The global Microsoft 365 outage caused some disruption to internal Japanese government communications on Friday (November 13), the country’s chief government spokesperson said.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara confirmed that services including Microsoft’s Outlook email had become unavailable. He added that ministries had found alternative methods to communicate.

Kihara said that no incidents of medical facilities losing access to patient records or financial institutions suffering significant disruption to customer services had been reported.

The disruption affected Microsoft 365, Outlook, Teams and other apps, leaving users around the world unable to access services for several hours.

DESCRIPCIÓN DE IMÁGENES

TOKYO, JAPAN (NOVEMBER 13, 2026) (NIPPON TV/JAPAN - No use Japan / Cannot re-use after 30 days from transmission without permission from Nippon TV)

1. JAPANESE CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY, MINORU KIHARA, WALKING TO PODIUM

2. (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) JAPANESE CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY, MINORU KIHARA, SAYING:

“We have confirmed that multiple services, including the Outlook email software, have become unavailable, and that certain disruptions to inter-ministerial communications are continuing on GSS, the government’s information system infrastructure.”

3. NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS

4. (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) JAPANESE CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY, MINORU KIHARA, SAYING:

“No problems have so far been reported regarding the use of electronic patient records during medical care. We have also received reports that major financial institutions are not experiencing significant disruption to their customer-facing services at this time.”

5. NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS

6. KIHARA BOWING, LEAVING NEWS CONFERENCE