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.
Japan's Self-Defense Forces have invited members of the media to observe drills to rescue nationals in the event that they get caught in emergency situations overseas, including terrorist activities.
About 270 SDF members took part in the exercises on Wednesday. The drills were conducted at Camp Asaka which straddles Tokyo and Saitama Prefecture, and at Hyakuri base in Ibaraki Prefecture.
Scientists are making final preparations to retrieve a capsule from a Japanese space probe that went to collect sand from an asteroid.
Japan's space agency, JAXA, launched Hayabusa2 in 2014. It has twice landed on an asteroid called Ryugu about 340 million kilometers from Earth.
Three lawmakers who are vying to lead Japan's governing Liberal Democratic Party are preparing for a party election campaign that starts on Tuesday.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Suga Yoshihide, LDP policy chief and former foreign minister Kishida Fumio and former LDP secretary-general Ishiba Shigeru stayed in Tokyo on Sunday as a powerful typhoon pounded southwestern Japan. They conducted interviews with media and appealed for support online.
Companies are preparing to bring home employees and their families from Wuhan, a Chinese city at the center of the coronavirus outbreak.
The Japan External Trade Organization says about 160 Japanese firms are operating in and around the city.
Banks across Japan are buying trucks fitted with ATMs so that customers can withdraw cash in the event of a massive natural disaster.
The vehicles were sent to areas hit by a major earthquake in northern Japan last June, and areas flooded by Typhoon Hagibis last October.