season– tag –

Japan's New Year, called Oshogatsu, is the biggest holiday of the year. But ask most people if they're religious, and they'll say no. Then they'll go pray at a shrine, give children money in special envelopes, and eat...

For a few days in summer, much of Japan slows down. Trains fill, highways clog, and cities empty out. This is Obon, when many people return to their family hometowns. The official idea is simple: the spirits of the dead come back to visi...