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

Red-crowned cranes, designated as a Japanese special national treasure, interact during mating season on their snow-covered feeding grounds in the Hokkaido village of Tsurui, northern Japan, on Feb. 11, 2023. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo
 
Performers donning bird-shaped straw capes walk down a street during the Kasedori water-splashing festival in Kaminoyama, Yamagata Prefecture, northeastern Japan, on Feb. 11, 2023, to pray for business success and protection from fire. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo
 
Photo taken on Feb. 11, 2023, at JR Yamagata Station in northeastern Japan shows the silver-colored Tsubasa bullet train operated by East Japan Railway Co. on the Yamagata Shinkansen Line. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo
 
Women stand among rubble in Kahramanmaras, southern Turkey, on Feb. 12, 2023, following a powerful earthquake that struck the region and neighboring Syria. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo
 
People snap photos and take videos of a North Korean chef preparing a dish at a cooking competition held Feb. 12, 2023, in Pyongyang, to celebrate the country's late leader Kim Jong Il's birthday. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo
 
A framed photo is placed at the site of a collapsed apartment building in Adana in southern Turkey on Feb. 13, 2023, after a strong earthquake hit the country and neighboring Syria on Feb. 6. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo
 
Maiko, traditional young Japanese female entertainers, attend a photo session in Kyoto on Feb. 14, 2023, for brochures for the "Kyo Odori" dance performance in April. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo
 
Candles illuminate snow domes during a photo session on the eve of the opening of an annual snow festival dating back around 450 years in the Akita Prefecture city of Yokote, northeastern Japan, on Feb. 14, 2023. The Yokote Kamakura Festival, named after the snow domes called "kamakura," will be held with tourists for the first time in three years after the recent lifting of COVID-19 restrictions in Japan. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo
 
Players from J-League's top flight pose for a photo at a 2023 season kickoff event for Japan's professional football league held in Tokyo on Feb. 14, 2023. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo
 
The Los Angeles Angels' Shohei Ohtani flashes a smile in the bullpen in Tempe, Arizona, on Feb. 15, 2023, as pitchers and catchers have their first workout of the spring. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo
 
Morning sunlight reflects off glittering diamond dust in Hokkaido's Biei on Feb. 15, 2023. (Kyodo) 
Soldiers visit Mansu Hill in Pyongyang on Feb. 16, 2023, the 81st birthday of North Korea's late leader Kim Jong Il. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo
 
Police conduct an anti-terrorism drill on a shinkansen bullet train platform at JR Hiroshima Station on Feb. 16, 2023, ahead of a Group of Seven summit in the western Japan city in May. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo
 
Japan's new flagship H3 rocket fails to lift off at the Tanegashima Space Center in Kagoshima Prefecture, southwestern Japan, on Feb. 17, 2023. (Kyodo)

Back number:

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

Japan and beyond: Week in Photos - Jan. 14~20