A resident shovels snow off around a car at a parking lot in Kitami city Hokkaido prefecture, northern Japan, on December 24 2022. (Photo by Kyodo News via AP Photo)





Nagoya castle is covered with snow on a winter day in Nagoya, Aichi prefecture, central Japan, on December 24, 2022. (Photo by Kyodo News via AP Photo)





People shovel snow from sidewalks in Kanazawa, in central Japan's Ishikawa prefecture, on December 24, 2022. (Kyodo News via AP Photo)





People walk past paper lanterns at a year-end fair in the Nihonbashi district of Tokyo on December 26, 2022. (Photo by Yuichi Yamazaki/AFP Photo)





Couples take selfies on a street with Christmas lights in Tokyo on December 25, 2022. (Photo by Yuichi Yamazaki/AFP Photo)





A couple takes a selfie with a Christmas tree in Tokyo on December 25, 2022. (Photo by Yuichi Yamazaki/AFP Photo)





A couple takes a selfie on a street with Christmas lights in Tokyo on December 25, 2022. (Photo by Yuichi Yamazaki/AFP Photo)





People clean up the Reclining Buddha with bamboos at Nanzoin Temple on December 26, 2022 in Sasaguri, Fukuoka, Japan. Some 200 monks and parishioners attend the annual event. (Photo by The Asahi Shimbun via Getty Images)





People shop for food ahead of the New Year holiday in Tokyo on December 29, 2022. (Photo by Yuichi Yamazaki/AFP Photo)





People wearing face masks flock to a shopping street famous for a year-end shopping before New Year holidays in Tokyo, Friday, December 30, 2022. Japan on Friday started requiring COVID-19 tests for all passengers arriving from China as an emergency measure against surging infections there and as Japan faces rising case numbers and record-level deaths at home. (Photo by Hiro Komae/AP Photo)





People walk in the Tsukiji “outer fish market” area in Tokyo on December 30, 2022. (Photo by Philip Fong/AFP Photo)





People visit Sensoji temple ahead of the New Year holiday in Tokyo on December 30, 2022. (Photo by Yuichi Yamazaki/AFP Photo)





People pray around an incense burner at Sensoji temple ahead of the New Year holiday in Tokyo on December 30, 2022. (Photo by Yuichi Yamazaki/AFP Photo)





This aerial photo shows a landslide in Tsuruoka, Yamagata prefecture, north of Tokyo Saturday, December 31, 2022. A landslide swallowed about a dozen homes in northern Japan Saturday. (Photo by Kyodo News via AP Photo)





People celebrate the start of New Years Day at midnight in the Shibuya area of Tokyo early on January 1, 2023. (Photo by Richard A. Brooks/AFP Photo)





Entertainers perform during a countdown event for the 2023 New Year celebrations in Tokyo, Japan on December 31, 2022. (Photo by Issei Kato/Reuters)





People applaud as a delivery robot departs from the Nihonbashi Post Office to deliver traditional New Year's Day cards, during a ceremony in Tokyo on January 1, 2023. (Photo by JIJI Press/AFP Photo)





Japan's Emperor Naruhito, Empress Masako, center, and Princess Aiko wave during the New Year's appearance by the Japanese royal family at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo Monday, January 2, 2023. (Photo by Tomohiro Ohsumi/Pool Photo via AP Photo)





Well-wishers arrive for the New Year's appearance by the Japanese royal family at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo Monday, January 2, 2023. The event was held for the first time in three years, following a hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic. (Photo by Tomohiro Ohsumi/Pool Photo via AP Photo)





Police officers control visitors coming to pray for good luck during their “hatsumode”, or their first visit of the year to a shrine or temple, at the Meiji Jingu Shinto shrine Tuesday, January 3, 2023, in Tokyo. (Photo by Eugene Hoshiko/AP Photo)