Karen Lawler, Japan (TRAVEL 2024)

I travelled to Japan over Christmas and New Years 2024. There was beauty everywhere you looked. The temples and cultural tokens were fascinating. I loved learning about the Japanese culture, particularly the practice of Senbazuru - the folding of 1000 paper cranes. There were strands upon strands of these colourful cranes at a temple in Kyoto, symbolising honor, good fortune, loyalty, and longevity. These characteristics give the crane such special meaning and why the Japanese believed that anyone with the patience and commitment to fold 1,000 origami cranes would be given good fortune and granted a wish.

Images have been resized for web display, which may cause some loss of image quality. Note: Original high-resolution images are used for judging.