The Japan Coast Guard reports that two Chinese patrol ships have been in Japan's territorial waters for two days. This is the longest intrusion into the waters in eight years.

Officials say the two vessels entered the waters off the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea shortly before 11 a.m. Sunday and tried to approach a Japanese fishing boat.

A drawing of bodhisattvas, or Buddhist saints, has been discovered on one of the doors at a World Heritage-listed temple in Kyoto Prefecture.

The door was made nearly 1,000 years ago, when the Byodoin temple was built in what is now Uji City. It was for the temple's phoenix hall.

Tokyo will host an international gymnastics event next month. It will be the first competition of an Olympic sport to be held in Japan since the outbreak of the coronavirus.

The president of the International Gymnastics Federation, Watanabe Morinari, made the announcement on Monday.

A park symbolizing recovery from the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in northeastern Japan has fully opened in Minamisanriku Town in Miyagi Prefecture.

The opening ceremony was held on Monday after the construction of all areas of the park had been completed.

NHK has learned that according to a study, a major river that runs through Tokyo and neighboring Saitama Prefecture could have breached its banks if Typhoon Hagibis had brought more rain last year.

Tokyo University of Science Professor Nihei Yasuo conducted a flood simulation on the Arakawa River using 21 forecasts the Meteorological Agency issued 10 hours before the typhoon made landfall in October last year.

An NHK opinion poll shows that the approval rating for Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide's Cabinet has dropped 7 points to 55 percent. The disapproval rating has risen 7 points to 20 percent.

NHK telephoned 2,236 randomly chosen people aged 18 or older over a three-day period starting on Friday. Fifty-seven percent, or 1,284 people, responded.

One year has passed since Typhoon Hagibis made landfall in Japan. Bereaved families in a northeastern town have offered prayers for the victims of the disaster.

About 100 people attended a memorial ceremony on Monday in Marumori, Miyagi Prefecture.

Official campaigning has kicked off for a second referendum in Osaka City on whether to reorganize the city into wards similar to those in Tokyo.

What is known as the "Osaka metropolis plan" calls for abolishing the city and creating four special wards. Those who proposed the plan say it will eliminate administrative redundancy between the city and Osaka Prefecture.

The Bank of Japan says the Producer Price Index sank 0.1 percent in September, excluding the effects of last year's consumption tax hike. It's the first drop in four months as business activities remained sluggish. The decline was larger year-on-year at 2.3 percent.

Weakening demand for goods including steel and iron, machinery and textiles was behind the drop.

A report by the BOJ highlights that prices in Japan are under downward pressure amid the pandemic.

The central bank estimates that Japan's output gap stood at minus 4.83 percent in the April-June quarter. A negative reading means that demand is falling short of supply.

An information and communication center for sexual minorities has opened in Tokyo.

Pride House Tokyo Legacy was set up in the capital's Shinjuku Ward by a group of organizations and companies that supports lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals.

Dozens of people in northern Japan enjoyed a special sightseeing flight on Sunday, amid the slump in air travel brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.

Japan Airlines organized the flight together with the Yamagata prefectural government and a travel agency.

An information and communication center for sexual minorities has opened in Tokyo.

Pride House Tokyo Legacy was set up in the capital's Shinjuku Ward by a group of organizations and companies that supports lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals.

A new survey shows that an increasing number of cancer patients have refrained from going to see doctors amid the coronavirus pandemic.

But it also shows that some were able to cope with anxiety with better information.