With a tent and bicycles, two American women in their 20s conquered 1,500 km in 16 days in September 2012 to complete the famous Shikoku pilgrimage of 88 temples.
The temples, the scenery and most of all the local people's generous hospitality made such a strong impact that they decided to create a story based on their experiences in a hand-bound illustrated book called "Temple by Temple."
Chelsea Reidy, 29, from Guam, and Elayna Snyder, 26, from Michigan, both lived in Ehime Prefecture for three years from 2009, working as assistant language teachers at local schools until August 2012. Living along the pilgrimage route, they often encountered pilgrims, known as "henro" in Japanese, clad in their distinctive white shirts, and became interested in becoming pilgrims themselves.