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2012 Miss International

TOKYO, Japan - Ikumi Yoshimatsu, the 2012 Miss International winner, holds a press conference at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan in Tokyo on Dec. 16, 2013. Yoshimatsu said she was asked by the Miss International organizer to refrain from attending the 2013 pageant after she had received threats. She was absent from the event the following day despite tradition that the previous year's winner crowns the new title holder.

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Tokyo Gov. Inose

TOKYO, Japan - Tokyo Gov. Naoki Inose shows a bag he said he used to carry 50 million yen in cash he received from the scandal-hit Tokushukai hospital group, during a committee session of the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly on Dec. 16, 2013. Inose, who won the governorship in December 2012's election, has been under fire for making contradictory explanations over his receipt of the money in November 2012.

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Tokyo Gov. Inose

TOKYO, Japan - Tokyo Gov. Naoki Inose shows a bag he said he used to carry 50 million yen in cash he received from the scandal-hit Tokushukai hospital group, during a committee session of the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly on Dec. 16, 2013. Inose, who won the governorship in December 2012's election, has been under fire for making contradictory explanations over his receipt of the money in November 2012.

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Jang Song Thaek

PYONGYANG, North Korea - Photo shows Jang Song Thaek (L), uncle of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (R) and then vice chairman of the National Defense Commission, after viewing a military parade during a ceremony to mark the 70th anniversary of the birth of the late leader and Kim's father Kim Jong Il in Pyongyang on Feb. 16, 2012. Jang was executed Dec. 12, 2013, after being accused of attempting to overthrow the regime.

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Lawyer Takimoto

TOKYO, Japan - Lawyer Taro Takimoto answers reporters' questions after meeting Makoto Hirata, a former leading member of the AUM Shinrikyo cult, at a police station in Tokyo on Jan. 3, 2012. Hirata has been detained at the police station since turning himself in to police late on Dec. 31, 2011, after being on the run for more than 16 years.

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Ex-AUM cult member Hirata taken to public prosecutors

TOKYO, Japan - A vehicle carrying Makoto Hirata, a former leading member of the AUM Shinrikyo cult, leaves Osaki Police Station in Tokyo on Jan. 2, 2012, as police officers take him for further questioning by public prosecutors. Hirata turned himself in to police on Dec. 31 after being on the run for more than 16 years. He was immediately arrested for suspected involvement in a conspiracy with AUM founder Shoko Asahara and other followers to abduct Kiyoshi Kariya, chief clerk at a notary office in Tokyo, in February 1995.

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N. Korea purges leader's uncle

TOKYO, Japan - File photo shows Jang Song Thaek, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's uncle and a vice chairman of the National Defense Commission, leaving a national memorial service in Pyongyang on Dec. 16, 2012, to mark the first anniversary on Dec. 17 of the death of Kim Jong Il, Kim Jong Un's father and predecessor. North Korea said Dec. 9, 2013, that Jang, widely seen as the second most powerful figure in the country after Kim, has been stripped of all his posts for committing "anti-party" and "counter-revolutionary factional acts."

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N. Korea purges leader's uncle

TOKYO, Japan - File photo shows Jang Song Thaek, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's uncle and a vice chairman of the National Defense Commission, attending a national memorial service in Pyongyang on Dec. 16, 2012, to mark the first anniversary on Dec. 17 of the death of Kim Jong Il, Kim Jong Un's father and predecessor. North Korea said Dec. 9, 2013, that Jang, widely seen as the second most powerful figure in the country after Kim, has been stripped of all his posts for committing "anti-party" and "counter-revolutionary factional acts."

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N. Korea purges leader's uncle

TOKYO, Japan - File photo shows Jang Song Thaek (L), uncle of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (R) and a vice chairman of the National Defense Commission, after viewing a military parade during a ceremony to mark the 70th anniversary of the birth of the late leader and Kim's father Kim Jong Il in Pyongyang on Feb. 16, 2012. North Korea said Dec. 9, 2013, that Jang, widely seen as the second most powerful figure in the country after Kim, has been stripped of all his posts for committing "anti-party" and "counter-revolutionary factional acts."

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Antinuclear Tomorrow Party to split by year-end

OTSU, Japan - Shiga Gov. Yukiko Kada, leader of the Tomorrow Party of Japan, holds a press conference at the prefectural hall in Otsu, Shiga Prefecture, on Dec. 26, 2012. Kada said she could split by the end of the year the antinuclear party launched prior to the Dec. 16 general election, in the face of internal conflicts over personnel matters.

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Noda's last day as prime minister

TOKYO, Japan - Outgoing Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda bows to staffers at the prime minister's office in Tokyo on Dec. 26, 2012. Later in the day, Noda was replaced by Shinzo Abe, head of the Liberal Democratic Party, as prime minister as the Democratic Party of Japan that Noda led suffered a crushing defeat in the Dec. 16 general election, allowing the LDP to regain power.

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Noda's last day as prime minister

TOKYO, Japan - Outgoing Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda bows to staffers at the prime minister's office in Tokyo on Dec. 26, 2012. Later in the day, Noda was replaced by Shinzo Abe, head of the Liberal Democratic Party, as prime minister as the Democratic Party of Japan that Noda led suffered a crushing defeat in the Dec. 16 general election, allowing the LDP to regain power.

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Noda's last day as prime minister

TOKYO, Japan - Outgoing Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda (C, holding flowers) leaves the prime minister's office in Tokyo on Dec. 26, 2012. Later in the day, Noda was replaced by Shinzo Abe, head of the Liberal Democratic Party, as prime minister as the Democratic Party of Japan that Noda led suffered a crushing defeat in the Dec. 16 general election, allowing the LDP to regain power.

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Noda's last day as prime minister

TOKYO, Japan - Outgoing Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda (R) receives flowers and applause from staffers at the prime minister's office in Tokyo on Dec. 26, 2012. Later in the day, Noda was replaced by Shinzo Abe, head of the Liberal Democratic Party, as prime minister as the Democratic Party of Japan that Noda led suffered a crushing defeat in the Dec. 16 general election, allowing the LDP to regain power.

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Antinuclear rally in Tokyo

TOKYO, Japan - A large antinuclear rally is held in the Nagatacho district of Tokyo, where the prime minister's office and the Diet building are located, on Dec. 21, 2012, the first since the Dec. 16 general election in which the Democratic Party of Japan suffered a crushing defeat, allowing the Liberal Democratic Party to regain power. The LDP has said it plans to make a comprehensive decision on restarts for all nuclear reactors in the country within three years, in sharp contrast to the DPJ, which pledged to phase out nuclear energy by the 2030s.

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Antinuclear rally in Tokyo

TOKYO, Japan - A large antinuclear rally is held in the Nagatacho district of Tokyo, where the prime minister's office and the Diet building are located, on Dec. 21, 2012, the first since the Dec. 16 general election in which the Democratic Party of Japan suffered a crushing defeat, allowing the Liberal Democratic Party to regain power. The LDP has said it plans to make a comprehensive decision on restarts for all nuclear reactors in the country within three years, in sharp contrast to the DPJ, which pledged to phase out nuclear energy by the 2030s.

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Antinuclear rally in Tokyo

TOKYO, Japan - A large antinuclear rally is held in the Nagatacho district of Tokyo, where the prime minister's office and the Diet building are located, on Dec. 21, 2012, the first since the Dec. 16 general election in which the Democratic Party of Japan suffered a crushing defeat, allowing the Liberal Democratic Party to regain power. The LDP has said it plans to make a comprehensive decision on restarts for all nuclear reactors in the country within three years, in sharp contrast to the DPJ, which pledged to phase out nuclear energy by the 2030s.

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Moving inside Diet building

TOKYO, Japan - Moving company workers on Dec. 21, 2012 carry a board bearing the Democratic Party of Japan's logo and slogan, which has been used by the party as a backdrop when its officials held press conferences, inside the Diet building in Tokyo, where political parties began relocating lounges for their lawmakers following the Dec. 16 general election. Customarily, each party gets space for a lounge whose size is in proportion to the number of its parliamentary seats. The DPJ, which saw its number of seats plunge to 57 from 230 in the 480-seat House of Representatives, is giving up a wide space on the front side of the second floor of the building to the Liberal Democratic Party, which increased its seats to 294 from 119.

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Miss Japan 2012 Hara

LAS VEGAS, United States - Ayako Hara, who represented Japan at the Miss Universe 2012 pageant in Las Vegas, is interviewed by Kyodo News in the U.S. city on Dec. 20, 2012. Hara, 24, who is from Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, an area devastated by the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami, failed to make it to the shortlist of 16 competitors in the pageant held the previous day, which was won by American Olivia Culpo, 20.

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Mystery man next to Kim Jong Un

PYONGYANG, North Korea - Photo shows an unknown man (R front) standing next to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (L front) during a memorial service in Pyongyang on Dec. 16, 2012, to mark the first anniversary of the death of former leader Kim Jong Il.

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U.S. school shooting

NEWTOWN, United States - Madison Freedman (R), 8 years old, who lives in Newtown, Connecticut, visits Dec. 16, 2012, a makeshift memorial near Sandy Hook Elementary School in the town, where 26 students and teachers were killed by a gunman on Dec. 14.

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Japan general election

TOKYO, Japan - Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda holds a press conference in Tokyo on Dec. 16, 2012. Noda said he will step down as president of the Democratic Party of Japan to take responsibility for his party's defeat in the general election.

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U.S. school shooting

NEWTOWN, United States - A woman and her child on Dec. 16, 2012, head to a makeshift memorial near Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, where 26 students and teachers were killed by a gunman on Dec. 14, to lay flowers.

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Japan general election

TOKYO, Japan - Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda speaks during a press conference in Tokyo on Dec. 16, 2012. Noda said he will step down as president of the Democratic Party of Japan to take responsibility for his party's defeat in the general election.

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Soccer Club World Cup final

YOKOHAMA, Japan - Players of South American champions Corinthians celebrate after winning the soccer Club World Cup final against European champions Chelsea in Yokohama, near Tokyo, on Dec. 16, 2012. Corinthians beat Chelsea 1-0.

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Japan general election

TOKYO, Japan - Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda holds a press conference in Tokyo on Dec. 16, 2012. Noda said he will step down as president of the Democratic Party of Japan to take responsibility for his party's defeat in the general election. No names are highlighted as winners of the election on the board behind him.

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Japan general election

TOKYO, Japan - Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, head of Japan's main opposition Liberal Democratic Party, highlights the names of winners in the general election at LDP headquarters in Tokyo on Dec. 16, 2012. Abe is expected to be Japan's next prime minister as the LDP is on course to win an overall majority in the election, returning to power after three years in opposition on the back of stronger defense and conservative nuclear energy policies, Kyodo News exit polls indicate.

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Japan general election

TOKYO, Japan - Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (R), head of Japan's main opposition Liberal Democratic Party, and Shigeru Ishiba, the party's secretary general, highlight the names of winners in the general election at LDP headquarters in Tokyo on Dec. 16, 2012. Abe is expected to be Japan's next prime minister as the LDP is on course to win an overall majority in the election, returning to power after three years in opposition on the back of stronger defense and conservative nuclear energy policies, Kyodo News exit polls indicate.

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Japan general election

TOKYO, Japan - Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda bows during a press conference in Tokyo on Dec. 16, 2012. Noda said he will step down as president of the Democratic Party of Japan to take responsibility for his party's defeat in the general election. No names are highlighted as winners of the election on the board behind him.

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Japan general election

TOKYO, Japan - Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda holds a press conference in Tokyo on Dec. 16, 2012. Noda said he will step down as president of the Democratic Party of Japan to take responsibility for his party's defeat in the general election.

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Japan general election

TOKYO, Japan - Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda bows during a press conference in Tokyo on Dec. 16, 2012. Noda said he will step down as president of the Democratic Party of Japan to take responsibility for his party's defeat in the general election.

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Japan general election

TOKYO, Japan - Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda speaks during a press conference in Tokyo on Dec. 16, 2012. Noda said he will step down as president of the Democratic Party of Japan to take responsibility for his party's defeat in the general election.

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Japan general election

TOKYO, Japan - Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, head of Japan's main opposition Liberal Democratic Party, smiles at LDP headquarters in Tokyo on Dec. 16, 2012. Abe is expected to be Japan's next prime minister as the LDP is on course to win an overall majority in a general election the same day, returning to power after three years in opposition on the back of stronger defense and conservative nuclear energy policies, Kyodo News exit polls indicate.

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Japan general election

TOKYO, Japan - Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, head of Japan's main opposition Liberal Democratic Party, smiles at LDP headquarters in Tokyo on Dec. 16, 2012. Abe is expected to be Japan's next prime minister as the LDP is on course to win an overall majority in a general election the same day, returning to power after three years in opposition on the back of stronger defense and conservative nuclear energy policies, Kyodo News exit polls indicate.

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Soccer Club World Cup final

YOKOHAMA, Japan - Players of European champions Chelsea are pictured after losing to South American champions Corinthians in the soccer Club World Cup final in Yokohama, near Tokyo, on Dec. 16, 2012. Corinthians beat Chelsea 1-0.

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Japan general election

TOKYO, Japan - Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, head of Japan's main opposition Liberal Democratic Party, highlights the names of winners in the general election at LDP headquarters in Tokyo on Dec. 16, 2012. Abe is expected to be Japan's next prime minister as the LDP is on course to win an overall majority in the election, returning to power after three years in opposition on the back of stronger defense and conservative nuclear energy policies, Kyodo News exit polls indicate.

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Soccer Club World Cup final

YOKOHAMA, Japan - Paulo Guerrero of South American champions Corinthians holds the national flag of Peru, his home country, after Corinthians beat European champions Chelsea in the soccer Club World Cup final in Yokohama, near Tokyo, on Dec. 16, 2012. Guerrero headed home in the 69th minute in the team's 1-0 victory.

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Soccer Club World Cup final

YOKOHAMA, Japan - Players of South American champions Corinthians celebrate after winning the soccer Club World Cup final against European champions Chelsea in Yokohama, near Tokyo, on Dec. 16, 2012. Corinthians beat Chelsea 1-0.

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Soccer Club World Cup final

YOKOHAMA, Japan - Players of South American champions Corinthians celebrate after winning the soccer Club World Cup final against European champions Chelsea in Yokohama, near Tokyo, on Dec. 16, 2012. Corinthians beat Chelsea 1-0.

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Soccer Club World Cup final

YOKOHAMA, Japan - Paulo Guerrero (L) of South American champions Corinthians gets ready to head home in the 69th minute of the soccer Club World Cup final against European champions Chelsea in Yokohama, near Tokyo, on Dec. 16, 2012. Corinthians beat Chelsea 1-0.

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Japan general election

TOKYO, Japan - Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (L), head of Japan's main opposition Liberal Democratic Party, and Shigeru Ishiba, the party's secretary general, shake hands at LDP headquarters in Tokyo on Dec. 16, 2012. Abe is expected to be Japan's next prime minister as the LDP is on course to win an overall majority in a general election the same day, returning to power after three years in opposition on the back of stronger defense and conservative nuclear energy policies, Kyodo News exit polls indicate.

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Soccer Club World Cup final

YOKOHAMA, Japan - Players of South American champions Corinthians celebrate after winning the soccer Club World Cup final against European champions Chelsea in Yokohama, near Tokyo, on Dec. 16, 2012. Corinthians beat Chelsea 1-0.

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Japan general election

NAGAOKA, Japan - Japanese education minister Makiko Tanaka of the Democratic Party of Japan speaks before supporters in Nagaoka, Niigata Prefecture, on Dec. 16, 2012, after losing in a general election held earlier in the day. Tanaka is the daughter of the late former Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka, who normalized Japan's diplomatic ties with China in 1972 with Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai.

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Japan general election

TOKYO, Japan - Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (R), head of Japan's main opposition Liberal Democratic Party, and Shigeru Ishiba, the party's secretary general, highlight the names of winners in the general election at LDP headquarters in Tokyo on Dec. 16, 2012. Abe is expected to be Japan's next prime minister as the LDP is on course to win an overall majority in the election, returning to power after three years in opposition on the back of stronger defense and conservative nuclear energy policies, Kyodo News exit polls indicate.

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Japan general election

TOKYO, Japan - Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (L), head of Japan's main opposition Liberal Democratic Party, and Shigeru Ishiba, the party's secretary general, shake hands at LDP headquarters in Tokyo on Dec. 16, 2012. Abe is expected to be Japan's next prime minister as the LDP is on course to win an overall majority in a general election the same day, returning to power after three years in opposition on the back of stronger defense and conservative nuclear energy policies, Kyodo News exit polls indicate.

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Japan general election

TOKYO, Japan - Natsuo Yamaguchi, head of the New Komeito party, is pictured at the party's headquarters in Tokyo on Dec. 16, 2012, after appearing live on a television program on the results of the House of Representatives election held earlier in the day. The major opposition Liberal Democratic Party and its ally New Komeito are set to return to power after jointly winning a two-thirds majority in the election.

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Japan general election

TOKYO, Japan - Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (L), head of Japan's main opposition Liberal Democratic Party, and Shigeru Ishiba, the party's secretary general, shake hands at LDP headquarters in Tokyo on Dec. 16, 2012. Abe is expected to be Japan's next prime minister as the LDP is on course to win an overall majority in a general election the same day, returning to power after three years in opposition on the back of stronger defense and conservative nuclear energy policies, Kyodo News exit polls indicate.

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Japan general election

TOKYO, Japan - Former Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara, head of the Japan Restoration Party, is pictured at a Tokyo hotel while appearing on a radio program on the results of the House of Representatives election on Dec. 16, 2012. The Japan Restoration Party won 54 seats in the election, up from 11 before the election, while Ishihara himself was also elected.

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Tokyo gubernatorial election

TOKYO, Japan - Naoki Inose, a prizewinning writer who became Tokyo's deputy chief in 2007, holds a bouquet and waves to supporters in Tokyo on Dec. 16, 2012. He was heading for a clear victory in the Tokyo gubernatorial election the same day, according to Kyodo News projections.

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Tokyo gubernatorial election

TOKYO, Japan - Naoki Inose, a prizewinning writer who became Tokyo's deputy chief in 2007, speaks in Tokyo on Dec. 16, 2012. He was heading for a clear victory in the Tokyo gubernatorial election the same day, according to Kyodo News projections.