A group of scholars opposed to Japan's 2016 security legislation has issued a statement demanding to know why Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide refused to appoint six new members to the Science Council of Japan.

The group's founders include the six scholars who were recommended for membership in the council, Japan's leading academic body, but rejected by Suga.

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.

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says the government will quickly draw up legislation to prepare for a worst-case scenario involving the new coronavirus outbreak.

Abe spoke to an Upper House committee on Monday about the request he had made to shut down schools across Japan from Monday until the start of the spring break.