The 2016 National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest: Bride due to be married on the only day of snow in Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan. The contest ends on May 27th and the grand prize is a seven-day Polar Bear Photo Safari for two at Churchill Wild–Seal River Heritage Lodge, a National Geographic Unique Lodge of the World. To find out more about the competition search natgeo.com/travelphotocontest. Credit: Stephane Mangin/National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest 2016.

2016 Sony World Photography Awards. 'Enchanted Bamboo Forest' by Kei Nomiyama was selected as the single best image in the world. The start of rainy season in Japan sees a flurry of firefly activity and this species of Luciola Parvula was photographed by moonlight in a bamboo forest. Firefly populations in Japan decrease every year, possibly due to the destruction of their natural environment. Credit: Kei Nomiyama, Japan, Open Photographer of the Year, 2016 Sony World Photography Awards  

Purin, a ten-year-old female Japanese beagle  balances on a yoga ball in Tokyo, Japan, in this picture released by Guinness World Records on March 29th 2016. 
Purin is now officially the world record holder for the "fastest 10 metres travelled on a ball by a dog". The beagle was already the holder of one Guinness World Record, for the "most balls caught by a dog with the paws in one minute". Credit: AFP/Guinness World Records

A photo taken on March 10th 2016 at the Canadian embassy in Tokyo, Japan, shows illuminated lanterns during an event to pray for the reconstruction of areas devastated by the March 11th 2011 earthquake and tsunami, and to mourn victims of the disaster.  Credit: Reuters/ Issei Kato

Daily Graphic

The state of global nuclear power five years after the Fukushima disaster

The legacy of Pokémon for millennials

Celebrating 20 continuous years is a worthy milestone. Pokemon brought endless riches to those—including your correspondent—who grew up during a Japanese breakout in the 1990s.

Participants dressed as 'Minions' compete during the Minions Run charity event in Tokyo on February 13th 2016. Some 10,000 runners took part in the one kilometre race. Credit: AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko

KAL’s cartoon: China flexes its muscles in the South China Sea

Zebra crossing: Zookeepers take part in an emergency drill at Ueno Zoo in Tokyo, Japan. Local police, zoo staff and members of the emergency services practiced the evacuation of visitors from the zoo and the recapture of an escaped zebra on February 2nd 2016. The zebra was successfully contained. Credit: Getty Images/Christopher Jue

Japanese Macaques, also known as "snow monkeys", bathe in a hot spring at the Jigokudani Monkey Park in Yamanouchi town, Nagano prefecture, Japan on January 18th 2016. Credit: AFP/Yasuyoshi Chiba 

So long, and thanks for all the fish

On January 5th, in a pre-dawn ritual going back decades, a handbell rang to mark the year’s first auction at Tsukiji, Tokyo’s sprawling fish market. The star attraction was a glistening 200kg tuna, sold to a sushi restaurant chain for ¥14m ($118,000). But the sale was tinged with nostalgia and even bitterness. This time next year the wholesale market, the world’s busiest, will be gone.

Members of the Edo Firemanship Preservation Association balance on top of bamboo ladders during the annual demonstration held by the Tokyo Fire Department in Tokyo, Japan, January 6th 2016. Some 2,800 firefighters take part in the event, performing various emergency rescue and firefighting techniques. Credit: EPA/ Kiyoshi Ota

People gather to watch the sun rise on New Year's Day at a beach along Tokyo Bay on January 1st 2016. Credit: AFP/Yoshikazu Tsuno

In Japan, crime rates are low and the state incarcerates far fewer people than in other rich countries.

But when people are accused of a crime they are almost always convicted. Why?

To find out, watch our video on Japan’s prisons

Why Japan's conviction rate is 99%

In Japan, crime rates are low and the state incarcerates far fewer people than in other rich countries. But when people are accused of a crime they are almost always convicted

America’s big spending on health care doesn’t pay off

The United States remains the world’s most profligate spender on health care. America spends x2.5 as much as the OECD average on health care. Yet the average American dies 1.7 years earlier than the average OECD citizen.

A child runs in a field of fireweed, or Kochia scoparia, on a sunny autumn day at the Hitachi Seaside Park, north of Tokyo, October 26th 2015. Fireweed is a grass bush that takes on a bright red colour in autumn. Credit: Reuters/Thomas Peter