These timeless postcards offer an eye-opening glimpse into life in Japan in the early 20th century. Taken from hand-colored photographs, the postcards showcase the still beauty of the country, depicting a nation on the cusp of modernization. The images feature solemn fishermen, bustling streets, temples and shrines: a country yet to be influenced by Western culture. The tinting effect brings out the rich colors of the natural surroundings, with trees, flowers and cherry blossoms jumping from the original black-and-white images. Here: Toyokuni Shrine Nakanoshima, Osaka, Japan. (Photo by New York Public Library/Caters News)

Tokyo Rainbow Pride 2015, at Yoyogi park-Shibuya, on April 26, 2015. Some 3,000 lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people paraded through Tokyo’s Shibuya district Sunday afternoon to demonstrate their hope that Japanese society will continue to forge ahead with recent moves to embrace equality and diversity. In a nation where prejudice against sexual minorities persists, the annual Tokyo Rainbow Pride parade has sought to counter the trend by openly spotlighting LGBT residents and spreading their voices. But this year, LGBT participants and proponents seemed particularly joyous, emboldened by what they see as a blossoming of LGBT-friendly moves by municipalities and companies. (Photo by Yoshiaki Miura)

The Belgian photographer Anton Kusters spent two years photographing the Yakuza, Japan’s most notorious gang. He returned with some amazing images that he made into a book called “Odo Yakuza Tokyo”. (Odo means “the way of the cherry blossom” and is the credo of the Yakuza family he followed. Photo: An erotic danser picks up fake 2-dollar bills during a private dance with a Yakuza customer in a strip tease bar in Kabukicho, a bar which is controlled by the ODO family – 2010. (Photo and caption by Anton Kusters)

“The saguaro (scientific name Carnegiea gigantea) is a large, tree-sized cactus species in the monotypic genus Carnegiea. It is native to the Sonoran Desert in the U.S. state of Arizona, the Mexican state of Sonora, a small part of Baja California in the San Felipe Desert and an extremely small area of California, U.S. The saguaro blossom is the State Wildflower of Arizona”. – Wikipedia

Photo: Daniel Appel (L), a firefighter with Engine 84 from the Lassen National Forest in California and Mike Hallen, (R), Arizona representative of the National Register of Big Trees, measure the circumference of this Saguaro cactus called the "Grand One," in the Tonto National Forest on July 1, 2005 35 miles north of Phoenix, near Carefree, Arizona. The cactus, estimated to be more than 200 years old, measures a circumference of 7 feet, 10 inches (2.4 meters) and stands 46 feet high (14 meters). The cactus was burned in the Cave Creek Complex fire and may not survive. It was once the largest Saguaro in the world, two others have been found recently that have tied it's measurements. The fire has burned more than 214,000 acres of the Sonoran desert. (Photo by Jeff Topping/Getty Images)

A crowd of tourists walk on the street near Kiyomizu-dera temple in Kyoto, western Japan on March 30, 2023. (Photo by Issei Kato/Reuters)

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)

Festival goer with phallus logo t-shirt during the Kanamara Matsuri Steel Phallus Festival at Kawasaki, Japan on April 2, 2017. The Kanamara Matsuri or Festival of the Steel Phallus is held on the first Sunday of April at the Kanayama shrine. The shrine celebrates a legend of a steel pen*s and was frequented by prostitutes who wished to pray for protection from sexually transmitted diseases. Visitors now wish for easy delivery, marriage and matrimonial harmony. Because of the large steel phallus the unusual festival has become a tourist attraction attracting many overseas visitors and is used to raise money for HIV charities. Phallus shaped candy, carved vegetables, decorations, and a big parade are all part of the festival. (Photo by DELETREE/SIPA Press/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

Performing arts titled “Solitude of Silences” by Gimhongsok is staged at Art Basel in Hong Kong, China on March 23, 2023. (Photo by Tyrone Siu/Reuters)