Snow sculptures are displayed during the 75th Sapporo Snow Festival on February 04, 2025 in Sapporo, Japan. The Sapporo Snow Festival, held annually in early February, is one of Japan's most iconic winter events, attracting over two million visitors to marvel at its stunning snow and ice sculptures across three main venues: Odori Park, Susukino, and Tsudome. The festival, which began in 1950 with six snow sculptures created by local students, has grown into a global spectacle featuring large-scale snow art, illuminated displays, and various winter activities. (Photo by Christopher Jue/Getty Images)





A snow sculpture is displayed during the 75th Sapporo Snow Festival on February 04, 2025 in Sapporo, Japan. (Photo by Christopher Jue/Getty Images)





A man digs snow following heavy snowfall in Obihiro, Hokkaido, northern Japan, 04 February 2025. On 05 February 2025, the coldest air of the winter persisted over the Japanese archipelago, bringing heavy snowfall to Hokkaido and areas along the Sea of Japan coast. The cold front is expected to continue for several days, and the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) has issued warnings about heavy snow and blizzards, which already led to school closures and transportation disruptions. (Photo by JIJI Press/EPA/EFE)





This photo taken on February 7, 2025 shows tourists making photographs of Japanese macaques, commonly referred to as “snow monkeys”, taking an open-air hot spring bath, or “onsen” at the Jigokudani (Hell's Valley) Monkey Park in the town of Yamanouchi, Nagano prefecture. (Photo by Mladen Antonov/AFP Photo)





This photo taken on February 7, 2025 shows Japanese macaques, commonly referred to as “snow monkeys”, taking an open-air hot spring bath, or “onsen” at the Jigokudani (Hell's Valley) Monkey Park in the town of Yamanouchi, Nagano prefecture. (Photo by Mladen Antonov/AFP Photo)





This photo taken on February 7, 2025 shows Japanese macaques, commonly referred to as “snow monkeys”, taking an open-air hot spring bath, or “onsen” at the Jigokudani (Hell's Valley) Monkey Park in the town of Yamanouchi, Nagano prefecture. (Photo by Mladen Antonov/AFP Photo)





A man falls while throwing a snowball at the 35th Koide International Snowball Fight in Uonuma, Niigata Prefecture, Japan, on February 9, 2025. (Photo by Tom Bateman/Reuters)





A man throws a snowball at the 35th Koide International Snowball Fight in Uonuma, Niigata Prefecture, Japan, on February 9, 2025. (Photo by Tom Bateman/Reuters)





This photograph taken on February 10, 2025 shows tourists visiting the snow covered Toshogu shrine, the final resting place of Ieyasu, the first Tokugawa shogun, a famous tourism spot and UNESCO World Heritage Site in Nikko city of Tochigi Prefecture. (Photo by Mladen Antonov/AFP Photo)





Retired Mongolian-born “yokozuna” wrestler Hakuho holds a young sumo wrestler during a class at the 15th Hakuho Cup, a competition for young sumo wrestlers from elementary and middle school, at the Kokugikan arena in the Ryogoku area of Tokyo on February 11, 2025. (Photo by Philip Fong/AFP Photo)





Young sumo wrestlers compete during the 15th Hakuho Cup, a competition for young sumo wrestlers from elementary and middle school, at the Kokugikan arena in the Ryogoku area of Tokyo on February 11, 2025. (Photo by Philip Fong/AFP Photo)





Participants try on makeup at a special class at a Tokyo housing complex that teaches people to stay healthy and beautiful, on February 14, 2025. (Photo by Yuri Kageyama/AP Photo)





Red-crowned cranes, dancing gracefully in the snowy fields, spread their wings and perform a “courtship dance” at the feeding area of the ”Tsurui Ito Red-crowned Crane Sanctuary” in the village of Tsurui, in Japan's northern island of Hokkaido on February 15, 2025. (Photo by JIJI Press/AFP Photo)





This picture taken on February 16, 2025 shows people playing football at a park as the 634m-high (2,080 ft.) Tokyo Skytree (L) looms in background of the Japanese capital. Originally planned to be 610 metres high, architects went even bigger and the Skytree was certified by Guinness World Records as the world's tallest tower when it opened in 2012. (Photo by Philip Fong/AFP Photo)





Red-crowned cranes, designated as a Japanese special national treasure, are in mating season on their snow-covered feeding grounds in the Hokkaido village of Tsurui, northern Japan, on February 17, 2025. (Photo by Kyodo/Newscom/Avalon)





A woman takes photographs of a plum tree as rape blossoms are seen in the background at a park in Tokyo on February 17, 2025. (Photo by Yuichi Yamazaki/AFP Photo)





People pose for photographs with their cameras in a field of rape blossoms at a park in Tokyo on February 17, 2025. (Photo by Yuichi Yamazaki/AFP Photo)





AIREC, an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven humanoid robot, demonstrates a manoeuvre for changing diapers or preventing bedsores with a researcher at Waseda University's laboratory in Tokyo, Japan on February 17, 2025. (Photo by Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters)





This photo taken on February 20, 2025 shows the base of the 634m-high (2,080 ft.) Tokyo Skytree in the Oshiage area of the Japanese capital. Originally planned to be 610 metres high, architects went even bigger and the Skytree was certified by Guinness World Records as the world's tallest tower when it opened in 2012. (Photo by Kazuhiro Nogi/AFP Photo)





This picture taken on February 21, 2025 shows people walking past shops in the Asakusa area as the 634m-high (2,080 ft.) Tokyo Skytree (back C) is pictured in the distance in the Japanese capital. Originally planned to be 610 metres high, architects went even bigger and the Skytree was certified by Guinness World Records as the world's tallest tower when it opened in 2012. (Photo by Yuichi Yamazaki/AFP Photo)