Japan's government is considering lifting the coronavirus state of emergency currently issued for 10 prefectures except Okinawa.

It also plans to apply intensive preventive measures to seven of them, including Tokyo and Osaka.

Japan's government is set to cap attendance at major events at 10,000 as a transitional measure when it lifts a coronavirus state of emergency or other special measures.

The minister in charge of the coronavirus response, Nishimura Yasutoshi, revealed the policy at a government advisory panel of experts on Wednesday.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government says it confirmed 501 new cases of the coronavirus in the capital on Wednesday.

The figure is up 61 from a week ago, for the first week-on-week increase since Saturday.

The ordinary session of Japan's Diet has closed, with a general election on the horizon.

Opposition parties had sought to extend the session -- and launched a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide's cabinet. Their efforts failed.

The Japanese government plans to create a national quality standard for face masks.

The introduction of Japanese Industrial Standards, or JIS, for face masks aims to help consumers choose safe products and limit the spread of highly transmissible coronavirus variants.

The Japanese government is expected to decide on Thursday what to do about the coronavirus state of emergency declared in Tokyo and nine other prefectures.

The emergency measure is set to end Sunday. Officials are considering lifting the declaration in prefectures where infection trends are improving, and transition to a quasi-emergency that will involve more focused steps to contain the virus.

Japan's general election is likely to be held in or after September, as the ordinary Diet session will close on Wednesday.

The ordinary Diet session, which began in January, will end one day after the Lower House rejected a no-confidence motion submitted by four opposition parties against Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide's Cabinet.

Japan's Diet has enacted a bill that restricts the use of land near Self-Defense Force bases and nuclear facilities.

The Upper House passed the bill in the plenary session on Wednesday, endorsing the final Diet approval.

The International Olympic Committee and the Tokyo organizing committee expect 70 to 80 percent of media crews covering the Olympics and Paralympics this summer to be vaccinated before the Games open.

The IOC and the organizers recommend that media personnel who may come into contact with athletes during the Games receive coronavirus vaccine shots.

Japanese officials are debating whether to extend the current coronavirus state of emergency in Tokyo and 9 other prefectures. It's due to end on Sunday, but officials want to make a decision a few days earlier to give people time to prepare.

New infections in the prefectures under a state of emergency are on the decline, but the pace has slowed in some of them.

In Japan, the opposition bloc is locking horns with the governing parties, one day before the current Diet session ends on Wednesday.

Four opposition parties submitted a no-confidence motion against the Cabinet, but it was voted down by the ruling coalition and other lawmakers at the Lower House.

Two US military Osprey transport aircraft made unusual landings at an airport in northeastern Japan on Monday. One of them reportedly detected trouble during flight.

The CV-22 transport planes from the Yokota Air Base in Tokyo landed in succession at Yamagata Airport on Monday afternoon.

Work has begun to add the names of recently-identified victims of the 1945 Battle of Okinawa to a monument in Japan's southern prefecture.

The Cornerstone of Peace in a memorial park in Itoman City, Okinawa Prefecture, is inscribed with the names of more than 240,000 people who died in the fighting. The names of people newly recognized as victims are added every year.

Japan's Environment Minister Koizumi Shinjiro has called for a review of the country's policy of supporting coal-fired power exports under limited conditions.

The call came after the leaders of the Group of Seven agreed to end international financing of coal power generation without emissions controls this year, in their summit that closed on Sunday.