A woman looks at photographs of dogs to choose a pet to rent at Puppy The World on January 24, 2009 in Tokyo, Japan. Rent-a-dog is becoming increasingly popular amongst people who love dogs but are unable to look after a pet full time due to limited living space or long working hours. Customers pay the dog-rental outlet around 2500 yen (32.5 USD) for an hour, and usually take their rented pet for a walk along the nearby beach. (Photo by Junko Kimura/Getty Images)

Only after World War II did the secret spill: Ōkunoshima, located in the Inland Sea of Japan between Hiroshima and Shikoku, was the top-secret site for manufacturing chemical warfare. When the factories were closed down, a number of exotic wild rabbits were seen freely roaming the island. They were assumed to have been the test subjects for the chemical weapons, which the military failed to eradicate when the factory was demolished.

A woman with Kimono looks at cherry trees in bloom in Shinjuku Gyoen in Tokyo, Japan on Thursday, April 4, 2024. (Photo by Noriko Hayashi for The Washington Post)

A damaged traffic signal is pictured along a street at a residential area flooded by the Kinugawa river, caused by typhoon Etau in Joso, Ibaraki prefecture, Japan, September 11, 2015. Unprecedented rain in Japan unleashed heavy floods on Friday that tore houses from their foundations, uprooted trees and forced more than 100,000 people from their homes. (Photo by Issei Kato/Reuters)

The picturesque Zao Ski Resort, one of Japan's oldest and most popular ski destinations, is illuminated on February 10, 2007 in Yamagata Prefecture, Tohoku region of Honshu island, Japan. Coniferous trees such as the Aomori white fir lie covered with chrystallised ice and snow (described as “silver frost” or “snow monsters”) and attract visitors. (Photo by Koichi Kamoshida/Getty Images)

Juri Mitomi, 20, holds a cigarette after a Coming of Age Day celebration ceremony at an amusement park in Tokyo January 12, 2015. According to a government announcement, more than 1.2 million men and women who were born in 1994 marked the coming of age this year, an increase of approximately 50,000 from last year. The increase is also the first since 1995. (Photo by Yuya Shino/Reuters)

College students shout slogans during a pep rally organised to boost their morale ahead of their job hunting in Tokyo, Japan March 1, 2017. (Photo by Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters)

The official name for this tiny speck of land – the size of 12 football pitches – is Hashima, but few call it that. In English, its most commonly used name means “Battleship Island” and, viewed from a certain angle offshore, its silhouette is uncannily dreadnought in nature. It was a mining facility until 1974, when it was abandoned to the elements, before partially reopening as a tourist attraction in 2009. Photo: A decades-old television. (Photo by Mark C. O'Flaherty)