Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary says the government will hold a working group meeting early next year to discuss ways to alleviate Okinawa Prefecture's burden of hosting US military bases.
The southern prefecture hosts about 70 percent of the US military facilities in Japan. Chief Cabinet Secretary Matsuno Hirokazu is in charge of reducing this burden.
Japanese automakers are accelerating moves to equip their new models with technologies emerging from their efforts to develop fully self-driving vehicles.
Driving automation has six levels from zero to 5. The government seeks to put Level 4 mobility services into practical use by around 2025. Level 4 vehicles automatically perform all driving tasks under specific circumstances.
The head of the Japan Football Association says the coach of Japan's national team may stay in his post after the FIFA World Cup in Qatar. Moriyasu Hajime's current contract expires at the end of the tournament.
JFA President Tashima Kohzo spoke to reporters in Doha on Saturday after Japan secured a spot in the knockout stage for the second consecutive tournament. The Samurai Blue squad beat former champions Germany and Spain in Group E.
Japan's government plans to promote exports of ornamental nishikigoi carp to meet its goal of increasing overseas shipments of cultivated products.
The government has drawn up a draft strategy aimed at boosting shipments of farm, forestry and fishery products, as well as processed food products, to an annual value of 2 trillion yen, or about 15 billion dollars, ahead of the original target of 2025.
Researchers in Japan have found coronavirus death rates among people aged 40 and older from the 7th wave of infections that hit the country this summer were less than half that when the 6th wave that had started early this year peaked.
The group at the Japanese Association of Public Health Center Directors compared death rates among the approximately 550,000 people aged 40 and older who contracted COVID between January and August in ten prefectures, including Osaka and Ibaraki.
Japan's Environment Ministry has decided to establish an expert panel early next year to discuss how to deal with possibly toxic compounds detected near US military bases in the country.
The panel, made up of experts in public health and other fields, is expected to decide domestic targets to keep concentrations of the organofluorine compounds PFOS and PFOA at low levels. The experts will also consider ways to monitor water quality.