The Steel Phallus Festival in Japan
Participants carry portable shrines with huge phalluses during the Kanamara Matsuri on April 1, 2018, Kawasaki, Japan. The Kanamara Matsuri or the festival of the Steel Phallus is held on the first Sunday in April at the Kanayama shrine. The Shrine was popular with prostitutes who wished to pray for protection from sexually transmitted diseases, and is also frequented by couples praying for easy birth or married-couple harmony. The festival was started in 1969 and is now a popular tourist event. Local store holders sell phallus shaped trinkets and food and the festival also raises money for HIV research. (Photo by Rodrigo Reyes Marin/AFLO)