The Japanese government is beefing up the monitoring of new strains of the coronavirus as infections with mutated viruses are being discovered across the country.
As of Thursday, 202 people had been confirmed to be infected mainly with the variant first reported in Britain. The figure includes those discovered at airport quarantine stations.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Government has confirmed 337 new coronavirus cases in the capital on Saturday.
The daily tally has been below 500 for 21 straight days.
The governors of about 40 Japanese prefectures have met online the day before the lifting of the coronavirus state of emergency for six prefectures. Many stressed the importance of measures to prevent a resurgence in new cases.
The National Governors' Association convened an emergency task force meeting online on Saturday.
A museum in the atomic-bombed Japanese city of Hiroshima has reopened after replacing many of its regular exhibits.
Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum has about 100,000 items related to the 1945 bombing, including articles donated by survivors and the families of the deceased and photos from the time.
The population in Tokyo has fallen year-on-year for the first time in almost a quarter-century.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Government says there were an estimated 13,952,915 people living in the capital as of February 1.
The father of three children who were found dead in southwestern Japan has sustained serious injuries after jumping from a hotel building.
Police believe he knows how the children died.
Firefighters are struggling to contain a forest fire that has burned for nearly a week in Ashikaga City, north of Tokyo, with dry conditions expected to continue for at least several more days.
The fire broke out on Sunday in southwestern Tochigi Prefecture. Officials say about 106 hectares had burned as of 6 p.m. on Friday, and the fire continues to spread.
Japan's prime minister says coronavirus conditions in six prefectures have improved enough to lift a state of emergency on Sunday. But, the declaration will remain in place for Tokyo and three neighboring prefectures.
Suga Yoshihide said, "What is important now is to take thorough measures to prevent the spread of infection and lift the state of emergency across the country on March 7."
Japan's health ministry officials say three people have developed possible adverse reactions to the coronavirus vaccination so far. That's 0.014 percent of the people who have received the shots in the country.
The officials reported at an expert panel meeting on Friday that the three are among more than 21,800 people who had received their first doses by Thursday.
The leaders of five groups preparing for the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games are likely to hold a meeting in Tokyo next week.
International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach and International Paralympic Committee President Andrew Parsons will travel to Japan and attend the meeting.
Japan's prime minister says coronavirus conditions in six prefectures have improved enough to lift a state of emergency at the end of the month. But the declaration will remain in place for Tokyo and three neighboring prefectures.
Osaka, Kyoto, Hyogo, Fukuoka, Aichi and Gifu will all be released early from the state of emergency --- originally set to expire on March 7.
The state of emergency for Osaka, Hyogo, Kyoto, Aichi, Gifu and Fukuoka will be lifted at the end of this month, Japan has announced. The declaration will be maintained for the Greater Tokyo Area.
NHK has learned that it will cost more than 400 billion yen, or about 3.7 billion dollars, to dispose of waste produced by the decontamination work for the 2011 nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant.
The decontamination work in Fukushima Prefecture is expected to produce 14 million cubic meters of waste such as soil and plants.
Japan's minister in charge of coronavirus vaccination says vaccines for the elderly will likely be delivered to all municipalities in the country by the end of June.
Regulatory Reform Minster Kono Taro told reporters on Friday that the government and US pharmaceutical firm Pfizer reached a broad agreement on the supply schedule.