Over a 150 worshippers dressed in loincloths and white robes immerse themselves in freezing water at Kashima Shrine in Ibaraki on Saturday to mark the annual Daikan Misogi.
On March 11, 2011, Ishinomaki was devastated by the tsunami that followed the Great East Japan Earthquake, suffering the greatest loss of life of any city in the disaster. Now, several sites have been preserved as memorials and symbols of the Tohoku region’s recovery. These spots make Ishinomaki the ideal pilgrimage for visitors…
Wild deer at Nara Park, a popular tourist attraction in western Japan, have a unique genotype different from those of other herds on the Kii Peninsula, demonstrating more than a thousand years of being protected as messengers of gods for a shrine boasting World Heritage status, a Japanese research group…