Faces of Japan (1984, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019)

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Photos of 1984:

Street procession in Kyushu.

Photos of 2016:

At the Genchi well in the city of Matsumoto. (Matsumoto, at the foot of the Japanese Alps, has many such wells providing excellent fresh water. Local and non-local people get their drinking water from these wells.)

At the Yohashira shrine in Matsumoto.

Women in the picturesque old village of Narai in the Kiso valley.

Artists inspired by the traditional houses of Narai.

Contrasts between tradition and ″modernity″ in Osaka.

Evening crowds in the Dotonbori street, in Osaka.

Crowded day in Nara.

Monks in the Kongobuji temple, in Koyasan.

Pilgrims in the Kumano Hongu Taisha shrine, in Hongu (Kii peninsula).

People cooking eggs and sweet potatoes in the Yuzutsu basin (hot spring), in the village of Yunomine Onsen near Hongu.

In the Kumano Hayatama Taisha shrine in Shingu (Kii peninsula).

In Nachi, one of the few remaining places in Japan that survived the separation of Shinto and Buddhism during the Meiji Restoration. Left: In the Kumano Nachi Taisha shrine (Shinto). Right: At the Nachisan Seiganto-ji temple (Buddhist).

Fishermen repairing their nets in Kii Katsura.

In the fish market of Kii-Katsura.

Lonely bicyclist on a sunny morning in Kii-Katsura.

Photos of 2017:

Pilgrims at the Hohei-den shrine in Hiko-san (north of Kyushu).

In the Dazaifu Tenmangu shrine, in Dazaifu (suburb of Fukuoka).

Photos of 2018:

Two puppeteers with their puppets in a traditional Joruri puppet theater in Tolushima (Shikoku).

Awa Dance in Tokushima.

Pilgrims at some of the 88 temples of the Shikoku Henro (pilgrimage).

Fisherman in the small port of Mugu (Takushima prefecture, Shikoku)

Man creating figurines out of bamboo in Wakimachi (Udatsu street).

In the Dogo Onsen (hot springs) area in Matsuyama: foot bath (ashiyu) and couple strolling in their yukatas.

People in a local train downtown Matsuyama.

Shop in Uchiko (Ehime prefecture, Shikoku).

Otomouma-no-Hashirikomi (horse racing festival) in Kikuma, Ehime prefecture, Shikoku.

Photos of 2019:

Shinto priest performing exorcism and purification rituals for a new car in the Taikodani Inari shrine in Tsuwano.

Master Kagura mask maker Katsuro Kakita in Hamada.

Musicians at a Kagura dance performance in Hamada.

Kagura dancers/actors during the performance in Hamada.

Kagura dancers/actors at the end of the performance.

Man praying in front of a giant turtle statue in the cemetery of the Gessho-ji temple in Matsue.

Drawing artist behind a window in Kurayoshi.

Bicyclist in front of an old sake brewery in Kurayoshi.

At a ceremony combining Buddhist and Shinto rituals in the prayer hall of Sanbutsuji at the foot of Mt. Mitoku.

Mobile food stalls, called yatai, near Tenjin station in Fukuoka.

Drawing artists on the edge of a canal in Yanagawa (Kuyshu).

Boatmen on canals in Yanagawa.

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