Japanese lawmakers have started debating a bill that would regulate donations to religious entities. They include the group formerly known as the Unification Church.

The legislation would ban religious groups from soliciting donations in an unscrupulous manner. Opposition lawmakers want to revise the bill to ban donations that are made under the influence of so-called mind control.

A secretary of a Japanese Lower House lawmaker has reportedly told prosecutors about a failure to list income totaling about 40 million yen, or about 290,000 dollars, in a political funds report.

Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker Sonoura Kentaro's political fund management group had last year corrected its report to include funds worth 2 million yen, or about 14,500 dollars, collected at a fund-raising party in 2019.

Lawmakers from Japan's ruling party have approved the Defense Ministry's plan to construct two new vessels equipped with the Aegis anti-ballistic missile system.

Defense Minister Kishi Nobuo explained the plan at a defense and security affairs meeting of the Liberal Democratic Party on Wednesday.

About 200 victims of sexual crimes and their supporters gathered in central Tokyo to call on a lawmaker to resign and retract her claim that women can tell lies about sexual assaults.

Sugita Mio, a Liberal Democratic Party member of the Lower House, said at a meeting of party lawmakers last month that "women can tell lies as much as they want."

Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Suga Yoshihide appears to be solidifying support among lawmakers of the main governing Liberal Democratic Party as the successor to Prime Minister Abe Shinzo.

The party will soon choose a new president after Abe announced his intention to resign due to health reasons.

A nonpartisan group of Japanese lawmakers has issued a statement protesting the arrests of pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong on suspicion of violating the new national security law for the territory.

The lawmakers include former defense minister Nakatani Gen of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and Lower House member Yamao Shiori of the opposition Democratic Party for the People.

A group of ruling party lawmakers is seeking legislation for surveys of the Senkaku Islands and the surrounding waters to strengthen Japan's effective control over them.

The move comes as Chinese government ships are increasing their activities in waters around the islands. Chinese patrol boats have navigated in the contiguous zone outside the Japanese territorial waters around them for more than 100 days in a row.

A group of Japanese lawmakers is looking to place restrictions on Chinese-made apps out of concern that user data could end up in the hands of the Chinese government.

The lawmakers from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party say they will urge Japan's government to take legislative steps to limit the use of video-sharing app TikTok and others offered by Chinese firms.

Sources say former Justice Minister Kawai Katsuyuki and his Diet lawmaker wife Anri handed cash to dozens of local assembly members in her Hiroshima constituency.

The couple were arrested by Tokyo prosecutors on Thursday on suspicion of violating the public office election law.

Prosecutors in western Japan have indicted two secretaries of Upper House member Anri Kawai and her husband on charges of violating the election law. They are also seeking to nullify her election win based on guilt by association.

The Hiroshima District Public Prosecutors Office on Tuesday indicted Hiroshi Tatemichi, a secretary for Anri Kawai, and Shinsuke Takaya, a secretary for former justice minister and Lower House member Katsuyuki Kawai.

Japan's lawmakers are deliberating a bill that would allow the prime minister to declare a state of emergency to tackle the coronavirus. It has passed one stage in the approval process.

The minister in charge of the legislation, Yasutoshi Nishimura, was asked in a Diet committee whether the government plans to declare an emergency soon.

Japanese lawmakers have formed a nonpartisan group to push for the introduction of hospital ships that can provide medical care in the event of a major disaster or an infectious outbreak such as the new coronavirus.

Diet members of the main ruling Liberal Democratic Party, the largest opposition Constitutional Democratic Party and others held an inaugural meeting on Thursday.

Prosecutors in Hiroshima Prefecture, western Japan, are questioning a secretary of Upper House member Anri Kawai on Friday over a suspected violation of the election law.

The prosecutors suspect Kawai paid her campaign staff above the legal limit during her successful run for the Upper House in July last year. They raided her office on Wednesday.