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.

A number of cinemas in Japan have begun seating viewers at full capacity after the government relaxed the limit imposed on big venues due to the coronavirus starting on Saturday.

Cinemas had been limiting the audience to up to half capacity. Eurospace cinema in Tokyo's Shibuya district sold tickets for all 145 seats. Audience members sat next to each other as they waited for the movie to begin.

Prefectural authorities across Japan are quickly responding after the government extended a nationwide state of emergency for the coronavirus pandemic well past the country's week-long spring holidays.

The state of emergency was initially set to end on Wednesday. But the central government officially announced on Monday it was extending the state of emergency to May 31.

Japanese firms operating in China are trying to protect their employees from the newly identified coronavirus that can trigger pneumonia.

The Japan External Trade Organization says, as of October, 156 Japanese firms had bases in or around Wuhan, the city at the center of the outbreak.