Arctic policy of the European Union in 1973 and Sweden and Finland in 1995). The European Union's application to become a “permanent observer” in the Arctic Council was blocked in 2009 by Canada in response to the European Union's ban on the importation of seal products. The Arctic is an area of growing strategic importance. The European Union supports the successful Arctic co-operation and in helping to meet the challenges that now confront the region. The European Union is the world's strongest proponent of greater international efforts to fight climate change. It has three (and if the accession of Iceland to the European Union occurs, potentially
Wakamiya Inari Shrine or temizuya), its paired stone images of guardian lions and fox deities, and its original torii, although a new torii has been reconstructed at the new site. For its 100th anniversary in 2014, it received a new roof and won a Historic Preservation Honor Award. Wakamiya Inari Shrine Wakamiya Inari Shrine at Waipahu Cultural Garden in Waipahu, Hawaii, is the last surviving example of Inari Shrine architecture on Oahu. Unlike most Shinto shrines, which are unpainted, those dedicated to the fox deity Inari, the god of the harvest, are painted bright red. This shrine thus represents not just the religious