Tokyo: Times are changing for a millennium-old festival in provincial Japan that features naked men, with a top railway operator saying advertisements for the event were too racy.

The northern city of Oshu each February draws thousands of tourists with its Somin Festival, in which naked men pile upon one another and frolic about late into the night to pray for good luck.

The city has printed posters for the festival for decades but East Japan Railway, better known as JR East, refused to put up the advertisement at train stations this year for the first time.

The poster for this year's festival on February 13 has a bearded middle-aged man with thick chest hair who appears to be howling. Other men, wearing only loincloths, cluster in the background.

JR East's branch in Morioka, which covers the region including Oshu, said displaying the poster could constitute sexual harassment. "Train stations are used by a wide range of people and it is highly possible that some passengers may be offended by the poster design," said branch spokesman Kaichi Yamasaki. "The impression the poster leaves is a bit unsettling," he said.

Public nudity has been gradually growing more taboo in Japan but remains common in traditional bathhouses and hot springs. Kumiko Chiba, an Oshu official in charge of festival affairs, said the city initially brought the poster to JR East in November and hoped the company would take 600 as usual. 

Source : PTI