People across the country line up to purchase this year's Summer Jumbo lottery tickets that went on sale Friday.
At one ticket counter in Tokyo's Ginza district some 800 people braved the heat and humidity to line up at the No. 1 ticket window, which rumors say has brought fortune to buyers before.
This year's lottery features 42 first-prize tickets worth 200 million yen and 42 second-prize tickets worth 100 million yen. Third prize and fourth prizes have been hiked from last year's 1 million yen and 100,000 yen to 10 million yen and 1 million, yen respectively.
Yuki Takada, 36, of Hachioji, western Tokyo, said he had been waiting on line since 6 a.m.
"I'm planning to buy about 30 tickets. It'll be difficult to win 300 million yen (the combined jackpot for a first-prize ticket plus the tickets with the numbers preceding and following it), so I'll be happy with whatever I win," he said.
Ticket sales end Aug. 2, with the winning numbers to be announced on Aug. 12.