Japanese director Yoji Yamada, who has 90 films to his credit, talks to The Associated Press at a Shochiku office in Tokyo, Wednesday, October 4, 2023. A theater piece he has scripted and directed, based on a storyteller’s classic, is being performed at the Kabukiza in Tokyo through the end of this month. Yamada, 92, says all his works deal with the question of what it truly means to be human. (Photo by Yuri Kageyama/AP Photo)





Visitors enjoy Kochia in autumn colours at Oita Agriculture Park on October 11, 2023 in Kitsuki, Oita, Japan. (Photo by The Asahi Shimbun via Getty Images)





Police officers push back a man during a protest near the Embassy of Israel on October 13, 2023 in Tokyo, Japan. On October 7, the Palestinian militant group Hamas launched the largest surprise attack from Gaza in a generation, sending thousands of missiles and an unknown number of fighters by land, who shot and kidnapped Israelis in communities near the Gaza border. The attack prompted retaliatory strikes on Gaza and a declaration of war by the Israeli prime minister. (Photo by Takashi Aoyama/Getty Images)





Tsubame Industries Chief Technology Officer Akinori Ishii is seated in the cockpit to operate the human pilot-operated robot “Archax”, developed by Tsubame Industries, during a demonstration in a warehouse in Yokohama, Japan on October 13, 2023. The company plans to sell the 4.5-meter tall and 3.5-ton weight transformer robot for 3 million USD. The initial five units of the robot will be available for hobbyists, with the company's long-term goal being to market it for use in construction and disaster recovery. The robot will be unveiled to the public during the Japan Mobility Show in late October. (Photo by Tomohiro Ohsumi/Getty Images)





People hold a rally to protest against Israel's attack on Gaza near the Israeli embassy in Tokyo, Japan on October 16, 2023. (Photo by Issei Kato/Reuters)





Wooden “speedboats” rowed by shirtless men compete in a traditional boating race as part of the Mifune festival on the Kumano River running near World Heritage-listed Kumano Hayatama Taisha Grand Shrine in Shingu in the western Japan prefecture of Wakayama on October 16, 2023. (Photo by Kyodo News/Newscom via Avalon)





Local staff encase the sample fish to a cold box for a team of experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) with scientists from China, South Korea and Canada at Hisanohama Port in Iwaki, northeastern Japan Thursday, October 19, 2023. A team of experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is visiting Fukushima for its first marine sampling mission since the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant started releasing the treated radioactive wastewater into the sea. (Photo by Eugene Hoshiko/AP Photo)





Japanese carmaker Nissan Motor Co. Ltd., unveils its Nissan Hyper EV concept vehicles, the minivan Nissan “Hyper Tourer” (L), Nissan “Hyper Force” (C) and compact crossover Nissan “Hyper Punk” (R), during a presentation at the Japan Mobility Show 2023 in Tokyo, Japan, 25 October 2023. The Japan Mobility Show 2023 will be open to the general public from 28 October to 05 November 2023. (Photo by Kimimasa Mayama/EPA)





Japanese robotics startup Tsubame Industries exhibit the ARCHAX robot, weighing 3.5 tonnes and measuring 4.5 meters in height, during the press day of the Japan Mobility Show in Tokyo on October 25, 2023. (Photo by Kazuhiro Nogi/AFP Photo)





President and CEO of Mitsubishi Motors, Takao Kato unveils the Mitsubishi D:X Concept during a press day of the Japan Mobility Show 2023 at Tokyo Big Sight in Tokyo, Japan on October 25, 2023. (Photo by Issei Kato/Reuters)





A view of the Honda Cruise Origin during the Japan Mobility Show 2023 at Tokyo Big Sight in Tokyo, Japan on October 25, 2023. (Photo by Issei Kato/Reuters)





A view of the Nissan Hyper Tourer Concept during the Japan Mobility Show 2023 at Tokyo Big Sight in Tokyo, Japan on October 25, 2023. (Photo by Issei Kato/Reuters)





A view of the Toyota Rangga concept vehicle during a press day of the Japan Mobility Show 2023 at Tokyo Big Sight in Tokyo, Japan on October 25, 2023. (Photo by Issei Kato/Reuters)





A view of a flying vehicle of Joby Aviation during the Japan Mobility Show 2023 at Tokyo Big Sight in Tokyo, Japan on October 25, 2023. (Photo by Issei Kato/Reuters)





Lawyers of a claimant, Kazuyuki Minami, left, and Masafumi Yoshida, right, speak to media after the ruling of the Supreme Court Wednesday, October 25, 2023, in Tokyo. Japan’s Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled that a law requiring transgender people to have sterilization surgery in order to officially change their gender is unconstitutional. (Photo by Eugene Hoshiko/AP Photo)





A staff member holds a flounder from Fukushima at Sakana Bacca, a seafood retailer, on October 31, 2023, in Tokyo. Fishing communities in Fukushima feared devastating damage to their businesses from the tsunami-wrecked nuclear power plant’s ongoing discharge of treated radioactive wastewater into the sea. Instead, they're seeing increased consumer support as people eat more fish, a movement in part helped by China’s ban on Japanese seafood. (Photo by Eugene Hoshiko/AP Photo)





A dragonfly sits on a hat of a member of the Imperial Guard music band while Japan's Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako attend the autumn garden party at the Akasaka Palace imperial garden in Tokyo, Japan on November 2, 2023. (Photo by Kim Kyung-Hoon/Pool via Reuters)





Japan's Princess Kako, daughter of Crown Prince Akishino, gestures during a commemorative act to celebrate the 150 years of diplomatic relations between Peru and Japan at the Peruvian Japanese Association in Lima, on November 3, 2023. Princess Kako of Japan, niece of Emperor Naruhito, began a six-day official visit to Peru this Friday as part of the 150 years of the establishment of diplomatic ties between the Asian nation and the Latin American country. (Photo by Cris Bouroncle/AFP Photo)





Japan's Princess Kako, daughter of Crown Prince Akishino (R), communicates in sign language with a student during a maths class during a visit to a special education school in Lima on November 6, 2023. Princess Kako of Japan, niece of Emperor Naruhito, is on a six-day official visit to Peru as part of the 150 years of the establishment of diplomatic ties between the Asian nation and the Latin American country. (Photo by Cris Bouroncle/AFP Photo)





This photo taken on November 6, 2023 shows people posing for photos next to the statue of “Hachiko” in front of Shibuya station in central Tokyo, ahead of the 100th anniversary of the legendary dog's birth this month. A century since its birth, the tale of the loyal companion who had waited at the Shibuya train station for its master to come home – not knowing he had already died – continues to inspire the public, who have made the statue a singular landmark at a glitzy hub of Tokyo's street culture. (Photo by Richard A. Brooks/AFP Photo)