Kawasaki's Yu Kobayashi (C) scores the team's fourth goal during the AFC Champions League group stage football match between Japan's Kawasaki Frontale and Malaysia's Johor Darul Ta'sim at Todoroki Athletics Stadium in Kawasaki on November 28, 2023. (Photo by JIJI Press/AFP Photo)





Fans take photos of images of INI member Hiromu Takatsuka ahead of the red carpet at the 2023 MAMA Awards at Tokyo Dome Tuesday, November 28, 2023, in Tokyo. (Photo by Toru Hanai/AP Photo)





A robot (L) helps move a man into a wheelchair, during a demonstration at the Kawasaki booth on the first day of the 2023 International Robot Exhibition at the Tokyo International Exhibition Center in Tokyo on November 29, 2023. (Photo by Richard A. Brooks/AFP Photo)





Robots dressed in Santa Claus costumes perform a dance routine at the “Sagami Robot Town” display on the first day of the 2023 International Robot Exhibition at the Tokyo International Exhibition Center in Tokyo on November 29, 2023. (Photo by Richard A. Brooks/AFP Photo)





A visitor photographs an installation with a goldfish in a tank, in the theme of celebrating the upcoming Christmas season at the Art Aquarium Museum in Tokyo, Japan on December 1, 2023. The exhibition with about 5,000 goldfish goes on till December 27. (Photo by Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters)





Around 40 Akita dogs with their owners take part in a parade to mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of the legendary dog Hachiko, in Tokyo's Shibuya district on December 2, 2023. (Photo by JIJI Press/AFP Photo)





A diver wearing a Santa Claus costume cleans the inside of a sky tank for penguins at Sunshine Aquarium in Tokyo, Japan, 05 December 2023. The diver practiced cleaning the inside of a tank without the presence of several penguins, which are primarily held in quarantine after the Tokyo Metropolitan Government confirmed the season's bird flu outbreak. The tank cleaning for penguins is held from 23 December 2023 for a three-day special Christmas attraction. (Photo by Kimimasa Mayama/EPA)





Visitors watch the “Sparkling Light Tree”, a light show to celebrate Christmas, at the Shibuya Sky observation deck in Tokyo, Japan on December 7, 2023. (Photo by Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters)





Sardines and mackerels are seen washed up on a beach in Hakodate, Hokkaido, northern Japan Thursday, December 7, 2023. Thousands of tons of dead sardines have washed up on a beach in northern Japan for unknown reasons, officials said Friday. (Photo by Kyodo News via AP Photo)





Rina Gonoi, left, former member of the Japan Ground Self-Defense Forces, arrives at the Fukushima District Court in Fukushima, northeastern Japan, Tuesday, December 12, 2023. A Japanese court on Tuesday convicted three former soldiers in a sexual assault case that authorities had dropped until the victim, a former service member, came forward demanding a reinvestigation, prompting a military-wide harassment probe.(Photo by Kyodo News via AP Photo)





The kanji character “zei”, or taxes is displayed as the kanji letter of this year, at Kiyomizu temple in Kyoto, Japan, Tuesday, December 12, 2023. The kanji character “zei”, or taxes, was chosen as one that best represents 2023 amid growing speculation of a future tax increase to fund Japan’s ongoing drastic military buildup. The top Buddhist monk at the Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto, using a brush, wrote the letter on the temple balcony during Tuesday’s closely watched annual event. (Photo by Kyodo News via AP Photo)





A diver dressed in a Santa Claus costume feeds the fish at Sunshine Aquarium during preparations for the upcoming Christmas special event in Tokyo on December 14, 2023. (Photo by Kazuhiro Nogi/AFP Photo)





South Korea's Joo Cheon-hui eyes the ball during the women's singles R16 table tennis match against Germany's Han Ying at the WTT Finals Women Nagoya 2023 in Nagoya on December 15, 2023. (Photo by Philip Fong/AFP Photo)





East Timor Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao, center, reacts to Japanese high school dancers at the gala dinner for the 50th anniversary event between ASEAN and Japan in Tokyo, Sunday December 17, 2023. ASEAN and Japan celebrate its 50th anniversary of their friendship and cooperation in Tokyo through Dec. 18. (Photo by Yoshikazu Tsuno/Pool Photo via AP Photo)





People take pictures with festive light installations, ahead of the Christmas season in Tokyo's Shibuya district on December 21, 2023. (Photo by Philip Fong/AFP Photo)





Participants wearing Santa Claus outfits pose for photos before their event to hand out gifts and clean up the street to celebrate the upcoming Christmas season in Tokyo, Japan on December 22, 2023. (Photo by Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters)





People clean up the Reclining Buddha with bamboos at Nanzoin Temple on December 26, 2023 in Sasaguri, Fukuoka, Japan. Some 200 monks and parishioners attend the annual event. (Photo by The Asahi Shimbun via Getty Images)





Naoya Inoue (L) of Japan connects his left on Marlon Tapales (R) of the Philippines in the 5th round during the IBF, WBO, WBA and WBC Super Bantamweight unification title bout at Ariake Arena on December 26, 2023 in Tokyo, Japan. (Photo by The Asahi Shimbun via Getty Images)





A person stands in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei 225 index at a securities firm on December 27, 2023, in Tokyo. Asian shares were mixed in muted trading on Friday, Dec. 29, the last trading day of the year, with some regional markets logging solid gains in 2023 while many sagged. (Photo by Eugene Hoshiko/AP Photo)





Macaques huddle together for warmth at a hot spring in Nagano, Japan in the last decade of December 2023. Known as snow monkeys, the animals soak in the 40°C water every day during cold weather, spending their bathtime grooming, snoozing and playing on visitors’ camera tripods. (Photo by David Lazar/Animal News Agency)