Broadcasters led with reports on the Tokyo Metropolitan Government’s plan to ask bars and restaurants to close at 8 p.m. to prevent the spread of COVID-19 (NHK, TBS), a decline in the number of people visiting shrines during the New Year’s holidays (NTV), the occupancy rate for hospital beds in Tokyo reaching more than 80% (Fuji TV), and the number of seriously ill COVID-19 patients in Tokyo reaching 101 on Sunday and the daily tally of new cases marking 816, a record high for a Sunday (TV Asahi). 

Top stories in national dailies included Tokyo’s plan to ask bars and restaurants to close at 8 p.m. (Asahi, Nikkei), a survey of major Japanese companies in which 71% said the economy will recover this year (Mainichi), a GOJ plan to step up monitoring of housing for the elderly with home care services (Yomiuri), and China’s growing presence in UN organizations (Sankei).