A former crew member of a Japanese fishing boat exposed to the nuclear fallout from a 1954 US nuclear test in the Pacific has died.

Masaho Ikeda died of stomach cancer in a hospital in Fujieda City in Shizuoka Prefecture on Thursday. He was 87 years old. His relatives say he had also suffered esophagus and liver cancer.

A group of legal and political scholars has protested the government's abrupt change of its legal interpretation to allow a senior prosecutor to put off his retirement.

The government decided at a cabinet meeting in late January to delay until August the retirement of Hiromu Kurokawa as the head of the Tokyo High Public Prosecutors Office.

We start with the latest on the quarantined cruise ship docked near Tokyo.

The last group of passengers who tested negative for the coronavirus disembarked Friday from the quarantined cruise ship docked near Tokyo...two days after their two-week quarantine period ended.

Theme parks in Japan featuring Hello Kitty and other characters will close temporarily in order to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

Sanrio announced an indoor theme park in suburban Tokyo called Sanrio Puroland and an outdoor theme park in the Kyushu region called Harmonyland will be closed from February 22 to March 12. Both facilities are operated by a Sanrio subsidiary and are popular among tourists who are fans of the famous characters.

Nine new cases of coronavirus infection were reported in Japan on Friday.

Officials in the northern prefecture of Hokkaido said three people have been infected with the virus, including two elementary school students.

As Japan struggles to contain the coronavirus outbreak, local governments nationwide are receiving a rising number of inquiries from people who want to be tested for COVID-19. We interviewed an official from the health ministry's infectious diseases control division about testing for the virus.

Reporter: Can anyone get tested for the new coronavirus?

A former Japanese fisherman exposed to radiation from a US nuclear test in the Pacific decades ago has died.

Masaho Ikeda was aboard the tuna fishing boat Daigo Fukuryu Maru when the United States conducted the hydrogen bomb test at Bikini Atoll in 1954.

The Japanese government says it will hold talks with South Korea next month to discuss trade.

The two sides will meet for negotiations on March 10th in Seoul. They previously met in December for the first time in three-and-a-half years.

Japan's government plans to have passengers on the Diamond Princess cruise ship who were in close contact with those infected by the new coronavirus stay in facilities it has prepared to monitor their health.

Health minister Katsunobu Kato made the announcement on Friday. The ministry had previously planned to have such passengers remain on the ship.

A third group of passengers are disembarking from the coronavirus-hit Diamond Princess cruise ship near Tokyo.

More than 700 people have left the ship since their two-week quarantine period ended on Wednesday. Officials hope to see off another 450 passengers by the end of Friday.

Officials in the northern Japanese prefecture of Hokkaido say three more coronavirus cases have been confirmed in the region.

The three include two male elementary school students in Nakafurano Town. The other is a woman in her 40s. She lives in Chitose City. The woman was working as a quarantine officer at New Chitose Airport.

A third group of passengers from the coronavirus-hit Diamond Princess cruise ship near Tokyo are disembarking.

More than 700 people have left the ship since their two-week quarantine period ended on Wednesday.

A third group of passengers from the virus-stricken cruise ship in Japan will leave the vessel on Friday.

Coronavirus infection has been confirmed in 634 passengers and crewmembers on the Diamond Princess, moored at Yokohama Port, near Tokyo.

Japanese health experts say many passengers onboard a quarantined cruise ship were very likely to have been infected with the new coronavirus before authorities asked them to stay in their cabins.

Officials at the National Institute of Infectious Diseases held a news conference on Thursday. They discussed mass infections on the Diamond Princess, which arrived at Yokohama Port, near Tokyo, on February 3.