xinhua News Agency says he called for joint efforts to safeguard the multilateral trading system and build an open regional economic environment.
ISRAEL-HAMAS CONFLICT
HAMAS HANDS OVER REMAINS OF TWO HOSTAGES
Israeli officials say Hamas has handed over the bodies of two hostages held in Gaza.
This comes after Israel blamed the Islamic group for violating the cease-fire agreement and carried out airstrikes in response.
On Thursday, the Israeli government said the remains of the deceased hostages had been transferred into its custody and identified.
Attention is focused on whether the latest move will help ease the situation on the ground.
Health authorities in Gaza said 104 people had been killed in the strikes through Wednesday.
Israel criticized Hamas for not returning the bodies of all the remaining hostages after the ceasefire deal took effect on October 10.
Hamas accused Israel of violating the agreement.
UK GOVT. WARNS CITIZENS ABOUT BEAR ATTACKS IN JAPAN
Japan has seen an increase in bear sightings and attacks this year.
Now, the British government is warning its citizens to watch out for the animals when visiting the country.
Information gathered by NHK shows that as of Thursday noon, at least 86 people in Japan had been attacked by bears during the month of October.
Britain has updated its advisory for travelers to the country.
It notes an increase of human encounters with bears in parts of Japan, including populated areas.
The advisory urges visitors to research places in advance to learn about the local wildlife, and devote wiking alone in areas where bears have been sighted.
People are also reminded to take food waste and other rubbish with them, as this is known to attract bears.
Japan has become a popular destination for British people, partly due to the yen's weakness against the pound.
The Japan National Tourism Organization says more than 400,000 visitors from Britain came to Japan last year.
BUSY SHIBUYA URGES VISITORS TO BEHAVE FOR HALLOWEEN
It's Halloween here in Japan, and once more, Tokyo's Shibuya Ward is hoping to limit what kinds of tricks and treats could manifest in its busy streets.
The area was the site of some hair-raising behavior in the recent past.
So officials want to keep things safe and spooky.
NHK World's Katsumata Chieko has more.
00:04:32 話者 3
Shibuya Crossing is one of Tokyo's top gathering spots.
Until recently, this was especially true around Halloween.
Locals as well as foreign tourists would come here, often dressed in costumes to enjoy a party-like atmosphere.
Officials have been promoted a more low-key experience, and this year, they are trying something new.
00:04:57 話者 8
Signs have been pressed all over in multiple languages.
They urge visitors not to create a troublesome Halloween.
Like last year, Barriers are up around the famous Hachiko statue to reduce crowding and prevent vandalism. Visitors are taking the less than festive vibe in stride.
00:05:23 話者 4
Positive direction, right? Like public safety above everything else.
00:05:28 話者 5
I know I've seen other signs around saying like no drinking on Halloween, don't go out on Halloween, but hopefully it'll be safe for everyone.
00:05:40 話者 3
The tight rules can be traced back to unrest on Halloween night, seven years ago, when people in costumes caused trouble in downtown Shibuya.
Now, with the number of foreign travelers at record highs, officials know there's a potential for record-sized crowds they don't want history to repeat.
Shibuya's mayor says he wants people to enjoy themselves as long as they come with good intentions.
00:06:13 話者 2
We don't want people wanting to cause a disturbance to come to Shibuya for Halloween.
I hope everyone can have a good time by clearly differentiating between good and troublesome behavior.
00:06:24 話者 3
From last year, Shibuya has banned public drinking in certain streets during evening hours.
Before this Halloween, officials have also asked some retailers to suspend sales of alcohol.
Traffic, including the use of rented e-scooters, will also be restricted near Shibuya Station.
Despite the rules, some visitors still say they want to spend Halloween in the heart of Shibuya.
00:06:59 話者 4
I heard very good things about Halloween and Shibuya.
I hope we would come back here all in our costumes. She's doing gojo, doing ghetto.
This is our first like club experience here. So the vibe is kind of the clubs and then kind of the bar hop and see what happens from there.
00:07:11 話者 3
In addition to Shibuya, Shinjuku Ward has restricted drinking and large gatherings in its Kabukicho area to ensure a peaceful night. It's also supposed to rain all evening.
We'll have to see if these rules town once popular Halloween hunts into ghost towns.
Katsumata Chieko, NHK World.
00:07:36 話者 1
Chieko, thanks.
BUSINESS
Now let's see what's happening in the world of business where things are on the uptick.
Here's Ramin Mellegard.
00:07:44 話者 6
Thank you very much indeed, and this is really the big focus for the week.
NIKKEI 225 TOPS 52,000 FOR 3RD DAY OF RECORD HIGHS
Japan's main equity index continues to rise.
The Nikkei 225 finished the final trading day of the month above the $52,000 mark for the first time, setting an all-time high for the third day running.
Many investors placed buy orders in the back of strong performances by US IT giants.
The Tokyo benchmark ended on Friday at 52,411, up 1,085 points or 2.1%, led by high-tech related shares.
This followed the release of robust quarterly earnings by Apple and Amazon.com on Thursday.
The Nikkei 225 exceeded the 50,000 level for the first time on Monday and climbed even further on Wednesday to top 51,000.
It marked another closing high the next day.
The benchmark is continuing its bullet run, although analysts say some sell orders indicated concerns of overheating.
CHINA'S FACTORY ACTIVITY SHRINKS FOR 7TH MONTH IN OCTOBER
China's factory activity shrank in October, with its key gauge remaining below the boom or bust line for the seventh month in a row.
The National Bureau of Statistics says the Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index stood at 49 for the month.
That's down 0.8 points from September and below the 50-point threshold.
Figures above the mark indicate expansion, while those below suggest contraction.
The Bureau surveyed 3,200 manufacturers.
Major factors behind the downtick include sluggish domestic demand.
Production and new orders were also slow due to the US administration's tariff measures.
The index came short the threshold across all company sizes, with small firms standing at 47.1.
But the index for the non-manufacturing sector, including service providers, improved by one-tenth of a point to 50.1.
China's President Xi Jinping met his US counterpart Donald Trump in South Korea on Thursday.
They agreed that the US will lower some of its extra tariffs on China.
TOKYO'S CONSUMER INFLATION HITS 2.8% IN OCT.
And, Tokyo's consumer inflation accelerated for the first time in five months in October, mainly due to higher water bills.
Preliminary figures in the Internal Affairs Ministry show the capital's consumer price index rose 2.8% from a year earlier.
The reading, which excludes volatile fresh food prices, is also up 0.3 percentage points from September.
Last month, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government ended a summer-long program waiving basic water charges for households.
Prices of food were up 6.7% year-on-year, although the size of the increase shrank for a second straight month.
Rice prices remain high, up 40%, while the rate of increase slowed from September.
Lower-priced rice released from government stockpiles is not included in the data.
Among other food products, the cost of coffee beans surged almost 65%, while chocolate prices jumped more than 36%.
Tokyo's consumer prices are seen as a leading indicator of the overall trend.
Japan's nationwide CPI will be released on November 21.
NISSAN SEES $1.8 BIL. ANNUAL LOSS ON TRUMP TARIFFS
Nissan Motor says it is set for a massive 275 billion yen operating loss for a fiscal 2025.
That's 1.8 billion dollars.
Now, the automaker lays the blame on the US administration's tariff measures.
Nissan released the figure and updated financial outlook for the year ending March 2026 on Thursday.
This would be the first operating loss for the company since fiscal 2020.
For the first half of this fiscal year, it projects an operating loss of 30 billion yen or about 195 million dollars.
That's an upgrade from its July forecast of 180 billion yen loss.
The automaker credits postponed investments and lower costs related to emission regulations.
Nissan expects a consolidated net loss of 230 billion yen or about one and a half billion dollars for the April to September period.
The company is working to turn around its finances.
It plans to close seven factories in Japan and abroad and cut 20,000 employees.
BIZPICKS
Okay, next, NHK World's John LaDue is here with BizPicks.
00:12:21 話者 7
Let's start with the events we'll be tracking in the week ahead.
This time for Biz Picks, we'll focus on Japanese automakers that are starting to release their earnings reports for the period ended in September.
JAPAN CARMAKERS RELEASE RESULTS AS TARIFF IMPACT WANES
Among the firms giving results, Toyota Motor on Wednesday, Nissan Motor on Thursday.
The US in mid-September reduced the tariffs on automobiles to 15 percent.
Ide Shingo of the NLI Research Institute says the cuts are not such a big factor for the latest earnings figures.
The focus is on the future outlook of Japan's car makers.
00:13:01 話者 8
Investors are more interested in how much the forecast will be revised upward this time.
The market is bracing for a certain degree of profit contraction for this fiscal year, which ends in March.
But from next fiscal year onward, the impact of the tariffs will have run its course.
So the biggest concern for investors is how much earnings will increase next fiscal year.
00:13:27 話者 7
It says the focus is on Toyota.
Japan's biggest carmaker earlier projected US tariffs would shave 1.4 trillion yen, or about $9 billion, off operating profit for this fiscal year.
The company reduced its full-year net profit outlook, predicting a 44% drop.
It is looking for an improvement to that forecast and a possible market reaction.
00:13:58 話者 8
Based on Toyota's first quarter results. Its full-year forecast was quite conservative.
The progress rate of its net profit reached 31.6% in just the first quarter.
That's ahead of the typical 25% benchmark for that stage of the year.
So there's a strong chance Toyota will revise its full-year outlook in the coming earnings report.
The market currently expects Toyota to project a 32% drop in full-year profit.
If the projected drop in the report turns out to be smaller, the stock price is likely to react positively.
00:14:42 話者 7
But Ide cautions a US policy reversal is possible, just as the tariff cuts are providing a tailwind for the car industry.
00:14:54 話者 8
The US side says the agreement will be assessed on a quarterly basis, as Japan has pledged to invest $550 billion in the United States.
Washington says that if President Donald Trump is dissatisfied, tariffs on cars and other products will be raised again.
This means that it's uncertain whether the tariff will remain at 15% or once again be increased.
00:15:26 話者 7
Now, the figures from automakers are often a bellwether for the results from related firms like parts and materials makers.
What we see from them may tell us a lot about the overall direction of Japan, Inc.
and the stock market.
I'm John Ladue and that wraps up this edition of Biz Picks.
00:15:45 話者 8
And that's it for Business News.
00:15:48 話者 1
That was our Ramin Mellegard.
TEXTILE'S SEISMIC SHIFT
Japan's textile industry is feeling shaken by a number of factors, including overseas competition and a drop in demand at home.
In response, one maker has taken the unusual step of looking into other markets for its products.
The result, applying traditional techniques to stem the sway caused by earthquakes.
CLEVER APPLICATIONS MATERIALIZE IN TEXTILES
00:16:12 話者 9
This textile maker is located in Ishikawa Prefecture.
Among its facilities, one building stands out from the rest and looks like it's draped under a white veil.
However, it's actually made-up of over a thousand carbon fiber cables.
By attaching them to key structural areas of a building, they can limit the degree of shaking it experiences during an earthquake.
Steel is one of the most commonly used materials for seismic reinforcement.
However, it's heavy and susceptible to rust, making it a bad choice for use in older buildings or weaker structures.
Carbon fiber, on the other hand, is extremely light, strong, and rust-proof, making it ideal for use in industries such as automotive manufacturing and aerospace.
00:17:18 話者 5
A lot of companies were already working in carbon fiber, so we wanted to find a niche market that wasn't already dominated by larger rivals.
That's what led us into seismic reinforcement.
00:17:32 話者 9
However, carbon fiber isn't a perfect material.
Although it possesses great tensile strength, it is susceptible to lateral forces.
To overcome this, the company reinforced each bundle of carbon fibers by surrounding them in a sheath made of fiberglass.
They also employ a traditional Japanese weaving technique called kunihimo, in which multiple threads are woven together in a specific pattern.
The seven sheathed bundles are then intertwined, and the cable is completed.
After rigorous testing, the new cable was certified by the Japanese Industrial Standards Committee.
Despite its strength, it's both flexible and easy to handle.
This is the 150-year-old Tomioka Silk Mill. Considered a symbol of Japan's modernization, it's been registered as a World Heritage Site.
This warehouse used to be used for drying and storing silk cocoons.
Due to safety concerns, the building's been off limits for several decades.
The walls are made of brick and the structural beams from solid wood.
The carbon fiber cables were installed and colored black to make sure they blended in with the overall aesthetic.
By attaching them to key structural points, they were able to increase the building's seismic resistance.
They also reinforced the storage shelves with crisscrossed cables to prevent the wooden frames from warping.
After the retrofitting was completed in 2020, the mill was opened to the public.
This historic structure is now safe enough for people to enjoy.
Our main goal was to preserve its original appearance as much as possible by keeping the reinforcement work to a minimum.
00:19:49 話者 1
The cables are also providing stability in modern structures such as factories and hotels.
Homeowners, however, may find issue with the cost about five times more than contemporary support systems.
HK BETS ON STAGING MAJOR EVENTS TO LURE BACK TOURISTS
Inbound tourism in Hong Kong has not returned to the peak levels seen before the COVID-19 pandemic.
That's partly due to the perception that civil liberties have been eroded by legislation introduced five years ago.
Now the government is hoping that attracting more large-scale events to Hong Kong will bring the visitors back.
00:20:35 話者 10
The number of tourists visiting Hong Kong is only about 70% of its peak in 2018.
The reasons for that include the impact of the pandemic and the negative image caused by the territory's national security law, which cracks down on anti-government activity.
In March, the Hong Kong government opened a new 50,000-seat stadium.
It spent about $3.9 billion on the project in an effort to attract events with a large audience.
In July, the Kai Tak Stadium hosted an English Premier League-friendly match, attracting supporters from around the world.
These are inflatable versions of characters from the Japanese web manga series Chikawa.
which means something small and cute.
They are also hugely popular across much of the rest of Asia.
They were part of a citywide chikawa-themed event held in August.
A popular feature was chikawa characters in the form of dim sum dumplings.
The organizer says more than 100,000 tickets were sold.
About one-third of them went to visitors from mainland China, Taiwan and Southeast Asia.
00:21:57 話者 8
I'm really glad that Hong Kong can have the same event as in Japan.
00:22:04 話者 2
It was so much fun. I got to meet those cute characters face to face.
00:22:14 話者 10
This subway station also got in on the act.
The automatic ticket gates repeat the character's name every time a passenger passes through.
The interior of the subway train is also decorated with chi-kawa motives.
The head of Hong Kong's tourism bureau expressed confidence that promotions like this will be successful in luring foreign tourists.
00:22:46 話者 4
We will attract tourists from all over the world and provide them with new and diverse experiences.
00:22:52 話者 10
With consumption sluggish, the government hopes its efforts to attract tourists will have a positive impact on Hong Kong's economy.
00:23:03 話者 1
Now for world weather.
A rainstorm has impacted New York City, causing widespread disruption.
Our meteorologist, Yumi Hirano, has the details.
00:23:13 話者 11
An active low-pressure system brought record-breaking rainfall to New York, causing severe flooding.
Heavy winds and strong winds swept through New York City on Thursday.
In Central Park, record-breaking rainfall was observed, the heaviest in more than a century.
The downpours caused major disruptions across the city, with many roads flooded and traffic brought to a standstill.
Video footage showed flat waters pouring into a bus.
The system is now moving away from the city and heading toward southeastern Canada, bringing downpours and strong winds.
And we have to monitor one more system over the Atlantic.
Hurricane Melissa is now close to Bermuda.
There is a high risk of flooding and power outages.
Sunny skies are coming back to New York and Washington.
The temperature in L.A. will go back to the normal with a high of 26.
People in parts of Japan are experiencing stormy conditions on Friday due to a low-pressure system.
It's expected to move along the Pacific side, bringing up to 120 millimeters of rain to Kanto and up to 150 millimeters to Tohoku and Hokkaido by Saturday.
Strong winds are also a big concern.
The system will develop and bring gusts of over 120 kilometers per hour to Tohoku and Hokkaido, causing potential power outages.
People in eastern Hokkaido also should watch out for flooding due to the storm and high tides.
Kushiro will see stormy conditions on Saturday, but sunny skies will return to many cities such as Fukuoka, Osaka and Tokyo.
The high will jump up to 23.
That's it for now. Have a nice weekend.
♫～ 3-DAY FORECAST ～♫
UP, UP, AND AWAY: HOT AIR BALLOON FEST KICKS OFF IN JAPAN
00:26:51 話者 1
One more item before we leave you.
One of Asia's largest hot air balloon festivals started in southwestern Japan's Saga City on Thursday.
This year's Saga International Balloon Fiesta features about 120 hot air balloons from 20 countries and regions.
On the first day, 70 colorful balloons participating in the festival's competition lifted off into the clear autumn sky.
The balloonists compete to see how close they can drop a small sandbag onto a target while flying.
The target is about 10 kilometers away from the launch site.
00:27:32 話者 10
I didn't expect to get such a close view.
00:27:36 話者 1
The festival runs through Monday.
For all of us here on NHK Newsline, I'm James Tengan in Tokyo.
Thanks for watching.
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