Kinkaku-ji temple, or the Golden Pavilion, in Kyoto, Japan, is seen dusted with snow for the first time this winter on Dec. 18, 2021. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo
People pray on Dec. 19, 2021, in front of a multiple tenant building recently hit by a deadly fire in Osaka. A 61-year-old male patient of a mental clinic in the building is suspected of starting the fire on Dec. 17 that killed more than 20 people. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo
Making of "kadomatsu" gate pines, a traditional Japanese decoration for New Year, is at its peak in Tonosho in Chiba Prefecture, eastern Japan, on Dec. 20, 2021. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo
A Hokkaido squirrel is spotted at a shrine in Asahikawa in Hokkaido, northern Japan, on Dec. 22, 2021. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo
An umbrella-hanging event is held in Itoigawa in Niigata Prefecture, northwest of Tokyo, on Dec. 22, 2021, in commemoration of a large fire that broke out on the same day in 2016 and burned down 147 buildings in the city center. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo
Japanese Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako arrive at the temporary home of former Emperor Akihito and former Empress Michiko in Tokyo's Takanawa area on Dec. 23, 2021, to celebrate the former emperor's 88th birthday. (Pool photo) (Kyodo) ==Kyodo
This four-minute exposure photo taken from Minamikyushu in Kagoshima Prefecture, southwestern Japan, shows the light trail left by an H-2A rocket carrying a British communications satellite following its launch from Tanegashima Space Center in the prefecture in the early hours of Dec. 23, 2021. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo
Kinkaku-ji temple, or the Golden Pavilion, in Kyoto, Japan, is seen dusted with snow for the first time this winter on Dec. 18, 2021. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo
This four-minute exposure photo taken from Minamikyushu in Kagoshima Prefecture, southwestern Japan, shows the light trail left by an H-2A rocket carrying a British communications satellite following its launch from Tanegashima Space Center in the prefecture in the early hours of Dec. 23, 2021. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo
People pray on Dec. 19, 2021, in front of a multiple tenant building recently hit by a deadly fire in Osaka. A 61-year-old male patient of a mental clinic in the building is suspected of starting the fire on Dec. 17 that killed 24 people (Kyodo) ==Kyodo
