Pandemic keeps Japanese away from shrines over New Year's
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People offer New Year's prayers at Meiji Jingu in Tokyo on Friday morning. | KYODO
Jiji
Jan 3, 2021
Shinto shrines across the country are seeing a drop in the number of people making traditional New Year’s visits, with many shrines opting to not accept visitors through overnight hours, along with other coronavirus countermeasures.
Meiji Jingu, a major Shinto shrine in Tokyo’s Shibuya Ward, which had some 3.18 million visitors over the first three days of 2020, did not accept visitors in the early hours of New Year’s Day this year and placed markings on the ground to encourage social distancing.