JZK? That sounds like an airport code, but it’s what I saw in several pamphlets referring to Jozankei, a hot spring resort area in Hokkaido near Sapporo, located within Shikotsu-Toya National Park.

Over centuries, Buddhist shrines have been very much part and parcel of our culture and heritage. The artistic creations related to these shrines bear testimony to a great civilisation that existed ...

During other seasons, Japanese flock to Buddhist Bon dances and Shinto-related festivals involving “mikoshi,” or portable shrines.