Trainee Yumeka Sakurai, 20, receives rickshaw driving lessons from her colleagues in the Asakusa district, Tokyo, Japan on August 17, 2023. Sakurai joined Tokyo Rickshaw after seeing the pullers actively promote themselves on social media and, after four months of training and overcoming opposition from friends and families, she is now proud to haul passengers in her rickshaw. “I've watched many videos of women training hard and becoming rickshaw drivers themselves. They gave me the confidence that I could do it too if I tried hard”, she said. (Photo by Issei Kato/Reuters)





Trainee Yumeka Sakurai (left), 20, receives feedback after a driving and guide tour training from fellow rickshaw puller Mii Suzuki, 24, who is also taking a role as a trainer at the company, around Asakusa district, Tokyo, Japan on June 18, 2023. Sakurai joined Tokyo Rickshaw after seeing the pullers actively promote themselves on social media and, after four months of training and overcoming opposition from friends and families, she is now proud to haul passengers in her rickshaw. “I've watched many videos of women training hard and becoming rickshaw drivers themselves. They gave me the confidence that I could do it too if I tried hard”, she said. (Photo by Issei Kato/Reuters)





Rickshaw puller Shori Yoshida (right), 28, helps her novice colleague Riho Arai, 19, get ready for work, at the office in the Asakusa district, Tokyo, Japan on June 18, 2023. Pullers walk or run an average of 20 km (12 miles) a day and, in addition to being physically strong, they must have extensive knowledge of Tokyo and know how to engage with the tourists, who mostly hire them for sightseeing, with the most popular drivers make over 1 million yen a month, three times the national average. (Photo by Issei Kato/Reuters)





Rickshaw puller Akina Suzuki, 19, drives during a guided tour for a family of customers from Taiwan around Asakusa district in Tokyo, Japan on June 18, 2023. Pullers walk or run an average of 20 km (12 miles) a day and, in addition to being physically strong, they must have extensive knowledge of Tokyo and know how to engage with the tourists, who mostly hire them for sightseeing, with the most popular drivers make over 1 million yen a month, three times the national average. (Photo by Issei Kato/Reuters)





Rickshaw puller Shiori Yoshida, 28, attracts tourists to the guided tour at the Asakusa district in Tokyo, Japan on August 22, 2023. Pullers walk or run an average of 20 km (12 miles) a day and, in addition to being physically strong, they must have extensive knowledge of Tokyo and know how to engage with the tourists who mostly hire them for sightseeing. “I have fun and enjoy myself”, Yoshida said. “In order for the customers to enjoy themselves, I also enjoy myself”. (Photo by Issei Kato/Reuters)





Rickshaw puller Aika Terayama, 20, drives a rickshaw around Asakusa district in Tokyo, Japan on June 18, 2023. Pullers walk or run an average of 20 km (12 miles) a day and, in addition to being physically strong, they must have extensive knowledge of Tokyo and know how to engage with the tourists, who mostly hire them for sightseeing, with the most popular drivers make over 1 million yen a month, three times the national average. (Photo by Issei Kato/Reuters)





Rickshaw puller Yuka Akimoto, 21, prepares her rickshaw in a garage at the Asakusa district, Tokyo, Japan on August 22, 2023. Akimoto is one of a handful of women who have chosen to pull rickshaws in Tokyo, attracted to the male-dominated profession through social media, which in turn has given some of these female pullers a strong local and international following. “I don't deny it was extremely hard at the beginning”, she said, as the rickshaw can weigh up to 250 kg (551 lb). “I'm not athletic and the cart felt so heavy”. (Photo by Issei Kato/Reuters)





Rickshaw drivers Akina Suzuki (right), 19, and Misato Otoshi, 30, live stream on social media to promote their activities, at the Asakusa district in Tokyo, Japan on August 17, 2023. Otoshi is one of a handful of women who have chosen to pull rickshaws in Tokyo with less than 10 per cent of all applicants getting a job offer. “Even though it’s considered to be men's jobs, I thought it would be fun if I, a woman, could also do it”, she said. “I thought that being something out of the ordinary would be a strength for me”. (Photo by Issei Kato/Reuters)





Rickshaw puller Misato Otoshi, 30, drives a rickshaw around Asakusa district in Tokyo, Japan on June 21, 2023. (Photo by Issei Kato/Reuters)





Rickshaw puller Akina Suzuki, 19, takes a photo of a family of tourists from Taiwan during her guided tour around the Asakusa district in Tokyo, Japan on June 18, 2023. (Photo by Issei Kato/Reuters)





People visit Asakusa district near Sensoji Temple, a popular tourist location, in Tokyo on September 7, 2023. (Photo by Philip Fong/AFP Photo)





People visit Sensoji Temple, a popular tourist location, in Tokyo on September 7, 2023. (Photo by Philip Fong/AFP Photo)





People visit Asakusa district near Sensoji Temple, a popular tourist location, in Tokyo on September 7, 2023. (Photo by Philip Fong/AFP Photo)





Tourists travel on a subway train to Tokyo's town centre from Narita International Airport in Narita, Chiba Prefecture, outside Tokyo on September 7, 2023. (Photo by Philip Fong/AFP Photo)





Masato Okaue, 71, carries a handmade human-sized scarecrow to be fixed in a field in the village of “Kakasi No Sato” on September 20, 2023 in Yasutomi, Japan. Masato Okaue, 71, has created human-sized scarecrows and placed them around his village to remind people that there are still 10 villagers who are 65 or older, who are still living there. Since 2010, he has set more than 130 scarecrows around farmlands, roadsides and abandoned houses to illustrate the old Japanese countryside and show that villages are not completely deserted. Due to dwindling birth rates and migration to urban areas, 8 houses are occupied among the 30 houses in the village and others are abandoned, which is emblematic of a similar phenomenon taking place across Japan. Japan's elderly population aged 65 and older reached a record high of 29.1%, according to the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry statistics issued last Monday. (Photo by Buddhika Weerasinghe/Getty Images)





Handmade human-sized scarecrows are displayed in the abandoned building used as a school classroom in the village of “Kakasi No Sato” on September 20, 2023 in Yasutomi, Japan. (Photo by Buddhika Weerasinghe/Getty Images)





Handmade human-sized scarecrows sit in a tree to illustrate the old Japanese countryside childhood life on September 20, 2023 in Yasutomi, Japan. (Photo by Buddhika Weerasinghe/Getty Images)





Photo taken on September 25, 2023, shows a 100-meter Buddhist statue temporarily colored pale pink amid renovation work in Sendai in the northeastern Japan prefecture of Miyagi. (Photo by Kyodo News/Newscom/Alamy Live News)





Chinese tourists pose for a photograph in the Ginza district during the China's National Day holiday on October 01, 2023 in Tokyo, Japan. According to a report published by Japan's National Tourism Organization last week, 364,100 Chinese visitors entered the country in August, which was a 16% increase from July. China lifted its ban on group tours to Japan on August 10. (Photo by Tomohiro Ohsumi/Getty Images)





A visitor takes pictures of goldfish swimming in tanks at Art Aquarium Museum Ginza in Tokyo, Japan on October 4, 2023. The Art Aquarium Museum is presenting a special autumnal exhibition until 21 November 2023. (Photo by Franck Robichon/EPA/EFE)