The Japanese government has decided to step up measures against highly venomous fire ants by designating them as an invasive alien species that requires urgent action.

Government officials made the decision amid a rise in cases nationwide involving fire ants. They fear the species, indigenous to South America, are on the brink of becoming established in Japan.

Investigators have raided the offices of two major ad agencies, Hakuhodo and Tokyu Agency, over alleged bid-rigging involving test events for the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics.

Tokyo prosecutors and the Japan Fair Trade Commission also searched two other firms on Monday.

A committee of the UN cultural agency will open a session in Morocco's capital Rabat on Monday, with a collection of traditional Japanese dances expected to officially join an Intangible Cultural Heritage list.

UNESCO's Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage will screen files presented by countries. They will include 46 nominations for the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

Sai Yoichi, who directed the 1993 Japanese film "All Under the Moon," has died. He was 73.

Sai was born in the Japanese prefecture of Nagano in 1949.

Japan's captain Yoshida Maya says the team was unable to break Costa Rica's defense and failed to change the pace of its offensive.

Yoshida answered a Japanese reporter's question after Japan lost Sunday's match with Costa Rica, 1-0.

In the men's FIFA World Cup in Qatar, Japan lost 1-0 to Costa Rica at Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium on Sunday.

Japan's coach Moriyasu Hajime changed several starters from the first match against Germany.

The Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic organizing committee is believed to have played an active role in alleged bid-rigging involving the Games' test events.

Sources told NHK that the committee asked major ad agency Dentsu to compile a list of potential bidders for the events.

Japan's health ministry says it confirmed 10,346 new cases of the coronavirus in Tokyo on Sunday.

That's up 2,569 from a week ago. The daily tally rose week-on-week for the third day in a row.

The University of Tokyo says it will hire more than 300 female professors and associate professors over the next six years.

The university aims to raise the percentage of women in its faculty to at least 25 percent by fiscal year 2027. But the number was hovering around 16 percent as of May this year.

Japan's Emperor Naruhito has visited a hospital to have his prostate examined again after the previous test results showed some slightly concerning data.

The Emperor left the Imperial Palace on Sunday morning to visit a hospital in Tokyo.

Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force and the British Army are conducting a joint exercise simulating remote island defense.

The first joint drills in four years are being held until November 30th in Gunma Prefecture northwest of Tokyo.

Japan's industry ministry has compiled a draft outline on the development of the next-generation nuclear power system which will see the updating of existing reactors.

The government indicated in August that it would present a draft by the end of the year. It had previously said it was not expecting to build new reactors.

Hundreds of people have gathered in a city in southwestern Japan to remember a Japanese doctor who was killed in Afghanistan three years ago while working on humanitarian projects.

Nakamura Tetsu dedicated many years helping with Afghan healthcare and farmland regeneration projects including construction of irrigation systems as a member of the Japanese NGO Peshawar-kai. The doctor was fatally shot on December 4, 2019, at the age of 73.

Dozens of people have attended a ceremony in Tokyo to remember the millions of Ukrainians who died in the 1932-33 famine, known as the "Holodomor."

Ukraine marks the Holodomor on the fourth Saturday of every November. The Ukrainian government says the famine was engineered by the government of the former Soviet Union.