For short. It will send out data from other smart phones that come within a onemeter radius for 15 minutes or more. It allows users who test positive to anonymously notify others who they come into contact with. The app doesnt harvest information on phone numbers, location or anything else that could identify users. All contact data is deleted after 14 days. The government says the app is better at protecting user privacy compared to Similar Software introduced abroad. Opinions on the hightech tool are mixed. Translator everybody is worried right now so thehe app useful. Its easy to install. Translator elderly people are most at risk. I wonder whether they with easily operate smart phones to download and use the app. The government is calling on people to download the app saying the more users there are, the more effective it will be. People are gradually coming back to airports and railway stations across japan. Travel restrictions between prefectures put in place to fight the e coronavirus were fuy lifted. At Haneda Airport in tokyo, business and leisure travelers were heading for their respective destinations. This man saiaid hes flying to shimane prefecture in western japan for business and to see his mother. Translator i feel lucky that we arere not being asked to refrain from traveling anymore. I think the top priority is to avoid causing trouble for others by understanding what we need to do and what not to. Japan Airlines Says more than 5,000 passengers a day have been departing from terminal one this week. Thats nearly four times more than when the state of emergency was in place. At tokyo station, shinkansen bullet train passengers are returning, although platforms were far from packed on friday. Translator i booked my seat where there are entrepreneur pure people around on the seating charts. The Central Japan Railway company is requiring officials to disinfect ticket machines daily. Plastic sheets have also been installed at ticket windows to prevent exposure to airborne droplets. While restrictions are being lifted, theres still concerns about the virus spreading. Our next report looks at how officials in businesses are taking a cautious approach. Open for business. Its a declaration being made across japan after months of anxiously waiting for the right time. The hida region is home to many Tourist Spots including the unesco World Heritage site shirakawa golf. While the border restrictions are being lifted, theyre welcoming people back with one request. In tokyo businesses that had remain shuttered until this week are also trying to entice people back. This nightclubub is reopening o friday for the first time in nearly 2 1 2 months, but things wont be like they used to be. Club goers will have their temperatures checked before entering and will be serveved through a screen by y face shieldclad staff. Translator we have to create an environment where customers with drink safely. We want to do all we can to develop trust. The reopening comes at a tenuous time. In recent days newly confirmed cases include people who either worked or had recently visited a nightclub. To help ease anxiety local officials are brainstorming ways to mitigate the risk of an infection. Part of their solution is not rushing back too quickly. This Live Music Venue is opening its doors on friday with a new set of rules including people distancing themselves from each other and from performers. That means only 60 people will be allowed in, even though it has a capacity of 500. 0. To help make up for the lost revenue, the company sayays it plans to s stream t the concert online. Translator for now im relieved, except businesses wont be able to survive if we have to operate under the current circumstances for a long time. There are still many issueues t be solvlv. R reporter thehe eased restrictions may help many struggling industries, but the road to recovery is paved with uncertainty. The main challenge now is how to revitalize businesses without earn da endangering peoples lives. Now to an update on an alleged vote buying scacandal involving japans former Justice Minister and his wife, both of whom are sitting lawmakers. Nhk has learned that Kawai Katsuyuki asked some people who receivived money not to issue h a receipt. Sources say he handed out cash to local Assembly Members before and after local elections last april. They say kawai described the money as Campaign Contributions or congratulatory gifts. Prosecutors allege his reluctance t to accept receipts suggts he was aware the e handouts were illegal. Prosecutors arrested kawai and his wife kawai anri for allegedly giving out 240,000 to more than 90 people. They say the couple was trying to secure votes for anri in the upper house election last july which she won. The scandal prompted an apology hours after their arrest from Prime Minister abe shinzo. Who appointed katsuyuki as Justice Minister. The kawais have reportedly denied doing anything illegal. A senior u. S. Defense official says washington and tokyo are still looking at a landbased Missile Defense system. Japanese officials said monday they were halting the plan to introduce two units of the system called aegis ashore. A u. S. Official overseeing indopacific security affairs, deploying the system would strengthen the u. S. Japan alliance. He added the u. S. Understands japan is trying g to find a coc effective alternative. The system is dedesigned to shs down Ballistic Missiles in outer space. Japanese Officials Say revamping the system would be too costly and time consuming. Japans defense minister says the change of plans may mean that the National Defense Program Guidelines need to be reviewed. Those guidelines were last revised two years ago. Translalator now that the deployment process has been halted, how we chose to build up our defense structure will affect japans Security Strategy as a whole. Kono says the medium term Defense Program may also be revised. Prime minister abe said thursday that the National Security council will start discussing new strategies this summer. Two japanese Media Outlets have apologized for releasing opinion polls that were partly based on fake answers. Fuji Television Network and the sankey newspaper say theyll retract the related stories. The surveys were aged at gauging Public Opinion on japans cap net and other issues. They sayay it stemmed from a kyo based firm commissioned to make calls for the survey. An employee from the subcontractor is said to have input answers without making phone calls on 14 occasions between may 2019 and last month. As a result nearly onefifth of the responses used for the results were fake. The employee reportedly said it was difficult too find enoughh people t to make telephone call for the survey. Some areas in the United States are seeing a sharp increase in new coronavirus infections. The spike is affecting states in the south and west that were among the first to resume economic activities. Texas reported 3,129 new cases on wednesday, the highest ever daily figure. Arizona reported about 1800 case cass, four times more than a month ago. Reports say the occupancy rate of intensive care units in the state reached 83 , sparking fears of a shortage of ventilators. The icu occupancy rate in alabama has reportedly risen to 96 in some areas. Governors in these states say they will not impose further lockdowns despite criticism that they were too quick to lift them. A tally from Johns Hopkins University Shows the number of confirmed infections worldwide topped 8. 5 million on thursday. The global death toll now stands at more than 450,000. The u. S. Has the most fatalities at over 118,000. In otherer nenews, the head of International Paralympic committee is criticizing organizers of the u. S. Open tennis tournament. Theyre upset over a decision to exclude wheelchair tennis this year. The u. S. Open is scheduled for august 31st to september 13th in new york. The event will be held without spectators due to the coronavirus pandemic. Organizers decided to cancel the wheelchair competition to help reduce the number of players involved. Ipc president Andrew Parsons said in a statement that his organization is disappointed in the decision adding that it has upset many athletes. Parsons stressed that the pandemic has created challenges for sporting event organizers around the world, but he said that should not be used as an excuse to discriminate against a group of players or stop offering inclusive competition. Wheelchair tennis players across the globe are also criticizing the decision on social media. Its time for a check on the weather with our meteorologist jonathan oh. People across japan have been drenched friday coming into work. Jonathan, can you explain whats expected for the weekend . We should be expecting things to be a little drier as we head into the weekend. We saw rain draped across most of japan, at least the pacific side of the country. But we are seeing that rain now starting to move down toward the south, but not without also creating a lot of wet weather. Here is a look of video out of cam moto. Unfortunately because of the heavy rain this created a risk of landslides and actually ended up having serious warnings released because of this so people. Reporter advised to avoid low bridges. Trains disrupted in the process. In shiga prefecture, we had a house damaged because of the landsli landslide. This is the radar report starting thursday morning and lasting through the midday hours on friday. If you look close at the colors on here, the oranges and the pink, theyre showing particularly heavy rain. These high rainfall totals over 24 hours. It should be drier as we head through the weekend as High Pressure moves in, pushes the front down and we should be seeing drier weather coming up. Tokykyo 28. We got to 19. 8 degrees in tokyo on friday. So we should be seeing a bit of a warmup as we head into the weekend. Heavy rain is expected to continue into the southern areas of china as well. Be on the lookout for that as were still seeing flooding problems into the southern regions of the country. Speaking of rain, we have strong thunderstorms that have been rolling through the upper plains here. Those in the south earns plains need to be in the lookout. Oklahoma city looking at thunderstorms as we go through friday. Thats a look at your forecast. Hope you have a good day wherever you are. Thats all for now on this edition of n hnchtsk newsline. Im raja pradhan in tokyo. Thanks for joining us. Welcome to newsline in depth. Im marie yanaka. What do you look for when you buy clothes or footwear. Some people focus on functionality and the price tag. Others consider the design, and then there are those who base their decisions on the brand name. Today well be looking at how companies are adding extra value to their products to make them more desirable. A major motivating factor is exclusivity. It seems to be human nature to crave things in short supply. Nowhere is this more evident than in the sneaker business, with its limited edition runs as we see in our first story. An Early Morning and lots of people are dressed in identical footwear. Theyre here to buy new limited edition sneakers. A strict dress code is enforced. They have to wear these shoes to get inside the show. Translator i really want a pair. Theyre limited edition. Reporter by standing in line for hours is not enough. Customers also have to get lucky in the lottery. This is what all the excitement is about. A special Edition Collaboration between travis scott and artist nike. 500 people showed up ready to buy. But the firm is only selling 100 pairs. Translator its not something anyone can buy or something over stocked that the store cant sell. Im not sure id want Something Like that. I think the sneaker manufacturers are doing a good job attracting attention thahat waway. Reporter the customers are known as sneaker heads and theyre crisscrossing the country. This is sneaker con, one of the largest in the world. Its the first time to hold it in japan. Local sneaker heads have flocked here to buy, trade and talk about their favorite footwear. 50 vendors set up here and most are shoe vendors. They buy rare shoes and sell them unused at a higigher price. All these items are limited edition. In some cases the maker only released a few hundred pairs. Prices run into the thousands of dollars. This man is scouring the tables for a rare type. He usually shows online. Translator many of them ive never seen in real life. Reporter something has caught his eye. Released in 2012 this was a collaboration between nike. The original price was 148. Today it is eight times higher. Translator that kind of priets jump happens all the time. If i really want it, i just have to pay. Theres no choice. Reporter this man just opened his own store in tokyo after years selling shoes online. Sneaker con offers the perfect springboard for his new business. He says hes not really in the business. Hes selling highly priced collectables. Translator my customers dont view sneakers as footwear. They see them as something much more special. One of them paid me 1,300 for bun pair and told me he was getting a good deal. Reporter some analysts believe the u. S. Sneaker market is close to saturation, but those on the supply side dont agree. The japanese sneaker heads are very big geeks. I think it continues to grow and bring in new people and new ideas and new brands and new collectors. So its going to continue to be a very Big Community globally. Reporter its all about engineering desire. Sneakers have become a status symbol and suppliers are making sure they stay in short supply. Nhk world. Fashion can excite us, but the industry has been coming under increasing scrutiny for its impact on the environment. So some companies are focusing on recycling. Others are moving away from fur and Leather Goods in favor of plantbased vegan fabrics. Japan has been late to the game in terms of considering social responsibility and ecofriendly options. But thats all starting to change. Reporter dee or, chanelel, louis vuitton. Whatever the top names s show a Paris Fashion Week may end up in your closet. The latest trend seems to be sustainability. Stella m martney is a a pioneerf ecofriendly fashion. More than 7575fhe materiaia you see i h h designs are vegeg or recycleded shee says thihis seasons line her most sustainable yet. Her inspiration, the next generation, advocating change. This 16yearold activist made a plea that moved the designers heart. We are in the beginning of a mass extinction, and all you can talk abo i is money and fairy tass of eternal economic growth. How dareou reporter theashihion indust i is a majoror pollutute bolsteringng production and trtransportation. The uninited nationons says itt produces 10 of Global Carbon emissions, more than produced by maritimeme shipping and International Air travel combined. At u. N. Climate change conference top Fashion Companies plan to cut emissions by 30 . Some companies are going farther, hoping to change the industry from the inside. When you work in fashion, you can see it. Fashion is a very polluted industry. The materials, the water, the dyeing materials. Everything is creating a lot of harm, andnd especially the Business Model which is around fashion. Reporter the companyny take sustainability seriously. It hires Fishing Vessels to dredge trags from the ocean noor and i it takes w whatever plastt can salvage to create yarn. Japanese company yoki is looking to take it on. At first it needs to convince Department Stores to put eco clothing on their shelves. Translator i think japan is a little behind on sustainability. Im very interested in such a brand coming into japan. Reporter the companys timing may be perfect. Buyers are already thinking about the benefits of Sustainable Living because of recent events. Reporter typhoons cause major damamage, with many blala the srms on clite change. Transtor jap was hit by two typhoons which should have been a once in a century event. I feel something is changing. There is something we can do. Reporter all thats left is convincing consumers and that may not be too difficult. This fashion editor says young japanese readers are asking for environmental options. Translator if the Fashion Companies dont act, consumers will look elsewhere. Those in generation z, the Digital Generation tend to take a hard look at companies to see if theyre making products that are environmentally friendly. Reporter stores in japan may soon be stocking more sustaiainable apparel. The real tests will come later in the change rooms and at the checkout counter. Marina shirakawa, nhk world. The Movement Towards a sustainable fashion seems to be catching on. In the future, it may look a lot like this. A team of young japanese creatorsrs is reducing waste wi every cut of their fabric, byy drawawingndvances in artificial intelligence. It will be interesting to see how advances in technology and innovation by creators will bring us new products. Fashion helps us express who we are, and with more choices like those we saw today, what we wear will help reflect our fundamental values even better. And thats all for the headlines this hour, you are watching france 24. Leaders are discussing a 750 billion euro rescue fund. The block is facing its worst downturn in decades because of the coronavirus. If the 20 member seven if the 27 Member States could find Common Ground a deal could be sign as early as next month. There is disagreement on who and how on who should pay and w the money should be spent. 750 billion euro recovevery fund that the E European Commission has proposed in order to deal with the longterm economic
vimarsana.com © 2020. All Rights Reserved.