Online shrine visits stir debate in Japan

Tokyo: Online Shinto shrines are growing in increasing numbers in Japan, prompting a Tokyo based association to consider plans of issuing guidelines on the use of the internet.

The Association of Shinto Shrines has sent out notices discouraging people from relying on the online shrines, which offer virtual visits and sell amulets online.

"Shinto gods are enshrined in a place and space of a shrine, and therefore it's fundamental for worshippers to actually visit the shrine," said group official Yoshiya Senoo.

Some shrines, however, do not object to online worshipping. “In many cases it leads [people] to actually visit our shrine,'' said Hideo Morikuni, chief priest of Shingu Shrine.

There are at least 80,000 actual shrines across Japan, where Shinto is the native religion.