Japan’s new Emperor Naruhito will take part in a ritual feast with a sun goddess on Thursday night as part of a centuries-old ceremony to celebrate his ascension to the throne.

This coastal district is Japan’s spiritual heart. Beverley Watts has your guide to experiencing its sensational seafood and ...

Shinto is also closely entwined with the Japanese imperial family, holding that the emperor is a descendant of the sun goddess Amaterasu Omikami. It also has a dark recent past.

TOKYO — Emperor Akihito and two white-clad maidens retreated into the inner sanctum of a thatched hall last night to affirm his bonds with Amaterasu, the sun goddess, through $19 million wort… ...

Until the end of World War II, Shinto was the state religion in Japan. Even today, pilgrims still throng to the 80,000 shrines, praying for the fulfillment of their personal dreams. The religion ...

In particular, the sun goddess Amaterasu is revered as the ancestor of Japan’s emperors and empresses and protector of the nation. She is worshiped at the Grand Shrines of Ise, often ...

Later, the Sun Goddess sent her grandson, Prince Rice-Plenty, ... It was Shinto that taught Japanese law students: “Subjects have no mind apart from the will of the Emperor.” ...

CHICHIBU, Japan – As fireworks light up the winter night, scores of men, women and teenagers crying “washoi, washoi” haul the last of six towering, lantern-covered floats up a small hill and ...

Shinto is also closely entwined with the Japanese imperial family, holding that the emperor is a descendant of the sun goddess Amaterasu Omikami. It also has a dark recent past.

Shinto is Japan's indigenous religion that goes back centuries. It is an animism that believes there are thousands of kami, or spirits, inhabiting nature, such as forests, rivers and mountains.