Shizuo Kambayashi / AP
A child and father enjoy the cherry blossoms at the Chidorigafuchi Imperial Palace moat in Tokyo on March 24.
Arie Kievit / EPA
Warming weather and longer days bring out the first signs of spring.
Koji Watanabe / Getty Images
Members of the Netherlands team celebrate winning the World Baseball Classic Second Round Pool 1 game against Cuba at the Tokyo Dome on March 11, 2013 in Tokyo, Japan.
Kiyoshi Ota / EPA
A husband shouts a message of love to his wife in a Tokyo park as part of an annual tradition in which normally reserved men declare their feelings in the most vocal manner.
TOKYO — Love was in the air in a Tokyo park as normally staid Japanese husbands gathered to scream out their feelings for their wives, promising gratitude and extra tight hugs.
With modesty and reticence traditionally valued over outspokenness, expressing deeper feelings such as love has long been hard in Japan.
That's why dozens of Japanese men gather once a year ahead of Jan. 31, which in Japanese is a play on the words for "beloved wife," to let their feelings fly.
"I'm sorry that I've gained weight over the last seven years," a suit-clad man yelled. "But that's because the meals you cook are so delicious."
The event, now in its fifth year, was thought up by Kiyotaka Yamana with the support of a local flower shop to urge Japanese men to show their affection in more explicit ways.
Kiyoshi Ota / EPA
Husbands, shouting in unison, declare their love for their wives as part of an event that urges normally staid Japanese men to show their romantic side.
"The economy is getting better in Japan, and I see a lot of Japanese married couples getting more active in deepening their relationships," Yamana said.
Yamana founded the Japan Aisaika Organization, which promotes a culture of "Aisaika" or "adoring husbands." The group's website says it created Beloved Wives Day to urge Japanese husbands to "get home by 8 p.m. and say thanks to their wives for all they do."
At Tuesday's event, wives in the audience laughed and clapped, especially when one man got down on his knees to offer his wife a bouquet.
"He's very fabulous and manly today," said Yuko Todo, 33, after husband Takeshi's performance. "It just reminded me how macho he used to be — I'd forgotten that in the eight years we've been married. My heart pounded."
Yuya Shino / Reuters
Japanese women in kimonos walk during heavy snowfall at Toshimaen amusement park in Tokyo, as they attend a ceremony celebrating Coming of Age Day, Jan. 14, 2013. Youths across Japan are honoured with special coming-of-age ceremonies when they reach the age of 20.
Koji Sasahara / AP
A man crosses a pedestrian bridge in the snow in Tokyo, Jan. 14, 2013.
Franck Robichon / EPA
Pedestrians cross a large avenue as heavy snow falls in Tokyo, Japan, Jan. 14, 2013.
Kim Kyung-hoon / Reuters
People clear snow off a road, next to a car stranded in the snow, in Tokyo, Jan. 14, 2013.
Tokyo had its first snowfall this season today. A blanket of snow made for pretty pictures but difficult commutes. Flights to and from the capital's Haneda airport were cancelled, parts of expressways closed and local train services delayed.
Watch the video report below.
Snow in eastern Japan caused the cancellation of hundreds of flights and led to dozens of road accidents. NBCNews.com's Dara Brown reports.
AFP - Getty Images
Ice and snow changes our environment, as winter engulfs our world.
Toru Hanai / Reuters
Kiyomura Co's employees push a cart carrying a 222 kg (489 lbs) bluefin tuna outside Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo on Saturday, Jan. 5, 2013. Kiyomura Co's President Kiyoshi Kimura, who runs a chain of sushi restaurants, won the bid for the tuna with a record of 155.4 million yen ($1.76 million) at the fish market's first tuna auction this year.
Yoshikazu Tsuno / AFP - Getty Images
Dressed in 19th century Japanese fire fighting uniform, a member of the Edo (Tokyo) Firemanship Commemoration Association performs on a bamboo ladder for a New Year's celebration event outside a Tokyo department store on Friday, Jan. 4, 2013. The popular traditional firefighters' stunt attracts New Year shoppers to the department store every year.
Yoshikazu Tsuno / AFP - Getty Images
Kim Kyung-Hoon / Reuters
Pedestrians cast shadows on the sidewalk near the headquarters of the Bank of Japan in Tokyo on Dec. 20, 2012.
Kimimasa Mayama / EPA
A boy looks at older generation mobile phones hanging on the outer wall of an electric shop in Tokyo, Japan, Sept. 7. More than 6,000 phones are hung on Masanao Watanabe's store.
Yuriko Nakao / Reuters
Bikini-clad women operate a 3.6 meter-high custom-made female robot as customers take photos, at the newly opened "Robot Restaurant" in Kabukicho, one of Tokyo's best-known red light districts, on August 16, 2012. Photos made available to NBC News on August 26.
Reuters reports — In a restaurant down an alley in one of Tokyo's best-known red light districts, four massive female robots wink and wave as they lumber to the beat of traditional Japanese drums and a Lady Gaga dance tune.
Each is controlled by two bikini-clad women, who perch in a high seat attached to the robot's stomach and control the facial features and legs using joysticks attached to the seats for the hour-long "Fighting Females" performance. Read the full story.
Yuriko Nakao / Reuters
Dancers perform on a mock tank decorated with lights during the show.
A restaurant in Tokyo features a variety show with 12-foot-tall robots that took more than three years and $126 million to create. NBCNews.com's Dara Brown reports.
Kyodo News via AP
People pack the central intersection of Tokyo's Ginza shopping district as Japanese Olympic medalists and athletes who competed in the London Games aboard double-decker buses parade through the main street Monday, Aug. 20.
Jiji Press / AFP - Getty Images
Japan's women's badminton doubles silver medallists Mizuki Fujii, left, and Reika Kakiiwa, wave to the crowds from an open-top bus during a parade for Japan's 2012 London Olympic Games medallists in Tokyo's Ginza shopping district on Aug. 20.
The Japan Olympic Committee (JOC) held the first ever Olympic medallists parade hoping it will boost the city's bid to host the 2020 Summer Games.
Reuters reports: Japan's Olympic medallists brought downtown Tokyo to a standstill on Monday in an open-top bus victory parade witnessed by around 500,000 flag and fan-waving supporters.
The convoy of five buses caused gridlock as fans and shoppers in Tokyo's upmarket Ginza district help celebrate Japan's record haul of 38 medals (seven gold, 14 silver and 17 bronze) at the London Olympics. Full story.
Kimimasa Mayama / EPA
Women wearing casual summer kimonos called yukata walk amongst illuminated paper lanterns as they visit the Yasukuni Shrine on the eve of the three-day Mitama-Matsuri, or Soul Festival, in Tokyo on July 13, 2012. About 300,000 people visit the shrine during the festival.
Kimimasa Mayama / EPA
People visit the Yasukuni Shrine on the eve of the three-day Mitama-Matsuri, or Sould Festival, in Tokyo on July 13, 2012. The summer festival is held to comfort souls of the war dead.
Issei Kato / Reuters
Visitors walk in front of paper lanterns on the eve of the three-day Mitama-Matsuri, or Sould Festival, in Tokyo on July 13, 2012. About 3,000 paper lanterns are lit to comfort souls of the dead during the annual festival at the Yasukuni Shrine where more than 2.4 million war dead are enshrined.
View more photo stories on Japan here
Franck Robichon / EPA
A protester shouts slogans during an anti nuclear rally near Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's official residence, in Tokyo, Japan, on July 6. Despite the rain, tens of thousands of people gathered around the prime minister's office and the Diet to protest against the restart of reactors at the Oi nuclear power plant.
Franck Robichon / EPA
Protesters scuffle with the police forces during an antinuclear rally near Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's official residence, in Tokyo, Japan, on July 6.
Reuters reports -- Japan ended two months without nuclear power on Thursday when the No. 3 unit at Kansai Electric Power Co's Ohi plant became the first reactor to resume supplying electricity to the grid since a nationwide safety shutdown after the Fukushima disaster.
Japan's last working reactor was idled in early May, leaving the country without nuclear power for the first time since 1970.
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