Japan's Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide says he hopes to arrange a phone meeting with US President-elect Joe Biden, and a visit to the United States.

Suga told reporters on Monday that he extends warm congratulations to Biden and his running mate Kamala Harris. He said Japan and the US are allies that share universal values such as peace and freedom.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has arrived in Tokyo to attend a foreign ministerial meeting taking place on Tuesday with Japan, Australia and India.

Pompeo landed at a US military base in suburban Tokyo early Tuesday morning.

The leader of junior coalition partner Komeito, Yamaguchi Natsuo, told NHK that he was surprised when Prime Minister Abe Shinzo told him about his intention to resign because it came out of the blue.

Komeito executives plan to hold an emergency meeting on Friday afternoon.

Japan's newly-established subcommittee to discuss coronavirus measures has held its first meeting.

The subcommittee replaces a previous panel of experts that provided key proposals to the government with a focus on curbing the outbreak.

A new expert panel of Japan's government has met for the first time to assess the effectiveness of anti-coronavirus measures.

The four-member panel held its first meeting on Wednesday. Among the members are Kyoto University Professor Yamanaka Shinya and Professor Emeritus at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies Kurokawa Kiyoshi.

Japan's Prime Minister Abe Shinzo has worn a face mask at a meeting of the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy as a precaution against coronavirus infection.

Other members including Cabinet ministers and private-sector representatives also wore masks at the meeting on Tuesday. Their seats were separated more than usual.

The Japanese government will avoid calling all Cabinet ministers to attend every anti-coronavirus task force meeting, in an effort to reduce the risk of possible infections among them.

So far in principle, Prime Minister Abe Shinzo and all Cabinet ministers, as well as senior government officials, have attended the task force meetings.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has presided over the first meeting of a government task force based on a coronavirus-response law enacted early this month.

The move comes in response to a rapid rise in the number of new coronavirus infections in Tokyo this week.

Japan's defense minister has decided to hold a meeting with defense chiefs from Pacific island nations in connection with China's growing maritime presence in the region.

The ministry is to invite officials, including the defense ministers of Papua New Guinea, Fiji, and Tonga, to the conference in Tokyo in April. Invitations are expected to extend to representatives of the United States, Australia, and France.