In Japan, it’s customary to start off the new year be going to a Shinto shrine to pray for good fortune in the new year. While many are thought to convey a vague blessing of overall prosperity, some ...

TOKYO (AP) — Dozens of people soaked and splashed themselves in painfully icy cold water on Saturday in a pool at a Tokyo shrine, adhering to Japanese tradition to purify the soul and pray for good ...

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, JapanCHICHIBU, 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 ...

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 ...

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 ...