The following is the latest list of selected news summaries by Kyodo News.
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Without runners, Olympic torch relay gets off to muted start in Tokyo
TOKYO - The Tokyo segment of the Olympic torch relay started with a small-scale ceremony on Friday, a day after organizers decided to stage the games without spectators at almost all venues due to a surge in coronavirus infections.
Two weeks before the opening of the Olympics, Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike marked the start of the 15-day section of the relay, most of which was taken off of public roads as the Japanese capital struggles with spiking COVID-19 infections.
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Japan's Olympians set for show to go on, even behind closed doors
TOKYO - Just two weeks before the Tokyo Olympics opening ceremony, Japanese athletes and staff stoically accepted Thursday's decision to bar spectators from events in the Japanese capital and three neighboring prefectures during the COVID-19 pandemic.
"It doesn't alter my focus," said 2016 Olympic women's singles badminton bronze medalist Nozomi Okuhara. "I'll prepare so I can give my best performance."
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"Demon Slayer" anime studio, president indicted for tax evasion
TOKYO - A Japanese anime studio known for producing the popular "Demon Slayer" anime series and its president were indicted by Tokyo prosecutors Friday for evading a total of 137 million yen ($1.2 million) in corporate and consumption taxes.
The Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office indicted Hikaru Kondo, 51, and his company Ufotable Inc., for violating national tax laws after the Tokyo Regional Taxation Bureau filed a criminal complaint against them in February last year.
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Envoys from 93 nations to attend Hiroshima A-bomb peace ceremony
HIROSHIMA - Representatives from 93 nations and the European Union are expected to attend this year's peace ceremony on Aug. 6 to commemorate the victims of the U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima in 1945, the city government said Friday.
Among the world's nuclear powers, the United States, Britain, France and Russia plan to send envoys to the ceremony, while China will not attend. If realized, the number of nations joining the event will be the second-largest since 2015, when 100 states were represented.
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Moon plans to visit Tokyo for Olympic opening: local media
SEOUL - South Korean President Moon Jae In is planning to visit Japan to attend the opening ceremony of the upcoming Tokyo Olympics, the Chosun Ilbo newspaper reported Friday.
Citing a South Korean government official, the South Korean daily said Moon is mulling a stay in Tokyo for two days from July 23, when the opening event will be held. But it is unclear if Moon will meet with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga.
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Japan, Britain to hold antipiracy joint drill in Gulf of Aden
TOKYO - Japanese Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi said Friday Japan and Britain will hold an antipiracy joint military drill in the Gulf of Aden in the near future.
The drill involves Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force units and a British aircraft carrier strike group led by the Queen Elizabeth, the Royal Navy's largest warship, Kishi said. He did not disclose the date of the exercise.
