Dozens of people soaked and splashed themselves in painfully icy cold water on Saturday in a pool at a Tokyo shrine, adhering to Japanese tradition to purify the soul and pray for good health in the new year.
Mostly half-naked men with just white loincloth around their hips and several women in white robes joined the annual cold endurance ritual at the Kanda Myojin, a Shinto shrine in downtown Tokyo.
