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

Japanese "geiko" traditional professional entertainers and their apprentice, called "maiko," wearing formal attire, await the start of a ceremony to mark the first business day of the year on Jan. 7, 2023, in Kyoto. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo
 
Photo taken from a Kyodo News helicopter on Jan. 7, 2023, shows a Jetstar plane at Chubu Centrair International Airport in Tokoname, Aichi Prefecture, central Japan, after the budget carrier made an emergency landing following a bomb threat. The plane, bound for Fukuoka in southwestern Japan from Narita airport near Tokyo, had 136 passengers and six crew members, with some of them reportedly injured during escape from the aircraft. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo
 
A high school student makes a bamboo lantern at a park in Kobe on Jan. 7, 2023, for a Jan. 17 memorial event marking the 28th anniversary of the Great Hanshin Earthquake that struck the western Japan city and its vicinity killing more than 6,000 people. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo
 
A man performs a bungee jumping from a bridge about 100 meters above ground in the Ibaraki Prefecture city of Hitachiota, eastern Japan, on Jan. 7, 2023, while shouting his hopes for this year. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo
 
Two-day track-switching construction work begins at JR Shibuya Station on Jan. 7, 2023, leaving services on a portion of Tokyo's busy Yamanote loop line suspended for the whole weekend. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo
 
Firefighters perform traditional ladder acrobatics on Jan. 8, 2023, during the annual New Year event organized by the Kanazawa city fire department in Kanazawa in Ishikawa Prefecture, central Japan. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo
 
Mikaela Shiffrin of the United States celebrates after winning the giant slalom at an Alpine skiing World Cup event in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, on Jan. 8, 2023. With her 82nd win, she equaled compatriot Lindsey Vonn's women's World Cup victories record. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo
 
Passengers from Shanghai line up to take a higher-sensitivity COVID-19 antigen test at Narita airport near Tokyo on Jan. 8, 2023. Japan started requiring travelers from mainland China to undergo such a test the same day amid a surge of cases in the country. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo
 
Evacuees from Ukraine after Russia's invasion of their country currently studying at the Japan University of Economics in the Fukuoka Prefecture city of Dazaifu, southwestern Japan, are pictured before attending on Jan. 8, 2023, a city-sponsored ceremony celebrating those turning 20 by the end of March 2023, while wearing long-sleeved kimono. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo
 
Women dressed in kimono pose for a selfie at Tokyo DisneySea theme park in Urayasu near Tokyo on Japan's Coming of Age Day national holiday on Jan. 9, 2023, as a "Hatachi no Tsudoi" (gathering of 20-year-olds) ceremony is held there. Many municipalities have changed the name of their coming-of-age ceremonies since Japan lowered the age of adulthood from 20 to 18 in April 2022. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo
 
Photo taken on Jan. 9, 2023, on Amami-Oshima Island in Kagoshima Prefecture, southwestern Japan, shows Ceylon blue glassy tigers clustered on twigs to make it through the winter. The butterfly is found in Southeast Asia, including Taiwan and southwestern islands in Japan, and is known to cluster in groups when the temperature falls below 15 C. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo
 
Defending champion Sota Fujii (R) and challenger Yoshiharu Habu reflect on Game 1 of a historic best-of-seven series for shogi's Osho title after Fujii beat Habu at a teahouse at Kakegawa Castle in the Shizuoka Prefecture city of Kakegawa, central Japan, on Jan. 9, 2023. If Habu, 52, captures the Osho title from 20-year-old Fujii, holder of four other major titles, it would be his 100th title tournament victory, an unprecedented achievement. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo
 
LED lights aligned on the Rokko mountain range to form "Kobe" and "1.17," the date of the deadly Great Hanshin Earthquake that struck the port city in Hyogo Prefecture and neighboring areas in 1995, are pictured from Kobe on Jan. 10, 2023. (Kyodo)
 
Photo taken from a Kyodo News helicopter on Jan. 10, 2023, shows the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force destroyer Inazuma in waters off the western Japan prefecture of Yamaguchi in the Seto Inland Sea. The 4,550-ton vessel became unable to sail and leaked oil after its propeller was damaged, possibly due to hitting a rock on the seabed, the MSDF said. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo
 
A Sukhoi-30 fighter plane of the Indian Air Force arrives at the Japan Air Self-Defense Force's Hyakuri Air Base in Omitama, Ibaraki Prefecture, eastern Japan, on Jan. 10, 2023, ahead of Japan and India's first joint fighter jet exercise. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo
 
People visit Azumayama Park in Ninomiya, Kanagawa Prefecture, eastern Japan, on Jan. 11, 2023, with rapeseed blossoms blooming earlier in the year than usual. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo
 
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida (3rd from L) is accompanied by his British counterpart Rishi Sunak (4th from L) as he heads to a welcome event ahead of talks in London on Jan. 11, 2023. (Pool photo)(Kyodo) ==Kyodo
 
Japanese astronaut Satoshi Furukawa (L) bows in apology at a press conference in Tokyo on Jan. 12, 2023, for data tampering in a 2016-2017 experiment that simulated life on the International Space Station, which he supervised. Furukawa, 58, the third Japanese person to have completed a long-term mission in space, is slated for a second stint on the ISS later this year. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo
 
Photo taken in the Kagoshima Prefecture city of Nishinoomote, southwestern Japan, on Jan. 12, 2023, shows people protesting against the construction of a Japan Self-Defense Forces base on an uninhabited island in the city. Construction work started the same day on Mage Island about 990 kilometers southwest of Tokyo in the East China Sea for the base, to be used as a site for U.S. fighter jet drills, relocated from Iwoto Island in the Pacific. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo
 
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida (L) and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau attend a joint press conference following their talks in Ottawa on Jan. 12, 2023. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo
 
Photo taken Jan. 13, 2023, from a Kyodo News helicopter shows a whale floating in Osaka Bay, western Japan. The stray whale was confirmed dead the same day, four days after it was spotted near the mouth of the Yodo River in Osaka. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

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Japan and beyond: Week in Photos - Dec. 31~Jan. 6

Japan and beyond: Week in Photos - Dec. 24~30

Japan and beyond: Week in Photos - Dec. 17~23

Japan and beyond: Week in Photos - Dec. 10~16