Yoshihide Suga

TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s government is introducing a contentious new policy in which coronavirus patients with moderate symptoms will isolate at home instead of in hospitals, as new cases surge in Tokyo to record levels during the Olympic Games.

TOKYO (AP) — Japan expanded a coronavirus state of emergency to four more areas in addition to Tokyo on Friday following record spikes in infections as the capital hosts the Olympics.

Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga declared an emergency in Saitama, Kanagawa and Chiba, near Tokyo, as well as in the western city of Osaka, effective Monday until Aug.

TOKYO (AP) — Japan's capital, Tokyo, reported its highest number of new coronavirus infections on Tuesday, days after the Olympics began. Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga urged people to avoid non-essential outings, but said there was no need to consider a suspension of the Games.

TOKYO (AP) — Will it be a success? A failure? Or none of the above?

It will take something much more nuanced than those basic notions to assess the pandemic-delayed Tokyo Olympics when they wrap up in two weeks.

TOKYO (AP) — Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said Monday he has decided to grant official medical benefits to 84 Hiroshima residents who were exposed to highly radioactive “black rain” after the city's atomic bombing.

TOKYO (AP) — Japan's prime minister met with Pfizer's CEO in an unusually high-profile setting Friday to make sure the drugmaker would deliver the COVID-19 vaccine as promised by this fall as the nation faces supply concerns and a growing outbreak.

TOYKO (AP) — Jill Biden embarked on her first solo international trip as first lady, leading a U.S. delegation to the Olympic Games in Tokyo, where the coronavirus is surging and COVID-19 infections have climbed to a six-month high.

TOKYO (AP) — The world needs to see that Japan can stage a safe Olympics, the country’s prime minister told sports officials Tuesday ahead of the Tokyo Games.

Tens of thousands of athletes, officials, games staff and media are arriving in Japan amid a local state of emergency and widespread opposition from the general public.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean President Moon Jae-in has decided not to visit Japan for the Tokyo Summer Olympics, citing a failure to set up a summit with Japan's prime minister that would produce meaningful results in improving relations.

Leaders of Asian Pacific nations agreed on Friday to step up COVID-19 vaccination sharing as China said it has pledged $3 billion in international aid to support coronavirus response efforts in developing countries.

HIROSHIMA, Japan (AP) — IOC President Thomas Bach got a mixed reception in his visit on Friday to Hiroshima to mark the first day of the so-called Olympic Truce.

Such a one-day visit by a dignitary would ordinarily be routine, but the Olympics are set to open next week with Tokyo under a state of emergency and with a substantial part of the population opposed to the Games being held during the COVID-19 pandemic.

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — U.S. President Joe Biden, his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and Russian President Vladimir Putin are among Pacific Rim leaders gathering virtually to discuss strategies to help economies rebound from a resurgent COVID-19 pandemic.

TOKYO (AP) — Tokyo reported its highest number of new COVID-19 cases in almost six months on Wednesday, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government said with the Tokyo Olympics opening in just over a week.

The surging numbers came out on the same day that International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach paid a courtesy call in Tokyo on Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga.

TOKYO (AP) — Japan believes rising tension surrounding Taiwan requires its attention “with a sense of crisis” as China intensifies military activities in the area and the United States steps up support for the self-governing island.

TOKYO (AP) — Tokyo Olympic organizers are holding out hope that the Paralympic Games might allow some fans.

Organizers and the International Olympic Committee on Thursday banned all fans from Olympic venues in Tokyo and three neighboring prefectures because of surging COVID-19 cases.

BANGKOK (AP) — Shares were mostly lower in Asia on Friday after stocks pulled back from their recent record highs on Wall Street as bond yields fell and investors turned cautious.

TOKYO (AP) — Fans will be banned from Tokyo-area stadiums and arenas when the Olympics begin in two weeks, the city’s governor said Thursday after meeting with organizers of the pandemic-postponed games.

TOKYO (AP) — Japan is set to place Tokyo under a state of emergency that would last through the Olympics, fearing an ongoing COVID-19 surge will multiply during the Games.

At a meeting with experts Thursday morning, government officials proposed a plan to issue a state of emergency in Tokyo from next Monday to Aug.

TOKYO (AP) — Surging COVID-19 cases in Tokyo have hit a two-month high that almost guarantees the Japanese government will declare a new state of emergency to start next week and continue for the duration of the Tokyo Olympics.

TOKYO (AP) — The pressure of hosting an Olympics during a still-active pandemic is beginning to show in Japan.

The games begin July 23, with organizers determined they will go on, even with a reduced number of spectators or possibly none at all.

ATAMI, Japan (AP) — More than 1,000 soldiers, firefighters and police on Sunday waded through a giant mudslide that ripped through a Japanese resort town southwest of Tokyo a day earlier, killing at least two people and leaving about 20 missing as it swept away houses and cars.

TOKYO (AP) — Japan Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga was still uncertain whether fans can be allowed at the Tokyo Olympics because of growing concern about rising COVID-19 cases on Thursday only three weeks before the games.

TOKYO (AP) — Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga pledged Monday to strengthen health controls at airports after a Ugandan Olympic team member tested positive for COVID-19 at the town hosting their training camp, triggering concerns that the upcoming games will spread infections.

TOKYO (AP) — Japan on Thursday announced the easing of a coronavirus state of emergency in Tokyo and six other areas from next week, with new daily cases falling just as the country begins final preparations for the Olympics starting in just over a month.

TOKYO (AP) — Japan is expected to ease a coronavirus state of emergency in Tokyo and most other areas this weekend, with new daily cases falling just as the country begins making final preparations for the Olympics starting in just over a month.

TOKYO (AP) — Japanese sexual minority groups and their supporters, in a last-ditch effort to get long-sought equality legislation passed before the Tokyo Olympics, submitted requests on Friday to the governing Liberal Democratic Party, whose conservative members have stalled the bill.

TOKYO (AP) — Japan's prime minister announced Wednesday an additional $800 million contribution to the U.N.-backed initiative to provide COVID-19 vaccines to poor countries, a four-fold increase of Japanese funding for the COVAX program.

TOKYO (AP) — Will the postponed Tokyo Olympics open despite rising opposition and the pandemic?

The answer is almost certainly “yes."

Senior International Olympic Committee member Richard Pound was emphatic in an interview with a British newspaper.

TOKYO (AP) — Japan extended a coronavirus state of emergency in Tokyo and other areas for 20 more days on Friday, with infections still not slowing as it prepares to host the Olympics in just over 50 days.

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union’s two top officials expressed support Thursday for holding the Tokyo Olympics despite growing opposition to the event in Japan because of the coronavirus pandemic.

TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s Asahi Shimbun newspaper on Wednesday called for the Tokyo Olympics to be canceled with the games set to open in less than two months.

It is the first of Japan’s major newspapers to make the move and joins some regional newspapers that have recently added to the growing opposition to holding the Olympics.

TOKYO (AP) — An international rights group on Tuesday urged Japan to change a law that it says puts “abusive and outdated” burdens on transgender people seeking to have their gender change legally recognized, including sterilization surgery and a psychiatric diagnosis.

TOKYO (AP) — Japan mobilized military doctors and nurses to give shots to elderly people in Tokyo and Osaka on Monday as the government desperately tries to accelerate its vaccination rollout and curb coronavirus infections just two months before hosting the Olympics.

TOKYO (AP) — Japan on Friday further expanded a coronavirus state of emergency from six areas, including Tokyo, to nine, as Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga repeated his determination to hold the Olympics in just over two months.

TOKYO (AP) — Japan's rollout of COVID-19 vaccines began belatedly in mid-February, months behind the United States and many other countries. Officials blamed a shortage of Pfizer Inc. vaccine from Europe as the main culprit in the delay.

TOKYO (AP) — A full-page newspaper ad says Japanese will be "killed by politics" because the government is forcing them to endure the pandemic without vaccines. More than 300,000 people have signed a petition calling for the Tokyo Olympics to be canceled...

TOKYO (AP) — Japan's governing party is renewing its push for its long-cherished goal of revising the country's pacifist constitution, saying effective anti-coronavirus measures such as lockdowns aren't possible without an emergency clause in the charter providing enforcement and the limiting of private rights...

TOKYO (AP) — Trains packed with commuters returning to work after a weeklong national holiday. Frustrated young people drinking in the streets because bars are closed. Protests planned over a possible visit by the Olympics chief...

TOKYO (AP) — Hideki Matsuyama received the Prime Minister’s Award in Tokyo on Friday for winning the Masters golf tournament...

TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s ruling party lost all three parliamentary by-elections held Sunday, loosening Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga’s grip on power ahead of national elections later this year...

TOKYO (AP) — Japan declared a third state of emergency for Tokyo and three western prefectures on Friday amid skepticism it will be enough to curb a rapid coronavirus resurgence just three months ahead of the Olympics...

TOKYO (AP) — Japan's prime minister announced on Thursday an ambitious new target for cutting greenhouse gas emissions, hours before he was to join a virtual climate summit hosted by U...

TOKYO (AP) — Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga on Wednesday donated a religious offering to a Tokyo shrine viewed by China and both Koreas as a symbol of wartime aggression, though he avoided a visit...

TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares were mixed Monday amid cautious optimism about a global rebound from the coronavirus pandemic...

BEIJING (AP) — China hit back at the U.S.-Japan show of alliance during talks between President Joe Biden and Japan Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, calling it an "ironic attempt of stoking division...