News On Japan

Japan reports more than 150 new coronavirus cases

Jul 09, 2020 (NHK) - Japanese authorities reported Wednesday that 157 more people have been infected with the coronavirus.

That includes one person in the southwestern prefecture of Okinawa, which hadn't confirmed any cases in more than two months.

The minister in charge of the coronavirus response says the situation in the country is becoming more serious.

Economic Revitalization Minister Nishimura Yasutoshi said, "In a certain percentage of these cases, the route of infection is unknown. Also the number of older people with the virus is gradually increasing. We need to deal with this state of affairs with a sense of crisis."

However, Nishimura added that so far, there is no need to declare another state of emergency.

Seventy-five of the infections reported on Wednesday are in Tokyo. It's the first time in a week that the number of daily cases has fallen below a hundred in the capital.

News On Japan
POPULAR NEWS

Typhoon Nos. 28 and 29 are expected to remain well away from Japan, but waves of 3 to 4 meters could reach parts of the country's Pacific coast from around October 10, with Typhoon No. 28 moving west near Minamitorishima at about 40 kilometers per hour as of 6 a.m. on October 8.

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.

A core member of the international ransomware group Qilin was detained in Japan and handed over to German authorities, according to people familiar with the case, as Japanese companies and institutions face a growing wave of cyberattacks that has exposed nearly 15 million pieces of personal information this month alone.

New Year postcards for 2027 arrived at post offices across Hokkaido on October 6, with designs featuring sheep for the upcoming Year of the Sheep as Japan's traditional New Year card market continues to shrink.

MEDIA CHANNELS
         

MORE Society NEWS

A former dog breeder accused of failing to provide veterinary treatment to injured dogs at a facility in Neyagawa, Osaka Prefecture, pleaded not guilty as her trial opened on October 7, saying she had raised the animals with affection.

Twin brothers have been arrested on suspicion of stealing copper roofing from a remote shrine in Kochi Prefecture, as police investigate a series of similar thefts reported at about 10 shrines across the prefecture since around September 2025.

New Year postcards for 2027 arrived at post offices across Hokkaido on October 6, with designs featuring sheep for the upcoming Year of the Sheep as Japan's traditional New Year card market continues to shrink.

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.

A 20-year-old US Marine arrested over the robbery and killing of a woman at a hotel in Naha, Okinawa Prefecture, may have strangled her with the cord of a telephone installed in the room, investigators said.

Five boys aged 15 to 17 have been arrested on suspicion of robbing and confining a 17-year-old high school student in Akishima, Tokyo, after allegedly beating him with a baton, taking his cash and forcing him to travel around on motorcycles.

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.

Eleven men were injured when a traditional danjiri festival float overturned while attempting to make a sharp left turn at an intersection in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, on the evening of October 3, with all victims conscious when transported to hospitals and none suffering life-threatening injuries.