Japan's Prime Minister Kishida Fumio is visiting Thailand, where he called on the local business community to invest actively to achieve sustainable economic growth in the post-pandemic age.
Kishida held talks with representatives of the business community in the Thai capital Bangkok on Monday. He is visiting the country as part of his trip to Southeast Asia and Europe.
A funeral was held on Monday for a man who died after a tour boat he boarded with his girlfriend sank off Japan's northern prefecture of Hokkaido on April 23.
Family members and friends bid their final farewell to Suzuki Tomoya, aged 22, during the funeral held in Obihiro City, Hokkaido, where his parents' house is located.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Government reported 2,403 new coronavirus infections on Monday.
The figure is down more than 700 from a week ago.
Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio is reportedly considering sending a Cabinet minister in his place to attend the inauguration of Yoon Suk-yeol as president of South Korea.
Japanese government sources say Kishida plans to stay away from the ceremony scheduled for May 10 in Seoul.
Japan's Coast Guard in the northern prefecture of Hokkaido has raided the office of the operator of a sunken tour boat and the homes of the company's president and the vessel's skipper.
Investigators searched the firm's office in Shari Town on Monday.
Japanese Prime Minster Kishida Fumio will meet with Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha in Bangkok on Monday.
Kishida arrived in Thailand on Sunday evening as part of his trip to Southeast Asia and Europe.
Japanese rescue crews continue their search inside a sunken tour boat using underwater cameras. They are trying to locate 12 people who remain missing, but a fast ocean current is hampering the operation.
The 19-ton "KAZU I" carrying 24 passengers and two crew members sank on April 23, off the coast of the Shiretoko Peninsula, northeastern Hokkaido. Fourteen people have been found but there were no survivors.
People in Japan are now enjoying their first spring holidays in three years with no coronavirus restrictions in place.
Popular tourist spots across the country are coming back to life, and are again teeming with visitors.
Local authorities across Japan confirmed 26,865 new cases of the coronavirus and 34 deaths as of 6 p.m. on Sunday.
The health ministry said the number of seriously ill patients stood at 165 as of Sunday. That's down six from the previous day.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Government reported 3,161 new coronavirus infections on Sunday.
The figure is down more than 1,770 from a week ago.
A Japanese trade union organization has staged a May Day rally in Tokyo, demanding corrections to pay gaps and long working hours.
The National Confederation of Trade Unions, or Zenroren, says 2,900 people took part in the gathering at a park in Shibuya Ward on Sunday. The event was scaled down in size and streamed online to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
Tokyo's Minato Ward has expanded a multi-language information service on its website to 108 languages from previous four. Around 17,000 people from about 130 countries live in the ward.
The municipal government conducted a survey last year on their multilingual services. Officials say many answered that they rely on the ward's webpage.
Rescue workers are using remote cameras to search inside a tour boat that sank off the northern Japanese prefecture of Hokkaido.
The "KAZU I" went missing off the Shiretoko Peninsula during a cruise on April 23. Twenty-four passengers and two crew members were on board.
A study in Japan has indicated that as of March, around 4.3 percent of the populations of Tokyo and four other prefectures had been infected with the coronavirus.
That's up from 2.5 percent in December.