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Japan Airlines is seconding some of its female ground staff to work (the word here is 奉仕 hōshi, to minister or reverently serve) as miko, or shrine maidens, in a training exercise at Munakata Taisha in Fukuoka (thread): https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/71000391a33eb72a8c2fcad15a1e79e1da9957a2
JAL officials hope their employees "connect this experience to elevate the quality of air travel." But there's a lot more going on with this corporate link to Munakata shrine. A nexus of religion / corporate form / nation / gender / heritage factors:
Munakata shrine on Kyushu is dedicated to the sacred islands of Okinoshima, which in 2017 received World Heritage status from UNESCO. This was controversial, because only male Shinto priests and ritually purified male laity can alight on the islands.
https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1535/
https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1535/
Intriguing to see the all-female JAL staff dispatched into this situation. Lindsey DeWitt has written about Okinoshima, its UNESCO designation, and the enforced taboo against women on the islands: https://www.asianstudies.org/okinoshima-japans-newly-minted-unesco-world-heritage-site/
Munakata's corporate links run deep. Covid has meant airline staff reductions, so dispatching Fukuoka airport workers to a high-profile, New Year's ceremonies-relevant site is great for JAL. The shrine and the airline connect via Japan's corporate and political networks.
Munakata Taisha is central to Munakata City, which maintains "comprehensive links" with JAL, according to the report. In addition, the shrine's efforts to secure UNESCO designation created a powerful alumni association that includes many politicians and corporate leaders.
Belief matters. As @NorichikaHorie points out, JAL's use of 奉仕 hōshi (reverent service) for its employees ten-day shrine maiden training is significant. Devotion by corporate leaders to deities, and their belief in Japan as divine, should receive more attention than it does.
@AikeRots, @jolyonbt, Chika Watanabe, and I urge attention to the corporate form as a means of making sense of the category "religion" in our recent article for JAAR. The JAL / Munakata link speaks to the need for more work in this vein: https://academic.oup.com/jaar/article-abstract/88/3/693/5879710?redirectedFrom=fulltext
