Japan's Prime Minister Kishida Fumio and China's President Xi Jinping are set to hold talks face-to-face on the sidelines of the APEC summit -- the first time the countries' leaders have done so in about three years.

After the summit of the Group of 20 economies in Bali, Indonesia, wraps up, Kishida will head for Bangkok to take part in the summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum on Thursday.

Researchers using artificial intelligence technology have predicted that in mid-January the number of coronavirus infections in Tokyo could surpass the number recorded at the peak of the seventh wave.

A team from the Nagoya Institute of Technology, led by Professor Hirata Akimasa, used AI to simulate what could happen in the weeks ahead, if cases involving new strains, such as the BQ.1 Omicron subvariant, increase.

Japan and Thailand have inked a deal to improve skill levels in Thai manufacturing.

The two countries will develop human resources capable of using digital technologies to tackle issues such as production inefficiencies.

The Japanese health ministry is calling on people to only buy coronavirus antigen test kits it has approved.

To prevent fever clinics from being overwhelmed in the event of a surge in coronavirus cases or a simultaneous outbreak of COVID-19 and influenza, the ministry is advising people with a low risk of developing severe symptoms to self-test at home instead of going to hospitals.

Izumo Grand Shrine in western Japan's Shimane Prefecture is one of the country's oldest Shinto shrines. It regularly saw more than 6 million visitors a year, but that number was hit hard by the pandemic.

Now, with an eye on winning back big-spending travelers, a major resort operator has opened a hot spring hotel just a few minutes from the attraction.

Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio is scheduled to hold summit talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Thailand, after a Group of 20 summit wraps up on Wednesday.

Kishida will visit Thailand on Thursday, the last leg of his Southeast Asian tour, to attend a summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum.

NHK has learned that lawyers in Japan have begun investigating adoptions arranged by the religious group formerly known as the Unification Church.

Some children of group members say such adoptions are carried out based on their parents' beliefs.

Japan's health ministry says 11,196 new coronavirus cases were confirmed in Tokyo on Tuesday.

The daily tally is up 2,531 from a week ago. It is the first time that the figure has exceeded 10,000 since September 14.

Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio is scheduled to hold summit talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Thailand, after a Group of 20 summit wraps up on Wednesday.

Kishida will visit Thailand on Thursday, the last leg of his Southeast Asian tour, to attend a summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum.

Japanese teenager Kawasaki Rena has won the prestigious International Children's Peace Prize for her pioneering work to get more young people to participate in politics and society.

KidsRights Foundation, an international children's rights organization based in the Netherlands, presents the prize every year to youngsters for contributions in protecting children's rights. Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg won the prize in 2019.

Japan's Prime Minister Kishida Fumio plans to say at the G20 summit now underway that the country intends to lead international efforts to prepare for a future health crisis.

Global health is on the agenda on Tuesday, the first day of the leaders' gathering in Bali, Indonesia.

Japan will express at the COP27 meeting that it is considering offering funds, along with technical support, to help developing nations deal with "loss and damage" caused by climate change.

Environment Minister Nishimura Akihiro is expected to outline the idea when he delivers a speech at the ministerial session of the climate change conference in Egypt on Tuesday.

Japan's government has announced that it plans to reopen its ports to international cruise ships in line with the easing of border controls for inbound tourists.

The tourism ministry said it will allow the vessels as long as they abide by guidelines drawn up by an industry group on measures to prevent coronavirus infections and responses to outbreaks.

Japan's economy shrank in the July-September period, according to the latest GDP figures released on Tuesday. It was the first contraction in four quarters.

The Cabinet Office says the economy contracted in the latest quarter from the previous one at an annualized rate of 1.2 percent in real terms.

Russia's government has reportedly approved a Japanese consortium to retain a 30-percent stake in the Sakhalin-1 oil and natural gas project in the Far East.

Media outlets, including state-run TASS news agency, on Monday said Moscow authorized the transfer of a 30-percent interest in the new Sakhalin-1 operator to Japan's Sakhalin Oil and Gas Development Company.

The mother of Yokota Megumi, who was abducted by North Korea more than four decades ago, has long been calling for the immediate return of her daughter.

Tuesday marks 45 years since the abduction. Megumi was taken on November 15, 1977, while on her way home from junior high school in the city of Niigata.

NHK's latest poll suggests public approval for Japan's Cabinet has fallen to 33 percent. That's the lowest since Prime Minister Kishida Fumio took office in October last year.

More than 1,200 people responded to the survey conducted from Friday through Sunday.

NHK has learned that the Japanese government will enter into evidence in court video footage of a Sri Lankan woman before she died in detention.

Wishma Sandamali died at an immigration detention facility in Nagoya City, central Japan, in March of last year. She had complained of feeling ill before her death.

A team of experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency has arrived in Japan to inspect the project to release treated water from the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the sea.

The IAEA has been asked by the Japanese government to assess the safety of the release. This is the agency's second mission following one in February.

NHK has learned that police in Osaka, western Japan, plan to send officers to Brazil to pursue their search for a Brazilian man suspected of murdering his wife and daughter when they lived in Japan.

Investigative sources say officers could fly out as early as Saturday.

Japan's top government spokesperson says the country will continue close communication with South Korea to resolve pending bilateral issues, including wartime labor.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Matsuno Hirokazu was commenting on Monday on the previous day's meeting between the two countries' leaders in Cambodia. It was the first official bilateral summit in about three years.

Two courts in Tokyo have canceled trials scheduled for early Monday afternoon due to a bomb threat.

The Tokyo High Court says someone threatened to blow up a government building in central Tokyo around 1:30 p.m. on Monday.

Taxi fares in central Tokyo have gone up for the first time in 15 years amid rising operation costs.

The initial fare rose Monday by nearly 20 percent. It went from 420 yen, or about 3 dollars, to 500 yen, or 3 dollars and 60 cents.

A Japanese pianist and a South Korean musician have won the top prize in an international music competition in France.

Kamei Masaya and Lee Hyuk were awarded the first prize on Sunday in the piano category of the Long-Thibaud-Crespin international competition.

Tokyo police have arrested a professional Go player for allegedly injuring his wife by striking her face.

The police say the 52-year-old ninth-dan player, Cho Sun-jin, is suspected of hitting his wife at their home on Sunday night, causing bruising around her right eye.

Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio has met with his US and South Korean counterparts on the sidelines of the ASEAN summits in Cambodia. North Korea was at the top of the leaders' agenda, as Pyongyang has continued to take provocative actions at an unprecedented pace.

Kishida held a three-way summit with US President Joe Biden and South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol and called for greater cooperation.

Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio has explicitly criticized China for stepping up its activities that violate Japan's sovereignty in the East China Sea.

Kishida was speaking at the East Asia Summit in Cambodia on Sunday. Other participants included US President Joe Biden, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

Japan's health ministry says 6,922 new coronavirus cases were confirmed in Tokyo on Sunday.

The daily tally increased by 652 from a week earlier, and marks the ninth straight day of week-on-week increases.

Japan's health ministry says 8,021 new coronavirus cases were confirmed in Tokyo on Saturday.

The tally increased by 54 from the same day last week and the eighth straight day with a week-on-week increase.

Japan's Prime Minister Kishida Fumio has arrived in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh, where he will attend a summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

It's the start of a busy week for the Japanese leader, who will be exercising his diplomacy through a series of key regional summits and meetings on the sidelines.

A Japanese scholar has unearthed letters exchanged by Emperor Showa and Pope Pius XII that offer valuable insights into postwar relations between Japan and the Vatican.

Nihon University Professor Matsumoto Saho found the letters among documents declassified in 2020 in the Vatican Apostolic Archive. They consist of two letters from the pope and two replies from the emperor in 1952.

A certified class-action lawsuit against Nissan Canada and Nissan North America has received the go-ahead from a British Columbia court.

Japan's Prime Minister Kishida Fumio is set for a busy week of diplomacy in Southeast Asia. He's scheduled to attend a series of key regional summits and meetings on the sidelines.

Kishida left Japan early on Saturday. He will first attend a summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations that kicked off on Friday in the Cambodian capital.

The Cabinet of Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio has suffered a fresh blow. Justice Minister Hanashi Yasuhiro resigned over controversial remarks he had made about his role and the death penalty.

At a gathering on Wednesday, Hanashi said he had a "low-profile job that makes headlines only when he authorizes executions." That sparked criticism from both opposition and ruling party lawmakers. He met Kishida on Friday to tender his resignation.

Japan's seven-day average of new coronavirus infection cases has risen for four consecutive weeks.

The nationwide weekly average had declined for seven consecutive weeks through October 13.

Japan's Foreign Ministry has disclosed that it provided a grant of about 9.5 million yen, or about 67,000 dollars, to a nongovernmental group linked to the controversial religious organization previously known as the Unification Church.

A ministry official spoke about the matter at a Lower House Foreign Affairs Committee meeting on Friday. The official said that the ministry decided in February 2015 to award the grant as part of its Official Development Assistance scheme.

People in western Japan's Matsue City are having fun sightseeing on boats equipped with traditional "kotatsu" heaters.

Sightseeing boats on Matsue castle's moat are fitted with the devices around this time of the year. A kotatsu heater is a low table covered with a blanket that has a heat source underneath.

Japan's Prime Minister Kishida Fumio has decided to dismiss Justice Minister Hanashi Yasuhiro, who has been under fire for controversial remarks. Kishida conveyed his decision to senior officials of the Liberal Democratic Party.

Hanashi said on Wednesday that he has a low-profile job that makes headlines only when he authorizes executions. He made the remark at a gathering of LDP lawmakers of the Kishida faction.

Japan's government will exercise the right to question the former Unification Church and open a probe into alleged dubious activities. The religious group is accused of soliciting large donations from members and shady marketing known as spiritual sales.

Education and culture minister Nagaoka Keiko said on Friday that many court rulings have acknowledged illegal activities by the group and its members.

Japan's Prime Minister Kishida Fumio has decided to dismiss Justice Minister Hanashi Yasuhiro over his controversial remarks.

Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio will begin a nine-day trip to Southeast Asia on Friday. He is due to attend the Group of 20 summit and two other summit meetings.

Kishida will visit Cambodia, Indonesia and Thailand during the trip. He will attend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations conference and the Asia-Pacific Economic Forum, in addition to the G20 summit.

Japan's justice minister has apologized again and retracted more of his comments a day after he retracted a remark he made about his job.

Hanashi Yasuhiro faced criticism after saying at a party on Wednesday that his low-profile job makes headlines only when he authorizes executions. He apologized and retracted the words at the Diet on Thursday.

Tokyo police officials say former Japanese professional baseball pitcher and Hall of Famer Murata Choji has died as a result of a fire at his home.

A fire broke out at Murata's house in Tokyo shortly past 3 a.m. on Friday.

NHK has learned that a Japanese national, who is believed to have been a "volunteer fighter" with the Ukrainian forces, has died in Ukraine.

Sources close to the Japanese government say that a man in his 20s died in Ukraine on Wednesday. Details, such as where he died, are unclear.

Toyota may have outsold Tesla 7 to 1 during the third quarter of this year but it is the electric car manufacturer that reported higher net profits for the period.

Japan's top medical advisor says the country is now entering another wave of the coronavirus. Officials are preparing to respond to the latest surge.

The government's COVID advisory panel chief Omi Shigeru met with Prime Minister Kishida Fumio on Thursday. He told Kishida that cases are climbing across the country.

The daily count of new cases of the coronavirus remains high in Hokkaido, topping the figures for the 46 other prefectures in Japan for the third day in a row.

The health ministry reported 8,457 new infections in the northernmost prefecture on Thursday. The figure is up 1,153 from a week earlier.

The Japanese government has decided on a policy to allow each prefectural government to declare stepped-up coronavirus measures, if the number of the daily new cases reaches at least the same level as this summer's seventh wave. The policy decision is in preparation for an expected eighth wave of infections nationwide.

Daily new infections topped 200,000 in the seventh wave and were much higher than those in previous waves.

A Japanese think tank has forecast a total of about 770,000 births in the country for this year. The figure would fall below 800,000 for the first time since record-keeping began more than 120 years ago.

The Japan Research Institute based the projection on the number of births that the health ministry has released for the first 8 months of 2022.

Japan's Prime Minister Kishida Fumio has expressed intent to help businesses in the ASEAN member nations to raise funds needed for achieving carbon neutrality.

Kishida was speaking on Thursday in a video message to a conference in Cambodia of economic leaders in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio will hold bilateral summit talks with US President Joe Biden on the sidelines of international meetings in Southeast Asia.

Kishida is scheduled to leave Japan on Friday for a tour of Cambodia, Indonesia and Thailand.

An international environmental NGO has given Japan its satirical "Fossil of the Day" award at the venue of the COP27 climate change conference in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.

The Climate Action Network presents the award every day during the meeting to countries it says are "doing the most to achieve the least" to curb global warming.

A Japanese railway operator is about to make crossing its train lines safer with a new security system that uses AI and 3D imaging.

Seibu Railway, which operates in the Tokyo area, will begin using the new system next Monday.

A railway operator in western Japan is adopting the latest in digital technology to make the cleanup of its station washrooms more efficient.

West Japan Railway developed a system with a Tokyo-based tech firm. It features toilet paper and soap dispensers embedded with sensors that tell cleaners when refills are needed.

Japan's education and culture minister Nagaoka Keiko is expected to announce on Friday that the government will exercise the right to question a religious group previously known as the Unification Church. The group is accused of soliciting large donations from followers and conducting dubious marketing practices known as spiritual sales.

On Tuesday, the ministry's expert panel approved criteria for exercising the right to ask questions.

Representatives of Japan's 12 professional baseball teams are expected to discuss the undersized field of the new stadium of one of the teams, the Nippon-Ham Fighters, next week. The field reportedly fails to meet the country's official baseball rules.

The stadium is currently under construction in the city of Kitahiroshima, Hokkaido. It is about 95 percent complete ahead of its opening scheduled for next March.

Renault's Alpine sports car brand might come to North America and eventually launch on the stock market just like Porsche, the company it wants to challenge.

The daily count of new coronavirus cases in Japan's northernmost prefecture of Hokkaido has hit a new high of 9,545.

Hokkaido's tally for Wednesday is up 1,650 from a week ago, exceeding 9,000 for a second straight day. The prefecture reported 22 new deaths, another single-day high.

Tokyo prosecutors have brought a fourth indictment against a former executive of the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics organizing committee for accepting bribes.

Takahashi Haruyuki was arrested for the fourth time in October.

It's still early November but Japan's food manufacturers are gearing up for the year-end holidays. One firm in the north of the country has begun shipping the traditional rice cakes that are the centerpiece of many families' New Year decorations.

A truck loaded with 770 kilograms of "kagami mochi" rice cakes left a factory in Niigata Prefecture, Japan's most prolific rice-producing region.

A magnitude 5.0 earthquake has rocked Ibaraki Prefecture, north of Tokyo. It hit at around 5:40 pm on Wednesday.

It registered upper 5 on the Japanese seismic scale of zero to 7. Authorities say there is no threat of a tsunami.

Japan's top government spokesperson has reiterated that no coronavirus-related restrictions on people's activities will be imposed in principle unless a new strain more powerful than the Omicron variant emerges.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Matsuno Hirokazu was speaking to reporters on Wednesday.

Japan's current account surplus in the April-to-September period stood at about 4.8 trillion yen, or roughly 33 billion dollars.

Data released by the Finance Ministry on Wednesday shows the figure plunged nearly 6.9 trillion yen, or about 47 billion dollars, from the same period last year.

Concern is rising within Japan's main ruling Liberal Democratic Party about dubious political funds reports connected to one of the party's members.

Opposition lawmakers say internal affairs minister Terada Minoru is to blame for inaccurate political funds reports submitted in 2019 and 2020 by one of his local support groups. A deceased individual was listed in the reports as the person in charge of accounting.

Tokyo police have released a drama based on real-life spy incidents to urge Japanese businesses to improve their security measures.

The video is aimed at preventing outflows of advanced technology and protecting Japan's economic security. It depicts ways in which spies target businesses using a variety of tactics to obtain state-of-the-art technologies.

Arrangements are underway for Japan's Prime Minister Kishida Fumio to hold separate talks with the leaders of the United States and South Korea on the sidelines of international meetings in Southeast Asia.

Kishida plans to visit Cambodia, Indonesia and Thailand from Friday to attend summit meetings related to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the Group of 20.

Relatives of a Sri Lankan woman who died at an immigration detention facility in Japan have called for improvement of the country's system.

Two younger sisters of Wishma Sandamali, who died at the facility in Nagoya City last year, made the appeal in Tokyo on Tuesday, following UN advice.

Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio says he will push to submit legislation to the current Diet session to provide relief to victims of the religious group previously known as the Unification Church.

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito, and the opposition Constitutional Democratic Party and Nippon Ishin Japan Innovation Party are now divided over some points in the proposed legislation.

Japan's industry ministry is considering extending the lifespan of nuclear power plants to beyond the current 60 years to ensure stable energy supplies.

The secretariat of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry presented three proposals on Tuesday.

Sky watchers across much of Japan have enjoyed an enormously rare celestial spectacle -- Uranus hidden by a totally eclipsed moon.

The lunar eclipse began at around 6:09 p.m. on Tuesday and peaked between around 7:16 and 8:42 p.m. The moon returned to its full phase around 9:49 p.m.

Japan's health ministry says 8,665 new cases of the coronavirus were confirmed in Tokyo on Tuesday.

The daily tally is up 2,143 from a week ago, for a fourth straight day of week-on-week increase.

Yokota Sakie, whose daughter was abducted by North Korea 45 years ago, has urged Japan's government to take quick action to bring her home.

Yokota's daughter, Megumi, was abducted on November 15, 1977, while on her way home from junior high school in Niigata Prefecture on the Japan Sea coast.

The Bank of Japan has released a summary of its most recent policy meeting that shows board members choosing to stick with monetary easing, arguing that wage increases will be essential for stable inflation.

The "Summary of Opinions" covers discussions at a two-day meeting late last month.

The major Japanese electronic-parts maker Murata Manufacturing is expanding its production base in China.

This comes as the company eyes the growing demand for electric vehicles, as the smartphone market appears to be losing steam.

Japanese officials have unveiled draft criteria to question religious corporations a right stipulated by law. The move is considered a step toward an investigation into a group formerly known as the Unification Church.

The Culture Ministry presented the draft to an expert panel on Tuesday.

A senior member of Japan's main ruling party is asking two major opposition parties to quickly find common ground for new legislation involving religious groups.

Liberal Democratic Party Secretary-General Motegi Toshimitsu spoke to reporters on Tuesday about providing relief to former followers of the religious group that used to be known as the Unification Church.

Japan's Finance Ministry has released details of record recent currency market interventions by the government and the Bank of Japan. The ministry released daily records for the July-to-September period showing that all the buying occurred in a single day.

The government and central bank sold nearly 20 billion dollars on September 22 to buy more than 2.83 trillion yen in an effort to shore up Japan's currency.

Workers in Japan saw their wages go up again in September, but not by as much as inflation.

The labor ministry's preliminary figures show that the average wage for the month, including base and overtime pay, was 275,787 yen... or nearly 1,900 dollars.

Toyota knows that its customers want to add off-road accessories to their vehicles. It’s one reason it brought several impressive off-road-focused vehicles to SEMA this year. It’s also why the brand is making a new push to offer desirable upgrades and accessories through its Associated Accessories Products program. This gives buyers the chance to have their vehicle precisely as they’d like from the factory with the warranty intact. On top of that, accessory purchases can also be rolled into their vehicle financing.

The Japanese government is hearing from experts about its handling of former Prime Minister Abe Shinzo's state funeral in September.

The government's decision to hold the state funeral for Abe received mixed reactions from the public, with some saying the legal grounds for staging such a state-backed event are ambiguous. Calls grew from both ruling and opposition parties to develop criteria and other rules.

Kabuki star Ichikawa Danjuro has started his first series of performances in Tokyo after assuming the centuries-old stage name.

The performances opened on Monday at the Kabukiza Theatre. Former Ichikawa Ebizo became the 13th actor to assume the renowned name of Danjuro.

In recent days, a growing number of people in eastern Japan have been testing positive for COVID-19.

The pace of the increase has been accelerating.

Japan's health ministry plans to deliver a Moderna vaccine targeting the BA.5 Omicron subvariant of the coronavirus, following the delivery of a similar vaccine made by Pfizer.

The ministry has approved Moderna's BA.5 vaccine. It says the vaccine is expected to be effective against the Omicron subvariant.

In Nemuro, Hokkaido, a funeral was held on Monday for Tomikawa Mei, one of the Japanese victims of the fatal crowd crush accident in South Korea last month.

The accident occurred in Seoul's Itaewon entertainment district.

In women's curling, Japan's national team has won the inaugural Pan Continental championships after they came out on top of a tight contest with South Korea.

Participants in the event were teams from countries and territories in Asia, Oceania and North and South America.

Japan's health ministry said 3,489 new coronavirus cases were confirmed in Tokyo on Monday.

The tally increased by 1,468 from the same day last week and was 1.73 times the figure a week ago.

A survey shows that nursing-care providers in Japan are going out of business at a record pace this year. Lingering effects from the pandemic and rising costs are blamed for the industry's ongoing troubles.

Tokyo Shoko Research says the number of failures in the nine months through September reached 100 for the first time since 2000.

Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio has expressed hope that the ruling-opposition talks will make progress on legislation to deal with the religious group previously known as the Unification Church.

Lawmakers of four parties are discussing key points to be included in bills to provide relief to people who say they were financially exploited by the ex-Unification Church. The bills also aim to prevent similar damage in the future.

Japan's education and culture ministry has drawn up draft criteria to ask questions to religious corporations -- a right stipulated by law but which has never been used.

The ministry has been working on the draft to launch an investigation into the religious group previously known as the Unification Church.

Japan's audit watchdog says more than 10 billion yen, or some 68 million dollars, was improperly paid by coronavirus-related government programs in the fiscal year through March.

The head of the Board of Audit, Morita Yuji, submitted the report on its audit of the fiscal 2021 state budget to Prime Minister Kishida Fumio on Monday.

The head of Japan's Maritime Self-Defense Force and navy chiefs from countries in the Pacific and elsewhere are discussing maritime security in Yokohama City, near Tokyo.

The two-day Western Pacific Naval Symposium opened on Monday. Japan is chairing the biennial event this year.

Vice foreign ministerial-level officials of Japan, the United States and South Korea have agreed to closely cooperate to enhance regional deterrence of North Korea's missile threat.

Japan's Vice Foreign Minister Mori Takeo spoke by phone with US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman and South Korean First Vice Foreign Minister Cho Hyun-dong on Monday.

Tokyo Governor Koike Yuriko has given a lecture at her alma mater in Egypt.

Koike is in the country for a five-day stay. She plans to take part in the UN climate conference COP27.

A parade featuring a 16th-century warlord drew a crowd of nearly half a million to the city of Gifu in central Japan on Sunday.

The organizers and police took safety measures to prevent any problems during the two-day festival, following a recent tragedy in Seoul, South Korea.

North Korea is believed to have launched several ballistic missiles on Thursday morning. Japanese officials are trying to determine the latest details.

Japan's Defense Ministry says a number of missiles flew toward the Sea of Japan from around 7:40 a.m.

It has been learned that retirement benefit assets belonging to more than 1 million people have been left at Japan's public pension fund without proper procedures.

Company employees in the country can join a defined contribution pension plan under which premiums are paid by the firms and pension assets are managed by employees.

A hospital in Osaka says no prospect is yet in sight to resume medical services following Monday's ransomware cyberattack on its medical record system.

Osaka General Medical Center has been suspending non-emergency outpatient services and operations, and has stopped accepting emergency patients.

Japan's Defense Minister says North Korea fired at least two ballistic missiles toward the Sea of Japan on Wednesday morning, possibly a trajectory-shifting type that is more difficult to intercept.

Hamada Yasukazu says the missiles are both estimated to have landed in the ocean outside Japan's exclusive economic zone.

A nonpartisan group of Japanese lawmakers plans to hold a general meeting this week with a South Korean parliamentarians' group. The meetings have been suspended for three years due to the coronavirus pandemic.

About 20 members of the Japan-South Korea parliamentarians' union are set to begin a three-day visit to Seoul on Wednesday.

Russia's ambassador to Japan Mikhail Galuzin will reportedly leave his post as early as next month.

Galuzin assumed the role in 2018. He has served in Japan four times, stretching back to the days of the Soviet Union.