Noriaki Iwashima gestures as he lies in a coffin to try it out during an end-of-life seminar held by Japan's largest retailer Aeon Co in Tokyo October 24, 2014. Funeral arrangements are normally left to those who have been left behind but the latest trend in Japan, which literally translates to “End of life” preparations, is for the ageing to prepare their own funerals and graves before they set off on their journey to the great beyond. With a population that is expected to shrink by nearly 30 million people over the next 50 years, the market for funerals, graves and anything related to the afterlife is still very much alive. (Photo by Toru Hanai/Reuters)

A villager pours pesticide from a bucket as Mount Sinabung spews ash at Kebayaken village in Karo district, Indonesia's North Sumatra province, on December 4, 2013. The country has ordered the evacuation of 15,000 residents near the active volcano. (Photo by Roni Bintang/Reuters)

Hundreds of flamingos take flight in the Rift Valley in East Africa early September 2024. The birds gather in the region’s saline lakes to eat the blue-green algae that grows in abundance. The red-orange pigment in the algae is what gives them their distinctive pink plumage. They also use the site to breed. (Photo by Alexandre and Chloe Bes/Naturagency/Solent News)

Kilgore College Rangerettes perform in front of spectators during London's New Year's Day Parade in London, United Kingdom on January 01, 2025. The annual parade attracts 500,000 audience lining the streets in central London to watch performances by 10,000 participants from the USA, UK and Europe. (Photo by Wiktor Szymanowicz/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Model Irina Shayk shields herself from rain as she leaves the grand opening of Falconeri in SoHo of New York on October 16, 2019. (Photo by Backgrid USA)

Ardent fisherman Ted Williams of the Boston Red Sox appears to have hooked Frances Flajnik, Tempe queen of Anglers World Series, March 15, 1960. (Photo by AP Photo)

The Patrouille Suisse jets perform prior to the Men's Downhill race at the Fis Alpine Skiing World Cup in Wengen, Switzerland, 15 January 2022. (Photo by Jean-Christophe Bott/EPA/EFE)

A gopher tortoise walks the grounds of NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, near the Vehicle Assembly Building on January 18, 2024. An all-European crew including Turkey's first astronaut are poised to blast off to the International Space Station in a mission with Axiom Space, as countries hungry for a taste of space turn increasingly to the private sector. (Photo by Chandan Khanna/AFP Photo)