Japan has moved to relax restrictions on drone flights. Owners are now allowed to operate drones beyond their line of sight in populated areas if they meet certain requirements.

The revised civil aeronautics law came into effect on Monday. It allows drones to carry out so-called level four flights, the least restricted category in Japan.

Weather officials in Japan warn of more heavy snow this weekend, mainly in mountainous areas of the Hokuriku and Kanto-Koshin regions.

A strong cold air mass brought record snowfall this week to mountainous areas in Niigata and neighboring Gunma prefectures. Blizzards left more than 2,000 vehicles stranded for many hours on an expressway.

Japan's minister in charge of the coronavirus response says the government will take all possible measures in areas where infections are surging.

Economic Revitalization Minister Nishimura Yasutoshi said on an NHK program on Sunday that the government is responding with a strong sense of urgency as the country's daily new cases continue to hit record levels.

A group of Japanese experts has come up with measures to prevent the coronavirus from spreading from nightlife districts to other areas.

The experts made proposals at Monday's meeting of a government panel on the coronavirus response.

Japan's minister in charge of the country's coronavirus response and the Tokyo governor have met after 224 new cases were recorded in the capital. They agreed to step up measures in nightlife areas to prevent a further increase in infections.

Minister Nishimura Yasutoshi and Governor Koike Yuriko spoke to reporters after their meeting on Thursday.

A lingering seasonal rain front may bring torrential downpours in western and eastern Japan through Friday.

Japan's Meteorological Agency says warm, damp air is flowing toward the seasonal rain front, destabilizing atmospheric conditions and causing rain clouds to develop in Shikoku, Kinki and elsewhere.

Japanese weather officials say heavy rain and thunderstorms will hit some parts of Japan's Pacific Coast through Saturday, raising the risk of mudslides.

The Meteorological Agency says warm and humid air has flown into the front and the low-pressure system, creating an unstable atmospheric condition mostly in western Japan.

Japanese weather officials are warning of possible landslides and flooding in wide areas from Kyushu to the Kanto region as torrential rain is forecast through Sunday morning.

In one hour through 5 a.m., 40 millimeters of rain fell on Makurazaki City in Kagoshima Prefecture, Kyushu.

Japanese weather officials are warning of localized heavy rains in wide areas of western to northeastern Japan by Monday morning.

The meteorological agency says warm, damp air is flowing from the west into a front, causing atmospheric conditions to become unstable over most of the country.

Japanese police say the volume of traffic around the country has plunged amid the coronavirus outbreak, leading to a significant decline in accidents.

But there has been an increase in fatal car crashes in urban areas. Police suspect this is due to more aggressive driving on empty roads.

The number of coronavirus cases reported in Japan in one day has fallen below 100 for the first time since the state of emergency was declared on April 7.

The government says it may lift the measure in some prefectures around May 14.

Japan's government says it may lift the country's state of emergency over the coronavirus outbreak in some prefectures around May 14.

Economic Revitalization Minister Nishimura Yasutoshi spoke about the possibility to reporters on Thursday.

McDonald's Japan says it will close the dining areas of its restaurants in 13 prefectures that are under the highest alert for the coronavirus pandemic.

The fast food chain operator says eat-in service will be suspended from Monday to May 6 at more than 1,900 outlets in the prefectures that include Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto.

A low pressure system and a cold air mass brought snow to wide areas of the Kanto and Koshin regions in Japan on Sunday.

The snow is accumulating even on the plains of southern Kanto, including central Tokyo and Saitama Prefecture.