I overheard a tourist snipe, as she passed a group of fellow tourists waiting in a queue on the platform directly facing the famous orange torii, “how many pictures can you take of a wooden gate?” Every picture reveals a different torii as the tide rises or falls, or the light changes from morning to […]
The allies had originally planned to drop the first atomic bomb on Kyoto. Kyoto was spared by the personal intervention of Henry L. Stimson, United States Secretary of War. Stimson wished to save this cultural center in which he spent his honeymoon. There are over 1600 Buddhist temples and 400 Shinto shrines in Kyoto. It […]
Meiji Jingu is a peaceful oasis, a respite from urban frenzy, and is the most important Shinto site in Tokyo. One of the largest tori to be found in Japan spans the entrance as you enter from Omotesando Street at Harajuku Station. The shrine is dedicated to the deified spirits of Emperor Meiji and his […]
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