Meet the Matsuoka family: Mineo (that's Dad), Yuriko (Mum), older sister Rie and younger sister Iku. Oh, and let's not forget Vino, the Mexican Chihuahua, who wears a hand-knit coat against the cold and makes pretense to be as fierce as a Rottweiler.
The Matsuokas exemplify Shintoism at its most sanguine and benign.
Mineo is head priest of Atago-jinja, the shrine alongside Tokyo's famed Okura Hotel. His wife and daughters are also accredited priests, having studied at Shinto University (part of the headquarters of the Shinto Association at Meiji Shrine in Shibuya Ward). Rie may well be lined up to follow on after her father, but as she says, diplomatically, "It's up to my parents to decide."
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