"Spring is in the air, and perhaps the joys of the season in the Kanto region are nowhere more lusciously expressed than in Kawasaki Daishi, Kanagawa Prefecture, which is bracing itself for its annual phallic festival. Shinto offers more titillating tumescent thrills than most world religions, as the Kanamara Matsuri (Festival of the Steel Phallus) this year on April Fool's Day proves.

Sexually transmitted diseases spurred the popularization of phallic symbols in some of Japan's festivals dedicated to the male member, ... (more)