Religion

I know I’m a little fish in a big pond, even though I live next door to a church (I believe my host brother said it was a Catholic church) but I see “religion” as Westerners call it all over Japan. The butsudan, or shrine in the family’s home, leaving offerings at local shrines hidden by shrubs in front of malls, tea as a whole, it seems that religion is everywhere in Japan. Yet if you ask a Japanese person “are you religious” more often than not you’ll get “no” as an answer. That does not surprise me in the slightest.

In my opinion, the idea of what religion entails is a very Western idea. We have a concept of what a religion is, how it works, and its purpose and it’s not an entirely one-size-fits-all idea that translates well outside the US border. Shinto is so rich and ingrained in the culture of Japan it’s barely noticeable. Which is unfortunate, since there is so much beauty in Shinto.