Hello and welcome to today’s news from Japan Daily News on March 19th, 2024. In today’s news, Japan is bracing for unstable weather conditions with thunderstorms, strong gusts of wind, and sudden heavy rain expected in western and eastern regions on the 20th. The Japan Meteorological Agency is urging people to be cautious of lightning strikes, tornadoes, and heavy rain. Moving on to transportation news, the Keihin Kyuko Railway has suspended train services between Shinagawa and Keikyu Kamata stations due to a personal accident at Shinagawa station. The services have been halted since around 7:30 am. In an effort to address the severe shortage of teachers, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology is considering exempting scholarship repayments for individuals who have completed teacher training programs, including those in graduate schools of education and other graduate programs with teaching internships. The exemption will be implemented starting from the next academic year for successful applicants in the upcoming teacher recruitment examination. Shifting to infrastructure, the Japanese government has announced plans to restore all seven ports in Ishikawa Prefecture that were damaged by the Noto Peninsula earthquake by the spring of the following year. In transportation updates, the JR Yamanote Line, which had suspended operations due to a fire along the tracks between Ikebukuro and Otsuka stations, has resumed services as of past midnight on the 19th. Additionally, the JR Shonan-Shinjuku Line, which was also affected by the safety check on the Yamanote Line, has resumed full services. However, the JR Shonan-Shinjuku Line is still suspended between Shinjuku and Kagohara stations, as well as between Shinjuku and Koganei stations in Saitama and Tochigi Prefectures respectively. Lastly, the JR Yamanote Line remains completely suspended in both the inner and outer loops since late evening for safety confirmation, with no estimated time for service resumption according to JR East. That’s it for today’s news. Stay tuned for more updates from Japan Daily News. And now for the weather. Today in Tokyo, the weather will be partly cloudy with a maximum temperature of 10°C and a minimum temperature of 6°C. There is a 80% chance of rain and a UV index of 2. Visit JapanDailyNews.com for the news, yen exchange rates, and a daily Japanese proverb.