Most Iranian and Iraqis that used to live in Japan - in the public parks, mostly - no longer live here. They’ve been deported. Some remain, though, mostly those who married Japanese nations and had children.

Still, there is a lot of not-so-subtle anti-Middle Eastern sentiment in Japan. Many people would justify it by pointing out the high crime amongst Middle Easterners who lived in Japan.

That is, still, the essence of racism. To stereotype a group by according to the actions of a number of its members is the epitome of ignorance.

With that in mind, I present you with this opinion on religious atrocities.

Hat tip.

Most Japanese people would self identify as either agnostic or Buddhist. Now, of course the majority of those who would self identify as Buddhist simply mean, “my family is Buddhist so I am Buddhist”, not like they really gave it thought or adhere to the tenets of Buddhism.

The agnostics, however, are in for a shock. Most Japanese, when asked if they believe in God, will say “Wakaranai” (I don’t know). It’s the agnostic position, they don’t know and don’t believe it ca be known.

Recent events change that, however. You are now no longer agnostic, but atheist.

The gods of atheism have decided that, since you are not theist, are are atheist.

Yeah, I know, it sucks, but you’ll get used to it.

Most people have at least heard of the word Shinto, but as to what it actually is, and it’s relation to Japanese Buddhism, most people are in the dark. Well, here is an attempt to shed some light on how these two religions co-exist in Japan.

Shinto

Shinto is the indigenous religion of Japan. It is an animistic religion, meaning that rather than espousing belief in a single creator God, it posits that all elements of nature are actually gods themselves, known as kami. Thus trees, islands, animals, rivers, etc. are all considered sacred by the Shinto religion. Shinto shrines known as jinja found all over Japan and are considered the abodes of local kami.

Buddhism

Buddhism began around 2500 years ago in India. It quickly spread throughout India then on to China where it merged with Taoism and was transformed into what then became known as Ch’en Buddhism. In this form it spread down through the Korean Peninsula and by that route on to Japan. In it’s original form it spread south into Thailand, and throughout South-east Asia. Thus there are two main divisions, the one that made it’s way though China is referred to as Mahayana, and the one that spread south is called Theraveda. The differences between these two are a bit beyond the scope of this article. In any case, the Mahayana version of Buddhism arrived in Japan in the 6th Century.

Syncretism

Syncretism is when multiple religions are combined to form new ones. The arrival of Buddhism didn’t cause much of a stir with the common folk as the new religion was mainly studied and practiced by the aristocratic class. Now, one might think that the arrival of a new religion would result in clashes of belief leading to conflict such as that between Islam and Christianity. The great difference here is that both Shino and Buddhism are not religions of the book. There are no proscribed rules that must be followed, thus no conflict between them. In reality the two religions merged quite harmoniously with Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples often sharing the same grounds. As Japanese Buddhism matured it gradually gained acceptance by the common people. Nowadays there are a variety of Buddhist systems in Japan including the Pure Land Sect, Sokka Gakkai, Zen, Nichiren, etc.

Religious Practice in Japan Today

There is a saying in Japan that people here are born Shinto and die Buddhist. That doesn’t mean that they convert their beliefs on their deathbed, but that baptismal ceremonies are usually held at the Shinto shrine and funerals at the Buddhist temple. The reason Japanese people don’t see any conflict in this is that neither religion requires deep belief or faith in the manner we are used to in the west. Can you imagine Muslims and Christians attending the same buildings of worship depending on which holiday it is? The two religions are not mutually exclusive. This idea causes perplexity within people of the religions of the book, Christianity, Islam and Judaism. For they believe there is only one true religion (unfortunately they don’t believe it is the same one!). For this reason the Japanese belief system is very hard to understand for those outside of Japanese culture.

If you’d like to learn more about religious belief and practice in Japan, wikipedia is always a good place to start. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Japan