Visits to the shrine by senior Japanese political figures have drawn criticism from countries such as South Korea, which was under Tokyo’s colonial rule for 35 years, and China, which Japan invaded.

Only a 30-minute train ride from Ikebukuro Station, Kawagoe in Tokyo’s neighbouring Saitama ... the little stream behind Hikawa Shrine is lined by cherry blossoms in spring and large koinobori ...

A priest at a central Tokyo shrine was puzzled at first when a worshipper thanked him for helping him score a concert ticket for a famous pop group. Hiroyuki Korehisa, 37, who serves as a ...

their souls would be enshrined at Tokyo’s Yasukuni Shrine. The shrine was the symbol of the religious-military state that sought to mobilize the population to fight in the name of a divine emperor.