The Consumer Price Index for last month/February, which looks at the price movements of goods and services consumed by households, excluding fresh food, fell for the seventh consecutive month to minus 0.4 percent compared to the same month last year. This was due to a drop in energy prices and accommodation rates caused by the new coronavirus.
Japan want to avoid a new declaration beyond issuing request to businesses, the government says they may need to impose penalties made possible by recently revised laws. As for the boarder, Japan so far plans to keep it close with no word for when the tourists would be welcomed back.
The number of new condominiums sold in the Tokyo metropolitan area in February was more than 50% higher than the same month last year, the third consecutive month of increase.
A government meeting was held to discuss how to regulate advertising on the Internet, and Chief Cabinet Secretary Kato emphasized the government's intention to consider regulations that respect the autonomy of businesses.
Japanese nuclear regulators have assessed a security lapse at a nuclear plant in the central Japan as the most serious level in terms of anti-terror measures. Sensors for detecting intruders in the plant may have been broken for a year.
In preparation for the vaccination of the elderly against the new coronavirus that will start next month, the town of Nanbu in Tottori Prefecture has sent out vaccination coupons to some elderly people who are at higher risk of becoming seriously ill.
There are now about 4 months to go until the rescheduled Tokyo Olympics. Last year, local governments across Japan had arrangements to host training camps for visiting national teams. But most plans were affected by the pandemic. This left a group of high school students waiting for their efforts to bear fruit.
On the morning of the 10th, a passenger car rammed into a cafe near JR Kochi Station, injuring five women who were in the cafe. A man in his 70s was driving the car, and the police arrested him on the spot on suspicion of negligent driving and injury, and are investigating the details.
In a press conference, Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Nogami, who is in charge of the JRA, stated that it was "extremely regrettable" that assistant trainers and others working at the JRA's training center were receiving the government's "sustaining benefits" to combat the new coronavirus in a manner that deviated from the purpose of the program. The Japan Racing Association (JRA), which works at the training center, has been working on the issue.
While the "priority vaccination" of medical personnel against the new coronavirus is underway, the vaccination of doctors, nurses, "medical officers" and "nursing officers" working in the Self-Defense Forces began on August 8.
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