Here is a selection of Kyodo News photos taken this week in Japan and beyond.
Dec. 30
Ameyoko street market in Tokyo's Ueno area is crowded with people shopping for ingredients for New Year dishes. (Kyodo)
Kento Momota en route to winning the men's singles final at the national badminton championships at Musashino Forest Sport Plaza in Tokyo. (Kyodo)
Former world No.1 women's tennis player Naomi Osaka speaks to the press, in Brisbane, Australia, ahead of the 2024 Brisbane International, her first tournament after giving birth to her daughter in July. (Kyodo)
Dec. 31
The year-end Jumbo lottery draw is held in Tokyo, with Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike and Minister for Internal Affairs and Communication Takeaki Matsumoto in attendance. (Kyodo)
Japan men's football manager Hajime Moriyasu plans to see how some new attackers will do in the New Year's Day friendly against Thailand at Tokyo's National Stadium. "I'd like to try inexperienced players, and I want them to go for it and play aggressively." (Kyodo)
Japan's Kazuto Ioka knocks out Venezuela's Josber Perez in the seventh round of his first WBA super flyweight title defense. The victory at Ota City General Gymnasium marked Ioka's 22nd victory in a world title fight, the most by a Japanese boxer. (Kyodo)
Jan. 1
Emperor Naruhito expresses hope that people will continue to support each other with compassion in the coming year in his New Year address released on New Year's Day, while noting how the world has been grappling with ongoing conflicts and natural disasters. Pictured is his daughter, Princess Aiko, as she enters the Akasaka Estate in Tokyo wearing her tiara. (Kyodo)
Japan overwhelm Thailand 5-0 in a men's international football friendly at Tokyo's National Stadium. (Kyodo)
A large fire rages in Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, after a magnitude 7.6 earthquake rocked a wide area on the Sea of Japan coast, triggering tsunami and fires in the central Japan prefecture. (Kyodo)
Jan. 2
At least 30 people have been confirmed dead in the powerful earthquake that struck the Noto Peninsula and surrounding areas in central Japan on New Year's Day, as more reports of damage come in and rescuers race to find survivors. (Kyodo)
Photo shows a market known as a famous tourist spot burning down in Wajima in the central Japan prefecture of Ishikawa following a strong earthquake that rocked a wide area on the Sea of Japan coast the previous day. (Kyodo)
The first runners of 23 teams start in Tokyo's Otemachi business district on the first day of the two-day 100th Tokyo-Hakone collegiate ekiden road relay. Aoyama Gakuin University takes a first-day lead of 2 minutes, 38 seconds over defending champion Komazawa University.
(Kyodo)
(Kyodo)
A Japan Airlines passenger jet collides with a Japan Coast Guard plane at Tokyo's Haneda airport, causing both aircraft to catch fire and killing five coast guard members, while all 379 on board Flight 516 from Sapporo escaped without life-threatening injuries. (Kyodo) Jan. 3
The Japan Coast Guard plane that collided with a Japan Airline jetliner at Tokyo's Haneda airport did not have permission to enter the runway, according to flight control communications released by the transport ministry. (Kyodo)
Photo shows a Japan Coast Guard plane that collided with a Japan Airlines passenger jet on a runway at Tokyo's Haneda airport. (Kyodo)
Aoyama Gakuin University wins the 100th Tokyo-Hakone collegiate ekiden road relay in a record total time of 10 hours, 41 minutes, 25 seconds. (Kyodo)
Jan. 4
The year's first tuna sale is held at a wholesale market in Nachikatsuura, a port town in Wakayama Prefecture, western Japan. (Kyodo)
Search and rescue operations continue in Ishikawa Prefecture in central Japan after it was rocked by a powerful earthquake on New Year's Day, with the death toll rising to 78 and many still unaccounted for. (Kyodo)
Jan. 5
Ichikoto, a maiko traditional Japanese female entertainer, arranges flowers at a New Year's ceremony of the Ikenobo school of Japanese ikebana floral art in Kyoto. (Kyodo)
Photo shows a bluefin tuna that fetched 114.24 million yen ($800,000) at a New Year's auction at Tokyo's Toyosu fish market. (Kyodo)
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida (C) addresses the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's New Year gathering at the party's headquarters in Tokyo. (Kyodo)
Back number:
Japan and beyond: Week in Photos - Dec. 23-29
Japan and beyond: Week in Photos - Dec. 16-22
Japan and beyond: Week in Photos - Dec. 9~15
Japan and beyond: Week in Photos - Dec. 2~8
