Each year six and a half million Japanese travel to the Shima Peninsula east of Osaka to visit what amounts to the Mecca of the native Shinto faith. The Isejingu, or Ise Shrine, is actually an enormous complex, including the Geku, or Outer Shrine, the Naiku, or Inner Shrine, and 123 smaller assoc...

Not far from the Imperial Palace visitors will find one of the most controversial sites in Japan. The Yasukuni Shrine, depending on whom you ask, is either a place to remember and show respect for the sacrifices of the nation’s fallen soldiers, or a last stronghold for the regional arrogance and ag...