This year's "ukai" traditional cormorant fishing season starts on Nagara River in Gifu. (Kyodo)
People do "zazen," or seated meditation, at Daihonzan Sojiji temple in Yokohama. Some 1,000 individuals participated in the simultaneous zazen event -- 700 at this temple and 300 elsewhere, including those abroad, connected online. (Kyodo)
Hikaru Mori performs in the women's individual final at the Trampoline Grand Championships in Maebashi, Gunma Prefecture, en route to securing her ticket to the Paris Olympics. (Kyodo)
Giant panda Rauhin, mother of 10 at the Adventure World zoo in Shirahama, Wakayama Prefecture, enjoys a treat of young bamboo and carnation flower-shaped carrots as gifts on Mother's Day. Bamboo branches placed in front of the 23-year-old panda read "Thank you always." (Kyodo)
The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department's riot squad march during a ceremony in the outer garden of Tokyo's Meiji Jingu shrine. (Kyodo)
Hiroshima city officials air out books listing the names of victims of the 1945 U.S. atomic bombing of the western Japanese city after removing them from a stone chamber beneath the cenotaph for the victims at the Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima. The officials also turned each page to check the condition of the 125 books, which contain a total of 339,227 names, ahead of the rainy season. (Kyodo)
Lilac flowers are in full bloom at the Sapporo Lilac Festival at Odori Park in Sapporo in Hokkaido, northern Japan. (Kyodo)
A woman playing the role of the Saio-dai priestess, clad in a 12-layer traditional Japanese kimono, is carried in a palanquin at Kyoto Imperial Palace for a parade during the annual Aoi Festival, one of the three main festivals of the ancient Japanese capital. (Kyodo)
The U.S. nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan leaves the Yokosuka naval base in Yokosuka in Kanagawa Prefecture, near Tokyo, for an overhaul after a more than eight-year deployment. The nuclear-powered aircraft carrier George Washington will be deployed to the base later in the year. (Kyodo)
Rina Kishi performs during the women's all-around competition on the first day of the NHK Cup gymnastics meet at Takasaki Arena in Takasaki, Gunma Prefecture. (Kyodo)
Yuto Horigome of Japan competes in the preliminary round of the men's street skateboarding during the Paris Olympic qualifier series in Shanghai. (Kyodo)
World Para Athletics Championships start in Kobe, western Japan. (Kyodo)
Japan's parliament passes a bill introducing joint custody for divorced couples with children, in a landmark change that paves the way for the adoption of a practice widely used in other nations. (Kyodo)
Participants in a city leaders' summit hosted by the Tokyo metropolitan government, including Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike, pose for a photo in the Japanese capital. (Kyodo)
