The Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games will listen to the views of its top members about controversial remarks made by its president, Mori Yoshiro.

Mori said last week that board meetings with women take too long because they talk too much.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government reported 412 new coronavirus infections in the capital on Tuesday. The daily tally has been below 500 for three days in a row.

A total of 104,533 people have tested positive for the virus in Tokyo since the pandemic began.

In Major League Baseball, Ohtani Shohei, the Japanese two-way player of the Los Angeles Angels, has agreed to a two-year, 8.5 million-dollar deal with the team.

Ohtani became eligible for arbitration after ending his third season in the Major Leagues.

Japan's Defense Minister Kishi Nobuo has apologized over a collision between a Maritime Self-Defense Force submarine and a commercial vessel off the southwestern coast of the country.

The submarine Souryu and the vessel collided off Cape Ashizuri in Kochi Prefecture on Monday. Three crew members of the submarine sustained minor injuries. The submarine was partially damaged.

A Japanese temple in Kyoto City is planning with a venture company to launch a "space temple," a small satellite carrying a Buddha statuette.

Daigoji Temple is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The temple and its partner Terra Space, a venture firm started by Kyoto University, held a Buddhist service on Monday to pray for the success of the project.

Japan's Renesas Electronics Corporation has acquired British-based chip designer Dialog Semiconductor amid surging global demand for semiconductors.

The two firms announced they had agreed to the deal on Monday.

Twitter posts supporting gender equality by European embassies in Japan have gone viral.

This follows remarks made by Mori Yoshiro, the president of the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics organizing committee, suggesting that women talk too much in meetings. He later apologized and retracted the comments.

Japanese Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide has stressed his government will ensure that everyone in the country can get inoculated, as vaccines are the key to containing the coronavirus pandemic.

Suga told a Lower House committee on Monday that he is aware of the view that Japan lags behind Western countries in authorizing the vaccines.

NHK has learned that a group of researchers in Japan will conduct a clinical study using urine samples from COVID-19 patients to predict whether their conditions will become serious.

Researchers at the National Center for Global Health and Medicine will collect urine samples from about 500 patients who are at hospitals or in quarantine at accommodations. They will then examine the amount of a protein called L-FABP contained in those samples.

Traditional Japanese "hina" dolls are on display in Shiga Prefecture, western Japan, ahead of the Girls' Festival on March 3.

The festival is called "Hina Matsuri." It is held to celebrate the health and happiness of young girls in Japan.

A young Japanese dancer has won an award at a prestigious ballet competition in Switzerland.

Fuchiyama Shunhei placed fifth at the annual Prix de Lausanne, which is widely viewed as a gateway to success for dancers between the ages of 15 and 18.

The Japanese government is planning to draw over 10 billion dollars from reserve funds to support businesses whose operations are being disrupted amid the coronavirus pandemic. The amount was set aside in the fiscal 2020 budget.

Cabinet ministers made the decision on Tuesday. They plan to allocate 8.4 billion dollars to restaurants and bars that are complying with a government request to shorten hours. Each would receive up to around 17,000 dollars a month.

Japan's government and corporate sector have drawn up plans to use ammonia as a fuel for thermal power plants.

Ammonia does not emit carbon dioxide when burnt. The government considers it a next-generation fuel, along with hydrogen, in its efforts to reduce CO2 emissions.

The Japan Coast Guard has begun checking the extent of damage to the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force submarine Souryu, following its collision with a commercial vessel.

The minor collision occurred on Monday at around 11:00 a.m., roughly 50 kilometers southeast of Cape Ashizuri in Kochi Prefecture, southwestern Japan.