:00:00. > :00:00.Now on BBC News all the latest business news live with
:00:00. > :00:20.The best of friends. US President Trump eat and Japanese Prime
:00:21. > :00:26.Minister Shinzo Abe meet. We find out what it will mean for the
:00:27. > :00:30.markets and the economy. And what do you want to be when you grow up? We
:00:31. > :00:41.find out why themepark that let's kids try out different jobs is
:00:42. > :00:46.gaining ground here in Asia. Hello and welcome to Asia Business
:00:47. > :00:51.Report, I'm Sharanjit Leyl. Japan's latest GDP figures are in showing
:00:52. > :00:55.the country's economy grew at an annualised rate of just 1% in the
:00:56. > :01:00.last quarter of 2016. The latest figures follow a weekend of meetings
:01:01. > :01:04.between these two men, this is Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe
:01:05. > :01:07.as well as the US President Trump eat in the US, and the two leaders
:01:08. > :01:13.agreed to a new economic dialogue that will focus on monetary policy,
:01:14. > :01:19.corporate projects and trade. So what will it mean for markets and
:01:20. > :01:23.the broader economy? Earlier I spoke with Martin Schultz from the Fujitsu
:01:24. > :01:28.Research Institute. Two objectives, one, showing that the US government
:01:29. > :01:32.needs a strong friend in Asia, that point was well taken it looks. The
:01:33. > :01:36.second is getting into a dialogue, that seems to be working now, there
:01:37. > :01:40.will be a continuous dialogue and this is very important to show the
:01:41. > :01:49.different positions and how they can be developed. You talk about this
:01:50. > :01:52.dialogue but we know that with Trump it was pretty much the end of the
:01:53. > :01:56.Trans-Pacific Partnership, so the idea is how they can move ahead with
:01:57. > :01:58.this dialogue. Some talk about bilateral trade relationships, but
:01:59. > :02:02.how difficult is that politically to achieve when you take into account
:02:03. > :02:06.that Japan logged the second-largest trade surplus with the US last year?
:02:07. > :02:11.That is really the tricky point here. It's not just trade, it's also
:02:12. > :02:16.the currency. Japan is a fast ageing economy with a slow economy at home,
:02:17. > :02:20.it needs exports. It also need a currency that makes it possible for
:02:21. > :02:31.governments to invest. The main point in Japan is actually there is
:02:32. > :02:34.so much capital in Japan, there's easy monetary policy so it also
:02:35. > :02:37.needs to invest. That's where the two countries can meet and this is
:02:38. > :02:41.where the focus has been, investment from the Japanese side in the US
:02:42. > :02:45.will help a lot. The US and Japan on the other hand need to remain calm
:02:46. > :02:48.in terms of developing the trade talks. Unfortunately TPP isn't
:02:49. > :02:53.around so there needs to be a new framework. Martin Schultz. South
:02:54. > :02:57.Korean prosecutors will for a second time question Samsung J Wiley in
:02:58. > :03:01.part of a probe into a grass scandal around the country's President.
:03:02. > :03:04.Prosecutors will question to other Samsung officials and their expected
:03:05. > :03:09.to decide this week if they will seek an arrest warrant for Mr Li.
:03:10. > :03:14.Earlier I asked our reporter why there is renewed interest in
:03:15. > :03:19.Samsung. If the head of Samsung, Mr Li, thought he was off the hook when
:03:20. > :03:25.a court in Seoul decided to reject his arrest warrant last month, he
:03:26. > :03:33.may not have expected today's summit to appear back at the prosecutor's
:03:34. > :03:37.office. During the past three weeks, investigators really reviewed the
:03:38. > :03:41.case and decided there were new aspects to the investigation that
:03:42. > :03:44.required further questioning. The allegation is that Samsung gave
:03:45. > :03:48.millions of dollars in return for the votes of the national pension
:03:49. > :03:54.fund in a big and contested restructuring of the company. This
:03:55. > :03:58.time senior executives of Samsung may also be questioned alongside
:03:59. > :04:02.with Mr Lee and the investigators feel they have collected enough
:04:03. > :04:07.evidence that may merit his detention. The prosecution team
:04:08. > :04:12.could file another arrest warrant and the court would then have to
:04:13. > :04:18.review the case again, so another anxious legal process may be heading
:04:19. > :04:23.towards Samsung's boss. Kevin Kim in Seoul. Block chain is the security
:04:24. > :04:27.protocol that helps to underpin the digital currency Bitcoins but
:04:28. > :04:32.recently mainstream financial institutions have also begun to take
:04:33. > :04:36.note. In fact, many have worked to adopt block chain technologies. So
:04:37. > :04:42.what are the advantages and how does it work with the charisma of the
:04:43. > :04:45.Tshwane Open has more. Imagine this. -- Karishma Vaswani has more.
:04:46. > :04:51.We are part of a joint account and each block is a transaction.
:04:52. > :04:54.Everytime one of us makes a transaction it gets added to the
:04:55. > :05:00.entire system and it's all linked together, one block on top of the
:05:01. > :05:05.other. At any point in time each of us can make a transaction, we can
:05:06. > :05:10.put money in and take money out and the entire system knows about it, it
:05:11. > :05:14.gets validated by all of us. But if one of us wants to do something
:05:15. > :05:19.dodgy without any of the others finding out, like for example change
:05:20. > :05:25.one of the transactions in the account, or remove something from
:05:26. > :05:30.it, well, the entire system would be lost. All of us would find out and
:05:31. > :05:37.the transaction wouldn't be able to go through. It would be invalidated.
:05:38. > :05:41.What does this do? It cuts out the middleman, the people who usually
:05:42. > :05:46.verify these sorts of transactions. So that means no more credit cards,
:05:47. > :05:51.no more banks. That's why so many banks are trying to jump onto the
:05:52. > :05:57.block chain bandwagon but before you run out and try to invest in block
:05:58. > :06:00.chain, let me give you a little note of caution. Some people who have
:06:01. > :06:05.used this technology have said that it's not that easy to you is and
:06:06. > :06:10.it's not always so secure. Of course, all of these block chains
:06:11. > :06:15.depend on the quality of the code written into them and as we all know
:06:16. > :06:20.these days sometimes codes can be cracked. And if that happens,
:06:21. > :06:23.well... The entire blockchain could come crashing down.
:06:24. > :06:34.Why our so excited about what chain? -- why our businesses. We were
:06:35. > :06:41.joined earlier by the director of Asia businesses for cult. -- why are
:06:42. > :06:45.the businesses. Up until now since blockchain
:06:46. > :06:50.technology was introduced we seen an uptake in the retail market, mainly
:06:51. > :06:55.in the form of digital currency and crypto currency. However we release
:06:56. > :06:58.out to see an uptake in the corporate enterprise market, mainly
:06:59. > :07:02.in the financials that we've recently seen. Mainly in the form of
:07:03. > :07:07.money transfers and money movement -- we've recently seen. Howard
:07:08. > :07:14.widespread is it, we've seen banks coming on board, -- why how
:07:15. > :07:17.widespread. Most of the financial industry today, you're still under
:07:18. > :07:20.proof of concept in a lot of different places, a lot of the
:07:21. > :07:23.market operators and market makers have publicly announced their
:07:24. > :07:30.interesting into the technology and looking into the technology. --
:07:31. > :07:34.they're investing into. If can go beyond that in terms of regulatory
:07:35. > :07:40.and compliance audit trails, all things can be used by block
:07:41. > :07:45.blockchain technology. Could it potentially cut out the middleman
:07:46. > :07:49.and they could be out of business? Definitely, there's a concern about
:07:50. > :07:53.that. The technology is still new and with any new technology there
:07:54. > :07:56.are concerns and hesitation of the uptake.
:07:57. > :08:03.Deciding what you want to be when you grow up can be one of the
:08:04. > :08:10.toughest questions a child will ever face. Our business catering to their
:08:11. > :08:16.curious mind is kids a near. -- a business. The global educational
:08:17. > :08:19.theme park is fast expanding across Asia but is it exposing children to
:08:20. > :08:22.too many big brands along the way? We look at the theme park as part of
:08:23. > :08:34.our business of kids series. I want to be a policeman. I want to
:08:35. > :08:39.be a doctor. I want to be a pilot. I want to be an air hostess.
:08:40. > :08:44.Thank you. In this imaginary city, kids come here to have fun and to
:08:45. > :08:48.learn about grown-up jobs. They also own pretend money. There are nearly
:08:49. > :08:52.40 companies vying for the children's the tension but some ask
:08:53. > :08:57.if it's appropriate for children to be exposed to so many brands in such
:08:58. > :09:01.an immersive way -- children's attention.
:09:02. > :09:12.Branding experts warn parents should be careful. Kids are constantly
:09:13. > :09:15.exposed to big brands, they're bombarded by thousands of brand
:09:16. > :09:18.messages every day but that's different to being dropped into a
:09:19. > :09:21.branded environment where he is no escape and no ability for them to
:09:22. > :09:25.censor themselves or the parents to edit it for them. Kidzania doesn't
:09:26. > :09:28.see a problem. We're surrounded by brands everyday and kids will grow
:09:29. > :09:32.up with that, whether macro three all elsewhere in the world. The
:09:33. > :09:38.ultimate goal is to provide realism for the kids' role-play -- whether
:09:39. > :09:43.Kidzania or elsewhere in the world. But it is expensive. What is
:09:44. > :09:47.interesting is to picture how to earn the money and then spend
:09:48. > :09:50.wisely. I think when they come here they can learn to be independent and
:09:51. > :10:02.also learn more problem-solving skills. For an average day's work,
:10:03. > :10:07.children can earn around 40 to 60 Islamic kidsos, the local currency.
:10:08. > :10:10.But this is more than childsplay, 50 million people visited Kidzania
:10:11. > :10:16.globally last year and half of them came from Asia. While parents can
:10:17. > :10:20.strive to give them every opportunity to get ahead in life,
:10:21. > :10:24.it's up to their children to take control. Ashley Ellerin, BBC News,
:10:25. > :10:29.Singapore. Looking at the markets, they are all
:10:30. > :10:33.higher, as you can see in Asia, taking their cues from Wall Street
:10:34. > :10:36.gains on Friday. That's it for this edition of Asia report. Thanks for
:10:37. > :10:42.watching. -- Asia Business Report. The United States, Japan
:10:43. > :10:49.and South Korea have requested an urgent meeting of the UN
:10:50. > :10:51.Security Council following North Korea's launch
:10:52. > :10:55.of a ballistic missile on Sunday