Japanese macaque monkeys look relaxed in a hot spring at the Jigokudani Yaen-koen wild macaque monkey park on December 7, 2024 in Yamanouchi, Nagano, Japan. (Photo by The Asahi Shimbun via Getty Images)





People stand along the beach at Odaiba Marine Park in Tokyo on December 10, 2024. (Photo by Philip Fong/AFP Photo)





People walk past a 7-Eleven convenience store in Tokyo, Japan, 13 December 2024. The convenience stores of American origin that Japan transformed into a cultural empire within half a century are known as “konbini”, with the first one opening its doors fifty years ago in Tokyo. 7-Eleven entered the country as a US business but transitioned to Japanese ownership in 2005. (Photo by Franck Robichon/EPA)





People walk through the annual year end illumination in Roppongi district Monday, December 16, 2024, in Tokyo, Japan. (Photo by Eugene Hoshiko/AP Photo)





People walk through the annual year end illumination in Roppongi district Monday, December 16, 2024, in Tokyo, Japan. (Photo by Eugene Hoshiko/AP Photo)





People take pictures with festive light installations ahead of Christmas in Tokyo's Shibuya district on December 18, 2024. (Photo by Philip Fong/AFP Photo)





A squirrel enjoys a Christmas feast in the city of Asahikawa on the island of Hokkaido in northern Japan in the last decade of December 2024. (Photo by Hiroki Inoue/Solent News & Photo Agency)





Makoto Uchida, Director, Representative Executive Officer, President and CEO of Nissan Motor Corporation, Toshihiro Mibe, Director, President and Representative Executive Officer of Honda and Takao Kato, Director, Representative Executive Officer, President & CEO of Mitsubishi Motors, attend a joint press conference on their merger talks, in Tokyo, Japan, on December 23, 2024. (Photo by Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters)





A diver wearing a blue Santa Claus costume swims inside the “Penguins in the Sky” tank with African penguins at Sunshine Aquarium in Tokyo, Japan, on December 24, 2024. (Photo by Issei Kato/Reuters)





People take pictures in front of a Christmas tree in Tokyo's Hibiya area on December 24, 2024. (Photo by Philip Fong/AFP Photo)





Member of a vintage car group Hiroyuki Wada (R), dressed as Santa Claus, gives Christmas presents to children on a street in Tokyo's Marunouchi area on December 24, 2024. (Photo by Philip Fong/AFP Photo)





Worshippers dust and wipe the reclining Buddha statue with bamboo branches and cloth, praying for good health and safety in the new year on December 26, 2024 in Sasaguri, Fukuoka, Japan. (Photo by The Asahi Shimbun via Getty Images)





Visitors bathe in incense smoke as part of a ritual to cleanse themselves before heading to the main hall of Sensoji Buddhist temple on New Year's Eve in Tokyo, Tuesday, December 31, 2024. (Photo by Hiro Komae/AP Photo)





People crowd the famed “Ameyoko” shopping street on New Year's Eve in Tokyo, Tuesday, December 31, 2024. (Photo by Hiro Komae/AP Photo)





Visitors pray and make offerings as coins and notes collect at the front (bottom) of a public prayer area, on the first morning of the new year at Meiji Shrine in central Tokyo on January 1, 2025. Millions of Japanese across the country usually visit shrines and temples during the first three days of the new year, one of the biggest holiday times in the country. (Photo by Richard A. Brooks/AFP Photo)





A projection mapping is displayed on the surface of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government building, to celebrate the New Year, in Tokyo, Japan on January 1, 2025. (Photo by Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters)





This photo taken on January 2, 2025 shows men in masks and costumes walking past homes – still badly damaged a year after the 2024 New Year's Day earthquake, as they go from house to house for the “Noto no amamehagi” tradition to drive away evil spirits, in the city of Wajima, Ishikawa prefecture. The quake on New Year's Day 2024 was Japan's deadliest in over a decade, claiming nearly 470 lives. (Photo by JIJI Press/AFP Photo)





People clad in traditional attire play “kemari”, a football game played by nobles in Japan's Heian period, at Shimogamo Jinja Shrine on January 4, 2025 in Kyoto, Japan. Kemari was popular in Japan during the Heian Period and was introduced by China over 1,300 years ago. (Photo by The Asahi Shimbun via Getty Images)





The head of a 276-kilogram bluefin tuna that was auctioned for 207 million Japanese yen (about 1.3 million U.S. dollars), which was bought jointly by sushi restaurant operator Onodera Group and wholesaler Yamayuki, is carried by a sushi chef at an Onodera sushi restaurant after the first tuna auction of the New Year in Tokyo, Japan on January 5, 2025. (Photo by Issei Kato/Reuters)





A boy participates in a New Year calligraphy contest at Nippon Budokan in Tokyo, Japan, on January 5, 2025. (Photo by Issei Kato/Reuters)