Participants hold up their calligraphy works during the 61st Kakizome calligraphy contest at Nippon Budokan on January 05, 2025 in Tokyo, Japan. School children and adults from around Japan participated in this Kakizome contest, where they created their first calligraphy of the new year. The ceremony, which was traditionally performed on the second day of January each year, sees people paint Kanji characters with a writing brush for the first time each year. (Photo by Takashi Aoyama/Getty Images)





A participant works on her calligraphy during the 61st Kakizome calligraphy contest at Nippon Budokan on January 05, 2025 in Tokyo, Japan. School children and adults from around Japan participated in this Kakizome contest, where they created their first calligraphy of the new year. The ceremony, which was traditionally performed on the second day of January each year, sees people paint Kanji characters with a writing brush for the first time each year. (Photo by Takashi Aoyama/Getty Images)





A participant works on her calligraphy during the 61st Kakizome calligraphy contest at Nippon Budokan on January 05, 2025 in Tokyo, Japan. (Photo by Takashi Aoyama/Getty Images)





Participants work on their calligraphy during the 61st Kakizome calligraphy contest at Nippon Budokan on January 05, 2025 in Tokyo, Japan. (Photo by Takashi Aoyama/Getty Images)





Participants sit in front of their calligraphy works during the 61st Kakizome calligraphy contest at Nippon Budokan on January 05, 2025 in Tokyo, Japan. (Photo by Takashi Aoyama/Getty Images)





Event staff carries calligraphy works during the 61st Kakizome calligraphy contest at Nippon Budokan on January 05, 2025 in Tokyo, Japan. (Photo by Takashi Aoyama/Getty Images)





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 into 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 woman makes a monetary offering at Kanda Myojin Shrine on January 06, 2025 in Tokyo, Japan. Kanda Myojin Shrine is located near several business districts in Tokyo and many people visit the shrine on the first day of work to pray for thriving business for a new year. (Photo by Takashi Aoyama/Getty Images)





People visit Kanda Myojin Shrine to offer New Year prayers on the first business day of the year in Tokyo on January 6, 2025. (Photo by Kazuhiro Nogi/AFP Photo)





People pray at Kanda Myojin Shrine on January 06, 2025 in Tokyo, Japan. Kanda Myojin Shrine is located near several business districts in Tokyo and many people visit the shrine on the first day of work to pray for thriving business for a new year. (Photo by Takashi Aoyama/Getty Images)





A detailed view of Ema, wooden wish plaques at Kanda Myojin Shrine on January 06, 2025 in Tokyo, Japan. Kanda Myojin Shrine is located near several business districts in Tokyo and many people visit the shrine on the first day of work to pray for thriving business for a new year. (Photo by Takashi Aoyama/Getty Images)





A geisha girl dressed in formal black kimonos looks mirror while she makeup prior to attending a new year's ceremony to mark the start of business at the Gion Kobu Kaburenjo on January 07, 2025 in Kyoto, Japan. At the New Year ceremony, maikos (young apprentice geisha), geikos (fully qualified and trained professional entertainers who have completed their apprenticeship as a maiko), and the masters of their schools attend the new year's ceremony to celebrate the start of the business year 2025. (Photo by Buddhika Weerasinghe/Getty Images)





Tourists visit teamLab Planets Tokyo in Tokyo on January 10, 2025. Japan on January 15 will announce tourist figures for the year 2024, widely expected to break the record set in 2019. (Photo by Kazuhiro Nogi/AFP Photo)





Models pose for visitors during the 2025 Tokyo Auto Salon car show in Chiba, near Tokyo, Japan, 10 January 2025. Tokyo Auto Salon is among one of the top car shows in the world for modified and tuned cars. The annual show will be open to the general public until 12 January 2025. (Photo by Franck Robichon/EPA/EFE)





Women run to warm themselves up before bathing in ice-cold water during a ceremony at Teppozu Inari Shrine in Tokyo, Japan, 12 January 2025. 80 men and women took part in the ice water endurance ceremony to purify their souls and pray for good health in the new year. (Photo by Franck Robichon/EPA/EFE)





Participants bathe in ice-cold water during a ceremony at Teppozu Inari Shrine in Tokyo, Japan, 12 January 2025. 80 men and women took part in the ice water endurance ceremony to purify their souls and pray for good health in the new year. (Photo by Franck Robichon/EPA/EFE)





Visitors view items inside Extinct Media Museum, a private museum showcasing a collection of defunct gadgets including old cameras, cassette tapes and cell phone, in Tokyo, Japan on January 11, 2025. (Photo by Irene Wang/Reuters)





Kimono-clad young women stand at the venue for their Coming of Age Day celebration ceremony in Yokohama, south of Tokyo, Japan, on January 13, 2025. (Photo by Manami Yamada/Reuters)





A Kimono-clad young woman stands outside the venue for a Coming of Age Day celebration ceremony in Yokohama, south of Tokyo, Japan, on January 13, 2025. (Photo by Manami Yamada/Reuters)





Two young women wearing kimonos to mark “Coming-of-Age Day” when the country honours people who turn 20 this year to signify adulthood, pose for a photo and hold balloons for “20” to celebrate in the Ginza area of central Tokyo on January 13, 2025. Every January, Japanese turning the legal age of 20 celebrate “Coming-of-Age Day”, in which the new adults dress in formal kimonos, pray at Shinto shrines and hear speeches from local officials on their new responsibilities. (Photo by Richard A. Brooks/AFP Photo)