Here is our selection of news photos taken in Japan and beyond by Kyodo News photographers this week.

 
People maintain social distancing amid the coronavirus pandemic before praying at Tokyo's Yasukuni shrine, seen by Japan's neighbors as a symbol of its past militarism, on Aug. 15, 2020, as the country marks 75 years since its surrender in World War II. (Kyodo) 
 
 
Fishing vessels with Chinese national flags erected at a port in Shishi in Fujian Provence ahead of departure on Aug. 15, 2020. (Kyodo) 

 

Military personnel salute on Mansu Hill in Pyongyang, where statues of former North Korean leaders -- the country's founder Kim Il Sung and his son Kim Jong Il -- stand, on Aug. 15, 2020, the 75th anniversary of the end of Japanese colonial rule. (Kyodo) 
 
 
Anti-government protesters stage a rally in Bangkok on Aug. 16, 2020, demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, who came to power through a military coup in 2014. (Kyodo)
 
 
A man on a bicycle passes by a sign that is part of China's campaign against food waste in Beijing on Aug. 17, 2020. (Kyodo)
 
 
A girl plays in water at a park in Hamamatsu in Shizuoka Prefecture, central Japan, on Aug. 17, 2020, as the temperature hits 41.1 C, matching Japan's all-time high. (Kyodo)
 
 
People wearing face masks due to the novel coronavirus pandemic walk in Tokyo's Asakusa area on Aug. 17, 2020, amid scorching summer heat. (Kyodo)

 

A daruma good luck doll covered with gold leaf carrying a price tag of 22 million yen ($208,500) is displayed at a gold products fair at the Takashimaya department store in Tokyo's Nihombashi area on Aug. 19, 2020. (Kyodo)

 

Yota Kyoda of the Chunichi Dragons makes a head-first slide safely into third base during a game against the Yakult Swallows at Jingu Stadium in Tokyo on Aug. 19, 2020. (Kyodo)
 
 
The interior of Raku, Kintetsu Railway Co.'s train reserved for groups of passengers, is pictured on Aug. 19, 2020, as the train runs from Osaka to the Nara Prefecture city of Uda in western Japan. The train was redesigned for the first time in 30 years. (Kyodo)

 

Children pray in front of candles in Hiroshima on Aug. 20, 2020, the sixth anniversary of landslides that claimed 77 lives. (Kyodo)
 
 
People receive copies of an extra edition of a local newspaper on Aug. 20, 2020, in Seto, the hometown of 18-year-old shogi sensation Sota Fujii, after he completed a four-game sweep of Kazuki Kimura in the Oi championship series earlier in the day. Fujii became the youngest player ever to hold two major titles. (Kyodo)
 
 
A small propeller plane flown by Japanese air race pilot Yoshihide Muroya draws a smiley face in the air in Yamagata on Aug. 21, 2020, to cheer people up amid coronavirus gloom. (Kyodo)

 

 


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Japan and beyond: Week in Photos - August 8~14

Japan and beyond: Week in Photos - August 1~7

Japan and beyond: Week in Photos - July 25~31

Japan and beyond: Week in Photos - July 18~24