Some 300,000 coronavirus masks sent to pregnant women in Japan as part of a government handout have been found to be faulty, media reported on Tuesday, the latest in a string of complaints about how the government has dealt with the epidemic. (Japan Today)
The Japan Racing Association said Thursday it will extend course closures through May 31 due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, meaning the Japanese Derby and a number of other high-profile races will be run behind closed doors. (Kyodo)
Many Fukushima residents have expressed concern over a possible scheme to release diluted radioactive wastewater from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant into the sea or air in the prefecture. (NHK)
The head of the Tokyo Olympic organizing committee has indicated that it would consider the possibility of postponing the games as the coronavirus continues to spread around the world. (NHK)
The Olympic flame for the Tokyo 2020 Games has arrived in Japan from Greece. (NHK)
Japan's Environment Ministry says waste produced by decontamination work following the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant accident could leak at 12 locations in case of torrential rain. (NHK)
FUKUSHIMA – After nine long years, service on the Joban Line is fully back on track. (Japan Times)
The Olympic flame has been lit in Olympia, southern Greece, marking the start of the Tokyo 2020 Games torch relay. (NHK)
At 2:46 p.m., a siren sounded to mark the exact time the quake struck ... as people across Japan paused to observe a moment of silence for the thousands lives lost nine years after a major earthquake, tsunami and nuclear accident struck the country's northeast. (NHK)
One of the world's largest facilities for producing clean-burning hydrogen marked its opening on Saturday, in a demonstration of northeastern Japan's revival from the devastating 2011 earthquake and tsunami. (Nikkei)
Japan on Wednesday lifted an evacuation order for parts of Futaba, one of two towns where the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant is located, ahead of an Olympic torch relay in the region. (Japan Times)
The 2020 Tokyo Olympics torch relay will start on March 12, 2020, and end on July 24, 2020. Olympics organizers will lit up the torch in Olympia, Greece and take it to Athens after one week. Sports enthusiasts can get the latest sports news about the Olympics at Betway. (newsonjapan.com)
A Fukushima prefectural police helicopter transporting a heart for transplant crash-landed Saturday in the northeastern Japanese prefecture, injuring all seven persons on board, including one seriously, authorities said. (Japan Today)
Operations have begun to remove a rare type of spent fuel made of plutonium-uranium mixed oxide from a nuclear reactor in central Japan, operator Kansai Electric Power Co. said Monday. (Japan Times)
A woman and three children were found stabbed to death in a car in a park in Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture, on Wednesday morning. (Japan Today)
Spent mixed oxide fuel has been removed from a reactor at a nuclear power plant in western Japan in the first such operation in Japan, the plant operator said Tuesday. (Japan Today)
Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako on Thursday visited areas in northeastern Japan that were hit by a powerful typhoon in October to encourage the victims, in the couple's first trip to disaster-hit regions since the emperor's enthronement in May. (Kyodo)
A Japanese government panel says discussions on how to dispose of radioactive wastewater at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant should center on two options --- releasing it into the ocean, or into the air. (NHK)
East Japan Railway Co. conducted trial operations on Wednesday on a section of the Joban Line in Fukushima Prefecture that has been closed since the March 2011 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster. (Japan Times)
Some Japanese lawmakers giggled this week during a drill to practice the use of disaster prevention helmets, at least one of which was put on backwards, prompting Twitter users to question if they were making light of a life-and-death matter. (Japan Today)
A nuclear power plant reactor that was damaged by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami disaster and idled under stricter safety standards following the Fukushima crisis won approval from the nuclear watchdog on Wednesday for operations to resume. (Japan Times)
From chemicals to beer and travel, the chill in Japan and South Korea's relations is casting a wider shadow on their economic ties, the latest statistics show. (Nikkei)
The industry ministry said Monday it would be safe to release water contaminated by the Fukushima nuclear disaster into the ocean, stressing that on an annual basis the amount of radiation measured near the release point would be very small compared to levels to which humans are naturally exposed. (Japan Times)
Torrential rainfall from a low-pressure system has caused flooding and mudslides in eastern and northeastern Japan. Four people have been confirmed dead. At least two others are missing. (NHK)
With torrential rain, raging rivers and submerged homes, the havoc wrought by Typhoon Hagibis was a grim reminder that extreme weather may now be the new norm in this disaster-prone nation. (Japan Times)