A lone tree in the middle of a desert

A palanquin carrying a woman playing the role of the Saio-dai priestess, clad in a 12-layer traditional Japanese kimono, is paraded at Kyoto's Shimogamo shrine during the annual Aoi Festival on May 15, 2025. The event is one of the three main festivals of the ancient Japanese capital. (Kyodo/Nana Yumura)

A palanquin carrying a woman playing the role of the Saio-dai priestess, clad in a 12-layer traditional Japanese kimono, is paraded at Kyoto's Shimogamo shrine during the annual Aoi Festival on May 15, 2025. The event is one of the three main festivals of the ancient Japanese capital. (Kyodo/Nana Yumura)

KYODO PHOTOS OF THE MONTH

May 2025

Sekiwake Kirishima (L) and No. 2 maegashira Gonoyama clash on the opening day of the Summer Grand Sumo Tournament at Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo on May 11, 2025. (Kyodo/Daiki Katagiri)

Sekiwake Kirishima (L) and No. 2 maegashira Gonoyama clash on the opening day of the Summer Grand Sumo Tournament at Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo on May 11, 2025. (Kyodo/Daiki Katagiri)

Dancers perform the Awa Odori traditional Japanese folk dance during the Japan Parade on an avenue bordering Central Park in New York on May 10, 2025. (Kyodo/Toshiyuki Inaba)

Dancers perform the Awa Odori traditional Japanese folk dance during the Japan Parade on an avenue bordering Central Park in New York on May 10, 2025. (Kyodo/Toshiyuki Inaba)

Mycena lux-coeli mushrooms emit a greenish glow in woods in Nachikatsuura in Wakayama Prefecture on May 14, 2025. (Kyodo/Tatsuya Sugawa)

Mycena lux-coeli mushrooms emit a greenish glow in woods in Nachikatsuura in Wakayama Prefecture on May 14, 2025. (Kyodo/Tatsuya Sugawa)

People dressed as armored warriors compete in a horse race during the annual "Soma-Nomaoi" traditional horse festival in the Fukushima Prefecture city of Minamisoma, northeastern Japan, on May 25, 2025. (Kyodo/Seiji Nakamura)

People dressed as armored warriors compete in a horse race during the annual "Soma-Nomaoi" traditional horse festival in the Fukushima Prefecture city of Minamisoma, northeastern Japan, on May 25, 2025. (Kyodo/Seiji Nakamura)

"Yamaguchi-sai," the first of a series of rites for the "Shikinen Sengu" ritual, is held at Ise Jingu shrine in Ise, Mie Prefecture, on May 2, 2025, to pray for safety during the logging of trees for timber for the construction every 20 years of a new "divine palace" hall at the shrine. (Kyodo/Shigeyuki Inakuma)

"Yamaguchi-sai," the first of a series of rites for the "Shikinen Sengu" ritual, is held at Ise Jingu shrine in Ise, Mie Prefecture, on May 2, 2025, to pray for safety during the logging of trees for timber for the construction every 20 years of a new "divine palace" hall at the shrine. (Kyodo/Shigeyuki Inakuma)

Tourists enjoy tulips in full bloom at Kamiyubetsu Tulip Park in Yubetsu in Hokkaido, northern Japan, on May 22, 2025. (Kyodo/Junko Ozaki)

Tourists enjoy tulips in full bloom at Kamiyubetsu Tulip Park in Yubetsu in Hokkaido, northern Japan, on May 22, 2025. (Kyodo/Junko Ozaki)

An injured racehorse takes a therapeutic swim in a pool at the Japan Racing Association's rehabilitation center in the Fukushima Prefecture city of Iwaki, northeastern Japan, on May 22, 2025. (Kyodo/Seiji Nakamura)

An injured racehorse takes a therapeutic swim in a pool at the Japan Racing Association's rehabilitation center in the Fukushima Prefecture city of Iwaki, northeastern Japan, on May 22, 2025. (Kyodo/Seiji Nakamura)

This year's "ukai" traditional cormorant fishing season starts on the Nagara River in central Japan's Gifu on May 11, 2025. (Kyodo/Natsumi Yasumoto)

This year's "ukai" traditional cormorant fishing season starts on the Nagara River in central Japan's Gifu on May 11, 2025. (Kyodo/Natsumi Yasumoto)

Cerezo Osaka striker Thiago Andrade goes for goal with an overhead kick during a J-League first-division football match against Urawa Reds at Saitama Stadium in Saitama on May 28, 2025. (Kyodo/Tsuyoshi Ueda)

Cerezo Osaka striker Thiago Andrade goes for goal with an overhead kick during a J-League first-division football match against Urawa Reds at Saitama Stadium in Saitama on May 28, 2025. (Kyodo/Tsuyoshi Ueda)

A robot runs in front of the media in Beijing on May 16, 2025, after winning the world's first humanoid half marathon, held in the Chinese capital in April. The robot completed the 21-kilometer course in 2 hours and 40 minutes, outperforming around 20 other similar robots in the race. (Kyodo/Suo Takekuma)

A robot runs in front of the media in Beijing on May 16, 2025, after winning the world's first humanoid half marathon, held in the Chinese capital in April. The robot completed the 21-kilometer course in 2 hours and 40 minutes, outperforming around 20 other similar robots in the race. (Kyodo/Suo Takekuma)

A traditional outdoor Noh play is performed at Kofuku-ji temple in the ancient capital of Nara, western Japan, on May 16, 2025. (Kyodo/Atsuhiro Maeda)

A traditional outdoor Noh play is performed at Kofuku-ji temple in the ancient capital of Nara, western Japan, on May 16, 2025. (Kyodo/Atsuhiro Maeda)

Other Spotlight Japan Stories

The way of Sake

The addition of the traditional knowledge and skills used in sake-brewing to UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage List highlighted an industry facing shrinking consumption in Japan, but eyeing growing interest abroad, and possibly beyond. 

Subterranean defenses prepare Tokyo for worst-case flood extremes

After visitors descend stairs winding 50 meters below ground, they emerge to an otherworldly sight -- a cavernous, dimly lit space with towering pillars reminiscent of a temple in ancient Rome.

Japan's unstaffed train stations getting rural revival on track

With rural Japan experiencing severe depopulation, some unstaffed train stations and vacant homes are being transformed into places for tourists to stay -- and it is proving a success.

Kinugawa Onsen reversing "haikyo" image amid foreign visitor boom

On the banks of Kinugawa River, a row of abandoned, crumbling hotels stands like a relic of a forgotten past. A destination that once thrived as a hot spring resort during Japan's bubble economy era of the 1980s, many parts of Kinugawa Onsen have now fallen silent.

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