Jun 23, 2021 (BBC) - Thousands of fans will be allowed into venues to watch the Tokyo Olympic Games but they will be told not to cheer or even speak loudly.
Organisers are limiting numbers to a maximum 10,000 spectators, with venues only half full. However even that goes against the advice of experts worried that the Games will spread Covid transmission.
Japan's environment and weather authorities have issued heatstroke alerts for a record 19 prefectures for July 15, warning that dangerous heat is expected to create an extremely high risk of heatstroke, including the first such alerts this year for the Kanto region.
Japan has become an unexpected base of operations for Russian intelligence agents since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, with spies allegedly using the country to procure and smuggle high-tech equipment and other goods to Russia, The New York Times reported on July 12.
Convenience store operators in Japan are strengthening safety measures as bear-related damage grows more serious, with Lawson expanding the use of bear repellent spray and considering drone-based remote monitoring.
Osaka’s Minami district, now entering another period of major change with the planned opening of the Naniwasuji Line, the redevelopment of Midosuji and improvements around Nankai Namba Station, has transformed from an area once described as "scary" and "dirty" into one of Japan’s leading tourist destinations.
A 10-ton hoko float was pulled through central Kyoto on July 12 in a trial run ahead of the Yamahoko Junko procession during the Gion Festival's early parade.
A 44-year-old man arrested after four people were injured in a knife attack in Saiki, Oita Prefecture, has told investigators in effect that "anyone would do," suggesting the victims were chosen at random, investigative sources said.
A woman arrested on suspicion of sewing shut the lips of a woman she lived with in Koga, Ibaraki Prefecture, has denied the allegation, telling investigators she has no recollection of the incident.
A 37-year-old gang member known in Tokyo's Kabukicho district by the nickname "Crazy" has been arrested on suspicion of robbing and injuring a teenage girl near Shinjuku Station after threatening her with what appeared to be an ice pick.
A wild boar repeatedly charged at a man on the grounds of a food service company in Toyota, Aichi Prefecture, on July 13, injuring two people before being captured about an hour and a half later.
Two men died on July 11 in separate water accidents in Aichi and Gifu prefectures, including an Indonesian man who apparently drowned after jumping into a waterfall basin and a fisherman swept away while trying to recover his fishing gear.
An unauthorized Islamic prayer hall has been built on land in Kawagoe, Saitama Prefecture, where new construction is generally prohibited, prompting the city to order the landowner to remove the structure.
Three men have been arrested on suspicion of preparing to rob a home in Saitama City after police found new face masks and crowbars hidden in shrubbery at a coin-operated parking lot.
Empress Masako harvested wild silk cocoons at the Imperial Palace on July 9, continuing the long-standing sericulture tradition passed down through generations of empresses since the Meiji era.
