The new year brings a fresh start, symbolized in some cultures by the cherubic baby New Year who replaces the old year that has come to a close. In Japan, the roly-poly god Hotei, who is often ...
Visitors performing ablutions during a pilgrimage to the Kiyoshikojin Seicho-ji temple complex on a wooded mountain just north of Osaka, Japan. About 3.5 million people visit the complex annually, ...
In the 1960s, a Japanese comedian walked onstage and said “Okyaku-sama wa Kami-sama desu” お客様は神様です (customers are God). The comment stuck and has since been used as a signature phrase in many ...