Rwandan Ambassador Venetia Sebudandi (second from right) prepares for a toast with, from left, Parliamentary Vice-Minister for foreign Affairs Masakazu Hamachi; Specialty Coffee Association of Japan President Shinji Sekine; and State Minister of Finance and Secretary-General of the Japan-Rwanda Parliamentary League of Friendship Manabu Sakai during a reception to celebrate the country's Liberation Day and Independence Day at the Toshi Center Hotel, in Tokyo on July 4. | YOSHIAKI MIURA
Rwandan Ambassador Venetia Sebudandi (second from right) prepares for a toast with, from left, Parliamentary Vice-Minister for foreign Affairs Masakazu Hamachi; Specialty Coffee Association of Japan President Shinji Sekine; and State Minister of Finance and Secretary-General of the Japan-Rwanda Parliamentary League of Friendship Manabu Sakai during a reception to celebrate the country's Liberation Day and Independence Day at the Toshi Center Hotel, in Tokyo on July 4. | YOSHIAKI MIURA

Egyptian Ambassador Ismail Khairt (left) prepares to cut a cake with Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Special Advisor to the President Sadako Ogata (former president of JICA and UNHCR) at a reception to celebrate Egypt's National Day at the ambassador's residence in Tokyo on July 1. | YOSHIAKI MIURA
Egyptian Ambassador Ismail Khairt (left) prepares to cut a cake with Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Special Advisor to the President Sadako Ogata (former president of JICA and UNHCR) at a reception to celebrate Egypt's National Day at the ambassador's residence in Tokyo on July 1. | YOSHIAKI MIURA

Attendees look on and clap as streamers fall at the opening ceremony of the Day of Spanish event, a program by the Spanish embassy to celebrate the language and culture through cooking and various performances, at the Institute Cervantes Tokyo on July 2. | YOSHIAKI MIURA
Attendees look on and clap as streamers fall at the opening ceremony of the Day of Spanish event, a program by the Spanish embassy to celebrate the language and culture through cooking and various performances, at the Institute Cervantes Tokyo on July 2. | YOSHIAKI MIURA

Artist Mokomichi Hayami (left) and Akasaka Hikawa Shrine's Sotaro Kamiya pose with nagoshi-gohan, or nagoshi rice, at a
Artist Mokomichi Hayami (left) and Akasaka Hikawa Shrine's Sotaro Kamiya pose with nagoshi-gohan, or nagoshi rice, at a "Nagoshi no Harae" Shinto half-year purification ritual promotion event, in front of a chino-wa ring of reeds, during a press conference at the shrine on June 29. | YOSHIAKI MIURA