My dogma committed seppuku (The lack of religion in Japan)

Religion in Japan is not the simple subject that some might believe. Japan was traditionally religious, but now it’s become quite different. 80-90% of the population is basically Athiest/Agnostic (take your pick). Why basically? Tradition. Someone who is areligious will still do many things throughout their life that are religious. This only happens because of a social insistence to tradition (or, at least, it seems that way).


What this means is that a normal Japanese person does the basic rituals (marriage, funeral, and probably some other stuff) in Buddhism or Shinto. When they are not doing these rituals they are not thinking about religion (my guess is that they are thinking about how to build a real life Gundam mech).

There are other religions in Japan. After Shinto and Buddhism, is Christianity (the Japanization of Christianity includes Jesus being buried in some town in Japan [Herai]). Most Japanese people stay away from Christianity. When a Christian tells them that they are going to hell, they don’t fall on their knees and ask for forgiveness, they get pissed. I was also told today that some people see Japanese Christians as narrow-minded and crazy. Although they don’t like Christians they liberally reference things from Christianity (e.g. basically any anime and many video games), but I think it’s because Christianity is “western” and the Japanese are crushing hard on the west (P.S. Japan: the west thinks you’re cute, but you need to go to the fucking dentist more often.).

One of the worst games someone could ever invent (after the fun family game “Stomp on the Mine”) is “Spot the Church.” In the US, the game probably lasts for a total of 4.73 seconds; it’s boring. However, the Japanese version is difficult. First of all, there aren’t that many churches; there are signs at the train stations that tell you where the one church in the city lies. And I have found many buildings that look like churches from a distance, but when you get close you see that it’s a restaurant or a hotel. It’s seriously difficult.

Finally, I always wonder why people never bring up Japan when someone says that a country becoming more secular will lead to fried abortions w/ cheese as a delicacy. Japan is the premier example of a country that can be pretty much secular, but still be a “safety” country. It seems, from my observations, that the only thing that might rise with secularism is skirts. I see no problem with that.