Here is a selection of Kyodo News photos taken this week in Japan and beyond.
April 13
Visitors at Arakurayama Sengen Park in Fujiyoshida, Yamanashi Prefecture enjoy a perfect alignment of cherry blossoms in full bloom, a five-story red pagoda, and a snow-capped Mt. Fuji. (Kyodo)
Japan sweeps Kazakhstan in their Billie Jean King Cup tennis qualifier in dramatic fashion,
clinching a place in the team event's 12-team finals to be played in November in Seville, Spain. Naomi Osaka is among the five players of the Japan team, with Ai Sugiyama serving as captain. (Kyodo)
April 14
Crowds gather to watch doll shows performed on colorful floats during the Spring Takayama Festival in Takayama, a city in the central Japan prefecture of Gifu. (Kyodo)
Shrine attendants, known as "miko," dance in front of a waterfall at the World Heritage-listed Kumano Nachi Taisha shrine in Nachikatsuura, Wakayama prefecture, during a ritual to pray for a good harvest. (Kyodo)
April 15
A rehearsal for the Paris Olympic flame lighting ceremony is held in Olympia, Greece. (Kyodo)
People visit Mansu Hill in Pyongyang to offer flowers as North Korea marks the 112th anniversary of the birth of the country's founder Kim Il Sung. (Kyodo)
April 16
South Korea marks the 10th anniversary of the sinking of the Sewol ferry with memorial events at various locations, including one in Mokpo where the ferry is kept as a reminder of the incident. The April 2014 disaster off the island of Jindo claimed 304 lives, including 250 high school students on a school trip from Ansan near Seoul. (Kyodo)
April 17
April 18
April 19
A Japan Ground Self-Defense Force V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft takes off from the GSDF Camp Metabaru in Saga Prefecture, southwestern Japan. (Kyodo)
Kurobe Gorge Railway's trolley sightseeing train crosses a steel bridge in Kurobe in Toyama Prefecture, central Japan. The railway resumed operations on a partial route after a nearly five-month suspension during the winter. (Kyodo)
Back number:
Japan and beyond: Week in Photos - April 6-12
Japan and beyond: Week in Photos - March 30-April 5
Japan and beyond: Week in Photos - March 23-29
Japan and beyond: Week in Photos - March 16-22