The moon was the closest it has been to earth in 18 years, and it happened to coincide with a full moon - so we were treated to what has been dubbed a "supermoon" viewing. Even the visual anthropologist couldn't resist taking a few shots on a cloudy night in Osaka on his way home.
For more about this phenomena, see Space.com:
http://www.space.com/11163-supermoon-biggest-full-moon-2011.html
