Religious beliefs appear to be on the decline in Japan over the past two decades, particularly among males. That was among the topics covered by Shukan Gendai (Oct 26-Nov 2) in a wide-ranging 17-page, 4-part section titled "Religion and the Japanese People."
To track the changes taking place, the magazine compared responses to a once-a-decade survey on religion conducted by NHK's Broadcast Culture Research Institute. The survey taken in 2018 was compared with a previous one in 1998.
When asked, "Do you have any faith?" in 1998, the subjects who replied "not much/almost none" and "none at all" combined to total 45%. Two decades later this figure had risen seven points to 51%, with the percentage of males who replied none at all roughly doubling. Belief in karmic justice declined overall, with those agreeing that "If people do bad things, they will certainly face retribution" dropping from 74% to 62%. The decline was most significant among people age 70 years and over, going from 84% in 1998 to 57% in 2018.
The breakdown of self-professed religious affiliation was given as Buddhism, 31%; Shinto, 3%; Christianity, 1%; no preference, 62%; and other or no reply, 3%. These figures have not changed appreciably over the past 20 years, although a slight decline was noted in the percentage of those holding religious beliefs. Even among these individuals, however, the frequency in which they engage in religious activities showed continued decline, with 45% rising to 48% for "just a few times a year" and 16% rising to 21% who stated "practically never."
Interestingly, people who state they feel a sense of familiarity with Shinto, along with those who obtain such items as omikuji (paper fortune-telling slips) or protective talismans have increased.
While a majority of Japanese may profess to belong to no religion, they may nevertheless be unknowingly engaging in "religious-like" activities, not necessarily involving fortune-telling and spiritualism. Akie Iriyama, professor at the Waseda University Business School, said, "Actually in recent years, some corporations have gradually taken on religious-like trappings.
"In the past, companies did not place so much importance on things like a corporate 'vision' or 'aims,' As long as the economy kept growing, excellent workers stayed at their jobs and enjoyed the trappings of lifetime employment. And if you made endeavors at work, you would realize something in return.
"In the midst of economic decline, however, there was no guarantee of results even when you gave your best efforts, and even the job itself was no longer secure. This presented a problem; without some sort of sense of job satisfaction, employees or staff would not work effectively.
"So now management is setting objectives to involve more abstract things like 'to develop the world' or 'to attract new fans.' In the world of business, we can say that management and religion have been moving closer together."
Naming one example, since Akio Toyoda became president of Toyota Motor Co. in 2009, the company has adopted a strong top-down system that adopted the grandiose slogan of "make Japan healthy."
Iriyama sees the Toyota organization as resembling that of the Roman Catholic church, with the pope at its apex.
Defying the trends towards declining interest in religious beliefs, writes author-journalist Ryoko Yamaguchi, is a "prayer boom" that's been taking hold among more young women. These supiri-kei (spiritualty-inclined) females have been flocking to remote places like the Kenmi Shrine in Miyoshi City, Tokushima Prefecture.
"The shrine is reputed to be a type of 'power spot,' where an inugami (dog god) possesses people, who develop high body temperatures and howl like dogs," says Kazutaka Minatogawa, a shrine official. "During prayers, some people run amok, wailing and dashing off."
Despite its relative isolation, annual visitors to the shrine are up by over 50%, to 30,000. With the exception of during the new year, 90% come to take part in prayers. Many appear to be women in their 20s and 30s who are described as "confused."
"There's a trend to return to Japan's traditional type of prayers, to which people tend to gravitate after first starting with fortune-telling, then moving to Tarot and the Western-style Zodiac," A spiritualist named Byakko Hatano tells Yamaguchi. "When they tire or become dissatisfied with these, they take up prayers."
Shukan Gendai's fourth and final section devotes three pages to a dialog between Makoto Osawa, a sociologist, and Shaku Tesshu, a religious scholar and resident priest at the Nyoraiji temple, who has authored or co-authored more than 30 books.
The two are asked to air their views on a question that is certainly not confined to Japan: "When religious traditions have been lost, to where will the 'meaning of life' go?"
The two were in general agreement that old myths and beliefs will not completely die out, but rather be incorporated into modern-day subcultures.
"Japan has numerous types of religious resources," observes Shaku, "For example, take the henro pilgrimage (to 88 temples around Shikoku), which is unique, even in worldwide terms. Just as a doctor feels a patient's pulse to check their condition, when you ask a henro pilgrim about what motivated them, you can obtain a realistic sense of people's concerns and sufferings that reflect the times in which they live.
"For instance, these days we see more people worried about things like 'silver' divorce and post-retirement economic concerns.
"Times may change, but the role of religion does not," Shaku asserted.
© Japan Today
36 Comments
NCIS Reruns
Yesterday I was once again reminded of the scripture's warnings against the worship of false gods.
virusrex
A lot of times the common way of Japanese to express spirituality seems more like organized superstition than organized religion.
GBR48
Organised superstition and organised religion are the same thing, originating and managed by different groups. Superstition operates from the bottom up, religion from the top down. Superstition is the equivalent of 'going viral' and moral panics. Religion is the equivalent of fascism and nudge units. Superstition works from the mob up the food chain, religion works from those running the show down, controlling the proles.
Religion expanding from its traditional turf is best displayed by fandom (music, sport, politics) and all those advocates of Apple or Linux. After years of Windows getting progressively worse with each version, Microsofties are an endangered species.
The clergy and confession has competition from psychoanalysis, influencers, agony aunts, help lines and 'life coaches'.
I thought we had got past calling young women 'confused', 'neurotic' or suffering from 'hysteria'. Most of them are flocking to remote places for Instagram shots.
Not sure the emissions from all those Toyotas will make Japan 'healthy'.
Zaphod
Japan is one of the rare cases where a society does not need a formal religion, as "being Japanese" in itself is a religion enough in this extremely homogeneous societs.
On the flip side this means that if the government introduces mass immigration without integration, there is nothing holding such a society together anymore.
virusrex
Only if your ignore the supposedly basis of religion and just reduce it to belief, the rest of your comment make the point very obvious since it is a list of differences, is like saying that professional sports leagues and children playing in their backyards are the same thing. The point is precisely in the differences.
piskian
I like the Japanese approach.
The monks driving BMWs and Mercs,etc.
falseflagsteve
It’s all about making money,always has been and always will be you see.
Yumster100
wait till you expand your horizons and check out the Christian approach. A privatized JET all for your own use, baby!!!!!!
piskian
@Yumster100.
I'm sorry.
Say again?
Not Christian,lived here since 1997.
Just stating facts.
Hello Kitty 321
@Virus
Religion is superstition
noun: superstition
excessively credulous belief in and reverence for the supernatural.
Mie Fox
The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” (Psalm 14:1 )
We all have to make that decision for ourselves. Believers of any faith and atheists alike think THEIR convictions are true, but only on the day we die will we really KNOW, if we listened to the right teachers (or just cease to exist). Truth does not depend on how many people believe it.
Yumster100
@piskian,
I am stating facts as well. Look up evangelicals with a private jet.
Geeter Mckluskie
This is true of all religions, including the bronze-age myths from the Middle East
Geeter Mckluskie
The fool is the one who says "I know the precise nature and intention of God" when there is zero evidence that who they imagine to be God (through their cultural indoctrination...i.e. born in Pakistan...that's Allah, born in the Philippines...that's Allah). Evidence points to some creative force in the universe...THAT and ONLY THAT is all we can say with certainty. Everyone is agnostic...everyone. In other words no one knows who or what God is...no one
virusrex
Of course not, It is completely different to have a monolithic, imposable system or rules that apply for everybody that is included in a denomination (as religion do) and a completely personal, variable, shifting, situational set of beliefs that don't even have to make sense between them. Overly reducing words so they no longer have meaning defeats the purpose of having those words in the first place.
In Japan what is called religion a lot of times ends up being much more similar to superstition, a group of people supposedly sharing religious beliefs end up with each having completely different practices without a metaphysical root to link those practices even on a single individual.
Only if you don't use the word agnostic in its defined meaning. It is not the same to believe a supreme being being impossible to understand completely (which is a common religious belief) and the belief that absolutely nothing about those supreme beings can be known or understood (what being agnostic is used for). There are even people that believe to understand perfectly some divine beings, by your own arbitrary standard they are not being agnostic.
Geeter Mckluskie
Wrong again...par for the course
Superstition: excessive credulous belief in and reverence for the supernatural.
Geeter Mckluskie
Yes, that's how I used it. Not knowing...
virusrex
Yet you make no argument to demonstrate anything I wrote is wrong, Superstition is not the same as religion even if both require believing in the supernatural, no part of the definition you wrote says superstition must be shared and have a whole system to conform followers as religion do. It is like saying drinking gasoline and simple water is the same thing since both are liquids. The moment you could not refute any of the differences mentioned you are implicitly recognizing those differences exist and make both terms non synonymous as you tried to misrepresent. Before trying to criticize how others use English you need to make it into an argument yourself first, else you are just breaking the rules of the site on purpose.
Not knowing absolutely everything and not knowing anything at all are two completely different things, as easily demonstrated. This means your claim can be demonstrated as wrong and people would not be agnostic by believing they understand something about their deities (frequently their will), what you are trying to do it to impose your own agnosticism into what others believe (you believe that others not know anything about any deity as you do, so you pretend that makes others agnostic, it does not). Easily disproved claim when there are people that claim to know their deities without problem.
Geeter Mckluskie
There is no argument to be made. The definition I’ve posted suffices.
I’ve used it colloquially, meaning “not knowing”. No one knows what God is nor what Its intentions are. Does that clarify things for you?
Geeter Mckluskie
@virusrex
The “in other words…” should have tipped you off as to how I used the word.
NCIS Reruns
I was raised in a non-religious, but not anti-religous, household. My father once observed, "All prayer is based on the notion that God can be corrupted."
virusrex
I guess it is difficult to openly recognize to be wrong when demonstrated with arguments, but saying that you have no counter arguments to defend your point ends up being the same thing.
Yes, and that is wrong, because the word can't be used with this meaning even colloquially, especially when you baselessly claim other people "not knowing", if you don't know the weather tomorrow you would still be wrong by saying "weather guys are actually all agnostic about how will the weather will be in the afternoon"
And as I argue this is still mistaken, because what follows "in other words..." is false.
virusrex
That is according to your own belief, not theirs. If they claim to know it of course they can't be called agnostic since this is a term only they can adopt, not imposed based on what someone else thinks they know or not. That is what makes the mistake clear.
Geeter Mckluskie
The point being they can’t know.
virusrex
Not according to their beliefs, that is something you personally believe about it, not them.
Not at all, much less to impose this over what other people say they actually know. If someone comes here and say that you are agnostic about education because you not know anything about it it would make no sense because you have made no such claim so the term is mistakenly used.
In the same way if other people believe they understand a deity, their will, etc. then you can't contradict them and just put a title that do not correspond to what they are claiming to know. That is the main point of the mistake you are making and that you have refused to address.
If someone claims to believe they understand a good and you claim that someone is agnostic then you are wrong.
Great Bird
A lot of times the common way of Japanese to express spirituality seems more like organized superstition than organized religion.
Religion is organized superstition. Singling out Japanese... why are you trying force the Japanese into a special category? No free will for Japanese, virusrex tells them who and what they are?
virusrex
Not even close, organized is not the same as systematic, unchanging, generalized, able to be forced into others just by denomination, etc. etc. Therefore superstition even if organized is still completely different from religion.
Who is forcing anybody? just because you could not understand the meaning of a very short comment that does not mean it is forcing anybody into anything.
This makes no sense, your own lack of understnading about the huge differences between superstition and religion aside, calling an impression about something in no way forces the will of anybody. Specially when the opposite is much more easily interpreted from saying the way of living religion seems to be closer to the much more flexible, free and variate concept of superstition.
Geeter Mckluskie
Beliefs aren’t knowledge. Children believe in Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy. That doesn’t mean they know they exist.
Zaphod
Mie Fox
Negative. On the day you die, you cease to exist, so there is no "knowing" anything is involved. Think of falling asleep, What do you "know" in deep sleep? Does your identity even exist? This afterlife claim is based on real shallow thinking.
"If I am, then death is not. If Death is, then I am not. Why should I fear that which can only exist when I do not?"
--Epicurus--
Great Bird
I said religion is organized superstition, not (organized) superstition is religion. You were not able to get that point, instead continue trying to force the Japanese in the box you decided they belong.
virusrex
It is not really that hard, agnostic is a term that depends on beliefs, not what the person actually knows or not, if the person believes to know something about its deity then it is wrong, mistaken, false to apply this label since this is not how it is used. There is exactly zero requirements to prove any knowledge to reject the label of agnosticism.
And it is still wrong since the arguments clearly and unequivocally prove that religion is very different from just organized superstition.
This is still nonsensical nobody is being forced anywhere, this is very easily proved the moment you choose not to argue how this is the case and could only repeat this claim that makes absolutely no sense.
Zaphod
virusrex
....and those arguments would be? I did not see them in this thread. I am confident you know exactly what all the experts and the world-wide respected institutions have to say about this definition thing, so please share it.
Great Bird
They don't. Your mistaken claims are not arguments but .... yes, claims. That don't prove anything.
Define superstition then for a start.
Moderator
Readers, please get the discussion back on Japan.
albaleo
Have religious "beliefs" ever been big in Japan? Is it not religious "practices" that are more common? I think religious practices can be comforting for many, whether chanting by the butsudan or singing hymns in church.
I'm confused by that statement. I describe myself as an Agnostic Fundamentalist - nobody knows less than me about the cause of existence.
virusrex
Every difference listed that you could not even address,
Are you sure you are commenting in the correct topic? what do you imagine this has to do with the discussion, you still have not even addressed the list of differences provided, making offtopic illogical comments is not going to excuse this.
Of course they are, you have not been able to disprove any, Shinto in Japan is a perfectly valid example where people have a belief on deities that they can know and understand, so saying everybody is agnostic is wrong even by this very clear fact.
It is mentioned in the definition in the context of religion, a person that believes anything about god, including its existence can't be known. By this definition anybody that believes differently is not agnostic and can't be called this way.