People watch the Pikachu parade which is a part of the 2023 Pokémon World Championships, at Grand Mall Park in Yokohama on August 11, 2023. (Photo by Philip Fong/AFP Photo)

A dog walks on the street as it snows in Kyoto on January 25, 2024. (Photo by Philip Fong/AFP Photo)

People are walking with umbrellas on a snow-covered street during the first snowfall of the year in Tokyo, Japan, on February 5, 2024. (Photo by Jerome Gilles/NurPhoto/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

A participant marches during the Tokyo Rainbow Pride parade, celebrating advances in LGBTQ+ rights and calling for marriage equality, in Tokyo, Japan on April 21, 2024. (Photo by Issei Kato/Reuters)

Fumie Takino, 89, founder of a senior cheer squad called Japan Pom Pom, and other members pose for commemorative photos before filming a dance routine for an online performance in Tokyo, Japan, April 12, 2021. “It's dancing; moving your body is nice”, Takino said. “And the costumes are unbelievably showy. Some people join just so they can wear them”. (Photo by Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters)

Visitors take masks off to take pictures as hydrangea flowers are fully blooming at Meigetsu-in Buddhist temple Friday, June 11, 2021, in Kamakura, south of Tokyo. (Photo by Kiichiro Sato/AP Photo)

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 man enters an adult amusement establishment in Shinjuku's nightlife district of Kabukicho in Tokyo, August 27, 2015. (Photo by Thomas Peter/Reuters)