The fire was lit using a wooden stick rubbed to create friction, a traditional method. Seven Shinto priests, including deputy chief priest Masuhiro Murakami, oversaw the cooking process while ...

Mostly half-naked men with just white loincloth around their hips and several women in white robes joined the annual cold endurance ritual at the Kanda Myojin, a Shinto shrine in downtown Tokyo.

The company even asked a Shinto priest to conduct a purification ritual and offer prayers for operational safety as it continues to try to resolve the problem. The phenomenon surfaced around late ...