Timeline for June 2020

2

Tokyo issues a new warning over the spread of COVID-19. The Tokyo Alert is lifted on June 11.

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4

Shōgi player Fujii Sōta (17) becomes the youngest challenger for the Kisei title, breaking a record that has stood for 31 years.

5

Yokota Shigeru, the father of Japanese abductee to North Korea Yokota Megumi, dies at the age of 87. He was a former leader of the Association of the Families of Victims Kidnapped by North Korea.

Prime Minister Abe Shinzō (right) with Yokota Shigeru (center) and his wife Sakie in Tokyo on June 10, 2014. The panel to the right shows Yokota Megumi, who was abducted by North Korea at the age of 13. (© Jiji)

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Statistics published by the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare show that Japan experienced a natural population decrease of more than 516,000 in 2019, as the number of deaths exceeded the number of births by more than half a million for the first time. The total fertility rate—the average number of children born to each woman during her lifetime—fell for the fourth consecutive year to 1.36.

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Kawasaki Tomisaku, the pediatrician who discovered Kawasaki disease, dies at the age of 95.

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10

The Japan High School Baseball Federation announces that teams selected for the canceled spring invitational tournament will play in friendly matches behind closed doors at the Kōshien stadium.

12

The Diet enacts a second supplementary budget for fiscal 2020 to tackle the COVID-19 crisis. With general-account spending of ¥31.9 trillion, it is the largest ever supplementary budget.

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15

Defense Minister Kōno Tarō announces the suspension of plans to deploy the Aegis Ashore land-based missile system in Akita and Yamaguchi Prefectures.

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16

The Health Ministry announces the results of surveys for coronavirus antibodies in the prefectures of Tokyo (where 0.10% of survey subjects carried antibodies, indicating that they had been exposed to the virus), Osaka (0.17%), and Miyagi (0.03%).

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17

The ordinary Diet session comes to an end.

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18

Former Justice Minister Kawai Katsuyuki and his wife Anri, both current lawmakers, are arrested by Tokyo prosecutors in connection with vote-buying allegations related to her campaign in the July 2019 House of Councillors election.

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19

The government lifts its requests for voluntary restrictions on crossing prefectural borders imposed due to COVID-19.

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The Japanese professional baseball season begins with games played behind closed doors.

22

The Japan Football Association withdraws its bid to host the women’s soccer World Cup in 2023.

23

Okinawa marks 75 years since the Battle of Okinawa at an annual memorial service in the Peace Memorial Park in Itoman.

A man prays in front of the Cornerstone of Peace monument in the Peace Memorial Park in Itoman, Okinawa, on June 23, 2020. (© Jiji)

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The Riken research institute announces that the Fugaku supercomputer it is developing in collaboration with Fujitsu and others is listed as the fastest in the world in four global rankings.

The supercomputer Fugaku at a press showing in Kobe on June 16, 2020. (© Jiji)

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24

Minister for Economic Revitalization Nishimura Yasutoshi says that the current government COVID-19 expert panel will be scrapped and replaced with a new body.

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26

Prefectures across Japan report a total of 105 new COVID-19 cases. This is the first time the total has topped 100 for around a month and a half.

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30

The Supreme Court overturns a ruling by the Osaka High Court that the city of Izumisano in Osaka Prefecture can be excluded from the furusato nōzei (hometown tax payment) system, backing the city’s view that the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications does not have the authority to exclude specific municipalities from the scheme..

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(Originally published in Japanese. Banner photo: Tokyo’s Rainbow Bridge is lit up in red to convey the Tokyo Alert on June 2, 2020. © Jiji.)