The Tokyo Metropolitan Government confirmed 33,466 new cases of the coronavirus on Saturday. Twelve deaths were reported.
The number of new cases was up 768 from a week ago, hitting the highest for a Saturday. It was the 11th consecutive day that the count was higher than the previous week.
Heavy rain is falling in parts of western Japan's Pacific side as atmospheric conditions grow unstable.
The Japan Meteorological Agency warns that heavy downpours in southern Kyushu and Shikoku through Sunday may cause mudslides.
Japanese officials have issued heatstroke alerts for many places in central Japan as temperatures are expected to soar on Saturday.
A high pressure system is bringing clear skies and high temperatures to a wide area from northern to western Japan.
Japanese Foreign Minister Hayashi Yoshimasa has stressed his country's intention to play a larger role in its alliance with the US amid an increasingly challenging security environment in the Indo-Pacific region.
Hayashi gave a speech on Friday at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in the US capital of Washington.
Japanese weather officials are urging residents in the southern regions of Kyushu and Shikoku to stay alert for heavy rain caused by Tropical Storm Songda.
They say downpours are expected through Saturday, and that people in low-lying areas should stay vigilant for possible flooding, as well as strong winds, high waves and lightning.
The fatal shooting of former Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo has focused attention on a religious group.
The suspect told investigators his mother made huge donations to the group and this ruined his family.
The Tokyo District Court has ruled that prosecutors acted illegally when they raided the office of a lawyer for former Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosn after he jumped bail and fled the country.
The ruling on Friday came in a civil suit filed by Hironaka Junichiro. His office was searched in January 2020, about a month after Ghosn fled to Lebanon to avoid facing trial in Japan on charges of financial misconduct.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Government confirmed 36,814 new cases of coronavirus infections on Friday. Five deaths were reported.
The daily tally was up by 1,819 cases from the same day last week. It was the tenth consecutive day that the count was higher than the previous week.
Japan's Emperor Emeritus Akihito, who is receiving treatment for heart failure, has visited a biological laboratory at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo.
The Emperor Emeritus, the father of Emperor Naruhito, left his residence in the Akasaka Estate for the Imperial Palace on Friday morning. He waved at children from his vehicle.
Investigative sources have told NHK that Tokyo police have warned several Japanese high-tech companies about a Russian trade official suspected of approaching their employees in an apparent attempt to engage in industrial espionage.
The sources say that last year an official from the Trade Representation of the Russian Federation in Japan was spotted outside several high-tech Japanese firms and seen approaching some of their employees.
The Japanese government has decided to introduce a new system to allow the country's 47 prefectures to issue declarations on their own to step up coronavirus measures.
Japan reported a record high of more than 230,000 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday amid the spread of the Omicron BA.5 subvariant. Tokyo's daily count also topped 40,000 for the first time.
Weather officials in Japan said Tropical Storm Songda has formed over waters south of Japan.
The Meteorological Agency said a tropical depression developed into the tropical storm at 9 p.m. on Thursday.
Toyota Motor has retained its ranking as the world's top-selling automaker for the first six months of 2022. It is the third straight year that it has claimed the title for the period.
Toyota says it and group companies Daihatsu and Hino sold a combined 5.13 million vehicles worldwide from January to June. That is far more than closest rival Volkswagen Group's 3.87 million.
Japan's Prime Minister Kishida Fumio is expected to appeal to nuclear-armed states for greater transparency about their nuclear capabilities, in his address to an international conference next week.
Kishida will become the first Japanese prime minister to attend a review conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, known as NPT. The upcoming meeting will open in New York on Monday.