Prime Minister Kishida Fumio says Japan's public and private sectors will invest 30 billion dollars over the next three years to support growth in Africa.
In an online address to the Tokyo International Conference on African Development or TICAD on Saturday, Kishida said Africa is a continent that is young, filled with hope and dynamic.
Japan's major opposition Nippon Ishin Japan Innovation Party has picked co-head Baba Nobuyuki as its new leader.
Baba and two other Diet members, Adachi Yasushi and Umemura Mizuho, ran in the race to decide who will take over from current leader Matsui Ichiro.
Japan and Russia have agreed on the return of three bodies found on the coasts of the Russian-controlled Kunashiri Island and Sakhalin Island after a Japanese tour boat sank in April.
The tour boat "Kazu I," carrying 26 people, sank off Shiretoko Peninsula in the northern Japanese prefecture of Hokkaido. Fourteen people have been confirmed dead. Twelve remain unaccounted for.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Government reported 17,126 new cases of the coronavirus on Saturday.
The daily tally for the capital is down about 8,100 from a week ago.
Survivors of the 1945 atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki have expressed disappointment that the review conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons failed to adopt a final document.
The head of a survivors' group in Hiroshima, Mimaki Toshiyuki, told NHK that he cannot help but feel the NPT regime is worthless under the current circumstances.
Japan's largest thermal power company, JERA, says it has signed a deal with the new operator of the Sakhalin-2 oil and gas project in Russia's Far East.
Company officials made the announcement on Friday.
Japanese cabinet ministers approved Friday the budget for former Prime Minister Abe Shinzo's state funeral. The ceremony is set for next month. It comes with a roughly 1.8-million-dollar price tag.
Japan's government will foot the entire bill. It plans to invite 6,000 guests. The funeral will be held at Tokyo's Nippon Budokan on September 27th.
The Japanese government has selected 10 universities and laboratories where it will create world-class research centers for vaccine development.
The science ministry said on Friday that the University of Tokyo is the flagship center of the project, with renowned virologist Kawaoka Yoshihiro serving as its head.
Doctors have decided that Japan's Empress Emerita Michiko does not need medication for now for the blood clot in her leg.
The Imperial Household Agency said the Empress Emerita, who is 87, visited the Imperial Household Hospital at the Imperial Palace on Friday morning.
Scientists at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, say they are very enthusiastic about their mission of sending two small spacecraft to the moon.
The leaders of the teams operating the probes, named Omotenashi and Equuleus, met reporters on Friday.
US space agency NASA says its SpaceX Crew Dragon with Japanese astronaut Wakata Koichi and three others on board will launch no earlier than October 3.
NASA made the announcement on Thursday, pushing back the earliest possible departure date from September 29. The agency said the adjustment allows for extra separation from other spacecraft traffic going to and from the space station.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Government reported 18,423 new cases of the coronavirus on Friday.
The daily tally for the capital is down about 9,200 from a week ago.
Hundreds of foreign dignitaries are expected to attend the state funeral of former Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo, scheduled to take place in Tokyo in late September.
The Japanese government has sent out notices regarding the event to about 200 countries and territories, plus some 80 international organizations.
Japan's Empress Emerita Michiko has undergone examinations for leg blood clots.
The Imperial Household Agency said the Empress Emerita, who is 87, visited the Imperial Household Hospital at the Imperial Palace on Friday morning.