Here is a selection of Kyodo News photos taken this week in Japan and beyond.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks to the press at his office in Tokyo on Feb. 18, 2023, after North Korea fired a ballistic missile earlier in the day that likely fell within Japan's exclusive economic zone in the Sea of Japan. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo
U.S. Marine Corps personnel take part in a joint drill with Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force at an exercise ground in the southwestern Japan prefecture of Oita on Feb. 18, 2023. The drill from Feb. 16 to March 12 is designed to train for the defense of Japan's remote islands. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo
Young people are pictured at an indoor facility without face masks in Seoul on Feb. 18, 2023, three weeks after COVID-related restrictions were lifted. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo
A dancer performs during Rio de Janeiro's iconic carnival in Brazil on Feb. 19, 2023, with celebrations returning in full force following COVID-related restrictions in previous years. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo
Giant panda Xiang Xiang spends her last day in front of visitors at Tokyo's Ueno Zoological Gardens on Feb. 19, 2023, before she is sent to China. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo
Balloons decorate a devastated downtown area of Antakya, southern Turkey, on Feb. 19, 2023. A local non-governmental organization put them up as a "last gift" to children who became victims of an earthquake disaster that hit the country and neighboring Syria earlier in the month. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo
Photo taken on Feb, 20, 2023, shows a manhole cover with an illustration of Maetel, a lead character in Japanese cartoonist Leiji Matsumoto's famous "Galaxy Express 999" comic series, in the Fukuoka prefectural city of Kitakyushu, his hometown in southwestern Japan. Matsumoto died of acute heart failure on Feb. 13, 2023, at age 85. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo
Visitors flock to Adventure World in Shirahama, Wakayama Prefecture, western Japan, on Feb. 21, 2023, to bid farewell to Touhin, one of three giant pandas at the theme park making their final public appearances before flying to China. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo
Cages carrying giant pandas (from L to R) Ouhin, Touhin and Eimei are secured on a truck at Adventure World in Shirahama in Wakayama Prefecture, western Japan, on Feb. 22, 2023, in preparation for their departure for China. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo
Panda-shaped steamed buns are sold at an Ito-Yokado supermarket store in Chengdu in Sichuan Province on Feb. 22, 2023, marking the arrival of Japanese-born giant panda Xiang Xiang in the Chinese province from Tokyo's Ueno Zoological Gardens. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo
(From L) Princess Kako, her mother Crown Princess Kiko, her father Crown Prince Fumihito, Japanese Emperor Naruhito, Empress Masako and their daughter Princess Aiko wave to well-wishers during the emperor's 63rd birthday celebration at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo on Feb. 23, 2023. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo
Japanese peace activists stage an anti-war rally in Nagasaki Peace Park in southwestern Japan on Feb. 24, 2023, to mark one year since Russia's invasion of Ukraine. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo
Back number:
Japan and beyond: Week in Photos - Feb. 11~17
Japan and beyond: Week in Photos - Feb. 4~10
Japan and beyond: Week in Photos - Jan. 28~Feb. 3
Japan and beyond: Week in Photos - Jan. 21~27
