Japan's Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide has received a COVID-19 vaccine ahead of his visit to the United States.
Arrangements are being made for Suga to meet US President Joe Biden early next month or later. He and each member of a Japanese delegation accompanying him will be vaccinated before their trip.
NHK has learned that final adjustments are being made for a five-party meeting next Monday to decide whether to allow overseas spectators at the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics.
The Tokyo Games, which had been scheduled for 2020, were postponed for a year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
A senior official with Japan's communications ministry has resigned after being wined and dined by both a telecom company and a satellite broadcaster.
Communications minister Takeda Ryota announced on Tuesday that he ordered the former vice minister for policy coordination, Taniwaki Yasuhiko, to be suspended from duty for three months for being entertained by telecom giant NTT.
The US foreign and defense chiefs have begun a day of meetings in Tokyo, as part of their very first overseas trip.
The choice to travel to Tokyo and Seoul, South Korea, underscores the weight the Biden administration is giving to Asian alliances -- particularly as recent moves by China spark concerns in the US.
Japan's government will likely decide as early as Thursday whether to lift the coronavirus state of emergency currently in place for Tokyo and three nearby prefectures.
The state of emergency for Tokyo and Kanagawa, Saitama and Chiba prefectures is set to expire on Sunday.
Japanese and US foreign and defense chiefs are to hold talks in Tokyo for the first time since the administration of President Joe Biden was inaugurated.
Foreign Minister Motegi Toshimitsu and Defense Minister Kishi Nobuo will meet US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Tuesday.
Relatives of Japanese who were abducted by North Korea are asking US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to help bring their family members home as early as possible.
Representatives of the relatives handed a letter addressed to Blinken to the US Embassy's Charge d'Affairs ad interim Joseph Young in Tokyo on Monday. Blinken arrived in Japan later in the day.
Japan's Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide says it is too early to tell whether the coronavirus state of emergency can be lifted for Tokyo and three neighboring prefectures next Sunday as scheduled.
Suga told an Upper House Budget Committee session on Monday that he will make a final decision after seeking experts' opinions.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Government says it confirmed 175 new cases of the coronavirus on Monday.
This brings the total number of infections in the Japanese capital to 115,584.
Japanese companies have launched a joint team to develop a successor for the F-2 fighter jets used by the Air Self-Defense Force.
The F-2 aircraft are scheduled to be retired from around 2035.
Researchers at a Japanese cancer center have found that the more alcohol premenopausal Japanese women drink, the more likely they are to develop breast cancer.
A research group at Aichi Cancer Center in the city of Nagoya collected data from more than 158,000 Japanese women over a period of around 14 years. It analyzed the data to study the link between alcohol and breast cancer.
Travelers crossing borders may one day be able to manage coronavirus test results and vaccination status on their smartphones. Officials in Tokyo have been testing the technology that could help fully restart international travel.
The system involves an app called CommonPass, which is being developed with the support of the Word Economic Forum as part of a global effort.
Researchers at a Japanese cancer center have found that the more alcohol premenopausal Japanese women drink, the more likely they are to develop breast cancer.
A research group at Aichi Cancer Center in the city of Nagoya collected data from more than 158,000 Japanese women over a period of around 14 years. It analyzed the data to study the link between alcohol and breast cancer.
The Japanese minister overseeing the government's COVID-19 vaccination program says he will call on businesses to allow employees to take leave to be vaccinated.
Kono Taro said in his internet program that side effects often come with vaccinations, and the likelihood of developing adverse reactions from the vaccine is probably higher than from a flu shot.