The Golden Gai is a sliver of old Tokyo in a modern metropolis filled with endless gleaming buildings. It's a one-of-a-kind tourist attraction, for sure. But it's also a place for a few drinks and friendly chatter among exhausted workers known as “salarymen”. Here: A man strolls through a narrow alleyway clustered with tiny bars and restaurants at the Golden Gai in the Shinjuku district of Tokyo, July 17, 2019. (Photo by Jae C. Hong/AP Photo)

Shortlisted: “Two big eyes” by Miao Yong (Zejiang province, China). Damselflies look over the leaves. “I was photographing insects in a park near my home when suddenly I found two damselflies in the grass. They kept flying and it was very difficult to focus until suddenly they parked behind a leaf”. (Photo by Miao Yong/2017 Royal Society of Biology Photographer of the Year)

Yakutsk, with a population of around 270,000, holds its own title: that of the coldest city on Earth. Here: Frost-encrusted house in the city centre. (Photo by Amos Chapple/Courtesy Images/RFE/RL)

Event entertainer Holly Egan poses with a guitar using an angle grinder as Kevin Jay and Nigel Cox spin burning steel wool, sending sparks flying under the A13 in Essex, UK on April 4, 2024. (Photo by Kevin Jay/Picture Exclusive)

Portrait couple lover on the beach, Landing aircraft above the beach at Phuket Airport, Mai Khao beach, one of the most popular beaches among tourists in Phuket, Thailand, 2018. (Photo by Pakin Songmor/Getty Images)

Female pilot Anna climbs out the cockpit of Japanese electronics company Suidobashi Heavy Industry's newly unveiled robot “Kuratas” at the Wonder Festival in Chiba, suburban Tokyo on July 29, 2012. The “Kuratas” robot, which will go on sale with a price tag of one million USD, measures four meters in height, weighs four tons and has four wheeled legs that can either be controlled remotely through the 3G network or by a human seated within the cockpit. (Photo by Yoshikazu Tsuno/AFP Photo)

“Woman with Umbrella in Rain” by Raimund von Stillfried. Artist: Kusakabe Kimbei (Japanese, 1841–1934), 1870s. Commercial photography studios in Meiji-era Japan were renowned for the subtlety and refinement of their coloring techniques. This hand-tinted image of a young woman caught in a heavy rainstorm achieved its naturalistic effect by knitting together multiple strands of artifice: the greenery in the foreground was a studio prop; the flaps of the kimono were suspended by thin wires to create the impression of a strong wind; and long, diagonal marks were made on the negative to suggest streaks of rain. (Photo courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art)

Emmy Award-winning American news anchor Lauren Sanchez attends the Pussycat Dolls Burlesque Saloon on May 19, 2012 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Broadimage/Rex Features/Shutterstock)