Decorated floats are lined up in Hachinohe in Aomori Prefecture, northeastern Japan, on July 31, 2024, as the annual Hachinohe Sansha Taisai festival kicks off. The floats, each 10 meters high and 8 meters wide, will be paraded for three days starting the following day as part of the five-day festival, which dates back around 300 years and, in 2016, was inscribed on UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage list. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

TOKYO - The following is the latest list of selected news summaries by Kyodo News.