Chancellor Olaf Scholz is in Tokyo this weekend for German-Japanese intergovernmental consultations. The two countries have recognized that they share economic and strategic interests. DW's Nina Haase reports from Tokyo.

Although Japan is the only G7 country where same-sex marriages are illegal, there have recently been some positive changes for the LGBT community. Last November, Tokyo's metropolitan government introduced partnership certificates that entitle gay couples to certain public services that were once reserved for straight couples.

Japan is the only G7 country which does not recognise same-sex unions. But this week, its capital Tokyo began rolling out a partnership certificate scheme. It allows same-sex couples to be treated as married couples for certain public services, this for the first time. Those services include housing, medicine and welfare.

Mourners flocked to the site where Japan's former prime minister was shot. Shinzo Abe's body has been moved to Tokyo from Nara, where he was attacked while giving a speech.

The twin pandas born at Tokyo's Ueno zoo in June have been named Xiao Xiao for the male and Lei Lei for the female. There are an estimated 1,800 giant pandas left in the wild, mainly in bamboo forests in the mountains of China, according to environmental group WWF. Around 600 more live in zoos and breeding centres around the world.

Haruki Murakami fans can marvel at a vast collection of the Japanese author's novels, scrapbooks and vinyl at a cavernous new library unveiled Wednesday at his old university in Tokyo.

Tokyo residents react after Japan's ruling party elected former foreign minister Fumio Kishida its new leader, setting him on course to become the next prime minister of the world's third-largest economy. Kishida, 64, will be confirmed as the new premier in a vote in parliament on October 4 and will then lead the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) into general elections that must happen by November. The 64-year-old won the ruling party's leadership vote, beating popular vaccine chief Taro Kono to finally clinch a job he has long targeted.

A full moon hangs above the Tokyo skyline as Japan marks moon-viewing festival 'Tsukimi' on Tuesday. Japan celebrates Tsukimi on the fifteenth day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar every year, which falls between mid-September and early October.

After two weeks of competition and a colorful closing ceremony, the Tokyo Paralympics have ended and the flag has been passed on to Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo ahead of the 2024 Summer Games.

At this cafe in Tokyo, robots are intended to be more than a gimmick, offering job opportunities to people with disabilities unable to work outside their homes.

As the Paralympic Games begin, Japan's efforts to improve accessibility and inclusion are in the spotlight, with many arguing there is still plenty of work to do. Some 4,400 athletes with impairments will compete in Tokyo at the world's biggest parasports tournament.

The Japanese authorities install a giant symbol of the Paralympic Games off the coast of Tokyo, just days before the competition begins.