The Japanese government is speeding up measures to strengthen infrastructure against floods and other natural disasters.
Cabinet ministers approved the five-year program on Friday with a price tag of 15-trillion-yen, or about 144-billion-dollars. It's expected to begin in the next fiscal year.
NHK has learned that Japan's transport ministry and a railway operator have drawn up a proposal allowing people arriving from overseas to use the train to leave Narita Airport near Tokyo.
The government is currently asking arrivals from abroad to avoid using public transportation and instead arrange their own vehicles to leave the airport, even if they test negative for the coronavirus.
In Japan, the spike in coronavirus cases continues to reach new peaks and upend daily life for people across the country. Tokyo reported more than 600 new infections on Thursday... a record daily tally.
More than 45,000 people have now tested positive in the capital.
Health authorities in Japan reported a record 2,811 new cases of the coronavirus nationwide on Wednesday.
That is the highest daily tally so far in the country, surpassing the previous record of 2,678 confirmed on November 28.
Health authorities in Japan reported a record 2,796 new cases of coronavirus nationwide on Wednesday.
That is the highest daily tally so far in the country, surpassing the previous record of 2,678 confirmed on November 28.
Japanese authorities reported more than 2,700 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday. That's a record daily tally. The healthcare system is threatening to buckle under the weight of the spike.
Medical teams from the Self-Defense Forces have begun assisting frontline workers at two facilities in the country's north hit with cluster infections.
Japan's healthcare system is threatening to buckle under the weight of spiking coronavirus cases. Medical teams from the Self-Defense Forces have begun assisting frontline workers at two facilities in the country's north hit with cluster infections.
Five SDF nurses will engage in the mission for two weeks at a hospital where nearly 200 people were confirmed to be infected.
Japan's government is drafting its budget for the next financial year. Fighting COVID-19 is at the heart of its plans. It also wants to shift to a greener and more digital society.
Monitoring risks will be a key focus in the budget, as the pandemic casts its shadow over the economy.
Japan's government plans to ask prefectures to send nurses and doctors to each other to ease the serious strain on hospitals treating coronavirus patients.
Government officials plan to launch a framework for inter-prefectural cooperation by seeking the support of the National Governors' Association.
Help is on the way to Japan's northern prefecture of Hokkaido, which has been hit by cluster infections of the coronavirus. With hospitals struggling with a healthcare worker shortage, the Defense Minister is sending in reinforcements from the Self-Defense Forces.
Defense Minister Kishi Nobuo said, "We concluded that emergency medical assistance to Hokkaido Prefecture is necessary, so we decided to send SDF medical assistance teams on a disaster-relief mission as early as today."
Japanese junior high school students are improving their scores in mathematics while elementary school students' scores in science are declining.
An international survey called "Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study," or TIMSS, is released every four years by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement based in the Netherlands.
Japan's Prime Minister says the government has compiled an additional stimulus package worth over 700 billion dollars to tackle the effects of the coronavirus pandemic on the economy.
Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide spoke at a meeting with senior officials on Tuesday.
A capsule released by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's space probe Hayabusa2 arrived at a lab near Tokyo, Japan on Tuesday.
The capsule is believed to contain samples from the Ryugu asteroid. It was retrieved after landing in an Australian desert on Sunday.
A capsule released by Japan's Aerospace Exploration Agency's probe Hayabusa2 arrived in Japan from Australia on Tuesday morning.
The capsule is believed to contain sand samples from Ryugu asteroid. It was retrieved after landing in an Australian desert on Sunday.