This is how the New Year Countdown looked like in Shibuya.

Outbound New Year traffic peaks across Japan as people return home for the Oshogatsu holiday.

Princess Kako of Akishino turns 22 today.

Defense minister Tomomi Inada visits Yasukuni Shrine.

Visitors to Japan's hot-spring resort enjoy free onsen.

Osaka's Tsutenkaku Tower marks the handover from the year of the monkey to the year of the rooster.

A man's search for the remains of his 7-year-old daughter ends as he learns that she died in the Great East Japan Earthq...

A town in central Japan carries on a "big" tradition of making rice cakes to ring in an auspicious new year.

Laughter is considered the key for happiness in a shrine in Osaka.

Motorcycle cops compete their driving skills.