The two-day Hakata Dontaku festival begins in the southwestern Japan city of Fukuoka on May 3, 2022, with its main event parade resuming after a hiatus of two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

<May 4, 2022>

• Japan's estimated child population fell for the 41st straight year to a record low, government data showed Wednesday, as women are believed to have refrained from having children due to the expanding coronavirus pandemic.

<May 3, 2022>

• Debate is emerging in Japan over how much longer people should wear masks to combat the coronavirus.
  
  
• Major Japanese travel agency H.I.S. Co. has decided to move into agriculture to diversify its revenue sources after a tough period in which the coronavirus pandemic dealt a heavy blow to the tourism sector.

<May 2, 2022>

• New Zealand on Monday reopened its borders to international visitors from visa-waiver countries such as Japan, South Korea and the United States, continuing the country's staggered reopening after more than two years of border restrictions.

<April 29, 2022>

• China has suspended freight train operations with North Korea amid the outbreak of the novel coronavirus in the Chinese border city of Dandong, the Foreign Ministry said Friday.
  
  
• South Korea to allow people to take masks off outside from next Monday amid a decreasing trend in the number of daily COVID-19 cases, Prime Minister Kim Boo Kyum said Friday.

<April 28, 2022>

• Japan's first case of a coronavirus variant has been found in Sendai, the northeast Japan city's government said Thursday.
  
  
• ANA Holdings Inc. said Thursday it plans to return to the black for the business year ending next March as it expects travel demand to recover from the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic.
  
  
• Japan's industrial output in fiscal 2021 expanded at a record 5.8 percent from the previous year after two straight years of setbacks due to the coronavirus pandemic, government data showed Thursday.

<April 27, 2022>

• Omicron's BA.2 subvariant has come to account for about 90 percent of new coronavirus cases in the country, an estimate by an experts panel at the health ministry showed Wednesday.
  
  
• Japan should aim to normalize its coronavirus travel controls for foreigners as soon as possible, some members of a government panel said Wednesday, calling for a gradual reopening of its borders for tourists to boost the economy.
  
  
• China's radical "zero-COVID" policy is believed to be undermining public support for the leadership of President Xi Jinping, who is seeking to secure a controversial third term as the country's leader later this year, critics say.
  
  
• A Japanese health ministry panel approved Wednesday a plan to initially administer fourth COVID-19 vaccine shots only to the elderly and people with underlying medical conditions.
  
  
• U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris on Tuesday tested positive for the novel coronavirus, but has exhibited no symptoms and has not been in close contact with President Joe Biden, the White House said.

Japan and beyond: Week in Photos - April 23~29