Japan's government is planning to relax some of its COVID-19 measures. Prime Minister Kishida Fumio says doctors will not need to file as much data about patients who test positive and that fully vaccinated travelers will be allowed to skip the pre-flight PCR test.

Under the current system, medical staff have to collect detailed personal information about every patient who tests positive and enter it into a government system. Doctors have complained it can be extremely time-consuming.

Japan's Prime Minister Kishida Fumio has indicated that he will order his party to take further measures to dispel public mistrust of the party over ties between its members and the former Unification Church.

He was speaking to reporters on Wednesday.

The Japanese government has unveiled tentative plans to restart more nuclear reactors as early as summer next year, with the aim of preparing for a power crunch and ensuring energy security.

A government council led by Prime Minister Kishida Fumio made the decision on Wednesday at a meeting on achieving carbon neutrality. The government aims to restart seven idle reactors around the country.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government confirmed 25,444 new cases of the coronavirus on Wednesday.

The daily tally for the capital is about 4,000 fewer than a week earlier.

Japan's Foreign Ministry has lowered its coronavirus infection alert for travel to nearly 100 countries and territories. Currently, no parts of the world are under Level 3, which urges people to avoid all travel.

The ministry revised its four-level alert for countries and territories across the globe on Wednesday after studying their infection levels.

A supporter of Japan's Prime Minister Kishida Fumio says he unknowingly headed a group with links to the former Unification Church.

The church, now called the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, has been accused of shady practices.

Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio has announced that his government will revise the current system for reporting nationwide coronavirus cases, to ease the burden on healthcare workers.

Medical institutions in Japan are currently required to register all infected people they've identified into a state-run system. Their staff must enter those people's names, dates of birth and other details.

A group of female proprietors of traditional inns in Japan's Fukui Prefecture are hoping to attract tourists to the area with a new sake they are developing.

It has become an annual tradition for the women from the Awara hot spring resort on the Sea of Japan coast to create an original sake.

The number of overseas tourists coming to Japan has remained at a fraction of the level before the coronavirus pandemic despite the easing of entry restrictions in June.

Japan had banned tourists from abroad for more than two years due to the pandemic. It resumed accepting tourists from 98 countries and economies on June 10, on condition that they be restricted to escorted group tours.

The Japanese government is moving to start accepting overseas tourists who do not want to take guided tours in a bid to address a decline in the numbers of foreign travelers visiting Japan.

The country reopened to foreign holidaymakers in June with the easing of anti-coronavirus border controls. But all tourists are still required to join guided tours and obtain a visa.

The labor ministry says it confirmed cases of illegal overtime work at more than 10,000 business places across Japan in fiscal 2021.

The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry conducted on-site inspections at 32,025 business places in the year that ended in March. They included places where workers had complained of long hours.

Scorching heat is expected in many parts of Japan on Monday, with temperatures likely to top 35 degrees Celsius in some areas.

The Meteorological Agency says that warm, moist air will likely drive up temperatures in western Japan, as well as in areas along the Sea of Japan in the eastern and northern parts of the country.

A teenager who stabbed two people in Tokyo has reportedly told investigators she wanted to see if people die from stab wounds before killing her own family.

She has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder.

Sources say business suit retailer Aoki Holdings kept records of conversations by suspects in a bribery case for a Tokyo Games sponsorship contract.

Tokyo prosecutors have arrested the firm's former chairman, Aoki Hironori, and two others on suspicion of bribing a former executive of the Tokyo Games' organizing committee, Takahashi Haruyuki, with about 380,000 dollars. Takahashi is also under arrest. The four suspects have denied the allegations.