A tourist cools off in front of a misting fan near a venue of the Hozuki-Ichi (Japanese lantern plant fair), at Sensoji temple, in Tokyo, Japan, on July 10, 2025. (Photo by Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters)

For her series “Japanese Whispers”, Belgian photographer Zaza Bertrand headed inside the intimate world of rabuhos – Japanese love hotels. Love hotels became popular in Japan from the 1960s onwards, due to a lack of privacy in many family homes. There are now around 37,000 of these hotels in Japan, allowing short daytime “rests” or overnight stays. (Photo by Zaza Bertrand/The Guardian)

A model presents a creation by Japanese lingerie brand Peach John from its Autumn/Winter 2016 collection during Tokyo Fashion Week in Tokyo, Japan, March 15, 2016. (Photo by Toru Hanai/Reuters)

Japanese hairdresser Megumi Takeichi cuts patterns into the hair of a camel ahead of the Bikaner Camel Festival in Bikaner in the western Indian state of Rajasthan on January 10, 2019. (Photo by Dinesh Gupta/AFP Photo)

Participants dressed in ancient Japanese costumes take part in a parade at the Imperial Palace during the Sanno Festival in Tokyo, Japan June 10, 2016. (Photo by Toru Hanai/Reuters)

Three Japanese tourists had to abandon plans to drive to Stradbroke Island off the Queensland coast when their hire car became bogged in mangrove mud, on March 15, 2012 near Stradbroke Island, Australia. (Photo by Chris McCormack/Fairfax Media).

A visitor poses with a 3D art work during a Japanese Trick Art exhibition at a shopping mall in Jakarta, Indonesia, Tuesday, December 4, 2012. (Photo by Dita Alangkara/AP Photo)

A visitor poses for a photograph in front of a 3D painting depicting a Japanese Imperial army soldier at a 3D art gallery in Beijing January 16, 2015. (Photo by Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters)