Religion in the Land of the Rising Sun

Religion in Japan is an interesting thing. Buddhism and Shintoism peacefully coexist. Many people will claim both but practice neither. Many other people neither claim nor practice any "religion," though. This is especially true of the younger generations. Ancestors, gods, and God may all be worshiped simultaneously, separately, or not at all.

Most Japanese seem to believe in life after death. And they also believe in heaven. A lot of emphasis is placed on honoring and showing thanks to the dead. They believe that when a person dies, his/her spirit remains on the earth for 49 days (notice 7x7). Every 7 days (hmmm...7--also significant for Christians) during this period, a monk will visit the family's altar in the home and pray for the deceased. Some especially "good" or "important" people may become gods after this point--only small gods, that is. Some of them will go on to become "big" gods after some years have passed.

Our Bible study discussions on Sundays have been very interesting for me. I have learned a lot of the Japanese people's philosophies on the spiritual world. More importantly, I have gotten to share Christian's beliefs in return. Here are some Christian ideas that they are having trouble believing:

1) There is only one God. Nobody human dies and becomes a god him/herself. No matter how many good deeds they performed in life.

2) Jesus is God. I can understand that the idea of the trinity is difficult to grasp, but they simply can't accept that Jesus is/was anything more than a human. And a good teacher.

3) Because they can't see Jesus as God, they constantly compare him to the Buddha. They cannot find much difference.

4) Last Sunday we talked about the resurrection. They believe in spiritual resurrection but not physical. They don't think it was possible for his body to rise again.

During one of my lessons today, all we did was discuss religion. My student observes some Buddhist/Shinto traditions--only because her mother believes them. She herself does not believe much of anything. She enlightened me on the funeral and wedding traditions commonly observed here. I enlightened her on holidays such as Halloween, Christmas, and Easter and their meanings. It is interesting that the Japanese have come to observe many western holidays but have no clue as to their origins. By the time we were finished, she had also moved on to questioning me about Islam and Hinduism.

Overall, it was a very interesting lesson. I'm glad the door is open to discuss my beliefs, though. I'm looking forward to next week.