Aoi Matsuri dating back 1,400 years held in Kyoto

Aoi Matsuri dating back 1,400 years held in Kyoto

KYOTO, Japan - About 500 participants and around 40 horses and cows parade in the Aoi Matsuri (festival), which dates back 1,400 years, in Kyoto on May 15, 2010. The participants, dressed as nobles of the Heian Period (794-1185), walked around eight kilometers from Kyoto Imperial Palace to Shimogamo and Kamigamo shrines, watched by about 26,000 people on the parade route.

Arabic Harry Potter in Guantanamo library

Arabic Harry Potter in Guantanamo library

GUANTANAMO BAY U.S. NAVAL BASE, Cuba - An Arabic-language translation of a Harry Potter story in this Sept. 1, 2009 photo is a popular library book at a detention camp complex in the U.S. naval base in Cuba's Guantanamo Bay. The library is stocked with about 16,000 books and 1,400 magazines in 22 languages as well as DVDs of movies. Detainees can check out books and they are delivered to their cells for reading. Disney cartoons are also popular.

Aoi Matsuri dating back 1,400 years held in Kyoto

Aoi Matsuri dating back 1,400 years held in Kyoto

KYOTO, Japan - About 500 participants in the Aoi Matsuri (festival), which has a history of 1,400 years, parade through Kyoto on May 15. The participants, dressed like nobles of the Heian Period (794-1185), go about 8 kilometers from the Kyoto Imperial Palace to Shimogamo and Kamigamo shrines.

Torch festival held at Kamikura Shrine in Wakayama Pref.

Torch festival held at Kamikura Shrine in Wakayama Pref.

SHINGU, Japan - About 2,000 men carrying torches run down the 538 steps of a shrine approach to Kamikura Shrine in Shingu, Wakayama Prefecture, in the 1,400-year-old torch festival on Feb. 6.

Aoi Matsuri dating back 1,400 years held in Kyoto

Aoi Matsuri dating back 1,400 years held in Kyoto

KYOTO, Japan - About 500 participants in the Aoi Matsuri (festival) which has a history of 1,400 years process through Kyoto on May 15. The participants, dressed like nobles of the Heian Period (794-1185), are leaving the Kyoto Imperial Palace.

Ikenobo school holds year's first flower arrangement practice

Ikenobo school holds year's first flower arrangement practice

KYOTO, Japan - Women wearing traditional Japanese kimono take part in the year's first practice of arranging flowers under the Ikenobo school Jan. 5 at a practice site in Kyoto of the school head. About 1,400 pupils, aged between 11 and 97 from the nation, joined the event held at three practice sites in the ancient Japanese capital.

1,400 attend memorial for victims of school stabbing spree

1,400 attend memorial for victims of school stabbing spree

OSAKA, Japan - About 1,400 people attend a memorial service on Feb. 16 for eight children who were killed when a man went on a stabbing spree last June at Ikeda Elementary School attached to the state-Run Osaka Kyoiku University. Education minister Atsuko Toyama as well as local government officials and school alumni took part in the service held at a local hall in Ikeda, Osaka Prefecture.

Campaigns for June 25 election begin

Campaigns for June 25 election begin

TOKYO, Japan - The Home Affairs Ministry hangs a banner and installs a mascot outside the building in Tokyo on June 13, the first day of the official campaign period, to remind people to vote in the June 25 general election for the House of Representatives. A total of 1,361 candidates filed their candidacies for the 480-seat lower chamber in the morning the same day. The total is expected to reach about 1,400 before registration closes at 5 p.m.