In this Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2019, photo, participants clad in traditional happi coats put lanterns on floats before it goes to the town central square during the Chichibu Night Festival in Chichibu, ...

American Kit Cox, 35, works as an electrical engineer and enjoys biking and playing piano. But what some might consider surprising about Cox, who was raised as Methodist, is that she practices the ...

In front of the giant torii, the entrance to Japanese Shinto shrines, most visitors are overwhelmed with awe. These enigmatic places of worship seem to conceal the utmost secrets in their interiors.

Explore Japanese history books covering samurai, religion, war, pop culture and modern society, from ancient Japan to today.

ISE, Japan — Deep in the forests of the Japanese Alps, Shinto priests keep watch as woodsmen dressed in ceremonial white chop their axes into two ancient cypress trees, timing their swings so that ...

CHICHIBU, Japan — As fireworks light up the winter night, scores of men, women and teenagers crying "washoi, washoi" haul the last of six towering, lantern-covered floats up a small hill and into the ...

CHICHIBU, Japan (AP) — As fireworks light up the winter night, scores of men, women and teenagers crying “washoi, washoi” haul the last of six towering, lantern-covered floats up a small hill and into ...

CHICHIBU, Japan — As fireworks light up the winter night, scores of men, women and teenagers crying "washoi, washoi" haul the last of six towering, lantern-covered floats up a small hill and into the ...

CHICHIBU, Japan As fireworks light up the winter night, scores of men, women and teenagers crying washoi, washoi haul the last of six towering, lantern-covered floats up a small hill and into the town ...