Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara held a press conference at the prime minister’s office in Tokyo on Wednesday. Photo courtesy of Jiji Press.
Several municipal websites in Japan became inaccessible on Wednesday, prompting authorities to investigate the disruptions.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara said the central government is working with relevant agencies to determine the cause of the problem.
The Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry asked affected prefectures to submit reports detailing the incident and its impact.
By late afternoon, local websites affected included Ebetsu in Hokkaido, Shiojiri in Nagano, Hagi in Yamaguchi, Dazaifu in Fukuoka, and Tosu in Saga.
Residents reported seeing error messages when attempting to access the affected municipal websites.
Other sites that temporarily went offline included Gunma and Kumamoto prefectures, Mito in Ibaraki, Toda in Saitama, and Nagasaki city.
Officials have not confirmed whether the disruptions were caused by technical problems, cyberattacks, or other factors.
Authorities continue to monitor the situation and are working to restore full access to all impacted local government websites.