Sunday marked a half century since Japan's southern prefecture of Okinawa returned to the country from postwar US rule. About 1,000 people attended a commemorative ceremony there.

Japanese Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako joined remotely from Tokyo. Emperor Naruhito said, "As I extend my thoughts to the history of the people of Okinawa who went on to tread paths fraught with hardships, I am filled with deep emotion as I attend this ceremony."

People in Okinawa have expressed mixed feelings as the southern Japanese prefecture marks the 50th anniversary of its return to Japan from US rule on Sunday.

A woman in her 60s who runs a shop in the city of Naha said she was an elementary school student at the time of the prefecture's reversion, and that she still remembers using US dollars as the local currency.

Sunday marks the 50th anniversary of southwestern prefecture of Okinawa's return to Japan from postwar US rule. An NHK poll found that more than 80 percent of people in Okinawa have a positive view of the reversion.

NHK conducted the survey in February and March. It contacted 1,800 people aged 18 or older in Okinawa Prefecture, and 812, or 45.1 percent, of them responded.

In Major League Baseball, Japanese two-way star Ohtani Shohei of the Los Angeles Angels has hit his 100th career home run in the majors. He reached the milestone faster than any other Japanese player in the Major Leagues.

Ohtani was batting third on Saturday as the designated hitter in part of a double header against the Oakland Athletics. It was his seventh homer of the season. It brought in two runs.

Okinawa marks the 50th anniversary of its return to Japan from US rule on Sunday.

Commemorative ceremonies are scheduled to be held in the afternoon simultaneously by the prefecture and the central government at two venues in Okinawa and Tokyo, respectively.

Japanese police say a DNA sample of a human bone fragment found in a mountainous area of Yamanashi Prefecture matches that of a girl who went missing three years ago.

In September 2019, Ogura Misaki, then a first-grader, disappeared from a campsite in Doshi Village in the prefecture. A massive search effort failed to find her.

People have taken part in a peace march in Okinawa and called for a reduction of US military facilities in the southern prefecture, ahead of the 50th anniversary of its return to Japan from US rule.

About 1,000 people including citizens from elsewhere in Japan gathered near the Ginowan city hall on Saturday, one day before the anniversary.

An inquiry panel investigating last year's deadly mudslide in the central Japanese city of Atami has pointed to a failure in administrative coordination among local governments.

The disaster hit the seaside resort city in July last year. A massive amount of mud flowed from a soil mound built in an area on high ground down along a mountain river, leaving 26 people dead and one person missing.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government says there were 4,109 new coronavirus cases in the Japanese capital on Friday.

The daily count was about 1,400 more than a week ago, and marked a seventh straight day of week-on-week increase.

European Council President Charles Michel has called for ridding the world of weapons of mass destruction in the atomic-bombed Japanese city of Hiroshima.

Michel made the remark in the western Japanese city on Friday morning, a day after meeting Prime Minister Kishida Fumio in Tokyo.

A panel of experts investigating the Japanese government's mishandling of data related to construction orders has issued its findings.

It estimates that the land ministry inflated the orders by as much as 5.1 trillion yen, or 39 billion dollars, annually over an eight-year period.

Groups representing Japan's tourism industry have urged the tourism ministry to allow foreign tourists back into the country as soon as possible.

The coronavirus pandemic prompted the government to close the borders to tourists.

A rain front and a low-pressure system are bringing rain clouds to the Kanto and Tokai regions. Japan's Meteorological Agency says torrential rain will likely fall through Saturday in Pacific coastal areas of western and eastern Japan.

In the 24-hour period through Saturday morning, up to 200 millimeters of rain is forecast for the Tokai region, 180 millimeters for southern Kyushu and Kansai, and 150 millimeters for Okinawa, Amami, Shikoku and Kanto-koshin.

The Japanese government decided on April 1 to let a foundation provide initial assistance to those who have fled Ukraine to resettle in Japan.

The Foundation for the Welfare and Education of the Asian People will be in charge of providing accommodation, cash and other necessities to evacuees soon after their arrival in Japan. The body has expertise in supporting refugees who have settled in Japan.