Scorching heat across Japan has prompted authorities to warn against possible heatstroke.

The Meteorological Agency says temperatures have been rising from Friday morning due to a high-pressure system covering a wide area from Okinawa Prefecture in southern Japan through the northeast.

NHK has learned that the Japanese government is planning to ease the strict re-entry ban that has been in place to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

The government is currently denying entry to foreigners from 146 countries and territories. The restrictions even apply to permanent residents and students. Exceptions can be made for childbirths and relatives' funerals.

Sony Japan has announced that it will release a SIM-free version of the Xperia 1 II, which will come with a boost in specs versus the international model. Up until now, the Xperia 1 II was available only through two carriers in Japan (NTT docomo and au by KDDI). The new variant with model number XQ-AT42 is expected to arrive on 30 October 2020 at a cost of 124,000 yen (£892, €987, $1168).

NHK has learned Defense Minister Kono Taro is arranging a meeting with his US counterpart, Mark Esper, in the US territory of Guam this month.

Sources say Kono is planning to fly to Guam by an Air Self-Defense Force plane on August 29 for talks with Esper at a US Air Force base.

A prominent infectious disease expert in Japan is warning that the country is in the midst of second wave of the coronavirus outbreak. The alarm comes as the number of seriously ill patients has been rising.

The western prefecture of Osaka reported 187 new cases on Wednesday ... the most among the country's 47 prefectures. There were 65 seriously ill patients as of Tuesday ... more than double the figure for Tokyo.

A Japanese government survey shows that the country's exports declined 19.2 percent in July from a year earlier.

The Finance Ministry released the preliminary trade data on Wednesday.

A second group of experts from Japan is set to leave for Mauritius on Wednesday to help reduce the environmental impact of an oil spill from a Japanese-owned bulk carrier.

The team of seven includes experts from the National Institute for Environmental Studies and the Environment Ministry. They are being dispatched at the request of the Mauritian government to help assess the impact on the local eco-system of the oil leakage from the ship.

Economic analysts are expecting Japan to post growth for its gross domestic product in the July-September period despite a historic downturn in the previous quarter.

Japan's Cabinet Office announced on Monday that GDP shrank at an annualized 27.8 percent in real terms in the April-June period compared with the previous quarter.

Temperatures neared 40 degrees Celsius in many parts of Japan on Monday as a heat wave continues to grip the country.

At 10 minutes past noon, the mercury rose to 41.1 degrees in the central Japanese city of Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture. The figure equals the national record set in Kumagaya City, Saitama Prefecture, in July 2018.

Japanese authorities reported 644 new coronavirus cases nationwide on Monday, including 161 in Tokyo.

The total number of cases in Japan now stands at 57,569. That includes cases found during airport quarantine checks, as well as 712 from the Diamond Princess cruise ship that was docked near Tokyo earlier this year.

Japan's Cabinet Office says the country's economy saw a historic downturn in the April-June quarter. GDP contracted by the most in 40 years as the pandemic upended the economy.

The Cabinet Office says GDP shrank at an annualized 27.8 percent from the previous quarter in real terms. It's the worst result since comparable data became available in 1980.

Japan's Cabinet Office will announce preliminary data on gross domestic product in the April-to-June quarter shortly before 9 a.m. on Monday.

Many surveys conducted by private-sector research companies attribute a record shrinkage in the second quarter to the coronavirus.

A South Korean coast guard ship has ordered a Japanese coast guard vessel to end a survey it is conducting in Japan's exclusive economic zone off the southwestern prefecture of Nagasaki.

The Japan Coast Guard, or JCG, says the South Korean ship radioed the demand shortly after 4 a.m. on Saturday when the Japanese vessel was engaged in a survey about 140 kilometers west of Meshima, an islet in Nagasaki's Goto Islands. The JCG says the waters are within Japan's EEZ.

Many parts of Japan endured an intense heat wave on Sunday. Weather officials forecast that the scorching heat will continue on Monday.

The temperature reached 40.9 degrees Celsius in Hamamatsu City, Shizuoka Prefecture. That's the country's highest record so far this year.