People in Japan are marking 77 years since the end of World War Two. On August 15, 1945, people gathered around their radios to hear a message from the Emperor. He announced that Japan had surrendered. Millions of Japanese people died in the war. On Monday, the government held a ceremony to remember them.
About 1,000 people attended the annual event in Tokyo. The number of attendees this year was reduced as a coronavirus measure.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Government reported 22,740 new cases of the coronavirus on Sunday.
The daily tally for the capital is down 3,573 from a week ago, and marks the ninth straight day of week-on-week declines.
People in the northern prefecture of Aomori are struggling to recover from the devastation caused by torrential rains earlier this month.
One of the areas hardest-hit is the Fujishima district of the town of Sotogahama. Heavy rains on August 3 caused large amounts of mud to flow into houses after a river was blocked by driftwood from upstream.
Weather officials say parts of the Tohoku region in northern Japan that have been lashed by record rain in recent days are likely to get more wild downpours Thursday night through Friday.
They're urging residents of Aomori and Akita prefectures to prepare for the risk of mudslides and flooding rivers.
A stationary front lingering around northern Japan has brought record rain to the prefectures of Aomori and Akita, further increasing the risk of mudslides and floods.
The front is expected to remain for about a week.
Heavy downpours will continue into Wednesday in the northern and northeastern regions of Japan due to a stationary rain front.
The Meteorological Agency says atmospheric conditions in Hokkaido are extremely unstable as warm and moist air is flowing in toward the front hovering near the region.
SoftBank Group announced on Monday that it posted a record net loss of 3.16 trillion yen, or about 23.4 billion dollars, in the April-June quarter as the value of its stock holdings plunged. This is the largest quarterly loss ever by a listed Japanese company.
The group's funds invest in many startups overseas. Their share prices have declined in line with overall losses on global stock markets, forcing the group to report a valuation loss of about 20 billion dollars.
Japan's health ministry has decided to begin offering new coronavirus vaccines that target Omicron subvariants in mid-October at earliest.
The plan was discussed by the ministry's panel of experts on Monday.
Drinkers in Hong Kong have tasted Japanese sake brewed from rice with several kinds of yeast that traveled to outer space and the ocean depths.
A promotional event was held on Sunday, organized by a restaurant in Hong Kong and a sake brewery association in Kochi Prefecture, western Japan.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Government reported 30,970 new cases of the coronavirus on Saturday.
The daily tally was down 2,496 from a week earlier.
The foreign ministers of Japan and South Korea have agreed to accelerate talks on resolving pending issues between the two countries to improve relations.
Hayashi Yoshimasa and Park Jin met on Thursday in Cambodia, where foreign ministers' meetings of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations are taking place. This was the second time they have held talks.
Japan's Foreign Minister Hayashi Yoshimasa has stressed that any unilateral attempt to change the status quo by force must not be tolerated anywhere in the world.
Hayashi made the remarks at a meeting with foreign ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations held in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh on Thursday. ASEAN is holding a series of in-person meetings in Cambodia that are the first of their kind in three years.
Officials say people living near the Mogami River in Yamagata Prefecture, northern Japan, should remain on the alert for possible floods and landslides until Friday morning. An emergency heavy rain warning for the prefecture has been switched to a warning.
Japan's land ministry and the Meteorological Agency held a joint news conference on Thursday morning following the torrential rain.
Medical experts in Japan are urging Covid-19 patients with mild symptoms to refrain from visiting hospitals so doctors can prioritize treating seriously ill patients and those at risk of developing severe symptoms.
Four emergency care and community healthcare societies, including the Japanese Association for Acute Medicine, held a news conference on Tuesday.