Visitors will not be allowed to set foot on Japan’s men-only UNESCO World Heritage island starting next year, an official said Saturday. Tiny Okinoshima, w
Visitors will not be allowed to set foot on Japan’s men-only UNESCO World Heritage island starting next year, an official said Saturday.
Tiny Okinoshima, where women are banned and male visitors must bathe naked in the sea before visiting its shrine, was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site last week.
Tourists have been permitted to land on the Sea of Japan island in limited numbers — this year it was 200 — for a yearly festival that lasts just two hours. And they must adhere to strict rules.
But Munakata Taisha, the shrine that owns Okinoshima, has decided to ban anyone except the priests next year to protect the island from being damaged from all of the publicity, a spokesman said.
