Japan and beyond: Week in Photos

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

Paper lanterns are lit near the memorial monument for victims of 2014 mudslides in Hiroshima that claimed 77 lives, in the early hours of Aug. 20, 2022, the eighth anniversary of the tragedy. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

Combined photo shows participants at a cosplay contest held in Ulaanbaatar on Aug. 21, 2022, to mark the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between Japan and Mongolia. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida (in screen) remotely speaks to reporters in Tokyo on Aug. 22, 2022, as he resumes his duties following a weeklong summer holiday. Kishida tested positive for COVID-19 on Aug. 21 but his symptoms were mild, with temperature returning to normal on Aug. 22. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

The world badminton championships opens in Tokyo on Aug. 22, 2022, with over 350 players from 47 countries and regions competing through Aug. 28. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

Kento Momota of Japan plays against Mexico's Lino Munoz in the men's singles first round of the world badminton championships in Tokyo on Aug. 22, 2022. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

Photo taken from a Kyodo News helicopter on Aug. 22, 2022, shows burnt remains of a bus after it overturned and caught fire in an accident that occurred earlier in the day near the Toyoyama-Minami interchange on the Nagoya Expressway in Aichi Prefecture in central Japan. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

Photo taken on Aug. 22, 2022, shows burnt remains of a bus after it overturned and caught fire in an accident that occurred earlier in the day near the Toyoyama-Minami interchange on the Nagoya Expressway in Aichi Prefecture in central Japan. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

The Yangtze in Chongqing, China, is partially dried up on Aug. 23, 2022, as the summer heatwave continues. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

People cool off after sunset next to a partially dried tributary of the Yangtze in Chongqing, China, on Aug. 23, 2022, as the summer heatwave continues. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

People wearing face masks walk in Fukuoka, southwestern Japan, on Aug. 23, 2022, amid the coronavirus pandemic. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

A woman holds Ukraine's national flag beside a destroyed Russian tank in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv on Aug. 24, 2022, the 31st anniversary of the country's independence from the Soviet Union. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

People protest against Russia near its embassy in Tokyo on Aug. 24, 2022, a half year into the country's invasion of Ukraine. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

Photo taken Aug. 24, 2022, shows a warning signboard in the Henoko coastal area of the Okinawa Prefecture city of Nago, southern Japan, where land reclamation work continues for the planned relocation of U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

North Korean soldiers offer flowers at Mansu Hill in Pyongyang on Aug. 25, 2022, the 62nd anniversary of the beginning of former leader Kim Jong Il's "military-first leadership." (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

North Korean citizens dance in Pyongyang on Aug. 25, 2022, the 62nd anniversary of the beginning of former leader Kim Jong Il's "military-first leadership." (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

Itaru Nakamura, commissioner general of the National Police Agency, holds a press conference at the agency in Tokyo on Aug. 25, 2022. Nakamura said he will step down to take responsibility for the assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

A visitor takes picture of a statue symbolizing "comfort women" forced to work in the Japanese military's wartime brothels at the just-started four-day Non-Freedom of Expression Exhibition in Nagoya, central Japan, on Aug. 25, 2022. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

Japanese ice dancers Kana Muramoto (top) and Daisuke Takahashi perform during a rehearsal for a Friends on Ice show in Yokohama near Tokyo on Aug. 25, 2022. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo