Hands-on Shinto: Diplomats and their families in happi coats carry a portable shrine at Kanda Myojin Shrine during an Oct. 27 seminar for foreign envoys stationed in Japan. KYODO
One morning last fall, a group of around a dozen people of various nationalities and religious faiths visited Kanda Myojin Shrine in central Tokyo.
The diplomats and their families from various countries in Europe, Latin America and Africa, including Luxembourg, Romania and Costa Rica, were participating in an Oct. 26-27 Shinto seminar for foreign envoys stationed in Japan.
The seminar, the first of its kind, was organized by the Association of Shinto Shrines, the umbrella organization for the 80,000 or so shrines scattered across Japan.
On the first day, the participants received lessons on the Shinto elements of life in Japan, such as the practice of visiting a shrine at the beginning of a new year and the traditional "shichi-go-san" rite of passage for children aged 3, 5 and 7.