Japan's chief cabinet secretary says the government may declare the torrential rain in Kyushu an "extraordinary disaster." That would enable victims to receive special support to rebuild their lives.
Suga Yoshihide spoke to reporters on Tuesday. He said heavy rain is forecast through Wednesday in wide parts of eastern and western Japan.
Rain is intensifying in Japan's southwestern Kumamoto prefecture, which has already suffered deadly floods and landslides triggered by record downpours over the weekend. More torrential rain is forecast for the prefecture on Monday and Tuesday.
Japan's Meteorological Agency warns that developed rainclouds have been flowing into the Kyushu region, which includes the prefecture.
Japanese carriers are offering users a function to register and check whether a person is safe.
Three major mobile phone carriers -- NTT Docomo, KDDI and Softbank -- are now operating the disaster message board.
A railway line along the Pacific coast of Fukushima Prefecture has resumed full service nine years after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident halted operations.
The 2011 northeastern Japan disaster forced the suspension of the entire Japan Rail Joban Line, which runs between Ueno Station in Tokyo and Sendai Station in Miyagi Prefecture. Operations resumed gradually as decontamination work progressed.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and other Cabinet Ministers mourned the victims of the earthquake and tsunami that hit northeastern Japan in March, 2011.
Abe and 20 others, including Disaster Management Minister Ryota Takeda and Reconstruction Minister Kazunori Tanaka, attended the event at the prime minister's office on Wednesday.
The Japanese government has decided to cancel the national memorial ceremony for the victims of the March 11, 2011, disaster because of the coronavirus outbreak.
The decision was made at a cabinet meeting on Friday. The government believes that this is a crucial time for containing the outbreak.
Japan's government is planning to cancel its national memorial ceremony for the victims of the March 11, 2011, earthquake, tsunami and nuclear accident because of the coronavirus outbreak.
The annual ceremony was due to take place on Wednesday next week, the ninth anniversary of the disaster.
Test runs on a section of railway line along the Pacific coast of Fukushima Prefecture have started nine years after service was halted by the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident.
The accident caused radioactive contamination and suspended service on the 21-kilometer-section of Japan Rail's Joban Line between Namie and Tomioka stations.