Protesters in Nagasaki held a monthly sit-in protest, calling on Japan to ratify the UN nuclear ban treaty.

About 90 people, including survivors of the US nuclear bombing of Nagasaki in 1945, gathered at the city's Peace Park on Monday.

Japan's labor ministry says more than 70,000 people in the country have lost or are about to lose their jobs because of the coronavirus outbreak.

The ministry has been checking for cases of workers who have been laid off or have not had their contracts renewed because their employers are struggling with declining business performance.

There has been a new development in a wartime labor lawsuit in South Korea against Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. A South Korean court has deemed that the company has received documents related to the sale of assets seized from it.

The issue stems from a ruling by South Korea's Supreme Court in November 2018. It ordered Mitsubishi Heavy to pay compensation to South Koreans who said they or their relatives were forced to work for the firm during World War Two.

Acclaimed fashion designer Junko Koshino designed the costumes for a performance of Japan's traditional Noh drama held in Tokyo.

Koshino and Noh actor Kanze Kiyokazu teamed up to promote the culture of Noh at a time when the coronavirus outbreak has caused difficulties for the traditional art.

NHK has learned that Japan's government advisory panel on the coronavirus pandemic has called for stronger measures against cluster infections and more effective border controls.

The panel came up with the emergency guidelines on Monday in response to a current surge of infections in the northern prefecture of Hokkaido and many other regions.

Japan's SoftBank Group says its first-half net profit jumped four and half times from a year ago. That's as its investments in tech stocks jumped and it sold off assets to shore up its finances.

The company said on Monday that net profit in the April-September period came to about 1.9 trillion yen, or about 18 billion dollars.

Tokyo's benchmark stock index surged on Monday to its highest in nearly three decades. That's after Joe Biden's victory in the US election ended days of uncertainty about who will lead the world's biggest economy.

The Nikkei Average finished at 24,839, up 2.1 percent from Friday. It rose more than 600 points at one stage to touch its highest since November 1991.

A key gauge of business conditions in Japan has improved for the fourth month in a row, potentially fanning hopes of economic recovery even as the pandemic continues.

In particular, it shows sectors such as the auto industry could be shifting back into gear.

The operator of a storage facility in northern Japan is making arrangements with power companies to resume accepting shipments of highly radioactive nuclear waste from spent fuel reprocessed in Britain.

NHK has learned that Japan Nuclear Fuel Limited has started talks with utility companies to accept the nuclear waste again in the business year that begins next April.

The northern Japan prefecture of Hokkaido is expected to report at least 200 new cases of coronavirus infection on Monday. It would be the first time the daily figure there has reached that mark.

Hokkaido's tally has exceeded 100 for four consecutive days. The number of new infections totaled 187 on Saturday, followed by 153 on Sunday.

Stocks were up sharply in Tokyo on Monday after Joe Biden's victory in the US presidential election ended the uncertainty during the vote count.

The benchmark Nikkei Average ended the morning session at 24,799, up 473 points or 1.95 percent compared to Friday's close. The Nikkei extended its gain this month to about 8 percent and is at the highest level in 29 years.

Major Japanese companies are streamlining their offices as they embrace working from home amid the pandemic. Some even see the change becoming a more permanent solution.

NHK has learned that Mitsubishi Chemical is planning to reduce its three head offices in Tokyo to a single site next April.

Japan's Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide says he hopes to arrange a phone meeting with US President-elect Joe Biden, and a visit to the United States.

Suga told reporters on Monday that he extends warm congratulations to Biden and his running mate Kamala Harris. He said Japan and the US are allies that share universal values such as peace and freedom.

Japanese business leaders are urging US President-Elect Joe Biden to restore international order.

The Chairman of the Japan Business Federation, or Keidanren, called in a statement for close cooperation between the new governments of Japan and the United States, and further improvement in bilateral relations.