HIRO KOMAE

Takamatsu Gushiken uses a hand hoe to delicately move dirt in a cave while searching for the remains of those who died during the Battle of Okinawa towards the end of the World War II in 1945, in Itoman, on the main island of the Okinawa archipelago, southern Japan, Saturday, Feb. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)
An Okinawan bone digger searches for remains from one of the fiercest battles of World War II
Takamatsu Gushiken hunts caves in Okinawa’s jungles for the bones of those who died in the WWII Battle of Okinawa, one of the war’s bloodiest. He considers the bones silent witnesses of Okinawa’s wartime tragedy.
 
Baseball fans of the Yomiuri Giants welcome team members coming out of Naha Airport's terminal exit in Naha, south of Okinawa, southern Japan, Friday, Feb. 14, 2025, as the team was moving from another spring training site. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)
AP PHOTOS: Here’s what spring training looks like in Japan
The site for Japanese spring training is Okinawa, the most southerly and smallest of Japan’s five main islands. It’s warmer than it is up north in the fading days of winter. Think Florida and Arizona. It’s the same idea.
 
Craftsman Katsunori Suzuki takes molten iron into a bucket before carrying it back to his work section to make a cast iron pot manually at the Oigen foundry in Oshu, northeastern Japan, Thursday, May 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)
AP PHOTOS: 172-year-old Japanese factory preserves traditional way of making cast iron cookware
OSHU, Japan (AP) — Katsunori Suzuki is one of a few craftsmen in Japan still producing cast iron cookware by hand using laborious traditional techniques.
 
A cat walks across the altar at Cat Shrine on Tashirojima island in Ishinomaki, northeastern Japan, Saturday, May 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)
Shrine honors cats at a Japanese island where they outnumber humans
The islanders have long coexisted with the cats. One day, however, a fisherman accidentally injured a cat while working. Feeling sorry for the injury, the islanders built the shrine for cats.
 
Evacuees warm up together in a shelter in the earthquake-hit Anamizu, Ishikawa prefecture, Monday, Jan. 8, 2024. Thousands of people made homeless overnight are living in weariness and uncertainty on the western coast of Japan a week after powerful earthquakes hit the region. (Kyodo News via AP)
Thousands forced from homes by a deadly Japan earthquake on New Year’s face stress and exhaustion
Thousands of people made homeless overnight are living in weariness and uncertainty on the western coast of Japan a week after a powerful earthquake left at least 180 dead and dozens missing.
 
A person cleans his car from snow in Wajima in the Noto peninsula facing the Sea of Japan, northwest of Tokyo, Sunday, Jan. 7, 2024. Monday's temblor decimated houses, twisted and scarred roads and scattered boats like toys in the waters, and prompted tsunami warnings. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)
Snow hinders rescues and aid deliveries to isolated communities after Japan quakes kill 161 people
Rescue teams are working through snow to deliver supplies to isolated hamlets after a powerful earthquake hit western Japan, killing at least 161 people.
 
Police officers go into a building at the premises of a temple to search for victims in Wajima in the Noto peninsula, facing the Sea of Japan, northwest of Tokyo, Saturday, Jan. 6, 2024, following Monday's deadly earthquake. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)
A woman in her 90s is rescued alive 5 days after Japan’s deadly earthquake
A woman in her 90s has been pulled alive from a collapsed house in western Japan, 124 hours after a major quake slammed the region, killing at least 126 people, toppling buildings and setting off landslides.
 
Police officers remove the debris from a fire at a market in Wajima, Ishikawa prefecture, Japan Saturday, Jan. 6, 2024. A series of powerful quakes set off a large fire in the town of Wajima, as well as tsunamis and landslides in the region. (Kyodo News via AP)
Death toll reaches 100 as survivors are found in homes smashed by western Japan earthquakes
The death toll from a major quake in western Japan has reached 100, even as rescue workers fought aftershocks to carefully pull people from the rubble. Deaths had reached 98 earlier Saturday, but two more deaths were reported in Anamizu.
 
A resident checks her destroyed house in Wajima, Ishikawa prefecture, Japan Friday, Jan. 5, 2024. Monday’s temblor decimated houses, twisted and scarred roads and scattered boats like toys in the waters, and prompted tsunami warnings. (Kyodo News via AP)
Scenes of loss play out across Japan’s western coastline after quake kills 92, dozens still missing
Rescue workers are braving the cold to save people still trapped under collapsed buildings in western Japan.
 
Firefighters look at the rubble and wreckage of a burned-out marketplace after a large fire caused by earthquakes in Wajima, Ishikawa prefecture, Japan Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2024. (Kyodo News via AP)
Rescuers race against time in search for survivors in Japan after powerful quakes leave 78 dead
Rescuers in Japan are braving the cold in a race against time as they search for survivors along the country’s western coastline after a powerful earthquake earlier in the week smashed homes and left at least 78 people dead and 51 people missing.
 
A man searches a collapsed house caused by powerful earthquake in Suzu, Ishikawa Prefecture Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2024. A series of powerful earthquakes hit western Japan, damaging buildings, vehicles and boats, with officials warning people in some areas on Tuesday to stay away from their homes because of a risk of more strong quakes. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)
New Year’s Day quake in Japan revives the trauma of 2011 triple disasters
The powerful earthquake that shattered the peace of New Year’s Day in central Japan did not spur the kind of tsunamis that scoured the northeastern Pacific coast in 2011.
 
People walk past collapsed buildings following an earthquake in Wajima, Ishikawa prefecture, Japan Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2024. A series of powerful earthquakes in western Japan damaged homes, cars and boats, with officials warning people on Tuesday to stay away from their homes in some areas because of a continuing risk of major quakes and tsunamis. (Kyodo News via AP)
Powerful earthquakes leave at least 55 dead, destroy buildings along Japan’s western coast
A series of powerful earthquakes has hit western Japan, leaving at least 55 people dead and damaging thousands of buildings, vehicles and boats.