People applaud as a delivery robot departs from the Nihonbashi Post Office to deliver traditional New Year's Day cards, during a ceremony in Tokyo on January 1, 2023. (Photo by JIJI Press/AFP Photo)

A competition, now in its 43rd year, dedicated to showcasing the beautiful and bizarre as seen under a light microscope attracted over 2,000 entries from 88 countries. Here: Honorable Mention by Emre Can Alagöz, Istanbul, Turkey: The eyes of a jumping spider, magnified 6x. (Photo by Emre Can Alagöz/2017 Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition)

People wearing face masks walk through Ginza area on December 27, 2020 in Tokyo, Japan. Japan announced it will close its borders to non-resident foreign nationals from tomorrow until the end of January after two people were discovered to be infected with a new strain of Covid-19 coronavirus that has begun spreading around the world. The country is also grappling with a surge in coronavirus infections, with Tokyo reporting 708 cases today. To date, Japan has recorded 218,453 infections, 3,052 deaths and 3,052 recoveries from the virus. (Photo by Yuichi Yamazaki/Getty Images)

Macaques huddle together for warmth at a hot spring in Nagano, Japan in the last decade of December 2023. Known as snow monkeys, the animals soak in the 40°C water every day during cold weather, spending their bathtime grooming, snoozing and playing on visitors’ camera tripods. (Photo by David Lazar/Animal News Agency)

White-robed men hold up flaming torches during an annual fire festival at the World Heritage-listed Kumano Nachi Taisha shrine in the Wakayama Prefecture town of Nachikatsuura, western Japan on July 14, 2022. (Photo by Kyodo News/Newscom/Avalon)

In this picture taken late on June 13, 2017, physiotherapist Masayuki Ozaki takes a bath with his silicone s*x doll Mayu at a love hotel in Yachimata, Chiba prefecture. Around 2,000 of the life- like dolls – which cost around 6,000 USD and come with adjustable fingers, removable head and life- like genitals – are sold each year in Japan, according to industry insiders. (Photo by Behrouz Mehri/AFP Photo)

Two wolfhounds take part in a dogfight in a stadium in the Kyrgyzstan capital Bishkek on November 5, 2017, during fights organized by a local breeders aiming to improve the Asian Shepherd breed, organizers said. (Photo by Vyacheslav Oseledko/AFP Photo)

Tuvalu-registered OS 35 cargo ship lies on the seabed, offshore Gibraltar, Tuesday, August 30, 2022. Gibraltar authorities say they have beached a cargo ship to prevent it from sinking after it collided with a liquefied natural gas carrier in the bay of Gibraltar. (Photo by Europa Press via AP Photo)