Japan's Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide says US President-elect Joe Biden has suggested that Washington will help Japan defend the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea under the bilateral security treaty.
Suga and Biden spoke for the first time over the phone for about 10 minutes on Thursday morning, Japan time.
The coronavirus continues to spread across Japan with Tokyo reporting 317 new cases on Wednesday. This marks the first time since late August that the capital's daily tally has exceeded 300.
New cases have topped 100 for the ninth day in a row. So far, more than 33,000 people have tested positive in the metropolis.
The head of the Japan Medical Association has suggested the current nationwide surge in newly confirmed coronavirus cases could be a third wave of infections in the country.
Association President Nakagawa Toshio told reporters on Wednesday that there have been clear signs of a resurgence in infections since last month. He added that the situation in Hokkaido is particularly worrisome.
Members of a Japanese government panel met for the first time on Wednesday to study ways to achieve ambitious greenhouse gas targets. The experts discussed how to take the country to net zero emissions by 2050.
The panel aims to set numeric targets for technological development, and ways to support companies that get involved. Cabinet ministers who took part in the meeting said innovation will be crucial to reaching the government's gas reduction target.
Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Kato Katsunobu says the government is on the highest alert following the recent nationwide surge in coronavirus infections and is taking steps to curb the spread.
Kato was speaking at a news conference on Wednesday afternoon.
Japan now has 16 reactors at nine nuclear power plants that have cleared government requirements adopted after the 2011 Fukushima accident.
The No.2 reactor at Tohoku Electric Power Company's Onagawa plant in Miyagi Prefecture, and the reactor at Japan Atomic Power Company's Tokai No.2 plant in Ibaraki Prefecture were affected by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. Tokai No.2 has yet to win local consent to restart.
Japan and the United States have formally started working-level talks on Japan's share of the cost of stationing US forces in the country. The two sides have agreed to seek an early conclusion to the matter.
Foreign and defense officials from the two countries met in Washington on Monday and Tuesday. They also met in October.
If you were to ask Sony Xperia fans to pick one iconic colour that has adorned their smartphone stable over the last decade, there is a good chance that Purple would be high up on that list. We've not seen the colour used in more recent Xperia phones, but the good news is that it will make a return in its latest Xperia 5 II. The bad news is that the Purple Xperia 5 II is exclusive to NTT docomo in Japan.
A medical institution in Japan has announced initial results of a clinical study of a coronavirus treatment in which patients are given blood plasma taken from recovered people.
Dr. Kutsuna Satoshi of the National Center for Global Health and Medicine provided an update on the study at an online symposium with researchers and doctors from in and outside of Japan on Tuesday.
The number of suicides in Japan rose for a fourth straight month in October.
The National Police Agency says the number of people who took their lives last month was 2,153, up 39.9 percent from a year earlier. The monthly total is the highest in the past five years.
The Japanese government has decided to extend by another year the Maritime Self-Defense Force's counter-piracy mission off the coast of Somalia.
Japan has deployed destroyers and patrol aircraft to guard commercial ships in the area based on the anti-piracy law since 2009. The current mission is scheduled to expire on Thursday next week.
Protesters in Nagasaki held a monthly sit-in protest, calling on Japan to ratify the UN nuclear ban treaty.
About 90 people, including survivors of the US nuclear bombing of Nagasaki in 1945, gathered at the city's Peace Park on Monday.
Japan's labor ministry says more than 70,000 people in the country have lost or are about to lose their jobs because of the coronavirus outbreak.
The ministry has been checking for cases of workers who have been laid off or have not had their contracts renewed because their employers are struggling with declining business performance.
While some carmakers appeal to dog lovers, Nissan is going all-in with cats, at least in Japan. The Yokohama-based company is teaming up with a chain of cat cafés across the country to promote the Nissan Dayz kei car.
If you're not familiar with cat cafés, they're essentially a coffee shop in which you sip your latte while surrounded by dozens of cats. It's supposed to deliver all the companionship and fun of cats without, you know, actually owning them. The concept began in Taiwan, blew up in Japan, and has made its way to the U.S. as well.