A woman with Kimono looks at cherry trees in bloom in Shinjuku Gyoen in Tokyo, Japan on Thursday, April 4, 2024. (Photo by Noriko Hayashi for The Washington Post)
People view live owls at, Owl's Forest which is located on the bottom floor of a building along a bustling street in the Harajuku area on Friday November 04, 2016 in Tokyo, Japan. Visitors can pet owls at the business. It is located next to one of Tokyo's many cat cafes. (Photo by Matt McClain/The Washington Post)
At the end of rice harvesting season, the folks of the Kagawa and Niigata Prefectures in Japan hold a straw festival to celebrate the abundance of the harvest. Dried straws cover wooden frames to form larger-than-life sculptures from animals like sharks and gorillas to vessels such as ships and tanks. The family-friendly event invites visitors of all ages to engage, interact, and play on the enormous structures.
A groundskeeper uses a bamboo broom at Kasumigaike Pond at Kenrokuen Garden in Kanazawa, Japan on January 12, 2016. The japanese garden, located next to Kanazawa Castle, encompasses over 28 acres in downtown Kanazawa. With two ponds, rolling hills with streams and bridges, is considered a strolling-style landscape garden. It's regarded as one of the top three most beautiful gardens in Japan. (Photo by Linda Davidson/The Washington Post)
A staff member removes a coffin from a room of the “Corpse Hotel” in Kawasaki, Japan, April 20, 2016. Many so-called corpse hotels have emerged as a flourishing business in the city following a crunch in crematoriums. Families can rent a room in Sousou on a daily charge of 9,000 Japanese yen (£58, €74, $84) to keep the body of the deceased relative for up to four days until they find a crematorium. (Photo by Thomas Peter/Reuters)
A man holding a tray of belongings wades through a road at an area flooded by the Omoigawa river, caused by typhoon Etau in Oyama, Tochigi prefecture, Japan, in this photo taken by Kyodo September 10, 2015. (Photo by Reuters/Kyodo News)
In this November 18, 2015 photo, 9-year-old Mahiro Takano, center, three-time Japan karate champion in her age group practices in Nagaoka, Niigata Prefecture, north of Tokyo. Mahiro stars in singer Sia's latest music video "Alive", the just-released single from the singer's upcoming album. (Photo by Eugene Hoshiko/AP Photo)