People ride on the Diamond and Flower ferris wheel during evening hour at Kasai Rinkai Park in Tokyo on October 14, 2024. (Photo by Philip Fong/AFP Photo)





Wearing whale shaped headgear, Hideki Tokoro, CEO of Kyodo Senpaku Co., Japan's largest whaling company, speaks during a press conference at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan in Tokyo, Japan, 16 October 2024. Tokoro is promoting whale meat consumption and explained that catching whales is limited to area of Japan's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). According to Tokoro, whales are eating more fish than humans do and catching them will help maintaining fishery resources. For him, whales are not “good to catch but must catch”. (Photo by Franck Robichon/EPA/EFE)





A video projection of “Song of a Manhattan Suicide Addict” by Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama is seen during the media preview of the exhibition “I would overcome death and go on living” at Yayoi Kusama Museum in Tokyo on October 16, 2024. (Photo by Philip Fong/AFP Photo)





Japanese Shinto priests bow as they attend a ritual during an autumn festival at Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo, Japan on October 17, 2024. (Photo by Issei Kato/Reuters)





Passengers take pictures of a performer during the 'Zombie Shinkansen' event on a bullet train from Tokyo to Osaka, ahead of Halloween on October 19, 2024. (Photo by Philip Fong/AFP Photo)





A performer dressed as a zombie performs inside a “Zombie Shinkansen” bullet train bound for Osaka from Tokyo, inspired by the South Korean movie “Train to Busan” ahead of the Halloween season, Japan, on October 19, 2024. (Photo by Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters)





This photo taken on October 21, 2024 shows a puppet on a bike in the village of Ichinono, one of the “puppet villages” in Japan created to ease the lonesome feelings due to depopulation, in the city of Tamba-Sasayama, Hyogo Prefecture. Many developed nations are facing a demographic timebomb, but Japan, which allows relatively low levels of immigration, already has the world's second-oldest population after Monaco. Silence pervades the air in Ichinono, where residents have handcrafted stuffed mannequins to create a semblance of a bustling society. (Photo by Philip Fong/AFP Photo)





This photo taken on October 20, 2024 shows puppets in the village of Ichinono, one of the “puppet villages” in Japan created to ease the lonesome feelings due to depopulation, in the city of Tamba-Sasayama, Hyogo Prefecture. (Photo by Philip Fong/AFP Photo)





This photo taken on October 20, 2024 shows puppets in the village of Ichinono, one of the “puppet villages” in Japan created to ease the lonesome feelings due to depopulation, in the city of Tamba-Sasayama, Hyogo Prefecture. (Photo by Philip Fong/AFP Photo)





A woman accompanying her children in Halloween costume prepares to vote during the general election at a polling station in Tokyo, Japan on October 27, 2024. (Photo by Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters)





China's Zheng Qinwen reacts as she poses for photographs with her trophy after winning the Pan Pacific Open women's tennis tournament at Ariake Coliseum, in Tokyo, Sunday, October 27, 2024. (Photo by Eugene Hoshiko/AP Photo)





Fans of the Los Angeles Dodgers react as their team wins against New York Yankees at the World Series games, at the Fields bar in Tokyo, Japan on October 31, 2024. (Photo by Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters)





People take photographs before Mount Fuji, the highest mountain in Japan at 3,776 metres (12,460 feet), in Fujikawaguchiko, Yamanashi prefecture on October 31, 2024. Japan's Mount Fuji remained snow-less on October 31 – the latest date that its majestic slopes have been bare since records began 130 years ago. (Photo by Yuichi Yamazaki/AFP Photo)





Mt. Fuji in Japan is covered with snow Wednesday, November 6, 2024. (Phoot by Kyodo News via AP Photo)





The “blue pond” in Biei in Hokkaido, northern Japan, is lit up on November 13, 2024. (Photo by Kyodo News)





A pet dog among people dressed as Santa Claus as they participate in a parade during a charity event through the Shibuya district Sunday, November 17, 2024, in Tokyo. (Photo by Eugene Hoshiko/AP Photo)





People dressed as Santa Claus prepare before participating in a parade during a charity event through the Shibuya district Sunday, November 17, 2024, in Tokyo. (Photo by Eugene Hoshiko/AP Photo)





An owner holds her Sony robotic 'Aibo' pet dog named Cham with her daughter as they attend a ritual for their pet's health, called Shichi-Go-San, which is usually held for praying for children's health and wellbeing, at the Kanda Myojin shrine in Tokyo, Japan, on November 20, 2024. (Photo by Issei Kato/Reuters)





Sony's robotic dogs “Aibo” are gathered by their owners during a ritual for their pet's health during an annual ceremony called Shichi-Go-San, which is usually held for praying for children's health and wellbeing, at the Kanda Myojin shrine in Tokyo, Japan, on November 20, 2024. (Photo by Issei Kato/Reuters)





A sommelier pours 2024 Beaujolais Nouveau wine as people bathe in a red-colored hot water bath on the day of the Beaujolais Nouveau official release at Hakone Kowakien Yunessun hot spring resort in Hakone, Japan, 21 November 2024. Kowakien Yunessun organized this event for the 20th time, the day France's Beaujolais Nouveau goes on sale worldwide. Japan is a major market for the Beaujolais Nouveau, and imports are expected to be at the same level as last year after reaching a peak in 2004. (Photo by Franck Robichon/EPA/EFE)