Here is a selection of Kyodo News photos taken in Japan and beyond this week.

Photo taken from Fujiyoshida in Yamanashi Prefecture, eastern Japan, on Dec. 12, 2020, shows a lenticular cloud covering the top of Mt. Fuji. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo
 
People wearing face masks walk on a street leading to the Kaminarimon gate in Tokyo's Asakusa area on Dec. 12, 2020, as Japan struggles to cope with a virus resurgence. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo
 
Kohei Uchimura executes the Bretschneider on his way to winning the horizontal bar final at the national gymnastics championships at Takasaki Arena in Gunma Prefecture, eastern Japan, on Dec. 13, 2020. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo
 
Photo shows a shooting star of the Geminid meteor shower observed from Nosegawamura in Nara Prefecture, western Japan, on Dec. 13, 2020. This year's Geminid meteor shower peaked from the evening of Dec. 13 to the early hours of Dec. 14. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo
 
Photo taken Dec. 14, 2020, shows PCR testing equipment installed at Shigakkan University in Aichi Prefecture, central Japan. The government's "Go To Travel" campaign will be halted nationwide from Dec. 28 to Jan. 11, 2021, amid a surge in coronavirus cases. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo
 
 
Seihan Mori, chief Buddhist priest of Kiyomizu temple in Kyoto, writes the kanji character "mitsu" meaning "close" or "dense" with a calligraphy brush in the Japanese city on Dec. 14, 2020. The character was selected as the best kanji to symbolize the national mood for the year, referencing calls to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo
 
Protesters in canoes hold up signs against land reclamation work for the planned relocation of U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in the Henoko coastal area of Nago in Okinawa Prefecture, southern Japan, on Dec. 14, 2020. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo
 
A woman drops New Year's greeting cards into a mailbox at the Tokyo central post office on Dec. 15, 2020, as post offices across Japan begin accepting such cards for delivery on Jan. 1. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo
 
People wearing face masks walk on the Champs-Elysees in Paris on Dec. 15, 2020, as France lifted a six-week-long nationwide coronavirus lockdown. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo
 
Photo taken on Nov. 16, 2020, shows a bird sanctuary in Tokyo's Katsushika Ward. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo
 
Athens Olympics women's marathon gold medalist Mizuki Noguchi holds the Tokyo Olympic torch in front of a photo of her taking part in the torch relay in Olympia, Greece, in March 2020. The photo forms part of an exhibition of news photos looking back on the year 2020 opening at a department store in Tokyo on Dec. 16, 2020, a day after The Tokyo Games organizing committee confirmed that the domestic leg of next year's Olympic torch relay will pass through 859 municipalities across Japan's 47 prefectures, the same as planned before the games were postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo
 
A woman shovels snow on a street in Yuzawa in Niigata Prefecture, northwest of Tokyo, as heavy snow hits a wide area along the Sea of Japan coast on Dec. 17, 2020. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo
 
Photo taken Dec. 17, 2020, from a Kyodo News helicopter, shows Kinkaku-ji temple, also known as the Golden Pavilion, in Kyoto, Japan, covered with snow for the first time this winter. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo
 
Photo taken on the morning of Dec. 17, 2020, shows sea fog off Kushimoto in Wakayama Prefecture, western Japan. During winter, many photographers visit the region, famous for the phenomenon that occurs when a warm, humid air mass is over a cold sea surface. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo
 
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Japan and beyond: Week in Photos - December 5~11

Japan and beyond: Week in Photos - November 28~December 4

Japan and beyond: Week in Photos - November 21~27

Japan and beyond: Week in Photos - November 14~20