In Japan, the “naked men” at the center of a thousand-year-old festival are dressed forever. Organizing the event, which attracted hundreds of participants and thousands of tourists each year, became too much for the often graying-haired monks and devotees of Oshu and its region.
The “Sominsai” festival is the latest victim of the demographic crisis which is hitting rural communities hard. Japan is seeing its population age faster than most other countries, with a third of its residents aged 65 and over.