00:00:10 (Maria Sato)
Hello, welcome back to NHK Newsline. I'm Maria Sato in Tokyo.
VENEZUELA OPPOSITION POLITICIAN UNDER HOUSE ARREST: FAMILY
The family of Venezuelan opposition politician Juan Pablo Guanyipa says he has been placed under house arrest.
Guanyipa is an ally of 2025 Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado.
Guanipa was detained after the country's last presidential election in 2024 and released on Sunday.
But he was abducted by unknown people after telling supporters that Venezuela should transform into a free society.
On Tuesday, Guanipa's family said he was at a house in western Venezuela.
00:00:53 話者 Ramon Guanipa/Juan Pablo Guanipa's son
He is now at my house, safe and sound.
He has an ankle monitor and two officials are stationed in the parking lot.
He is prohibited from making statements and from posting on social media.
00:01:06 (Maria Sato)
Venezuela's government is led by interim President Delsey Rodriguez, who maintains ties with the United States.
It continues to free opposition party officials and others who were detained by the government under President Nicolas Maduro.
But human rights groups say many political prisoners are still being held.
People associated with the country's opposition are calling for free political activities.
IRAN HINTS AT URANIUM ENRICHMENT CUT
The head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization has signaled a possible stance in negotiations with the US.
He suggested that Iran may dilute its highly enriched uranium in return for a lifting of sanctions.
Delegations from the two sides resumed negotiations last week, with Oman mediating.
Iran's foreign minister said afterward that they agreed to continue the talks.
The discussions had been suspended since last June following US military strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities.
Uranian media report that the head of the energy organization, Mohammad Islami, spoke about the issue.
He said diluting uranium that's been enriched to 60 percent will depend on the lifting of all sanctions. Aand he reportedly responded to speculation that the uranium may be moved outside of Iran.
He said the matter has not been on the agenda.
Diplomatic activity around the talks is intensifying.
Iran's top security official visited Oman to meet with the Sultan.
AXIOS: TRUMP CONSIDERING SENDING SECOND CARRIER TO IRAN
While talks on Tehran's nuclear development continue, US President Donald Trump has hinted at increasing military pressure on Iran.
On Tuesday, Trump told US news website Axios he's considering sending a second aircraft carrier strike group to prepare for military action if negotiations fail.
The US deployed the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, USS Abraham Lincoln, to the Arabian Sea near Iran.
Trump also said, Either we will make a deal, or we will have to do something very tough like last time. In June last year, the US attacked nuclear facilities in Iran.
But Axios also reported Trump expressed optimism about finding a diplomatic solution.
He said Tehran wants to make a deal very badly and is engaging much more seriously than previous talks due to the military threat.
Trump said it would be possible for a deal to cover both Iran's nuclear program and its ballistic missile stockpiles.
He added he expects the second round of talks to take place next week.
MILANO CORTINA 2026
JAPAN SKI JUMPING MIXED TEAM WINS BRONZE
Turning to the Milano-Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games,
Japan's ski jumping mixed team has won bronze.
It's the country's first medal in the event, which debuted four years ago in Beijing.
Each team consisted of two male and two female jumpers and carried out a total of eight jumps.
Maruyama Nozomi, Kobayashi Ryouyu, Takanashi Sara and Nikaido Ren earned 1,034 points to clinch the medal.
They were 1.2 points ahead of fourth-place finisher, Germany, a difference equivalent to only 60 centimeters. Slovenia won gold and Norway secured silver.
So far, Japan has won eight medals, two gold, two silver and four bronze.
♪
INDICTED JAPANESE MAN POSSIBLY LINKED TO HK ROBBERY
Hong Kong prosecutors have indicted a Japanese national on a charge of conspiring to steal cash worth tens of thousands of US dollars.
The defendant is reportedly linked to a recent robbery case that took place at an entertainment district in Hong Kong.
NHK has obtained information about the indictment for the 57-year-old Japanese man.
It says he's accused of conspiring with an unknown person to steal cash worth about 180,000 US dollars between January 30 and 31.
Investigative authorities did not provide details.
But the local English newspaper, South China Morning Post, reported that the defendant is connected to a robbery case in which a Japanese man was robbed of about 330,000 US
dollars in Hong Kong on January 30.
Four people, including Japanese citizens, were arrested and indicted in that case.
The 57-year-old is believed to be connected to one of the accused, a 27-year-old man who reportedly provided the schedule of the cash transport and other information to the perpetrators.
The robbery victim is believed to have also been attacked in a failed mugging at a parking lot of Tokyo's Haneda Airport before leaving for Hong Kong.
Tokyo police are looking into possible links between the two cases.
JAPAN'S NATIONAL DEBT HITS RECORD HIGH IN 2025
Japan's government debt rose to a record high at the end of last year, to more than 1.34 quadrillion yen, or about 8.6 trillion dollars.
According to the finance ministry, the debt is up by about 24.5 trillion yen from a year earlier.
The increase is due to government bond issuances covering security costs and other spending, as well as the compilation of supplementary budgets each fiscal year.
The debt does not include the issuance of government bonds for the more than 18 trillion yen supplementary budget the Diet passed last December.
The government of Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae advocates responsible and proactive public finances. It says it will lower the ratio of outstanding debt to GDP steadily.
JAPAN TO GIVE UKRAINE MORE AID TO RESTORE CULTURAL ASSETS
Japan has announced a new 3.8 million dollar contribution to Ukraine via UNESCO.
It's to help repair cultural assets in the country damaged from Russia's invasion.
The Japanese government has been supporting Ukraine through UNESCO for the recovery of cultural and other relevant properties in the country.
Officials held a signing ceremony in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, on Tuesday to mark Japan's additional contribution.
UNESCO says that as of last month, more than 500 cultural sites in Ukraine have been verified as damaged. They include buildings of historical and artistic interest.
UNESCO says the new aid can strengthen work to verify damage to cultural heritage in Ukraine. It says it will help rapidly repair the sites and prevent further deterioration.
00:08:26 話者 Nakagome Masashi/Japanese Ambassador to Ukraine
We believe that Ukraine's culture is an essential part of its sovereignty and territory.
Japan has been offering its full support and will continue to do so.
00:08:38 話者 Anastasia Bondar/Ukrainian Culture Ministry official
I'm very grateful that Japan particularly is showing the respect towards the preservation and how valuable the cultural sphere is for the country.
00:08:52 (Maria Sato)
UNESCO says the total contribution from Japan to Ukraine represents nearly 40 percent of all funding mobilized by the agency for the country.
Those were the headlines for this hour.
WEATHER
♫～ 3-DAY FORECAST ～♫And that's all for this hour on NHK Newsline. I'm Maria Sato in Tokyo.
Do stay with us on NHK World Japan.
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Easy Japanese
00:10:10 話者 5
Hi there.
It's time for NHK World Japan's Easy Japanese.
I'm Erico Kojima.
00:10:16 話者 6
And I'm Michael Reese.
Let's have fun learning Japanese together.
Today, we bring you lesson 46, part two on expressing multiple impressions.
Almost a year has passed since Tam arrived in Japan from Vietnam.
All of the residents of Harusan House have gone on a trip to Kyoto.
They're about to stay at a Japanese inn in an old Matsuya building.
Machia are old wooden townhouses that line narrow streets.
They used to be homes of merchants and craftsmen.
Nowadays, some are rented out by the night.
00:10:54 話者 5
Listen to this kit for lesson 46.
00:11:04 話者 7
What's this?
What's this?
00:11:10 話者 8
What's this?
00:11:15 話者 5
Now let's go through the skit line by line.
00:11:22 話者 6
In front of a machiya, Kaito says.
00:11:27 話者 5
Okay, here we are.
00:11:29 話者 6
Miya opens the sliding door and says, Hello.
The inn's owner replies in the Kyoto dialect, Welcome.
The owner leads Tam and the others to their room and says.
00:11:48 話者 5
Your room is this way.
00:11:50 話者 6
They are led to a traditional Japanese-style room.
Miya is impressed.
00:11:58 話者 5
Wow, what a fantastic room! Tam says, It's even got a garden.
It's small but beautiful.
00:12:12 話者 6
Well, Tam and the others seem thrilled about the Machiya.
00:12:15 話者 5
With good reason.
A Kyoto Machiya is long and narrow.
The residential space extends deep inside.
It also has a small, beautiful courtyard garden.
Stone lanterns and different shades of green highlight the garden.
You can stay right in your room and enjoy the view.
00:12:40 話者 6
Today's key phrase is, It's small but beautiful.
Once you learn this pattern, you'll be able to express multiple impressions.
00:12:53 話者 5
First, let's examine the key phrase.
Chisai means small and is an i adjective.
Kedo is but.
Chisai kedo means small but.
Kirei desu is the na adjective kireina, beautiful, with the na taken away and desu attached.
Now today's point.
To combine contrasting sentences, use kedo.
In the key phrase, the sentences that concern the machiya's garden, it's small, and it's beautiful, are connected with kedo.
00:13:34 話者 6
So you can express various impressions by using kedo.
00:13:37 話者 5
That's right.
Kedo can be added to sentences with, for example, i-adjectives, na-adjectives, and verbs.
In the sentences that come before kedo, the plain style without desu or masu sounds more natural.
The plain style of i-adjectives, such as chisai, small, can be made by not putting
this, remember.
00:14:01 話者 6
All right then, listen and repeat.
00:14:07 話者 7
Chisai kedo.
Chisai kedo kire desu ne.
Chisai kedo kire desu ne.
00:14:23 話者 6
Okay, got it?
Now listen to a woman expressing her impression by connecting contrasting ideas.
She's trying to choose a hotel from an online travel site with her Japanese friend.
00:14:47 話者 8
Here's what it means.
00:14:56 話者 5
The Japanese woman makes a proposal.
00:15:02 話者 6
How about this hotel?
00:15:04 話者 5
Konohoteru means this hotel.
And do is an interrogative meaning how about?
00:15:16 話者 6
It's beautiful but expensive.
00:15:20 話者 5
It's something people say when they can't make up their mind.
comes from the na adjective kireina, beautiful.
Its sentence form is kirei desu, which is changed to the plain style kirei da with kedo attached.
With na adjectives and nouns, the plain style is made by replacing desu with da.
Adding kedo to that turns it into dakedo.
00:15:49 話者 6
Listen and repeat.
Let's try with another situation.
Imagine you've just gone to an amusement park.
Tell your friend that you got tired, but it was fun.
00:16:18 話者 5
Here, for the verb to get tired, you use tsukareru.
The past tense got tired in the plain style is tsukareta.
00:16:30 話者 7
Tsukareta.
00:16:32 話者 5
This is the ta form.
It was fun is tanoshikatta desu.
00:16:39 話者 7
Tanoshikatta desu.
00:16:41 話者 5
Now go ahead and try.
00:16:49 話者 9
Tsukareta keto tanoshikatta desu.
Tsukareta keto tanoshikatta desu.
00:17:05 話者 6
Today's bonus phrase is what Mia said as she entered the Machia.
Memorize it.
00:17:12 話者 5
Gomen kudasai.
Gomen kudasai means hello or excuse me and is used when entering someone's house.
You usually say it from outside of the house to the person inside.
00:17:25 話者 6
Listen to various people say this phrase.
Now it's your turn.
Listen and repeat.
00:17:50 話者 5
Listen to today's skit one more time.
00:18:03 話者 8
It's time for Miya's.
00:18:20 話者 6
Travel Guide, and today we'll talk about Kyoto, a place that draws tourists from around the world.
00:18:30 話者 5
Kyoto has lots of fascinating spots to visit.
00:18:34 話者 6
The ancient capital has centuries-old temples, shrines, castles, gardens, and so on.
For example, Kyomizudera Temple is known for the main hall stage jutting out over a cliff.
Ryoranji Temple has an exquisite rock garden.
Fushimi Inari Taisha Shrine has a tunnel of gates.
And the Palace of Nijojo Castle has an eye-catching, elaborate interior decor.
00:18:59 話者 5
Just strolling around is fun too.
00:19:02 話者 6
Sure, it's nice to take a leisurely walk through the back streets lined with matcha, or along the river.
If you get tired, drop by a traditional cafe for Japanese sweets.
Wherever you visit, you won't be disappointed.
00:19:27 話者 5
We hope you enjoyed today's Easy Japanese.
00:19:30 話者 6
Tune in next time.
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Tokyo Skytree
00:20:19 話者 10
Japan has various kinds of landmarks that fascinate visitors.
They range from cultural and historic locations to modern buildings created with cutting-edge technologies.
What led to their creation and what were the challenges involved?
The backstory of Japanese landmarks brings you the stories behind these amazing places.
In this episode of the backstory of Japanese landmarks, we feature the world's tallest broadcast tower, Tokyo Skytree.
Tokyo Skytree is 634 meters tall.
Other landmarks such as the Tokyo Tower and Paris's Eiffel Tower have wide bases.
But Tokyo Skytree is slim and more like a spire.
Its color, named Skytree White, is based on the lightest shade of Japanese indigo blue.
The tower can be seen from a great distance, but when people first see it, some think its form is rather simple.
Tokyo Skytree was built using state-of-the-art Japanese technology.
But that's not all.
Traditional skills, respected and handed down over generations of craftspeople, also played a vital role in its construction.
The base of Tokyo Skytree is triangular in shape when seen from above.
This was designed to let people enter from the three sides of the surrounding areas.
Meanwhile, the two observation decks at the heights of 350 meters and 450 meters are round and offer a 360-degree panoramic view.
This means the cross-section of the tower's base is a triangle, but becomes round toward the top.
Looking more carefully, Tokyo Skytree's outline is not made of straight lines.
The lines are actually slightly curved.
Depending where the tower is viewed from, some parts of the tower warp inwards, while other parts bulge outwards.
This comes from traditional Japanese architecture.
The inward warp is called sori, while the outward curve is called mukuri.
Tokyo Skytree's towering outline is a combination of sori and mukuri.
A particularly important feature of Tokyo Skytree is its earthquake resistance.
The tower's construction began in 2008.
Three years later, in 2011, a massive earthquake struck eastern Japan.
After overcoming a number of challenges posed by the disaster, the tower was completed in 2012.
Tokyo Skytree has an outer frame and an inner column.
The two are structurally detached.
During an earthquake, the column acts as a weight and moves in the opposite direction as the outer frame.
This reduces the impact of tremors.
This anti-seismic structure was inspired by a traditional Japanese structure, the five-story pagoda.
Five-story pagodas of Buddhist temples have a column at the center, similar to Tokyo Skytree.
Due to their excellent quake resistance,
There are no records of any wooden pagodas collapsing in an earthquake in Japan's history.
Japan's oldest five-story pagoda is in Horyuji Temple in Nara, built more than 1,400 years ago.
The wisdom of ancient people lives on in today's advanced technologies.
Thank you for tuning in to the backstory of Japanese Landmarks.
We hope you have a chance to visit these landmarks and see for yourself what makes them so special.
00:27:01 話者 8
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