August 27, 2011: Tokyo, Japan – Performers dressed in Japanese costumes dance during the 56th Tokyo Koenji Awaodori Dance Festival. (Photo by Yumeto Yamazaki/AFLO)

August 27, 2011 – Tokyo, Japan – Anti-nuclear protestors take on the streets demanding the closure of all nuclear power plants in Japan and to promote a nuclear-free society. This is the fourth Twitter-organized anti-nuclear protest organized by a group of activists using the Twitter online social networking service.(Photo by Christopher Jue/AFLO)

August 24, 2011, Tokyo, Japan – U.S. Vice President Joe Biden waves before boarding Air Force Two at Yokota Air Base in Tokyo on August 24, 2011. (Photo by AFLO) August 25, 2011, Yokohama, Japan – Figure skater, Daisuke Takahashi (JPN), strikes a pose during the Friends on Ice 2011 figure skating event at the [...]

(L to R) Yukari Kinga (JPN) and Azusa Iwashimizu (JPN) clap hands on the field during the East Japan Earthquake Charity Women’s Football Match between Japan Women’s National Team 3-2 Nadeshiko League XI at National Stadium in Tokyo, Japan on August 19, 2011. (Photo by Jun Tsukida/AFLO SPORT)

August 23, 2011, Tokyo, Japan – Former Thai Prime Minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, speaks to foreign and domestic journalist during a news conference at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan (FCCJ) on Tuesday, August 23, 2011. Thaksin arrived in Japan on Monday on a high-profile visit at the invitation of the FCCJ. The fugitive former prime [...]

Saori Kimura jumps in the air to defend her team during the 2011 FIVB World Grand Prix Pool match between Japan 3-0 Korea at Ariake Colosseum in Tokyo, Japan on August 20, 2011. (Photo by Jun Tsukida/AFLO SPORT)

A cosplayer poses for a picture in the sweltering Summer heat during the opening of Comic Market 80 (Comiket 80) in Tokyo, Japan on Friday, August 12, 2011. Comiket is Japan’s largest indoor public event operated by a single private group with sales of self-published publications focused on manga, animation, video games and an exhibition [...]

August 16th, 2011: Shizuoka, Japan – People coming to see the field with a bunch of sunflowers : Sunflowers are in bloom about mid-August in Minami Izu, Shizuoka. There are 30,000 sunflowers in this field. While the spring, this field will be full of rape blossoms. (Photo by Yumeto Yamazaki)

August 15, 2011 – Tokyo, Japan – A man dressed in a Japanese military uniform proudly holds up the flag of Japan at Yasukuni Shrine. Thousands of people visit this shrine to pay their respect to the Japanese war soldiers who died fighting in World War II which marks the 66th anniversary of the end [...]

File Photo :  Women perform a traditional dance at the Mitama festival held to commemorate the war dead at Yasukuni Shrine, July 16, 2006. Established in 1869 by the Meiji Emperor to commemorate those who died in the Boshin War. The shrine now houses the souls or ‘kami’ of Japan’s war dead including 14 A-class [...]

The weakened U.S. dollar gets even weaker as the green buck is being traded at the 76 to 77-yen level on the Tokyo Foreign Exchange Market during the morning session on Wednesday, August 10, 2011. (Photo by Natsuki Sakai/AFLO)

Colorful paper lantern are leased on to the river running through the City of Hiroshima on Saturday, August 6, 2011, offering prayers for those died during and long after the atomic bombing of the city. Japan observed the 66th anniversary of the atomic bombing with a moment of silence and the release of doves in [...]