Overview
- - The IOC set women’s athlete quotas at 47% and confirmed a record 50 women’s events and 12 mixed events, adding women’s large hill ski jump, a mixed skeleton team event, and equal 50km distance races in cross-country.
- - Japanese skaters, including Kaori Sakamoto, held their first official practice at the Milano Ice Skating Arena, while volleyball star Yūki Ishikawa’s club said an MRI confirmed a right-knee sprain after a Feb. 1 match.
- - Opposition parties sent a protest letter after Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi withdrew from an NHK leaders’ debate, noting she later delivered campaign speeches and urging that a new debate be arranged quickly.
- - The campaign of Miyagi 2nd district candidate Sayuri Kamata said a fabricated image was posted on social media and indicated possible legal action, drawing a warning from the Miyagi governor against misleading content.
- - Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov ruled out restoring visa-free visits to the Kuril Islands for former residents, and Japanese business and labor leaders separately agreed on the need to raise real wages given price changes.