High-level delegations from Asia-Pacific nations and international organizations have gathered in Japan to discuss water-related issues.
The occasion is the fourth Asia-Pacific Water Summit that opened in the southwestern city of Kumamoto on Saturday.
Japan Coast Guard vessels and a helicopter are searching for a tour boat that ran into trouble in waters off eastern Hokkaido.
The tour boat KAZU I sent out a distress message early Saturday afternoon saying it was taking on water off the Shiretoko Peninsula.
Japan's Foreign Minister Hayashi Yoshimasa is making final arrangements to meet a delegation sent by South Korea's President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol on Monday.
The seven-member delegation is scheduled to visit Japan from Sunday through Thursday ahead of Yoon's inauguration on May 10. The delegates include National Assembly Deputy Speaker Chung Jin-suk.
Japanese experts on refugee assistance have called for evacuees from Afghanistan and other conflict areas to be given support similar to what Ukrainians are being offered.
Ogawa Reiko, professor at Chiba University, and Orii Norimasa, representative director of Pathways Japan, spoke at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan in Tokyo on Friday.
The first X Games in Japan have kicked off in Chiba City, neighboring Tokyo. Japanese athletes showed off their skills on Friday.
Athletes are competing in 10 events in skateboarding, bicycle motocross, or BMX, and freestyle motocross, or Moto X, at Zozo Marine Stadium for three days from Friday.
Japan's main ruling party has proposed that the country should acquire what it calls a "counterattack capability" and to secure a larger budget to boost its defense capabilities.
The Liberal Democratic Party's Research Commission on Security compiled on Thursday the proposal to the government. Japan plans to revise its National Security Strategy and other defense documents before the year-end.
The Japanese government has compiled a new strategy to develop quantum technology and artificial intelligence.
It considers the two fields important to both the country's economic security and disaster management.
The Japanese government began procedures on Friday to auction off a portion of oil from the national reserves in a bid to stabilize supplies and curb soaring prices.
It's part of 15 million barrels to be released from the reserves in coordination with the International Energy Agency.
Artisans in a city north of Tokyo are producing traditional daruma dolls painted in the colors of the Ukrainian flag, with the proceeds to be donated to the war-torn country.
The dolls are being made at a workshop in Takasaki, Gunma Prefecture, which is a leading producer of the good luck charms.
Japan's annual diplomatic report has criticized Russia's invasion of Ukraine. It also mentions for the first time in 19 years that Japan's Northern Territories have "illegally been occupied" by Russia.
The Foreign Ministry presented this year's Diplomatic Bluebook to a Cabinet meeting on Friday. The report has been compiled annually since 1957.
A Tokyo-based orchestra has performed a musical composition by a Ukrainian composer to show sympathy and support for Ukrainian citizens.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra added "Prayer for the Ukraine" by Valentin Silvestrov to Thursday's program list. It says some of the money from ticket sales will be donated to Ukraine.
A non-partisan group of Japanese lawmakers has visited Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo for the annual spring festival that started on Thursday.
The group usually visits the shrine during its spring and autumn festivals and on August 15, the day Japan commemorates the end of World War Two.
Japan's health ministry is planning to offer a fourth shot of a coronavirus vaccine five months after the third jab.
Sources at the ministry told NHK that the fourth shots will initially be provided to people at risk of developing serious symptoms, including the elderly and those with underlying conditions.
Japan's immigration agency is set to issue evacuee certificates to Ukrainians to show they have arrived in the country after fleeing Russia's invasion of their homeland.
The Immigration Services Agency of Japan said the documents will make it easier for evacuees to receive support they need for life in Japan.