Japan's health minister Tamura Norihisa has apologized for a farewell party held by ministry officials despite instructions to avoid such gatherings to prevent coronavirus infections.
It's been learned that 23 officials at the ministry's bureau in charge of the health and welfare of elderly people dined at a restaurant in Tokyo last Wednesday. Some of them are said to have stayed until close to midnight.
Japanese defense authorities have conveyed to their Chinese counterparts deep concerns about China's new law allowing its coast guard to use weapons.
The Japanese defense ministry officials discussed the situation in the East China Sea during a teleconference with the Chinese officials.
Japan's health ministry says a group of its employees held a farewell party at a restaurant, ignoring instructions to avoid such gatherings to prevent coronavirus infections.
The ministry says 23 staff members at its bureau in charge of the healthcare and welfare of elderly people dined together in Tokyo last Wednesday.
Sophia University in Tokyo is holding belated entrance ceremonies for students who enrolled last year after the spread of the coronavirus delayed the original 2020 event.
The university is holding six separate ceremonies for last year's entrants on Monday through Wednesday, with measures to prevent infections.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Government has opened the first section of a road that is part of its initiative to fireproof neighborhoods packed with wooden houses.
The 1.1-kilometer section in Adachi Ward opened on Monday.
The governor of Osaka says he will ask the central government to apply special measures to the prefecture so he can take stronger steps to prevent a further spread of the coronavirus.
Yoshimura Hirofumi told reporters on Monday that the prefecture's coronavirus task force plans to make a formal decision on the matter in a few days.
Japan's minister in charge of the coronavirus response has called on business leaders to make all possible efforts in anti-infection measures in the workplace, as coronavirus cases are on the rise in some regions.
Economic Revitalization Minister Nishimura Yasutoshi made the request during a teleconference with representatives of three major business organizations on Monday.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Government says it confirmed 234 new cases of the coronavirus on Monday.
The figure is up 47 from a week ago. The daily tally has posted a week-on-week increase for 10 straight days.
Two Chinese government vessels entered Japan's territorial waters off the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea early Monday morning.
Japan Coast Guard officials say they are warning the ships to leave the waters immediately.
Yellow sand from China's desert regions has reached western Japan.
Japanese weather officials say the phenomenon was observed in the Kyushu, Shikoku and Chugoku regions on Monday. Westerly winds have been getting stronger in these areas.
A Japanese research team says the ongoing coronavirus vaccine rollout will likely have only limited effects in the coming months in helping curb another possible surge in infections in the capital, Tokyo.
Researchers at the University of Tsukuba used artificial intelligence to estimate how infections in Tokyo will spread after the state of emergency ended on March 21.
Japanese Foreign Minister Motegi Toshimitsu has issued a statement on the growing number of civilian casualties in Myanmar, where the military is cracking down on protests against last month's coup.
It says the Japanese government "strongly condemns the situation in Myanmar where the use of force against civilians by the Myanmar military and police continues to cause a large number of deaths and injuries in the country, with the death toll reaching the highest number on March 27 alone."
One week after the state of emergency was lifted, the number of new coronavirus cases in Tokyo and three surrounding prefectures appears to be on an upward trend. There have also been spikes in areas that were not under the emergency declaration.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Government announced on Sunday that it had confirmed 313 new cases. That is 57 more than last Sunday. The tally topped 100 in neighboring Saitama Prefecture.
Children in the western Japanese city of Tottori have painted colorful pictures to help a bus company whose business is struggling during the coronavirus pandemic.
About 60 elementary school pupils took part in a socially distanced event on Sunday organized by a bus association and a chamber of commerce.