The two-day unified university entrance examinations are held at 668 venues across Japan, including at the University of Tokyo. (Kyodo)
Clad in colorful festive kimono, young men and women celebrating their coming-of-age draw their bows at an annual New Year "kyudo" archery event at Sanjusangendo temple in Kyoto. (Kyodo)
Japanese macaques soak in an open-air hot spring at the Hakodate Tropical Botanical Garden in Hakodate in Hokkaido, northern Japan. Visitors can watch the snow monkeys frolicking in the bath until early May. (Kyodo)
A maglev train tunnel work site in Kawasaki near Tokyo is shown to the media ahead of full-fledged drilling set to begin around September. JR Central's Linear Chuo Shinkansen bullet trains service will link Tokyo and Osaka in about one hour. (Kyodo)
Donald Trump secures a landslide victory in the opening contest for the Republican presidential nomination in Iowa, reinforcing his determination to clinch the November election and revive his "America First" policy. (Kyodo)
Horses run at the National Livestock Breeding Center's snow-covered Tokachi ranch in Otofuke, Hokkaido, in northern Japan as they are urged to run as part of winter exercise. (Kyodo)
Bamboo lanterns are lit in a park in Kobe in Hyogo Prefecture on the 29th anniversary of the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake in the western Japan city and its vicinity that killed more than 6,000 people. (Kyodo)
Photo taken from a Kyodo News helicopter shows drift ice off Mombetsu in Hokkaido, northern Japan. (Kyodo)
Sekiwake Daieisho (R) beats rank-and-file wrestler Wakamotoharu on the fifth day of the 15-day New Year Grand Sumo Tournament at Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo. (Kyodo)
Japan's national team players train on the eve of their Group D match against Iraq at the Asian Cup football tournament in Al Rayyan, Qatar. (Kyodo)
The largest faction in Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party says it has decided to disband, as a political funds scandal involving the group formerly led by the late Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has deepened public distrust in politics. (Kyodo)
Japanese Emperor Naruhito, in a poem recited at the annual Imperial New Year's Poetry Reading, reflects fondly on the warm welcome he and his wife Empress Masako have always received during official visits across Japan. (Kyodo)
Wearing traditional Japanese attire, young women celebrating their coming-of-age shoot arrows at a New Year archery event at Sanjusangendo temple in Kyoto on Jan. 14, 2024. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo
Photo taken on Jan. 15, 2024, in Des Moines, Iowa, shows a signboard appealing for voters to support former U.S. President Donald Trump as the nomination process for the presidential election in November formally begins the same day, with Republicans in the Midwest rural state expressing their preferences at precinct meetings. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo
Here is a selection of Kyodo News photos taken this week in Japan and beyond.
