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China to require visas for tourists from Japan

Mar 10, 2020 (NHK) - The Chinese government is suspending the visa-free privileges of Japanese who visit China for a term of no more than 15 days for sightseeing purposes.

The Japanese Embassy in Beijing says the Chinese government notified Japan of the indefinite suspension on Monday. Beijing says visas will be required for such travelers starting on Tuesday.

Beijing also says Japanese people who briefly visit China on business or to see their relatives will continue to enjoy their visa-free status but they need to present documents issued by their recipients in China.

China is asking arrivals from Japan to Beijing, Shanghai, and other major Chinese cities to undergo a 14-day self-quarantine over concerns of the new coronavirus. The measure is believed to have reduced the number of Japanese tourists.

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A series of cyberattacks has disrupted business operations and exposed millions of customer records across Japan, with a ransomware attack on a cloud service provider affecting 495 companies and local governments nationwide, while convenience store operator Lawson has disclosed a separate breach involving more than 2.15 million personal information records.

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Tokyo University of Science professor emeritus Kenzo Soai has been awarded this year's Nobel Prize in Chemistry together with French chemist Henri B. Kagan for discoveries that transformed scientists' understanding of how chemical reactions can favor one of two mirror-image forms of a molecule.

The US military suspended activities by all forces stationed in Okinawa for 48 hours from noon on October 7, an unusual measure following the arrest of a US Marine in connection with a robbery and murder case that has renewed scrutiny of crimes involving American service members.

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The Tokyo District Court on October 6 fined television personality Dewi Sukarno, widely known in Japan as Dewi Fujin, 200,000 yen after finding the 86-year-old guilty of assaulting two women who worked for her agency, including a former manager.

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A 36-year-old Tokyo bar owner was arrested on October 5 on suspicion of abandoning the body of his 25-year-old girlfriend in a mountainous area of Miyagi Prefecture, with police also investigating whether he was involved in her death.