Samba dancers walk past a security staff member during the 34th annual Asakusa Samba Carnival in Tokyo August 29, 2015. About 5,000 people participated in the annual samba carnival on Saturday. (Photo by Toru Hanai/Reuters)

Kokeshi dolls these traditional wooden figurines were said to have been originally made as souvenirs to sell to people visiting the local hot springs in Northern Japan. Although there are about 10 different styles, each doll is made with an enlarged head and cylindrical body with no arms or legs.

Artist Tsuneo Sanda was born in Osaka, Japan. He first came to Tokyo at age 23, and has been there ever since. He lives in a rural, residential town about 20km west of Tokyo with his wife, Sachicko, two sons, Kensaku and Sohei, and Vivian, their American Shorthair cat.

Some of these cat paintings have cost $15,000 and had to be renewed every 3 months! Some cat owners are really crazy about their cats! I’m not sure these poor cats really enjoyed the long hours of painting on their fur. The results are pretty amazing! Some cat painting are very simple with a unique color, others are very complex and required a true artist, like painting on a canvas. These cats are ready for Halloween!

Sharon Beals is a San Francisco based photographer who has photographed nest and eggs specimens collected over the last two centuries at The California Academy of Sciences, The Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, and The Western Foundation of Vertebrate Zoology. While few nests are collected today, these nests and eggs are used for research, providing important information about their builder’s habitats, DNA, diseases and other survival issues.

If you feel bad about being being single and not having a girlfriend, Japanese photographer Keisuke Jinushi has a quick fix for you! The young artist, who studied at the Musashino Art University in Tokyo, shows how to use your own palm and Instagram to make the impression that you have a wonderful girlfriend.

Pascal Campion is a French-American illustrator and animator. He studied narrative illustration at Arts Decoratifs de Strasbourg, in France. He revels in the company of his wife and daughter and finds it very hard to write about himself. He works in a studio with high ceilings in
San Francisco. Pascal has worked in a wide variety of media, from games, music videos, feature films to books.