Horyuji temple in Japan's ancient capital of Nara has raised more than seven times its crowdfunding target to supplement a decline in revenues due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The crowdfunding website shows that more than 7,400 people had donated a total of more than 146 million yen, or roughly 1 million dollars, when the funding campaign closed at 11 p.m. on Friday.
It was sunny and hot over wide areas from northern Japan to the Chugoku region on Saturday. Weather officials warn of the dangers of heatstroke, with more heat in the forecast for Sunday as well.
Daytime highs were 37.2 degrees Celsius in Toyooka City, Hyogo Prefecture, 36.8 degrees in Tottori City, and 34.5 degrees in central Tokyo. More than 70 percent of the Meteorological Agency's observation points recorded temperatures of over 30 degrees Celsius.
Japan confirmed a total of 222,305 new coronavirus infections on Saturday.
Health authorities report 101 deaths in the country.
The Japanese government on Friday decided to create a system that allows prefectures to take measures against the Omicron sub-variant BA.5 by announcing a declaration to intensify their responses to the strain.
Prefectural governments will be allowed to make the declaration when burdens on their medical institutions have increased, such as when hospital bed occupancy rates for COVID-19 patients exceed 50 percent.
Japan's education ministry says it aims to restore the number of foreign students in the country to the pre-pandemic level in around five years.
Japan had accepted more than 310,000 foreign students in 2019 -- a record high. The figure declined by 20 percent in the following two years due to the coronavirus pandemic. The ratio of foreign students who find employment in Japan has also been on the decline.
Japan's Meteorological Agency says a tropical depression that is now far away to the south of the country is expected to develop into a tropical storm by 3 p.m. on Thursday.
The tropical depression was moving westward near the Mariana Islands in the Pacific at a speed of 10 kilometers per hour, as of 3 p.m. Wednesday.
A wild monkey has been put down in the city of Yamaguchi, western Japan. This comes after dozens of people were injured in a series of attacks.
City subcontractors started hunting for the primates on Sunday. They spotted one on the grounds of a high school on Tuesday. They shot it with a tranquilizer gun and found it sedated about 30 minutes later.
Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio has given new responsibilities to his Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Hagiuda Koichi, who will be empowered to boost a green transformation.
Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Kihara Seiji announced on Wednesday that Kishida added "GX minister" to Hagiuda's portfolio of duties toward achieving Japan's goal of carbon neutrality by 2050.
A non-partisan group of Japanese lawmakers is criticizing the Defense Ministry for accepting senior officers of the Myanmar military as foreign students.
The lawmakers asked the ministry in May to cancel the plan. But ministry officials told the lawmakers at a meeting on Wednesday that they had accepted four Myanmar officers this fiscal year.
People in Japan are experiencing another surge in coronavirus cases. The 7th wave of infections is hitting the holiday season.
Health authorities reported over 126,000 new cases nationwide on Monday. That's down from last week's record high of more than 200,000. The dip could be due to the fact that fewer tests are processed over weekends.
The Japanese health ministry has confirmed Japan's first case of monkeypox. It was detected in the Tokyo area.
Japan's government has cut its forecast for economic growth, citing the impact of the war in Ukraine and ongoing supply disruptions. The Cabinet Office now expects an expansion of around 2 percent in the fiscal year ending next March. That's down from the previous projection of 3.2 percent announced in January.
One of the main factors for the downgrade is sluggish growth in exports on the back of a global economic slowdown stemming from Russia's invasion.
A major Japanese ad agency and a trading house have teamed up on a service that measures how effective some products are in reducing CO2 emissions.
Hakuhodo and Mitsui & Co. launched the service on Monday in Tokyo. It works by analyzing the eco-friendliness of the materials used in products as well as the impact from their manufacturing and transport.
A government task force has confirmed how Japan will respond if any suspected cases of monkeypox are detected in the country.
The task force, headed by Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary for Crisis Management, Murata Takashi, met for talks on Monday. It is comprised of senior officials from relevant government offices.