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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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Sasago tunnel

OTSUKI, Japan - The site of the fatal collapse of an interior roof on Dec. 2, 2012, in the Sasago Tunnel on the Chuo Expressway in Yamanashi Prefecture, west of Tokyo, is shown to reporters on Feb. 3, 2013, for the first time since the accident. Flowers are laid where vehicle fires happened.

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Sasago tunnel

OTSUKI, Japan - The site of the fatal collapse of an interior roof on Dec. 2, 2012, in the Sasago Tunnel on the Chuo Expressway in Yamanashi Prefecture, west of Tokyo, is shown to reporters on Feb. 3, 2013, for the first time since the accident. Flowers are laid where vehicle fires happened.

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Body of famed Japanese climber killed in Russia returns home

SHIZUOKA, Japan - The coffin containing famed Japanese climber Haruhisa Watanabe arrives at his family's home in the town of Mori, Shizuoka Prefecture, on Jan. 3, 2013. Watanabe, 31, died on Dec. 26, 2012, in a traffic accident in Russia's Murmansk region during a cycling expedition through Central Asia. In 2004, when aged 22, he became the youngest Japanese to scale the tallest peaks of the seven continents.

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Myanmar cave relics

PHA-AN, Myanmar - A monk shows small Buddhist images on Dec. 3, 2012, that came off the walls inside Kaw Goon cave near Pha-an, the capital of Kayin State in eastern Myanmar. Experts call for improved maintenance as the state of preservation has been poor.

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Day after general election in Japan

TOKYO, Japan - Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura of the Democratic Party of Japan answers a reporter's question at the prime minister's office in Tokyo on Dec. 17, 2012, the day after the House of Representatives election which saw the DPJ's crushing defeat. Fujimura became the first serving chief Cabinet secretary to lose a parliamentary seat under the current Constitution, promulgated on Nov. 3, 1946.

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Kobe "Luminarie" illuminations

KOBE, Japan - The organizers of the Kobe "Luminarie" illumination event conduct a rehearsal in Kobe, Hyogo Prefecture, on the night of Dec. 3, 2012, ahead of the Dec. 6 start of the event. The annual event, which will be held until Dec. 17, commemorates the victims of the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake that devastated Kobe and its vicinity.

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Kobe "Luminarie" illuminations

KOBE, Japan - The organizers of the Kobe "Luminarie" illumination event conduct a rehearsal in Kobe, Hyogo Prefecture, on the night of Dec. 3, 2012, ahead of the Dec. 6 start of the event. The annual event, which will be held until Dec. 17, commemorates the victims of the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake that devastated Kobe and its vicinity.

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S. Korean presidential election

SEOUL, South Korea - Former independent presidential candidate Ahn Cheol Soo speaks before his supporters at a ceremony in Seoul to disband his campaign staff on Dec. 3, 2012. Ahn reiterated his support for the candidate from the main opposition party in South Korea's presidential election later in December.

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2012 buzzword award

TOKYO, Japan - Comedian Sugi-chan receives Japan's top buzzword award at a ceremony in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward on Dec. 3, 2012, for his signature phrase "Wild daro?" (I'm wild, aren't I?).

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2012 buzzword award

TOKYO, Japan - Comedian Sugi-chan utters his signature phrase "Wild daro?" (I'm wild, aren't I?), which has been selected as Japan's top buzzword for 2012, at a ceremony in Tokyo on Dec. 3, 2012.

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Osaka-Cairo flights resume

CAIRO, Egypt - Egyptian tourism minister Hisham Zaazou (R) hands flowers to travelers from Japan at Cairo airport on Dec. 3, 2012, as EgyptAir's direct flights linking Cairo and Kansai international Airport near Osaka, western Japan, resumed after they were suspended following political unrest in February 2011.

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Missile interceptors head to Okinawa

HIROSHIMA, Japan - Ground-based Patriot Advanced Capability-3 interceptors are loaded onto the Maritime Self-Defense Force transport ship Osumi at an MSDF base in Kure, Hiroshima Prefecture, on Dec. 3, 2012. Japan expedited deploying the PAC-3 missile interceptors in Okinawa Prefecture to prepare for North Korea's planned rocket launch.

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Express tunnel collapse

KOSHU, Japan - Photo taken on Dec. 3, 2012, shows a truck being moved out of Sasago Tunnel in Koshu, Yamanashi Prefecture, after being trapped when the tunnel's concrete ceiling collapsed the previous day. The police confirmed nine bodies in three vehicles including the truck trapped inside the 4.7-kilometer tunnel on the Chuo Expressway.

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Kobe "Luminarie" illuminations

KOBE, Japan - The organizers of the Kobe "Luminarie" illumination event conduct a rehearsal in Kobe, Hyogo Prefecture, on the night of Dec. 3, 2012, ahead of the Dec. 6 start of the event. The annual event, which will be held until Dec. 17, commemorates the victims of the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake that devastated Kobe and its vicinity.

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Int'l customs confab in Kyoto

OSAKA, Japan - A three-day Policy Commission meeting of the World Customs Organization begins in the city of Kyoto on Dec. 3, 2012, to discuss the simplification of customs procedures and other issues to activate international trade.

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Missile interceptors head to Okinawa

HIROSHIMA, Japan - Photo from a Kyodo News helicopter shows the Maritime Self-Defense Force transport ship Kunisaki leaving an MSDF base in Kure, Hiroshima Prefecture, on Dec. 3, 2012, carrying ground-based Patriot Advanced Capability-3 interceptors. Japan expedited deploying the PAC-3 missile interceptors in Okinawa Prefecture to prepare for North Korea's planned rocket launch.

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Missile interceptors head to Okinawa

HIROSHIMA, Japan - Photo from a Kyodo News helicopter shows the Maritime Self-Defense Force transport ship Kunisaki leaving an MSDF base in Kure, Hiroshima Prefecture, on Dec. 3, 2012, carrying ground-based Patriot Advanced Capability-3 interceptors. Japan expedited deploying the PAC-3 missile interceptors in Okinawa Prefecture to prepare for North Korea's planned rocket launch.

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Express tunnel collapse

KOSHU, Japan - Photo taken on Dec. 3, 2012, shows a truck being towed away from Sasago Tunnel in Koshu, Yamanashi Prefecture, after being trapped when the tunnel's concrete ceiling collapsed the previous day. The police confirmed nine bodies in three vehicles including the truck trapped inside the 4.7-kilometer tunnel on the Chuo Expressway.

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Express tunnel collapse

KOSHU, Japan - Photo taken on Dec. 3, 2012, shows a vehicle outside Sasago Tunnel in Koshu, Yamanashi Prefecture, after being trapped when the tunnel's concrete ceiling collapsed the previous day. The police confirmed nine bodies in three vehicles including this one trapped inside the 4.7-kilometer tunnel on the Chuo Expressway.

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Missile interceptors head to Okinawa

HIROSHIMA, Japan - Ground-based Patriot Advanced Capability-3 interceptors are loaded onto the Maritime Self-Defense Force transport ship Kunisaki at an MSDF base in Kure, Hiroshima Prefecture, in the early hours of Dec. 3, 2012. Japan expedited deploying the PAC-3 missile interceptors in Okinawa Prefecture to prepare for North Korea's planned rocket launch.

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Missile interceptors head to Okinawa

HIROSHIMA, Japan - Ground-based Patriot Advanced Capability-3 interceptors are loaded onto the Maritime Self-Defense Force transport ship Kunisaki at an MSDF base in Kure, Hiroshima Prefecture, in the early hours of Dec. 3, 2012. Japan expedited deploying the PAC-3 missile interceptors in Okinawa Prefecture to prepare for North Korea's planned rocket launch.

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Japanese ski jumper Takanashi

TOKYO, Japan - Photo taken Dec. 3, 2011, shows Japanese teenage ski jumper Sara Takanashi. Takanashi, 15, placed second in a World Cup event on Jan. 8, 2012, in Hinterzarten, Germany, becoming the first Japanese female jumper to stand on the podium in the three events held so far on the inaugural World Cup ski jumping circuit.