Japan's Foreign Minister Hayashi Yoshimasa says the country will push China to take responsible action on Russia's aggression against Ukraine, in cooperation with the Group of Seven members and other countries.
Hayashi was speaking at a news conference on Tuesday.
Japan is continuing to expand its sanctions against Russia over the Ukraine conflict. The government has announced a ban on imports of 38 products.
The move will target alcoholic drinks such as vodka. It will also apply to electric and other types of machines, including cars and motorbikes.
Japanese Olympic women's speed skating champion Kodaira Nao says she will retire from competition in October.
Kodaira said at a news conference on Tuesday that her last competition will be the 500-meter event in the national speed skating championship in October.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Government reported 6,922 new cases of the coronavirus in the capital on Tuesday.
The daily tally is 46 less than a week ago.
Japan's additional sanctions on Russia include an effective ban on new investments. The ban is based on the foreign exchange and foreign trade law.
Government approval will be required to obtain more than 10 percent of a Russian company's shares, or to extend new loans to Russian companies or organizations for over a year.
Four Chinese government ships navigated in Japan's territorial waters off the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea on Tuesday morning.
Japan Coast Guard officials say the vessels entered waters near Kubashima Island one after another from around 9:45 a.m. and stayed there until past 11:40 a.m.
Japan's government has formalized additional sanctions on Russia that include freezing the assets of President Vladimir Putin's two adult daughters.
The move comes in response to the mass killing of civilians in the suburbs of Kyiv and elsewhere amid the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Japan's health ministry has confirmed the country's first case of the XE strain of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus.
The ministry said a woman in her 30s was found to be infected with the XE strain after she arrived in Japan from the United States on March 26.
Major Japanese milling companies say they are going to raise their prices of wheat flour for business customers from June.
The decisions come after the worsening conflict in Ukraine prompted the Japanese government to hike the price of imported wheat that it sells to the milling industry.
Government officials from Japan and Russia have begun annual fishery talks after a delay in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Drift-net salmon fishing traditionally begins on April 10 in Japan's exclusive economic zone off its northern prefecture of Hokkaido.
The Japanese government's figures released on Monday show that more than 45 percent of residents have received their third shots against the coronavirus.
Vaccination rates are lower for younger people. Among those aged 70 or older, more than 80 percent have received their booster shots. Only about 20 percent of those in their 20s or 30s have taken their third injection.
Japan's nationwide data underscore the slow rollout pace of coronavirus vaccine booster shots among younger generations.
The government released on Monday the first nationwide rollout figures for the third vaccine shot by age group.
An NHK opinion poll shows that the approval rate for Prime Minister Kishida Fumio's Cabinet stands at 53 percent, unchanged from the previous survey last month. The disapproval rate is 23 percent, down 2 points.
NHK conducted the telephone survey from Friday through Sunday. Over 1,200 people responded.
The Japanese government has finalized the amount of financial support it will offer Ukrainian evacuees who have no relatives or acquaintances in Japan.
During their stays at government-designated hotels, in addition to free meals, each evacuee aged 12 or older will be given about 8 dollars per day, and younger children will each receive half that amount.