The Japanese minister who is overseeing the government's COVID-19 vaccination program has indicated that the country expects to receive about 10 million vaccine doses every week in May.

Regulatory Reform Minister Kono Taro told a news conference on Friday that, as a result of negotiations with US pharmaceutical company Pfizer, about 10 million doses will likely arrive in Japan each week in May. He also said shipments are expected to increase in June.

Officials of Japan's health ministry say they recognize no serious concerns in regard to the safety of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine though some allergic reactions after the shots were deemed anaphylactic.

Officials say more than 181,000 shots of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine have been administered to health workers across the country as of 5 p.m. Thursday.

Experts monitoring the coronavirus situation in Tokyo say the decline in the number of new cases is grinding to a halt, and warning infections could rise due to the spread of variants.

Tokyo officials reported 304 new infections on Friday. The daily average over the past week has hovered around 270, which is almost the same as a week earlier.

The president and CEO of Mizuho Bank says about 300 money transfers were delayed on Thursday and Friday due to a system failure.

Fujiwara Koji made the announcement at a news conference on Friday night. He said the trouble at the Japanese bank began at 11:39 p.m. on Thursday due to a hardware failure.

The Japanese government says Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide is due to visit the United States as early as in the first half of April for talks with President Joe Biden.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Kato Katsunobu said on Friday that the trip would make Suga the first foreign leader to hold an in-person summit with Biden since the president took office in January.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government says it confirmed 304 new cases of coronavirus infection on Friday.

This brings the total number of infections in the Japanese capital to 114,840.

Japan's Minister for the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games says a Chinese coronavirus vaccine is not a likely option for Japanese athletes at present, as it would require approval by the Japanese government.

Marukawa Tamayo was responding on Friday to reports that the head of the International Olympic Committee, Thomas Bach, had offered China-made coronavirus vaccines for athletes and others participating in this summer's Tokyo Games and the 2022 Beijing Games.

Japan's health ministry says 12 more people have experienced a severe allergic reaction after receiving the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine.

The ministry said on Thursday that 12 male and female healthcare workers from their 20s to their 50s developed anaphylaxis.

People in Fukushima Prefecture held events to mark 10 years since a powerful earthquake and tsunami struck northeastern Japan and triggered a nuclear accident.

Six beams of light shined through the night sky in Minamisoma City on Thursday, where tsunami killed 636 people -- the highest number of deaths in the prefecture. The annual event has been held on March 11 for the last four years.

The head of Japan's nuclear watchdog has underscored the importance of continuing an investigation into the 2011 nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi power station in parallel with efforts to decommission the plant.

Nuclear Regulation Authority Chairman Fuketa Toyoshi held an interview with NHK to mark 10 years since the nuclear accident.

The operator of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant says the water level in a section of the basement of one of the reactor buildings has dropped after cleanup work.

Tokyo Electric Power Company said the water level in a corner of the first basement floor of the No.3 reactor building had risen 23 centimeters from Tuesday morning until Wednesday night.

A former Nissan Motor executive says he consulted prosecutors about allegations against former chairman Carlos Ghosn as raising accusations from within the firm was difficult with power concentrated around Ghosn.

Former Nissan Executive Vice President Kawaguchi Hitoshi spoke at a Tokyo court on Thursday as a witness in the trial of Greg Kelly, another former executive involved in the allegations.

The president of Tokyo Electric Power Company has apologized for the burden brought on the communities of Fukushima Prefecture by the devastating accident at its Fukushima Daiichi power plant on March 11, 2011.

The apologies came in a speech marking the tenth anniversary of the nuclear disaster caused by a massive quake and tsunami.

The western Japanese city of Kobe says it has found that coronavirus cases caused by a variant first detected in Britain have been on the rise. The city says a recent survey shows about 39 percent of samples involved the variant.

A health institute in the city conducted the survey to check the spread of the new variant after cases involving it were reported there.