The Japanese government is seeking to hold the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games as planned despite the upcoming resignation of the head of the organizing committee.

A former chairman of Japan's professional soccer league, Kawabuchi Saburo, is expected to replace Mori Yoshiro, who decided to step down after his comments about women were widely criticized.

Sources say an expert panel of Japan's health ministry is expected to approve on Friday a coronavirus vaccine jointly developed by US firm Pfizer and German partner BioNTech.

The sources say the panel's decision will be partly based on a clinical trial held in Japan with 160 Japanese subjects which showed an increase in neutralizing antibodies. The ministry is examining the efficacy and safety of the vaccine.

The Japanese government plans to update its anti-coronavirus basic guidelines to reflect recent revisions to special measures legislation designed to allow tougher enforcement of anti-infection rules.

The government will likely have new guidelines adopted at a taskforce meeting on Friday after soliciting opinions from an advisory panel and informing the Diet of planned changes.

A former chairman of Japan's professional soccer league, Kawabuchi Saburo, will likely replace Mori Yoshiro as president of the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games organizing committee.

Sources say Mori met Kawabuchi in Tokyo on Thursday after deciding to resign over his controversial comments on women, and asked him to take the post.

Sources say the head of the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics organizing committee Mori Yoshiro has decided to step down after his comments about women were widely criticized.

Former Prime Minister Mori said on February 3 that board meetings attended by women take too much time. He later apologized and rescinded the comment.

An unpublished work believed to have been penned by the late Japanese writer Sakaguchi Ango about 80 years ago has been found.

Hanazono University Professor Asago Itsuo bought the manuscript at a secondhand bookshop in Tokyo. He examined it with literary critic Nanakita Kazuto, reaching the conclusion that it is a work by Sakaguchi.

Japan's Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako are planning to make online visits to three prefectures hit hard by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

Sources told NHK that the couple is making arrangements to meet people in Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures via video link later this month and next month.

Japan's Defense Minister Kishi Nobuo says it is extremely regrettable that a Maritime Self-Defense Force submarine has collided with a commercial ship.

The collision between submarine Souryu and the cargo ship occurred in waters off Cape Ashizuri in Kochi Prefecture, western Japan, at around 10:58 a.m. on Monday.

Sources say the head of the Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games has decided to resign.

Mori Yoshiro, the former prime minister, has faced a barrage of criticism for remarks demeaning women.

The Japanese and US governments may conclude as early as next week talks on Japan's share of the cost of stationing US forces in the country.

Tokyo and Washington had failed to reach an agreement on the issue while former US President Donald Trump was in office.

The foreign affairs chiefs of Japan and the United States have denounced the recent shooting of protesters in Myanmar.

Japanese Foreign Minister Motegi Toshimitsu spoke with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken over the telephone on Wednesday.

The fallout from apparently sexist remarks made by Mori Yoshiro, head of the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics organizing committee, continues to spread.

At least three runners for the Olympic torch relay have decided to withdraw, including a 57-year-old man in Fukushima Prefecture where the event will start on March 25.

Tokyo Governor Koike Yuriko says she feels sad about local volunteers withdrawing from the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, following controversial remarks by the head of the organizing committee.

At least 97 volunteers recruited by Tokyo have informed officials of their decision to quit. The withdrawals came after Mori Yoshiro said at a Japanese Olympic Committee meeting last week that board meetings with women tend to drag on because they talk too much.

Health experts monitoring the coronavirus situation in Tokyo have decided to maintain the highest alert level for both infections and the medical care system in the capital. They say the system remains strained though the number of new cases has been declining recently.

The experts met on Wednesday to analyze the latest data in Tokyo.