The Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics organizing committee will likely support the idea of delaying the Games to July of next year.
The committee has been working to set new schedules and secure venues for the events since they were postponed last week due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The organizers of the Tokyo Olympics have decided to keep the Olympic flame in the capital city after displaying it for a month in Fukushima Prefecture.
The flame was brought to Japan from Greece on March 20. Torch relay was scheduled to start at the J-Village soccer training center in Fukushima on March 26. But Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach agreed to postpone the Games just two days earlier.
The head of the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics organizing committee says he hopes to set new dates for the postponed events by the end of next week.
The committee has been working to finalize schedules and secure venues for the Games since they were postponed from this summer in the face of the coronavirus. It wants to hold them by the summer of 2021 at the latest.
NHK has learned that three Japanese professional baseball players have tested positive for the coronavirus. They are the country's first baseball players known to be infected.
Among them is Shintaro Fujinami of the Hanshin Tigers. He was reportedly tested on Thursday after consulting with a doctor. He had been complaining of being unable to smell the aroma of coffee for several days.
A source familiar with Japanese professional baseball says a pitcher has become the country's first player of the sport to test positive for the new coronavirus.
Shintaro Fujinami of the Hanshin Tigers underwent the test at the advice of a doctor on Thursday.
The organizing committee of the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics has launched a task force to sort out issues arising from the postponement of the games.
The move comes after the International Olympic Committee decided on Tuesday to put off the games until the summer of 2021 at the latest due to the coronavirus pandemic.
US President Donald Trump has welcomed the decision to delay the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics by about one year because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Trump told reporters at the White House on Wednesday that he congratulated Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe over the phone on a wise decision.
Sumo wrestler Asanoyama has been promoted to Ozeki, the sport's second highest rank.
The Japan Sumo Association made the decision on Wednesday. Representatives of the association visited the wrestler and his stable master at their lodging house in Osaka City to tell them about the promotion.
After weeks of speculation, Japan's Prime Minister says the Tokyo Olympics will be postponed because of the growing coronavirus pandemic.
Shinzo Abe says: "We agreed that we will hold the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics no later than the summer of 2021. We are committed to holding the Games in a complete form when we can prove that human beings have overcome illness caused by the new coronavirus."
NHK has learned that the Tokyo 2020 organizing committee has decided not to hold a torch relay, but will instead use a lantern to carry the Olympic flame across Japan.
Officials close to the matter say the committee decided that the torch relay won't come until it reaches a final conclusion with the International Olympic Committee on whether or not to postpone the Games.
The International Olympic Committee has decided to start discussions with Japanese organizers about the future of the Tokyo Games, including the possibility of a postponement. The IOC plans to reach a decision within four weeks.
But the sources say the Olympic torch relay will start in Fukushima Prefecture next Thursday as scheduled.
The Olympic flame for the Tokyo 2020 Games has arrived in Japan from Greece.
A special transport plane carrying the flame landed at the Japanese Air Self-Defense Force's Matsushima Base in Miyagi Prefecture, northeastern Japan, shortly after 9:30 a.m. on Friday, 90 minutes earlier than scheduled.
The Olympic flame has been handed over to Tokyo at a ceremony in Athens. The flame will leave for Japan on a special flight on Thursday.
The event was held at the ancient Panathenaic Stadium in Athens around noon on Thursday.
The head of the French Olympic Committee says the coronavirus pandemic must have reached its peak by the end of May for the Tokyo Olympics to be held on schedule.
Denis Masseglia made the remark in a telephone interview with the Reuters news agency on Monday.