Wooden plates with Kabuki actor names written in calligraphy are installed at Minamiza Theatre in Kyoto ahead of a year-end show. (Kyodo)
Candles are lit in Kyiv to commemorate victims of the 1932-1933 Holodomor famine under Soviet rule. (Kyodo)
People rally outside the Atomic Bomb Dome in Hiroshima calling on Israel to stop its military operations in Gaza. (Kyodo)
Yusaku Maezawa, an entrepreneur who became the first Japanese private citizen to travel to the International Space Station in December 2021, attends an event in Tokyo where the capsule that brought him back to Earth from space and other items from the trip were shown to the public. (Kyodo)
National Police Agency Commissioner General Yasuhiro Tsuyuki and other officials visit Tokyo's Kabukicho nightlife district, as part of an effort to crack down on the illicit operations of host clubs. (Kyodo)
Construction of a ring-shaped wooden roof with a circumference of 2 kilometers at the site of the 2025 World Exposition, to be held in Osaka, is shown to the press. (Kyodo)
"Hina" dolls modeled after newsmakers of 2023 are unveiled by a doll maker in Tokyo, including one depicting shogi prodigy Sota Fujii, who became the first player ever to hold all eight shogi titles. (Kyodo)
Japan Airlines Co. unveils a specially painted aircraft featuring Myaku-Myaku, the official mascot for the 2025 World Exposition in Osaka, at Osaka airport straddling Osaka and Hyogo prefectures , to build momentum for the event in the western Japan city. (Kyodo)
Penguins take a stroll with an aquarium worker dressed as Santa Claus in a holiday season event at Yokohama Hakkeijima Sea Paradise in Kanagawa Prefecture. (Kyodo)
Ventforet Kofu midfielder Yoshiki Torikai (front, R) scores his side's second goal team during the first half of an Asian Champions League group stage match against Melbourne Cityat Tokyo's National Stadium in Tokyo. (Kyodo)
Photo taken from a Kyodo News helicopter shows a Japan Coast Guard ship searching around waters off Yakushima Island in southwestern Japan, where a U.S. military Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft crashed. (Kyodo)
Rally protesting Israeli raids on the Gaza Strip and calling for the United States to end support for Israel is held in front of the U.S. Consulate General Osaka-Kobe, in the city of Osaka in western Japan. (Kyodo)
New attraction Zootopia land, scheduled to open to the public from Dec. 20, 2023, at Shanghai Disney Resort, is opened to the media. (Kyodo)
Shogi sensation Sota Fujii (L) receives the people's honor award from his home prefecture of Aichi in central Japan. (Kyodo)
Photo shows the venue for the 28th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, or COP28, in Dubai. (Kyodo)
Monks belonging to the Tendai shool of Buddhism make rounds collecting alms in Otsu, Shiga Prefecture, as the sect's annual alms-collection drive begins nationwide. Money raised through affiliated temples will be donated to the Japanese Red Cross Society, among other recipients. (Kyodo)
Members of Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force search the shores of Yakushima Island in southwestern Japan, following the crash of a U.S. military CV-22 Osprey aircraft in nearby waters two days earlier. (Kyodo)
