Japan and beyond: Week in Photos

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

The Katsube Fire Festival is held at Katsube Shrine in Moriyama in Japan's Shiga Prefecture on Jan. 8, 2022, to pray for people's health. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

Capybaras soak in an open air bath at the Nasu Animal Kingdom zoo in the Tochigi Prefecture town of Nasu, eastern Japan, on Jan. 8, 2022. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

Bubbles captured in ice are seen at man-made Lake Nukabira in Kamishihoro in Hokkaido, northern Japan, on Jan. 9, 2022. The ice bubbles are caused by methane gas in the lake rising to the surface and freezing. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

Young people gather for a coming-of-age ceremony in Kitakyushu, southwestern Japan, on Jan. 9, 2022. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

A main street in the Okinawa Prefecture capital of Naha is deserted on Jan. 9, 2022, as Japan imposes COVID-19 quasi-emergency measures in Okinawa and parts of Yamaguchi and Hiroshima prefectures in response to surging infections that their governors say stem from the spread of the Omicron variant at U.S. military bases. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

"Fuku musume" put lucky charms on visitors' bamboo branches at the Imamiya Ebisu Shrine in Osaka, western Japan, on Jan. 9, 2022, the first day of the annual three-day Toka Ebisu Festival at which people pray to Ebisu, the deity of commerce, for success in business. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

Japan Airlines Co. unveils a jet bearing characters featured at the Universal Studios Japan at Osaka airport straddling Hyogo and Osaka prefectures on Jan. 11, 2022. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

Visitors at Tokyo's Ueno Zoological Gardens hold up souvenir goods featuring the zoo's twin pandas Lei Lei and Xiao Xiao on Jan. 12, 2022. (Kyodo)

An installation featuring Beijing Winter Olympic mascot Bing Dwen Dwen (R) and Paralympic mascot Shuey Rhon Rhon is seen near the National Stadium in Beijing on Jan. 12, 2022. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

People wearing face masks walk in Tokyo's Shinjuku area on Jan. 13, 2022, as the metropolitan government reported over 3,000 new daily COVID-19 cases the same day. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

Japanese artistic gymnast Kohei Uchimura, a two-time Olympic men's all-around gold medalist, speaks at his retirement press conference in Tokyo on Jan. 14, 2022. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo