This photo taken on November 13, 2024 shows pedestrians walking past the four-storey Arimaston Building by Japanese architect Keisuke Oka in the Mita area of Minato Ward in Tokyo. Passers-by stop and stare at the ramshackle, hand-built concrete tower that looks like it has been lifted right out of a Japanese animation and dropped onto a real-life Tokyo street. Oka started construction in 2005. Apart from the help of a few friends, he made the entire building himself by hand. (Photo by Richard A. Brooks/AFP Photo)





A seven-year-old girl plays under yellow ginkgo leaves at Showa Kinen Park in Tokyo, Japan on November 25, 2024. (Photo by Issei Kato/Reuters)





A brewer using a long paddle stirs the mixture of rice, Koji, water and yeast starter inside a giant tank as a part of the fermentation process to brew sake, a traditional Japanese rice wine, at Ishikawa Shuzou, or Ishikawa Brewery, in Fussa, western portion of Tokyo, Japan on November 25, 2024. (Photo by Issei Kato/Reuters)





Japan's Princess Kako walks after attending a funeral service for Princess Mikasa at Toshimagaoka cemetery in Tokyo, Japan, on November 26, 2024. On 15 November 2024, Princess Mikasa, the oldest member of the imperial family, died at the age of 101. (Photo by Franck Robichon/Anadolu via Getty Images)





Japan's Crown Prince Akishino and Crown Princess Kiko walk, followed by Princess Aiko and Princess Kako, to attend a funeral service for Princess Mikasa at Toshimagaoka cemetery in Tokyo, Japan, on 26 November 2024. (Photo by Franck Robichon/Pool via Reuters)





A handout photo made available by JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) shows an explosion during a combustion test of Japan's new Epsilon S solid-fuel rocket at the Tanegashima Space Center, Kagoshima Prefecture, southwestern Japan, 26 November 2024. On 26 November 2024, an explosion and subsequent fire terminated a combustion test of the second-stage engine of Japan's new Epsilon S solid-fuel rocket at the Tanegashima Space Center. (Photo by JAXA/EPA)





This aerial image shows autumn leaves at their peak as they surround Tsutenkyo Bridge amongst the grounds of Tofukuji Temple, in the city of Kyoto on November 27, 2024. (Photo by JIJI Press/AFP Photo)





A dog is held up for a photo in front of the autumn-colored ginkgo trees in Tokyo Wednesday, November 27, 2024. (Photo by Shuji Kajiyama/AP Photo)





Japanese leaf-cutting artist, who goes by the name Lito, holds his freshly cut work featuring a frog with an umbrella, during an interview in Tokyo Wednesday, November 27, 2024. (Photo by Shuji Kajiyama/AP Photo)





People take pictures with ginkgo leaves in autumn colours at the Meiji Shrine Outer Garden in Tokyo on November 28, 2024. (Photo by Philip Fong/AFP Photo)





The Tokyo Metropolitan Government building is lit up with the projection mapping program “TOKYO GODZILLAs”, which is a follow-up to the presentation released in spring this year, in Tokyo on November 30, 2024. (Photo by Philip Fong/AFP Photo)





This handout photo taken on November 3, 2024 by the Imperial Household Agency of Japan and released on November 30, 2024 shows Japan's Crown Prince Akishino (R), his wife Crown Princess Kiko (2nd R) and their children Princess Kako (2nd L) and Prince Hisahito (L) at their recidence in Tokyo. Japan's Crown Prince Akishino turned 59 on November 30, 2024. (Photo by Imperial Household Agency/AFP Photo)





People visit Bunkyo Civic Center Observation Deck in Tokyo on December 1, 2024. (Photo by Philip Fong/AFP Photo)





A man walks in Kiyosumi Garden in Tokyo on December 3, 2024. Japan has recorded the warmest autumn since records began 126 years ago, the weather agency said, helping push the country's popular autumn foliage season into December. (Photo by Philip Fong/AFP Photo)





An employee of Kyugetsu, a Japanese traditional doll company, poses with special “hagoita” battledores featuring President-elect Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba Tuesday, December 3, 2024, in Tokyo. (Photo by Eugene Hoshiko/AP Photo)





This picture taken on December 4, 2024 shows a man walking past the autumn leaves at a park in Tokyo. (Photo by Yuichi Yamazaki/AFP Photo)





A person prepares for a display as he pours Japanese sake into a wooden cup traditionally used to drink sake, in Tokyo, Thursday, December 5, 2024, before a news conference on UNESCO's recognition of Japan's sake making as “intangible cultural heritage of humanity”, announced in Paraguay. (Photo by Hiro Komae/AP Photo)





Visitors take selfie photos under Zelkova trees, lit up with blue LEDs during an illumination event called “Ao no Dokutsu”, or Blue Cave, to celebrate Christmas season at Shibuya district in Tokyo, Japan on December 6, 2024. (Photo by Issei Kato/Reuters)





A diver in blue Santra costume holding a zebra shark swims in a large fish tank with fish for a press preview of the Christmas event at the Sunshine aquarium in Tokyo on Tuesday, December 10, 2024. The aquarium will have special events with blue Santa diver on 21, 22, Christmas eve and Christmas Day. (Photo by Yoshio Tsunoda/AFLO/Alamy Live News)





Japanese macaques, or “snow monkeys”, at Jigokudani park, about 150 miles northwest of Tokyo on December 12, 2024. The animals can survive temperatures as low as minus 20°C – but are known to use the local hot springs to ward off the chill. (Photo by Tapan Seth/Media Drum Images)