Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio has admitted to inadequacies in the submission of his office's campaign expenditures pertaining to last year's general elections.
The online edition of the weekly Shukan Bunshun magazine said that Kishida's office attached 94 receipts with no addressee and description to its expenditures.
Japan's latest efforts to block the spread of the coronavirus are not going down well with the tourism industry. With cases on the rise, the government opted to temporarily halt a travel subsidy program nationwide for a period of two weeks around the New Year holiday.
The announcement caught many would-be tourists off guard. An online booking company says it's been caught in a deluge of inquiries -- with most deciding to cancel their trips outright.
Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide has announced that the government will temporarily suspend its "Go To Travel" campaign across the country from December 28 to January 11. The move is aimed at containing the spread of coronavirus infections during the year-end and New Year holidays.
Suga made the announcement at a government taskforce meeting on Monday evening.
Japanese authorities and experts are preparing for the next steps in the fight against the coronavirus as a crucial three-week period draws to a close. The panel of experts are calling on the government to stop giving a subsidy to travel to areas where cases are rising.
The experts met on Friday, just a few days out from the end of what they had called a critical three weeks. One of the agenda items was the government's domestic travel campaign which has been in place to support the pandemic-battered economy.
Japan's coronavirus advisory panel has discussed the government's travel campaign and how people should spend the year-end and New Year holidays amid the spike of infections in the country.
The panel met for three hours on Friday morning. Those taking part included Nishimura Yasutoshi, the minister in charge of the coronavirus response, and health minister Tamura Norihisa.
Japanese tourism minister Akaba Kazuyoshi says the government intends, in principle, to extend its tourism subsidy program to the end of June.
The government's "Go To Travel" campaign offers discounts for domestic travel to help the pandemic-ravaged tourism industry. It is due to expire around the end of January.
Tokyo Governor Koike Yuriko says she will consider steps relating to the central government's "Go To Travel" domestic tourism campaign, while monitoring the situation of coronavirus infections in the capital.
Koike told reporters on Saturday that the metropolitan government has sent inquiries to relevant ministries and agencies to obtain details of the campaign's temporary suspension. She said she will consider what to do after receiving responses.
Travel agents are busy handling trip cancellations, after the government scaled back its domestic tourism campaign amid a resurgence of coronavirus infections in Japan.
The government decided on Tuesday to exclude Sapporo City in Hokkaido, northern Japan, and Osaka City in western Japan from the popular "Go To Travel" tourism promotion campaign. The two cities have recently been virus hot spots.
The Japanese government has scaled back a popular domestic tourism campaign due to the coronavirus, which is now spreading rapidly nationwide.
Economic Revitalization Minister Nishimura Yasutoshi said, "Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide and ministers concerned have decided to temporarily halt subsidies for travel to the cities of Sapporo and Osaka."
Japan's tourism minister says two cities are to be excluded from the government's Go To Travel domestic tourism campaign due to a recent surge in the number of coronavirus cases there.
Akaba Kazuyoshi said on Tuesday that the campaign will be suspended for trips to Sapporo City in the northern prefecture of Hokkaido and Osaka City, western Japan, from Tuesday until December 15.
The Japanese government will scale back a popular domestic tourism campaign due to the coronavirus, which is now spreading rapidly nationwide.
Officials are expected to halt subsidies for travel to certain hot spots. The tourism minister says any affected businesses will likely be compensated for their losses.