Novak Djokovic of Serbia celebrates after beating Adrian Mannarino of France to proceed to the quarterfinals at the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne. (Kyodo)
Rubble is all that remains in most parts of a famous market in Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, where a large blaze broke out following a powerful earthquake that struck central Japan on New Year's Day. (Kyodo)
Flowers are placed at the gutted site of the Wajima morning market to mourn victims of a major blaze that broke out following a powerful earthquake that struck central Japan on Jan. 1. (Kyodo)
Hikan zakura, an early blooming cherry, begins to bloom for this season in the town of Tatsugo on Amami-Oshima Island in Kagoshima Prefecture. (Kyodo)
Gloves donated by Major League Baseball two-way star Shohei Ohtani are on display at city hall in Beppu, Oita Prefecture. Following criticism on social media that they should immediately be sent to an elementary school for pupils to play with, the city has cut short the display period. Ohtani is donating three gloves to each of Japan's 20,000 elementary schools to promote the game of baseball. Each batch includes one lefty glove. (Kyodo)
Okinawa Gov. Denny Tamaki holds talks with Defense Minister Minoru Kihara in Tokyo, the first such meeting between the two since the lawmaker became the nation's defense chief in September. The governor made a series of requests about PFAS, a group of artificial chemicals that have been found around U.S. military bases on the southern island. The chemicals are described as persistent organic pollutants, or forever chemicals, because they are nearly indestructible. (Kyodo)
People take shelter in Wushi County, Aksu Prefecture, in China's far-western Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region after a magnitude-7.1 earthquake hit the previous day, forcing about 12,000 people to evacuate. Temperatures hit around minus 10 C in the disaster-hit area, some 3,000 meters above sea level. (Kyodo)
A Japanese court sentences Shinji Aoba to death for the 2019 arson attack on a Kyoto Animation Co. studio that killed 36 people, finding him mentally competent to be held accountable for his crimes. (Kyodo)
South Korea's Supreme Court rejects appeals by Japanese machinery maker Nachi-Fujikoshi Corp. and upholds decisions by lower courts ordering the company to pay damages to South Koreans for wartime labor. (Kyodo)
Exhibit items associated with the works of prominent manga artist Go Nagai are hauled out of Go Nagai Wonderland Museum in Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, after it was damaged in a large blaze following the magnitude-7.6 quake. Nagai's major works include Cutie Honey, Devilman and Mazinger Z. (Kyodo)
Water is discharged during a fire drill at Horyu-ji temple, a UNESCO World Heritage site, in Ikaruga, Nara Prefecture. In Japan, Jan. 26 is designated as fire prevention day for cultural properties, after a fire at Horyu-ji's Golden Hall the same day in 1949 destroyed historical murals there. (Kyodo)
Making of "kiccho" lucky willow branch decorations for Setsubun, signifying the arrival of spring in the old calendar in Japan, on Feb. 3 reaches its peak at Kumano Hayatama Taisha shrine in Shingu in Wakayama Prefecture, western Japan. (Kyodo)
