Taro Aso (1st L), Japan's deputy prime minister and minister of finance, holds a hammer to ring a bell during the ceremony which kicked off the first trading day of 2018 at the Tokyo Stock Exchange in Tokyo Jan. 4, 2018. Tokyo shares opened sharply higher Thursday on the first trading day of 2018, tracking the gains on the U.S. stock market overnight. (Xinhua/Ma Caoran)