Japan and beyond: Week in Photos

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

Photo taken on March 4, 2023, from a Kyodo News helicopter shows a sightseeing boat approaching whirlpools at Naruto Strait off Naruto, Tokushima Prefecture, western Japan. The sightseeing season for the famous whirlpools began the same day. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

Runners in the Tokyo Marathon set off from the metropolitan government building on March 5, 2023. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

Chinese President Xi Jinping (L) and Premier Li Keqiang exchange words during the National People's Congress session at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on March 5, 2023. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin holds a press conference at the ministry in Seoul on March 6, 2023, announcing South Korea's solution to a wartime labor compensation dispute with Japan. (Kyodo)

A civic group holds a rally in central Seoul on March 6, 2023, to protest the South Korean government's solution to a wartime labor compensation dispute with Japan. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

A man scoops traditional Turkish dondurma ice cream onto a cone at its birthplace in Kahramanmaras, southern Turkey, on March 6, 2023. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

Japan's H3 rocket lifts off from the Tanegashima Space Center in Kagoshima Prefecture on March 7, 2023. (Kyodo)

Japan's new flagship H3 rocket lifts off from the Tanegashima Space Center in Kagoshima Prefecture on March 7, 2023. (Kyodo)

People buy flowers in Kyiv, Ukraine, on the U.N.-designated International Women's Day on March 8, 2023. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

People march in the southwestern Japan city of Fukuoka calling for gender equality on the U.N.-designated International Women's Day on March 8, 2023. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

Photo taken from a Kyodo News helicopter on March 8, 2023, shows the Diamond Princess cruise ship docked in Kobe, Hyogo Prefecture, western Japan. It is the first time the vessel, in which a COVID-19 outbreak occurred in early 2020, has returned to Japan since the country recently reopened its ports to international cruise ships, after a nearly three-year-long hiatus. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

A horse-drawn carriage heads to the Imperial Palace from near Tokyo Station in the Japanese capital on March 8, 2023. The traditional procession to carry new ambassadors to Japan slated to submit their credentials to Japanese emperor is held for the first time in three years after the novel coronavirus-caused hiatus. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

Robbie Glendinning (R) of Australia celebrates with a teammate after hitting a three-run home run in the seventh inning of the World Baseball Classic Pool B opener against South Korea at Tokyo Dome in Tokyo on March 9, 2023. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

Combined photo shows two-way player Shohei Ohtani pitching and batting against China in Japan's World Baseball Classic Pool B opener at Tokyo Dome in Tokyo on March 9, 2023. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

Japan supporters celebrate after Shohei Ohtani hits a two-run double in the fourth inning of Japan's World Baseball Classic Pool B opener against China at Tokyo Dome in Tokyo on March 9, 2023. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

Photo taken on March 9, 2023, shows the monument to the "Miracle Pine" in Rikuzentakata, northeastern Japan, the only tree in a coastal forest that was not flattened by the deadly tsunami on March 11, 2011. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

Twin giant pandas -- male Xiao Xiao (L) and his sister Lei Lei -- are pictured at Ueno Zoological Gardens in Tokyo on March 10, 2023, after being separated from their mother Shin Shin as they begin transition to independence. The twins were born on June 23, 2021. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo