The Tokyo Metropolitan Government has decided to ease its requested limit on the number of people permitted at each table in some bars and restaurants, while continuing to call on the public to stay vigilant against the spread of the coronavirus.
The decision was made by a panel of experts and Tokyo Metropolitan Government officials who met on Thursday to assess infections in the capital.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Government reported 6,713 new cases of the coronavirus on Thursday. The number is down about 1,800 from a week ago.
Tokyo officials also reported eight deaths on Thursday.
The US and Ukrainian ambassadors to Japan have expressed their intention to support Ukrainians who have evacuated their country due to Russia's invasion.
US ambassador Rahm Emanuel and his Ukrainian counterpart Sergiy Korsunsky met with more than 20 Ukrainian evacuees, including women and children, in Tokyo on Thursday.
The first X Games ever to be held in Japan will kick off on Friday.
X Games Chiba 2022 will run through Sunday at a stadium in Chiba City, just east of Tokyo. The extreme sports event will feature three disciplines: skateboarding, bicycle motocross, or BMX, and freestyle motocross, or Moto X.
In Major League Baseball, Japanese two-way star Ohtani Shohei of the Los Angeles Angels has earned his first win of the season.
Ohtani faced the Houston Astros as the starting pitcher in Texas on Wednesday. He carried a perfect game through five and 1/3 innings.
New Zealand's Prime Minister says her country has an important role to play in Japan's push to go carbon-free.
Jacinda Ardern says both countries can benefit by working together on geothermal power.
Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio has sent a ritual offering -- a potted tree -- to Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on Thursday, to mark the start of its annual spring festival.
The "masakaki" tree had "Prime Minister Kishida Fumio" written on a wooden plaque.
Lawmakers of Japan's main ruling party are calling on the government to acquire what they call a "counterattack capability" to defend the country from potential missile attacks. They renamed the term from "enemy base strike capability."
The Liberal Democratic Party's Research Commission on Security backed a set of draft proposals on Thursday.
A Ukrainian evacuee has begun studying at the University of Tokyo.
Iryna Petrychenko, a researcher from a state university in Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, has been in Japan since March 21.
A team of Japanese researchers say it has successfully restored intervertebral disk function in rats by implanting tissue derived from induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPS cells. The method could lead to the development of new treatments for low back pain.
Professor Tsumaki Noriyuki of Kyoto University's Center for iPS Cell Research and Application, Osaka University researchers and others conducted the study on nucleus pulposus, the inner core of the intervertebral disk.
More than 40 percent of respondents in a survey by Japan's Foreign Ministry say the country should step up sanctions against Russia and Belarus over the situation in Ukraine.
The ministry conducted the telephone survey from March 17 to 22. One thousand people aged 18 or older responded.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Government reported 6,776 new cases of the coronavirus on Wednesday. The number is down about 1,500 from a week ago.
Tokyo officials also reported five deaths on Wednesday.
Russia's Ambassador to Japan Mikhail Galuzin has described the Japanese government's decision to expel eight Russian officials as counterproductive to bilateral relations.
Galuzin told Russian state-run media that the Japanese side is deliberately diminishing hopes for a diplomatic dialogue.
Eight Russian officials have left Japan following Tokyo's decision to expel them on April 8. It is rare for Japan to expel multiple foreign officials. The move was made to put more pressure on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine.
The officials, and their families, traveled from the Russian embassy to Tokyo's Haneda airport this morning. Their flight took off shortly after noon, local time.