The Tokyo Metropolitan Government is urging people to stay home over the holiday weekend starting on Thursday.
The capital remains on the highest level of alert for the coronavirus, as newly confirmed cases bring its total virus count above 10,000.
Tokyo Governor Koike Yuriko has called on people to refrain from going out over the four consecutive holiday weekend from Thursday amid a surge in coronavirus infections in the capital.
Koike said at an extraordinary news conference on Wednesday that infections are spreading in wider areas and across generations.
Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Suga Yoshihide has pledged efforts to bring home nationals abducted by North Korea in response to the desperate wishes of their families.
Suga and a group of prefectural governors seeking to rescue the abductees met at the prime minister's office on Tuesday.
The governor of Kumamoto Prefecture in southern Japan says 14 people have been found without vital signs at a nursing home for the elderly. That comes amid heavy flooding in the region.
A 15-year-old high school student died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound in suburban Tokyo on Monday.
Police say he was found bleeding from the head in his house in Hachioji. He was taken to hospital but was confirmed dead.
A 15-year-old high school student apparently shot himself at his home in suburban Tokyo.
Police say he was found bleeding from the head Monday morning, on the second floor of his home in Hachioji City. He was taken to a hospital but was confirmed dead.
Japan's health ministry says about 2,000 people who have tested positive for the coronavirus have been isolating at home.
A ministry survey shows that of the 8,711 people who had tested positive by April 28, 1,984 were recuperating at home.
Studio Ghibli producer Suzuki Toshio has released a video message for children who are staying at home due to school closures.
Schools in Japan as well as all over the world have been closed in an effort to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus. To cheer up those children staying at home, the Nagoya Board of Education launched a special website.
An emergency seminar has been held online to help cope with alcohol addiction, as people are urged to stay home in an effort to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
The Japan-based group called "Oneness Group" is working to help people recover from alcohol addiction.
Officials in Nagasaki Prefecture dealing with a coronavirus outbreak on a cruise ship docked there are working to send crew members who tested negative back to their home countries.
The Italian-registered Costa Atlantica is at the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries shipyard for repairs. Of the 623 crew members, 148 were confirmed to have the virus as of Saturday.
Mobile phone data in Japan suggests people in major cities are largely complying with the government's request that they stay home.
Telecoms company NTT Docomo has released anonymous tracking data. It shows that under the nationwide state of emergency, average outings in major cities on Saturday declined compared with the period between mid-January and mid-February.
In a bid to slow the spread of coronavirus, authorities around Japan are pleading for residents to refrain from going out ahead of one of the country's biggest holiday periods. In Tokyo, the metropolitan government has dubbed the 12-day period through May 6, "stay-at-home week."
Shinkansen bullet trains are usually crowded ahead of the spring holiday. But some trains that left Tokyo on Saturday had no passengers in the non-reserved cars. Officials from Japan Railway say the occupancy rate for non-reserved seats on the Tokaido Shinkansen line was below 10 percent as of Saturday afternoon.
Economic Revitalization Minister Nishimura Yasutoshi canceled a news conference and worked from home on Saturday as an official of the Cabinet Secretariat was found to have contracted the new coronavirus.
The government said on Friday that the man in his 40's is a member of the taskforce launched last month to deal with the pandemic.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Government is calling on people to stay at home from Saturday through May 6 to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
The authorities designated the 12-day period, which includes Japan's "Golden Week" spring holidays, as "stay-home week."