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FILE - In this Sept. 17, 2020, file photo, Taro Kono, newly appointed minister in charge of Administrative Reform speaks during a press conference at the prime minister's official residence n Tokyo. Kono has said “anything can happen” in regard to the postponed Tokyo Olympics, raising more doubts about the games beginning in just over six months. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, File)

Japan minister says ‘anything can happen’ with Tokyo Games

By STEPHEN WADE - Associated Press

A shopper wearing a protective mask to help curb the spread of the coronavirus uses a mirror as she tries on a hat in a shopping street in Tokyo Thursday, Jan. 14, 2021. The Japanese capital confirmed more than 1500 new coronavirus cases on Thursday. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

Japan’s new virus emergency met with public indifference

By MARI YAMAGUCHI - Associated Press

People wearing face masks to protect against the spread of the coronavirus cross an intersection on a street in Tokyo, Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2021. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)

Japan widens virus emergency to 7 more areas as cases surge

By MARI YAMAGUCHI - Associated Press

In this Dec. 1, 2020, file photo, a man wearing a protective face mask to help curb the spread of the coronavirus walks with the Olympic rings in the background in the Odaiba section in Tokyo. Opposition to the Tokyo Olympics is growing with calls for a cancellation as virus cases rise in Japan. The International Olympic Committee and local organizers have already said another postponement is impossible, leaving cancellation, or going ahead, as the only options. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, File) **FILE**

To cancel or not?: IOC, Japan press ahead with Tokyo Games

By Stephen Wade and Yuri Kageyama - Associated Press

Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee President Yoshiro Mori delivers a New Year's address in Tokyo Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2021. Mori tried on Tuesday to reassure the public that the postponed games will open in just over six months. (Kyodo News via AP)

Tokyo Olympic president tries to reassure doubting country

By STEPHEN WADE - Associated Press

Ex-Nissan exec says automaker sought to hide Ghosn’s pay

By YURI KAGEYAMA - Associated Press

In this Dec. 1, 2020, file photo, a man and a woman walk past near the Olympic rings floating in the water in the Odaiba section in Tokyo. More than 80% of people in Japan who were surveyed in two polls in the last few days say the Tokyo Olympics should be canceled or postponed, or say they believe the Olympics will not take place. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, File)

80% say Tokyo Olympics should be called off or won’t happen

By Stephen Wade - Associated Press

People wearing face masks to help curb the spread of the coronavirus walk across an intersection at Shinjuku neighborhood of Tokyo on Thursday, Jan. 7, 2021. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)

Japan declares emergency for Tokyo area as cases spike

By YURI KAGEYAMA - Associated Press

An Olympic torch for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics is on display in Tokyo, Tuesday, March 24, 2020. Japan has announced Thursday, Jan. 7, 2021, that it is halting a public display of the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic torches as virus case jump in the country and Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga orders a state of emergency for Tokyo and the surrounding areas until next month. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)

Spreading virus pulls Olympic torches off display in Japan

By STEPHEN WADE - Associated Press

South Korean ambassador to Japan Nam Gwan-pyo, center, is surrounded by journalists at the Foreign Ministry in Tokyo Friday, Jan. 8, 2021. A South Korean court on Friday ordered Japan to financially compensate South Korean women forced to work as sex slaves for Japanese troops during World War II, the first such ruling expected to rekindle animosities between the Asian neighbors. Japan’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement Friday that its vice Foreign Minister Takeo Akiba summoned Nam to register its protest against the ruling. (Yuki Sato/Kyodo News via AP)

Seoul court orders Japan to compensate 12 Korean sex slaves

By HYUNG-JIN KIM - Associated Press

A man wearing a British union flag face mask walks past a coronavirus advice sign outside a bank in Glasgow the morning after stricter lockdown measures came into force for Scotland, Tuesday Jan. 5, 2021. Further measures were put in place Tuesday as part of lockdown restrictions in a bid to halt the spread of the coronavirus.(Andrew Milligan/PA via AP)

Pandemic haunts new year as virus growth outpaces vaccines

By DANICA KIRKA and ANGELA CHARLTON - Associated Press

In this photo provided by the Imperial Household Agency of Japan, Japan's Emperor Naruhito and his wife Empress Masako, speak for their New Year video message at their Akasaka Estate residence in Tokyo, on Dec. 28, 2020. (The Imperial Household Agency of Japan via AP)

Japan’s emperor acknowledges virus hardship in video message

By YURI KAGEYAMA - Associated Press

FILE - In this June 3, 2020, photo, the Olympic rings float in the water at sunset in the Odaiba section in Tokyo. The year of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics has arrived. That would be 2021. Ever since the Olympics were postponed nine months ago, local organizers and the IOC have been biding their time. They’ve said we’ll have to wait until early in 2021 for details about how the Olympics can open on July 23 in the middle of a pandemic. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, File)

Welcome 2021: The year of the postponed Tokyo 2020 Olympics

By BY STEPHEN WADE - Associated Press

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, left, also the Liberal Democratic Party party leader, poses with the ruling party's senior officials, including Toshihiro Nikai, right, at the party headquarters in Tokyo, on Sept. 15, 2020. Prime Minister Suga came to office on a surge of popularity, pledging to combat the coronavirus and fix the languishing economy. Now his support ratings have plunged amid flaring virus outbreaks and scandals within the ruling party, even as the economy appears to be recovering. (Kyodo News via AP)

Japan virus outbreaks, scandals sap public support for Suga

By MARI YAMAGUCHI - Associated Press

People wearing face makes to protect against the COVIS-19 walk at Trocadero plaza near Eiffel Tower in Paris, Saturday, Dec. 26, 2020. French health authorities have confirmed the country's first case of the virus variant that prompted strict new lockdown measures in Britain and global travel restrictions.(AP Photo/Michel Euler)

The Latest: Japan’s PM seeks to enforce virus measures

By The Associated Press - Associated Press

In this file photo from 2009, then-Vice President-elect, Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., left, stands with his son Hunter during a re-enactment of the Senate oath ceremony, Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2009, in the Old Senate Chamber on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak) ** FILE **

Hunter Biden business dealings spark fear Joe Biden won’t take ‘tough policy toward China’

By Guy Taylor - The Washington Times

Rangers sign Japanese pitcher Arihara to $6.2M contract

Associated Press

People wait in socially distanced circles for the chance to get a glimpse of the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree in New York on Christmas day, Friday, Dec. 25, 2020. The coronavirus upended Christmas traditions, but determination and imagination kept the day special for many. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

The Latest: Japan sharply tightens ban on foreign visitors

By The Associated Press - Associated Press

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga speaks during a news conference in Tokyo on Friday, Dec. 4, 2020. Suga announced a 2 trillion green fund to promote innovation and technology to achieve his pledge to achieve a carbon free society by 2050.(AP Photo/Hiro Komae, Pool)

Japan delays gender equality goals in new five-year plan

By MARI YAMAGUCHI - Associated Press

Japanese writer Yu Miri speaks during a news conference in Tokyo on Wednesday, Dec. 23, 2020. Miri's novel &quot;Tokyo Ueno Station&quot; has won the National Book Award 2020 for Translated Literature in the United States. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)

Novelist Yu Miri: Olympics not helping Fukushima rebuilding

By MARI YAMAGUCHI - Associated Press