The Tokyo Olympic organizing committee dismissed the director of the opening ceremony on Thursday, a day before the show, over a Holocaust joke he made in a comedy skit in 1998. The move came after he got flamed on social media.

Four-time major champion Naomi Osaka abruptly withdrew from the French Open on Monday, citing mental health reasons. The decision came after she was fined $15,000 for skipping the news conference following her first-round victory on Sunday.

Hideki Matsuyama became the first Japanese man to win a major championship with his historic Masters victory on Sunday.  That was the moment the nation had been waiting for over half a century.

North Korea has decided to skip the Tokyo Olympics this summer due to coronavirus fears. It will be the first Summer Olympics that the North has missed since 1988, when they were held in Seoul.

Sexist comments made by the president of the Tokyo Olympic organizing committee sparked a petition calling for action against him. The 83-year-old caused an uproar by saying that women talked too much in meetings.

The organizing committee for the Tokyo Olympics estimated that the one-year delay of the events will cost about 200 billion yen, several sources said on Sunday. The committee, the Japanese government and the host city Tokyo are planning to decide in December how to share the burden.

The top soccer league in Germany resumed on Saturday behind closed doors amid strict distancing measures. However, recent polls showed that a majority of the people were against the restart, accusing authorities of prioritizing money over people’s health.

USA Track and Field, the governing body of American athletics, on Friday asked for the upcoming Tokyo Olympics to be postponed, citing concerns about the safety of their athletes amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The Greek Olympic committee suspended the rest of its torch relay on Friday after an unexpectedly large crowd gathered to watch despite requests for the public to stay away amid the coronavirus outbreak.

Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike showed an apparent expression of displeasure on Friday over the International Olympic Committee’s abrupt decision to move the marathon and race walking events next year to the northern city of Sapporo in order to avoid the extreme summer heat in the capital.

Japan shocked the rugby world again on Saturday with a stunning come-from-behind victory over No 2-ranked Ireland in the 2019 World Cup. The second straight win in Pool A has given the host nation a strong chance of reaching the knockout stages for the first time ever.

A high school baseball manager created a controversy for resting its ace pitcher in the prefectural final in late July. The school’s failure to reach the prestigious national tournament sparked a debate across Japan on whether a team should put a pitcher’s health ahead of its victory.