Japan

TOKYO, July 26 (Xinhua) -- Hosting the Olympics under the fourth COVID-19 state of emergency, Tokyo reported 1,429 new daily COVID-19 infections on Monday, exceeding the 1,000-mark for the seventh day in a row, local media reported Monday.

Due to the recent resurgence of COVID-19 infections, the cumulative tally of cases in Tokyo has exceeded 200,000. Moreover, people are highly concerned about the spread of the Delta variant of the virus in Japan, especially with the Olympics underway.

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.

Suga’s decision ends a long legal battle by the central government that delayed medical aid for the “black rain” victims, who were outside a government-set boundary used to decide survivors’ eligibility for medical care.

TOKYO, July 25 (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike met on Sunday to discuss the Olympic Games being held in the capital and anti-coronavirus measures, the Kyodo news agency reported on Sunday.

Koike visited the prime minister's official residence, according to the report. The meeting comes as Tokyo reported 1,763 new COVID cases in the capital on Sunday.

TOKYO, July 24. /TASS/: The world map, published on the official website of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, incorrectly shows Crimea as a part of Ukraine and must be fixed, the Russian Embassy to Japan said on its Facebook page on Saturday.

TOKYO (AP) — Just 19 years after devastating defeat in World War II, the 1964 Tokyo Olympics showcased the reemergence of an innovative country that was showing off bullet trains, miniature transistor radios, and a restored reputation.

Japan’s resiliency is on display again, attempting to stage the postponed 2020 Tokyo Olympics in the midst of a once-in-a century pandemic. The challenge is different, and this time there is widespread public opposition that has divided the country over the health hazards with nagging questions about who benefits from staging the Games.

TOKYO (AP) — Tokyo hit another six-month high in new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, one day before the Olympics begin, as worries grow of a worsening of infections during the Games.

Thursday’s 1,979 new cases are the highest since 2,044 were recorded on Jan. 15.

Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, who is determined to hold the Olympics, placed Tokyo under a state of emergency on July 12, but daily cases have sharply increased since then.

TOKYO (AP) — The Tokyo Olympic organizing committee fired the director of the opening ceremony on Thursday because of a Holocaust joke he made during a comedy show in 1998.

Organizing committee president Seiko Hashimoto said a day ahead of the opening ceremony that director Kentaro Kobayashi has been dismissed. He was accused of using a joke about the Holocaust in his comedy act, including the phrase “Let’s play Holocaust.”

TOKYO (AP) — Brisbane was picked Wednesday to host the 2032 Olympics, the inevitable winner of a one-city race steered by the IOC to avoid rival bids.

The Games will go back to Australia 32 years after the popular 2000 Sydney Olympics. Melbourne hosted in 1956.

“We know what it takes to deliver a successful Games in Australia,” Prime Minister Scott Morrison told International Olympic Committee members in an 11-minute live video link from his office.

TOKYO (AP) — The Tokyo Olympics should not be judged by the tally of COVID-19 cases that arise because eliminating risk is impossible, the head of the World Health Organization told sports officials Wednesday as events began in Japan.

How infections are handled is what matters most, WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a speech to an International Olympic Committee meeting.

“The mark of success is making sure that any cases are identified, isolated, traced and cared for as quickly as possible and onward transmission is interrupted,” he said.

TOKYO, July 20 (Xinhua) -- Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga has expressed his confidence in successfully delivering the Tokyo Olympic Games despite the specter of COVID-19.

"Because of the COVID-19 pandemic since last year, the (pandemic) situation is making progress and sometimes backwards, but vaccinations have come. After a long tunnel, an exit is now in our sight," Suga told officials before declaring the opening of the 138th IOC Session here on Tuesday.