July 29, 2010

Keisuke Kuwata, singer-songwriter and frontman of the Southern All Stars, one of the most popular Japanese rock bands in history, announces he has early-stage esophageal cancer and will undergo surgery.
Story: Southern All Stars frontman Kuwata sidelined by cancer

KYODO PHOTO

July 29, 2010

Sunflowers in full bloom stand 5 meters tall in the garden of Shin Tsuji, 89, in Nachi-Katsuura, Wakayama Prefecture. He has been planting the giant flowers for 30 years and goes to great pains to protect them from insects.

KYODO PHOTO

July 28, 2010

A cow is paraded at a livestock market in Hioki, Kagoshima Prefecture, on Tuesday. Earlier in the day, to the relief of local farmers, the government in neighboring Miyazaki Prefecture lifted the state of emergency over the recent outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease.

KYODO PHOTO

July 28, 2010

Farmers start drying "ume" apricots in the sun Tuesday in Tanabe, Wakayama Prefecture. The traditional summer practice, which spreads the sweet and sour fragrance, usually lasts until early October.

KYODO PHOTO

July 27, 2010

An employee grills skewered eel over a charcoal fire at a restaurant in Osaka on Monday. The day is known as "doyo no ushi no hi," or the day on which people eat eel to combat the summer heat.

KYODO PHOTO

July 25, 2010

Prime Minister Naoto Kan plays with children at a day care center run by a private firm in Tokyo's Ginza district Saturday. The visit is part of Kan's drive to hold direct dialogue with citizens in various fields on weekends.

KYODO PHOTO

July 24, 2010

Young women carry the "gal mikoshi" portable shrine through a shopping arcade in Osaka's Kita Ward during the Tenjin Matsuri festival Friday.

KYODO PHOTO

July 24, 2010

A polar bear bites apple-laden ice at a zoo in the city of Osaka.

KYODO PHOTO

July 24, 2010

Junior high school students place paper cranes in front of a memorial commemorating Sadako Sasaki, who died at age 12 from leukemia contracted due to the Hiroshima atomic bombing, in the city Friday.

KYODO PHOTO

July 23, 2010

Hula dancers greet the 50,142-ton cruise ship Asuka II as it arrives in Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture, Thursday. The movie "Hula Girls" is based on the people of the port, a former coal center, who embraced the Hawaiian dance.

KYODO PHOTO

July 23, 2010

A customer tries out local sake in the new Hokkaido Shin Hakken Factory at the Chitose Outlet Mall Rera in Chitose, Hokkaido, on Tuesday. The shop, which specializes in liquor from the prefecture, has some 200 brands of sake and offers a taste with a snack for ¥300.

KYODO PHOTO

July 22, 2010

TV celebrity Christel Takigawa shows off Panasonic Corp.'s new 3-D Viera RT2B television Wednesday in Tokyo's Minato Ward. Touted as the first of its kind, the high-definition plasma TV boasts a built-in Blu-ray disc player/recorder and hard-disk drive.

YOSHIAKI MIURA PHOTO

July 21, 2010

Two Japanese participants — one dressed in a Santa Claus uniform and the other in a reindeer outfit — join a group of Santas at the start of the 53rd World Santa Claus Congress in Copenhagen on Monday. Santas from around the world gather at Dyrehavsbakken park in the Danish capital every year to spread some midsummer Christmas cheer.

AP PHOTO

July 21, 2010

An All Nippon Airways cabin attendant pours draft beer during an onboard demonstration Tuesday in Tokyo as ANA debuted what it is touting as the world's first in-flight service offering beer on tap. The service on domestic flights is offered in cooperation with Hoshizaki Electric Co., which helped develop the special tap using gas from dry ice. Regular pressurized kegs are forbidden on aircraft.

KYODO PHOTO

July 16, 2010

Men carry the Kakiyama float through the compound of Kushida Shrine in Hakata Ward, Fukuoka, before dawn Thursday on the final day of Hakata Gion Yamagasa Festival, which began July 1.

KYODO PHOTO

July 15, 2010

Nogata, Fukuoka Prefecture, lies partially submerged Wednesday after torrential rain hit western Japan, leaving at least three people dead and two missing. Story: Three die, two vanish in deluge

KYODO PHOTO

July 15, 2010

Men in white hold giant torches during the fire festival at Kumano Nachi Taisha Shrine in Nachi-Katsuura, Wakayama Prefecture, on Wednesday. Twelve torches weighing about 50 kg are used to purify the vehicles of gods returning to Nachi No Otaki (Great Waterfall of Nachi) located nearby.

KYODO PHOTO

July 15, 2010

A traveler runs soup from a faucet into a bowl of "udon" noodles Tuesday at Takamatsu Airport in Kagawa Prefecture, the home of Sanuki udon.

KYODO PHOTO

July 11, 2010

Deported New Zealand activist Peter Bethune talks to reporters after arriving at Auckland International Airport on Saturday. Bethune, 45, who was convicted Wednesday in Japan and given a suspended sentence for interfering with a Japanese whaling ship in Antarctic waters in February, told reporters he will never give up his fight to stop Japanese whaling. "I don't regret anything about what I did, but I don't know if it's made any difference," he said.

AP PHOTO

July 10, 2010

People admire "hozuki," or Chinese lantern plants, at Asahi Temple in Minato Ward, Tokyo, which opened its annual two-day hozuki fair Friday.

SATOKO KAWASAKI PHOTO

July 9, 2010

Dinosaur replicas brought in from the Natural Science Museum of San Juan University in Argentina are shown to the media Thursday at the Mori Arts Center Gallery in Tokyo. The show opens Saturday and runs through Sept. 26.

YOSHIAKI MIURA PHOTO

July 8, 2010

The new guidebook "Tokyo Soto Asa Gohan" ("Tokyo Outside Breakfast") lists 61 cafes, hotels and other places in the capital that serve breakfast, as more and more young women go out for their morning meal.

KYODO PHOTO

July 7, 2010

Red, blue and purple morning glories, or "asagao," are in bloom Tuesday at an annual market near Iriya Station in Taito Ward, Tokyo. About 120 venders displayed some 100,000 morning glories early in the day. The market, which dates back more than a century, will continue until Thursday.

SATOKO KAWASAKI PHOTO

July 5, 2010

The upper part of the Sky Tree broadcast tower in Sumida Ward, Tokyo, is opened to the media for a sneak preview on Sunday. The new tower will be 634 meters tall when it starts operations in 2012.

KYODO PHOTO

July 3, 2010

A girl and a woman compete to make the biggest smile using digital measuring cameras at the Sony ExploraScience museum in Tokyo's Daiba waterfront district Friday. Smile Fight, the grin-gauge, is one of the latest attractions at the museum, which lets visitors explore the connections between the latest technologies and science.

KYODO PHOTO

July 2, 2010

People walk down a shopping street Thursday in Hiratsuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, that has been decorated with about 3,000 bamboo-supported streamers to celebrate the 60th Tanabata star festival. The celebration, which runs through Sunday, is expected to attract about 2.3 million visitors.

SATOKO KAWASAKI PHOTO

July 2, 2010

A Sakura shinkansen is unloaded at Kumamoto port Thursday. The new bullet train model for JR Kyushu will start running between Shin-Osaka and Kagoshima Chuo stations next spring.

KYODO PHOTO

June 29, 2010

Daruraiza, a character created by the juvenile section of the chamber of commerce of Shirakawa, Fukushima Prefecture, shows the importance of voting at a kindergarten in the city Monday.

KYODO PHOTO

June 29, 2010

Cube-shaped watermelons are readied for shipment at an agricultural cooperative in Zentsuji, Kagawa Prefecture, on Monday. The watermelons, grown in cubic molds and harvested early, are not edible and are mainly used for display purposes.

KYODO PHOTO