The Tokyo Metropolitan government has announced the capital's first cases of the new coronavirus Omicron subvariant XBB.
On Thursday, experts tasked with assessing the coronavirus situation in Tokyo confirmed six infections of XBB in the prefecture.
Tokyo police will step up security in the bustling Shibuya district from Saturday, as a large number of people are likely to gather there in the run-up to Halloween on Monday.
Halloween has attracted large numbers of revelers to the area in the past. But the figure has dropped sharply since 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic.
A Ukrainian nuclear power plant staff member has taken part in training in Japan to prevent nuclear material from being used for malicious purposes.
The Japan Atomic Energy Agency is holding training sessions in Ibaraki Prefecture, north of Tokyo. Eighteen people from 14 countries participated. Tetiana Bychkoava from Ukraine is one of them. She is in charge of protecting nuclear material at the Khmelnytskyi plant in western Ukraine.
Japan's health ministry says it confirmed 3,941 new cases of the coronavirus in Tokyo on Thursday.
The daily tally is up 452 from a week earlier, marking a fifth straight day of week-on-week increase.
South Korea's defense ministry says it will take part in an international fleet review in Japan next month for the first time in seven years.
The ministry decided to accept Japan's invitation to the review on Thursday. It says South Korea will send a logistic supporting ship.
Political parties in Japan are divided over how to provide relief for financial damage resulting from extremely large donations to the former Unification Church made under the influence of so-called mind control.
The Liberal Democratic Party, its coalition partner Komeito, and two opposition parties -- the Constitutional Democratic Party and Japan Innovation Party -- held their third working meeting on the matter on Thursday.
A city north of Tokyo is counting on the metaverse, or a virtual space for interaction, to help absentee children continue their studies.
Toda City in Saitama Prefecture has adopted a metaverse-schooling service that a Tokyo-based non-profit organization launched last year for children who stay away from school for long periods.
Japan's internal affairs minister Terada Minoru says that his local support group had mistakenly written the name of a deceased person as being in charge of accounting in political funds reports.
Terada spoke at a Lower House committee meeting on Thursday.
The Japan Railways group says four of its group companies will introduce peak fares for Shinkansen trains and limited express services during the busiest travel seasons.
JR Tokai, JR West, JR Shikoku and JR Kyushu will raise the fare for express reserved seats by 400 yen for peak season travel in the fiscal year that begins next April.
A member of the Fukuoka City assembly in southwestern Japan says she is resigning after she was questioned by police for giving out handbills that claim to have been written by a former Diet member.
The bills allege ties between the former lawmaker and the former Unification Church.
A Japanese pediatric expert is calling for small children to get vaccinated against the coronavirus to prevent serious illness. Japan is set to roll out vaccines for children aged six months to four years.
Niigata University Professor Saitoh Akihiko said clinical tests show that vaccines are effective in preventing coronavirus infection in this age group. Saitoh is a council member of the Japan Pediatric Society.
A tornado-like wind damaged some buildings in Kanazawa City on the Japan Sea coast on Sunday afternoon.
The Meteorological Agency says the possible tornado was formed when atmospheric conditions became unstable due to a cold front.
Relatives of Japanese nationals abducted by North Korea are calling on the Japanese government to hold another bilateral summit at an early date to resolve the issue.
They made the appeal at a rally in Tokyo on Sunday. North Korea acknowledged the abductions for the first time at a summit with Japan in September 2002.
Japanese researchers say they have successfully produced hair shafts in the lab. They say it could lead to a cure for hair loss in people.
The group, including professor Fukuda Junji of Yokohama National University, published its findings in the US journal Science Advances.