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.

Two visitors take pictures of autumn leaves at Rikugien Garden Tuesday, December 10, 2019, in the Bunkyo district of Tokyo. (Photo by Jae C. Hong/AP Photo)

AJ Dereume holds Punxsutawney Phil during the Groundhog Day Festivities, at Gobblers Knob in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, U.S., February 2, 2023. (Photo by Alan Freed/Reuters)

Norway's Karsten Warholm celebrates winning the men's 400m hurdles at the Diamond League in London, July 21, 2018. (Photo by Andrew Boyers/Action Images via Reuters)

Vancouver B.C. April 20, 2014 Big Day to celebrate as thousand gathered in front of Vancouver Art Gallery to take part in the 420 Marijuana smoke in here in Vancouver on April 20, 2014. Here lots of free “joints” ready for the big moment. (Photo by Mark van Manen/PNG Staff Photographer/Ian Austin Province News/Vancouver Sun News & Web stories)

A cosplayer dressed as a “remote worker” with “corporate slave” written on his glasses poses for a photo on New Year's Eve at Comiket, the largest comic market that had been postponed for two years because of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in Tokyo, Japan December 31, 2021. (Photo by Androniki Christodoulou/Reuters)

A model presents creations from the 2023 Spring/Summer collection by Japanese designer Lim Asafuji for the label “pays des fees” during the Tokyo Fashion Week in Tokyo, Japan, 01 September 2022. The presentation of the 2023 Spring/Summer collections runs from 29 August to 03 September. (Photo by Franck Robichon/EPA/EFE)

Brazil's team performs in the artistic swimming acrobatic routine final at the Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile, Friday, November 3, 2023. (Photo by Matias Delacroix/AP Photo)