Religion in Japan is quite an interesting subject, for what the statics say about religion and the reality here in Japan are very different. As we learned in class, official statics state that there are between 100-128 million (depending on the source) followers of the Shinto religion in Japan. This number, of course, is roughly the population of Japan; this would lead you to believe that between 75-95% of the population views Shinto as being their religion (These sorts of figures come from the Shukyo Nenkan, or Religions Yearbook, which is put out by the Ministry of Education and Bureau of Statistics). It turns out, however, because of laws established in the 17th century which required citizens to register with Shinto shrines, that essentially everybody within "local districts" were counted as adherents to the religion. Statics also state that anywhere from 30-35% of the population of Japan claims Buddhism as their religion. Just these two figures alone add up to more than 100% (if you use the two highest figures from each), so it is obvious that there are some discrepancies here.
My observations have led me to believe that, in fact, most Japanese people would not claim any religion (I have talked to some Japanese students about this subject, in fact). Instead, they feel as though there is a combination of Buddhism and Shinto in their lives due to the historical/cultural presence of these two religions, however, they don't necessarily practice or even fully understand these rituals and events that take place for these religions. What is so interesting to me about this is that most Westerners would tend to think that if you don't have a religion, that you are somehow missing out on something that would led you/help you to be a moral citizen/human being. However, Japan and my interaction with Japanese people so far has proven just the opposite; it is not necessary for a country and its citizens to be avid followers of a religion in order to have social stability and upright citizens.
**If you would like to read a short passage about religiousness in Japan written by a Japanese citizen, check out this website:
2 comments:
As we discussed in class, most Japanese people would claim not to have religion. At least not until an occasion came up requiring one... Also, many Japanese people practice more than one religion at a time, which might seem odd from a western/Christian perspective. As the saying goes, "there are many roads to Mount Fuji..."
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