Make a wish at a Shinto shrine

The Japanese people hold their culture in the highest regard. Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples are frequented by significant numbers of tourists throughout Japan. The Sensoji Temple in Tokyo, the Todaiji Temple in Nara, the Fushimi Inari shrine in Kyoto, and other revered sites are among Japan's most well-known shrines and temples.

Japanese people travel to Shinto shrines to pray or make wishful thinking requests. The kami (deities) include people who founded strong clans, small shrines dedicated to neighborhood deities, Princess Konohanasakuya, the Shinto deity of Mount Fuji, and others. Many shrines have a wall of wooden tablets (ema) hanging there where you can write your prayer or gift for the gods to read. It gives guests a chance to pause and take in their surroundings' peace.

A Shinto shrine is a natural setting where the wind and trees are framed by a huge gate. Pray to the kami of rice at Kyoto's Fushimi Inari-Taisha and its tunnel of golden torii gates, for successful test results at Dazaifu Tenman-g, an imperial shrine with a chrysanthemum crest, or at Japan's oldest Shinto shrine, Izumo Taisha, in Tokyo.