A former Japanese fisherman exposed to radioactive fallout from a US hydrogen bomb test in the Pacific Ocean in 1954 died at the age of 87 on March 7, after contracting pneumonia.
Oishi Matashichi was one of the 23 crew members on board a tuna fishing boat, the Daigo Fukuryu Maru, based in Yaizu Port, Shizuoka Prefecture, when the United States conducted the test at Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands.
Surveillance camera footage submitted to a US court indicates that one of the two men who were arrested on suspicion of helping former Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosn escape from Japan met with his daughter at a Tokyo hotel on the day of the escape.
Tokyo prosecutors have arrested 60-year-old former US Green Beret Michael Taylor and his 28-year-old son Peter Taylor on March 2. They are suspected helping Ghosn flee to Lebanon in December 2019.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Government says it confirmed 256 new coronavirus cases on Sunday.
The average number of daily new cases for the seven-day period through Sunday in Tokyo is 301.1, up 7.9 percent from the previous week. This marks the ninth straight day of increase.
The coronavirus state of emergency for Tokyo and three surrounding prefectures will expire at the end of the day on Sunday.
It went into effect in early January, when infection cases were surging. Case numbers in the capital have leveled off, and efforts are underway to prevent a resurgence.
The number of suicides in Japan has topped 21,000 in 2020, the first year-on-year increase since 2009, the year after the global financial crisis triggered by Lehman Brothers' bankruptcy.
The numbers published by the health and welfare ministry show that 21,081 people took their own lives in 2020. The figure is up 912, or 4.5 percent, from 2019.
Japan's prefectural governors want strict measures maintained to prevent the coronavirus from spreading, after a state of emergency in the Tokyo area ends on Sunday.
Governors from about 30 of 47 prefectures across Japan held an online meeting on Saturday.
A magnitude 6.9 earthquake hit northeastern Japan on Saturday evening. Officials in Miyagi Prefecture say some people are injured. A tsunami advisory was issued for the prefecture, but it was lifted after about an hour and a half.
The Meteorological Agency is warning that further jolts as strong as the initial one could occur over the next week or so.
East Japan Railway Company says services on the Tohoku Shinkansen bullet train line, that were partially suspended following Saturday's earthquake, are expected to resume at 10 p.m.
The company says the affected areas are between Tokyo and Morioka stations.
Northeastern Japan was hit by a magnitude 6.9 earthquake at around 6 p.m. local time on Saturday. The Meteorological Agency first estimated the magnitude at 7.2, but later revised the figure.
A tsunami advisory was issued for Miyagi Prefecture, but it was lifted about an hour and a half later. Some local municipalities declared evacuation orders along coastal areas and opened evacuation centers, but all the orders have been lifted.
Japan's nuclear regulator says there have been no reports of abnormalities at nuclear power plants in areas affected by an earthquake that hit northeastern Japan early Saturday evening.
The Nuclear Regulation Authority says no abnormalities had been found as of shortly before 7 p.m. at the Fukushima Daiichi and Daini nuclear power plants in Fukushima Prefecture, the Onagawa nuclear plant in Miyagi Prefecture and the Tokai Daini nuclear plant in Ibaraki Prefecture.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Government says it confirmed 342 new coronavirus cases on Saturday.
The average number of daily new cases for the seven-day period through Saturday in Tokyo is 298.7, up 7.1 percent from the average for the previous week. This marks the eighth straight day of increase.
Saturday marks 26 years since the deadly sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway system by the Aum Shinrikyo cult.
Members of the cult released the toxic nerve agent inside morning rush-hour commuter trains on three lines in central Tokyo on March 20, 1995. Fourteen people were killed and about 6,300 others injured.
A magnitude 7.2 earthquake struck northeastern Japan at around 6:09 p.m. Japan time on Saturday.
A tsunami advisory has been issued for Miyagi Prefecture.
Five organizations preparing for the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics will meet on Saturday evening to resolve the question of whether overseas spectators can attend the Games.
The meeting will comprise members of the International Olympic Committee, the International Paralympic Committee, the Tokyo Games organizing committee, the Japanese government and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government.