The number of passengers on domestic flights in Japan during the "Obon" summer holidays this year was about 1.7-times the figure for the same period last year, when a coronavirus state of emergency was in place in six prefectures.
Eleven Japanese airlines say more than 3.3 million people took domestic flights between August 6 and 16.
Heavy rain is forecast from western to northern Japan through Thursday.
The Meteorological Agency says humid air is flowing into a front stretching from the Sea of Japan to eastern Japan. It says this is causing atmospheric conditions to become unstable in wide areas from western to eastern Japan.
Hagiuda Koichi, a senior member of Japan's main ruling Liberal Democratic Party, says he visited a facility related to the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, formerly known as the Unification Church. He says he has not sought anything from the organization.
Following a report by news site Daily Shincho, Ikuina Akiko, who won a seat in the Upper House election in July, said she and Hagiuda visited the facility in June.
Tokyo metropolitan government officials confirmed 29,416 new cases of the coronavirus in the capital on Wednesday.
The figure is 4,827 fewer than a week ago.
Prosecutors in Tokyo have arrested a former executive of the Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games and three others for suspected bribery related to the Games sponsorship and sales of officially licensed products.
The arrested individuals are former organizing committee executive Takahashi Haruyuki, former chairman and founder of business suit retailer Aoki Holdings Aoki Hironori, Aoki's younger brother who is former Aoki Holdings vice chairman and the former head of an Aoki subsidiary.
Japan's health ministry plans to consider reviewing its nationwide coronavirus case-counting system, in hopes of reducing the burden on medical institutions.
Health minister Kato Katsunobu on Tuesday informed the National Governors' Association of his intention to fulfill their request to mull a review.
The former accountant of a town hospital in central Japan has been accused of embezzling the equivalent of over 150 million yen, or 1.1 million dollars.
Police have arrested Hirode Sho on suspicion of pocketing 7.4 million yen, or about 55,000 dollars from the coffers of Minamiise hospital in Mie prefecture from March to May this year.
An ultra-high definition image of Pablo Picasso's masterpiece "Guernica" is on display in Tokyo.
Picasso painted "Guernica" in 1937 after learning about the indiscriminate bombing of the town by the Nazi German air force during the Spanish Civil War. The painting measures about 350 centimeters high and 780 centimeters wide.
Rainfall is intensifying in many parts of Japan, triggering warnings of landslides and flooding. Some places on the southwestern island of Kyushu have had torrential downpours.
The Meteorological Agency is urging people to be on the alert as a stationary rain front continues to affect western and eastern Japan. They also say the northern Tohoku region, which has seen record precipitation, may get pounded again.
Japan posted a trade deficit for the 12th consecutive month in July as soaring energy prices and the weaker yen continued to push up the value of imports.
The Finance Ministry said the trade deficit last month was more than 1.4 trillion yen, or about 10.7 billion dollars -- the highest on record for July since comparable data became available in 1979.
Syphilis is spreading in Japan faster than it has in more than two decades. Experts say cases of the disease are likely to exceed 10,000 in one year.
Syphilis is a bacterial infection that is mainly transmitted through sexual contact. Those who get the disease may show no symptoms or symptoms that disappear soon. It is curable, but if not treated, it can cause serious problems in the brain or heart.
Arrangements are underway for the head of Japan's National Security Secretariat to visit China to meet with the country's top diplomat.
Rising tensions over the Taiwan Strait are expected to be on the agenda in talks between the secretariat's Secretary General Akiba Takeo and Chinese Communist Party Politburo member Yang Jiechi.
Weather officials are warning of more torrential rain through Thursday in parts of eastern and western Japan.
The Meteorological Agency says unstable atmospheric conditions have been created due to an influx of damp air toward a front. That has brought localized downpours in eastern and western Japan.
Tokyo Metropolitan government officials confirmed 23,511 new cases of the coronavirus in the capital on Tuesday.
The figure is 5,604 fewer than a week ago.