Festival in Japan held for first time since 2011 disaster

A festival featuring a portable shrine aboard a fishing boat has been held for the first time in 16 years in the northeastern Japanese city of Ofunato, Iwate Prefecture. Niiyama Shrine in the city's Okirai district stages the event in autumn every four years, but it has not been held since a massive earthquake and tsunami in March 2011 and other factors.

It was revived this year with the cooperation of neighboring districts. The portable shrine, or "mikoshi," left Niiyama Shrine on Sunday morning. It was carried onto the boat and made a tour around the sea before returning to shore.　Residents then put on a traditional folk art performance as an offering to the shrine.