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Hello Takashii, I just saw your post and I visited your beautiful Country in the 80's . Please let me know if you have ever interviewed one of Jehovah's Witnesses in Japan. There are @214,000 . I am a Witness from Boston, USA. I Spent 4 days in Japan,would love to visit again.
@@joantench1794 Anyone can go to heaven even though we are all sinners. Jesus Christ became the one and only holy sacrifice for our sins. He was resurrected 3 days after He was sacrificed. This means that if you simply choose to accept Jesus Christ as your Savior for your sins, you’ll be saved guaranteed! Do not listen to other church goers who says you gotta do this and do that to go to heaven. You Do Not need to do the following to go to heaven: 1. Repent of your sins 2. Follow the commandments 3. Water baptized 4. Go to church weekly 5. Do good work, but we shouldn’t take advantage of this & do bad things. 6. Pray the rosary, do the catholic sacraments & traditions. Jesus Christ did all the hard, holy labor for us. We need to believe only.
@@muhammadyaqoob5404 Anyone can go to heaven even though we are all sinners. Jesus Christ became the one and only holy sacrifice for our sins. He was resurrected 3 days after He was sacrificed. This means that if you simply choose to accept Jesus Christ as your Savior for your sins, you’ll be saved guaranteed! Do not listen to other church goers who says you gotta do this and do that to go to heaven. You Do Not need to do the following to go to heaven: 1. Repent of your sins 2. Follow the commandments 3. Water baptized 4. Go to church weekly 5. Do good work, but we shouldn’t take advantage of this & do bad things. 6. Pray the rosary, do the catholic sacraments & traditions. Jesus Christ did all the hard, holy labor for us. We need to believe only.
Japanese people don't see Shinto as a religion but as a way of life. I agree with him at 6:53: Japan actually has a huge number of cults, so people tend to hold negative emotions about the term "religion" in my opinion.
@@אורן-ב8ע religion Is a point of view honestly, But The Word says "You want to know what Pure and Undefiled religion Is then Feed the homeless, tend to the Window, Raise up The Orphans, and defend the defenceless... GOD Is Love and Love Is GOD..."
@@אורן-ב8ע new testament, he was talking to the people who are the religious leaders and some of them are scribes But all of them Are the Real Enemies that the Bible talks about If we Really pay attention It's Actually BEAUTIFUL and Relieving to say the Least. 🙏🏾😂😅
@@אורן-ב8ע He was talking to the religious leaders and some of them were scribes and they To this day Believe that If you do Good works then we go to heaven, But that's Wrong, Good works can't lead us to heaven.... because we would be relying On ourselves and Not GOD.... We don't own nothing not even ourselves Unless you count In a Righteous way Or an Integrity way.... But Yeaa he was Basicly schooling em because they were trying to Lie to the New church and some people were getting lead astray and Just listening to anything these Wannabes tell em... Yk why? Because they want control over people that's what Religion is... A Way.... So this guy In the Word threw It back at them and he said THIS Is the Way we should follow... And Not Because we koved GOD first or other people But Because GOD Loves us first that's Why we Do Good works because It's from a Place of Genuineness from our hearts Not To go to Heaven or be seen of other people... Like the Pharasies and scribes
I don’t get it. It so obvious. The real problem was she expecting the pastor to be perfect. Nobody in the Bible is perfect. She didn’t understand faith at all. But at the end of the day everyone has the right to believe whatever they want.🤷🏾♂️🤷🏾♂️🤷🏾♂️🤷🏾♂️
@@viniciuslima9430 human arent perfect, she did acknowledge that, but so many things in church is not aligned to what the bible say... so i guess thats why it makes a lot of people bitter, its important to understand that physical churches and God are different. The only real Church is Jesus who is the head of THE Church.
Though I am by no means an expert, I have done some studying on religion in Japan (both historical and modern), as I find it interesting, too. Most Japanese don't consider themselves religious (for one thing, the word "shukyo" carries some western religion connotations), yet Japan is a spiritual country, and there are a lot of religions in Japan, including elements of lingering folk religions. It's an interesting mix (and Japanese Bhuddism looks different than, say, Indian Bhuddism). There are some good scholarly works on this subject.
The language is beautiful, probably my favorite language in the world the way it sounds is beautiful. But I don't look at it as answering with logical thoughts and intelligence. It's them beating around the bush and trying to leave the person that asked a question with the best view of themselves the answer to the actual question doesn't really matter. This is like the stereotype all British people are smart just because of their accent. Look at how far that country has fallen there all fucking idiots when it comes to common sense except the working class.
As an American, I couldn't agree more. It's often said that Japanese people are more reserved, but I think that's only really true with strangers. Once you start asking questions Japanese people tend to open up immediately. Americans remain closed off and don't really put forth their real opinions (or think very hard about them) unless and until an intimate relationship has formed. Damn backwards Americans!
The language lends itself to being articulate in your thoughts. The dilution of English by eh, culture, is part of the erosion of thought and virtue. Language is critical.
@@earlysda Anyone can go to heaven even though we are all sinners. Jesus Christ became the one and only holy sacrifice for our sins. He was resurrected 3 days after He was sacrificed. This means that if you simply choose to accept Jesus Christ as your Savior for your sins, you’ll be saved guaranteed! Do not listen to other church goers who says you gotta do this and do that to go to heaven. You Do Not need to do the following to go to heaven: 1. Repent of your sins 2. Follow the commandments 3. Water baptized 4. Go to church weekly 5. Do good work, but we shouldn’t take advantage of this & do bad things. 6. Pray the rosary, do the catholic sacraments & traditions. Jesus Christ did all the hard, holy labor for us. We need to believe only.
@@small_fries7573 small, you will be called "least" in the kingdom of heaven if you don't repent and show your love for Jesus by keeping his commandments.
If you knew how many thousands of idols are worshipped in Japan. It is therefore not surprising that the population goes off the rails and loses their way.
Thank you for providing some very interesting insights on the practice and belief of religion in Japan. I could not understand a word, so thanks for providing sub-titles in English. But I just love hearing Japanese being spoken. It has a beautiful sound. Very pleasant to the ears.
An interesting topic and a bit unexpected but welcome. And I am impressed by the diversity of the people you found to interview and also the intelligence and consideration of thought each of the respondents offered.
I would really appreciate a video about Buddhism or Shintoism to speak with people of varying levels of devotion and to ask what they feel the religion means to them and what some of their major teachings are like. I feel like a lot of us outside of that area of the world have little knowledge on the religion. As far as I know though, it is more about a lifestyle and respect for nature and others than it is following and worshiping a specific deity.
Several people in this interview answered, "I believe in God," but the God they believe in is probably not the Christian God, but the Shinto God, i.e., the gods of nature.
yeah, even Japanese culture has integrated Shintoism deeply into it, not to mention that Japanese Buddhism and Shintoism are so closely related and intermixed, they can hardly tell what Buddhist is and what is Shinto.
As a Christian Id love to learn more about Japanese and nonJapanese Christians in Japan. Why did they become Christians, what possible struggles they face as Christians in Japan and what traditions they maintain.
The film Silence, is a pretty great depiction of it. Portuguese and Italian missionaries spread Christianity to Japan 400+ years ago. The now famous servant Yasuke ( not a samurai) was sold to Nobunaga from a Catholic missionary.
@kawkaw I suggest you actually read the Bible. Most Japanese Christians I know have no idea about its content. There are so many things in there that defy logic and are unbelievably violent. It is a religion of fear.
Are you the young lady in the interview? I thought in the interview you said it didn't lead you to practicing the religion so I thought you no longer read the Bible, sing hymns or go to church.
@@hicharbud God is unique. He is above His creations. If a human made a house, it doesn't mean that he looks like a house or he is a house. This is nonsense. In the name of God, the Gracious, the Merciful. 1. Say, “He is God, the One. 2. God, the Absolute. 3. He begets not, nor was He begotten. 4. And there is nothing comparable to Him.”
That’s often said, but for a Japanese, I feel uncomfortable. Because Western culture is cool and fun, wedding ceremonies and Christmas styles are adopted, and the expression “marry” seems exaggerated.
Shinto and Buddhism are deeper and more serious in the Japanese mentality.. Marry christian isn't actually a religious thing but an exotic experience to have opportunity to wear a white wedding dress and be in a western traditional building and take pictures. The minister is just a hired White guy actor, and the choir are usually black American gospel singers set up by a wedding company.. I've been invited a few weddings in Japan.
Hello! I am Japanese and live in Gunma prefecture, which is called the countryside of Japan. I think I am conservative. However, I am not enthusiastic about religion. It is true that Buddhism and Shinto are believed in in Japan, but rather than religion, they are more like a heritage that shows the culture, customs, and traditions of ancestors' history. Festivals exist to give thanks to the gods, but in reality, it is more important for local people to gather and have fun than to give thanks to the gods. Originally, Buddhism and Shinto existed separately in Japan, but the two religions coexisted. About 200 years ago, until the government issued the Shinbutsu Bunri Edict, Buddhist temples and shrines were in the same place, and the monks and priests of the temples deepened their interactions with each other. In simple terms, Shinto shows the history of our ancestors, reverence for nature, and education on lifestyle habits, while Buddhism shows philanthropy, compassion, the afterlife and this world, and was also a means of introducing the culture, politics, fashion, literature, art, and medical technology of ancient China, ancient India, and the ancient Korean peninsula. (Foreign monks who came to Japan taught us many cultures.) These two religions presented something so different that they did not need to fight. (Strictly speaking, there was a war when Buddhism was first introduced to Japan, but they have coexisted since then.) This is just my opinion, but the image of gods that Japanese people have is not one of teaching us something or doing something for us, but of gods who have absolute power and can bring unexpected blessings, but at the same time, they are objects of awe who bring various disasters. This may be a feeling unique to Japan, where natural disasters are very common. It's like the deer god in the Ghibli movie "Princess Mononoke." Therefore, we don't depend on gods or have absolute trust in them like Westerners do, and we don't think that things happen because of god's guidance. Things happen as a result of the path we choose for ourselves, and we have to take responsibility for them and deal with them. That's the idea. Of course, I think the Christian idea is wonderful too!
2:26 is a nice quote. You can believe in the existence of god without participating in any religious practices. I also think it goes back to how you define what god is and what believing means. Some people define god as The Creator. It doesn't matter whether they're good or bad. Same logic as "the god of a novel is the author" Some people define god as The Saviour which hence deserves to be worshipped Some people define god as superior beings that live around us or watch over us, like in many multi theism believes Others don't think much about it and just do the practices as customs
I lived 12 years in Japan & I was always confused when Japanese said “I’m not religious”, because I think most people believe in the supernatural. So even if they say they don’t believe in God/gods, that doesn’t mean they are atheists. In fact, most Japanese I know believe in ghosts. And they talk about 霊感 reikan, being able to feel ghosts, at times. And the people who say who have reikan they take it very seriously, even though they may have said “i don’t have strong believes”. But that “reikan” is a strong belief they have… Don’t ever argue about “reikan” is my advice 😂 TLDR; they may not believe in gods, but they aren’t atheists either because they strongly believe in ghosts.
It's interesting to read about Japanese saints and beatified - like Satoko Kitahara (her beatification peocess is ongoing) or Ukon Takayama (beatified by Pope Francis in 2017). Or about another Japanese Catholic, Takashi Nagai. Also about Polish saint (known by many Catholics, in many countries) Maksymilian Kolbe - who came to Japan in 1930 and spent six years there. He established in Nagasaki a Fransiscian monastery (called Mugenzai no Sono - The Garden of the Immaculata), still existing. To build a monastery he chose a place on slopes of a nearby mountain Hikosan (although it was said then them it's not a good place for that). But thanks to such decision the monastery survived, not destroyed, the atom bomb attack. After the attack and after the war also the Franciscians were helping the victims of the war, orphans, homeless, sick etc. Saint Maksymilian Kolbe himself came back in 1936 to Poland - he is worlwide known for giving his life voluntarily for another prisoner in Auschwitz German Nazi concentration camp, where he was murdered (in a hunger bunker) on 14th August 1941 (the prisoner he sacrificed his life for, thanks to him, survived whole war). And another Fransiscian friar who worked for his whole life in Japan, was friar Zeno Żebrowski - he came to Japan in 1930 together with saint Maksymilian Kolbe, but he stayed, and when the war ended he was organizing orphanages and housing for homeless people in Japan, the victims of the war, he was also cooperating with above mentioned Satoko Kitahara (who is going to be beatified by Pope). He died in Tokyo in 1982.
In the city I live in Japan there are a few Catholic statues around town. There’s one beautiful statue of St. Francis Xavier in front of the downtown train station, and another across the street from the prefectural office. One of this city’s most popular souvenir sweets is named “Xavier”.
@@mapinoita279 That's interesting. Which town is this? I've just checked in Internet and found information about Francis Xavier statues in two towns in Kiusiu, one called Oita and the other Kagoshima. Are the sweets named after him good? And are there some more Catholics there, some community of them? There's an TH-camr from my country whose half Japanese (his father moved to Poland many years ago) and visits his Japanese grandpa, who lives in Kiusiu, and his Japanese family are Catholics.
@@GottMoxy well, before during the Roman era people needed to know what they looked like. Of course, things are different know, and I don't think its necessary
I’m a Lutheran and it’s interesting to hear the so and not so religious differences in Japan. I am aware that Christian missionaries visited the country around the 18th century or 19th if I can recall so there is some landing but it’s mostly Shintoism/Buddhism depending on the region. I’m just glad people are free to worship whatever they want.
It has been said that Japanese are born Shinto, marry Christian, and die Buddhist - it's about ceremony and how the sacred is situationally experienced. I was baptized and confirmed Lutheran, but grew up in Japan as an expatriate US American. Japan's approach to religion and spirituality taught me to consider the point of any, and all religious / spiritual human foci - all have their own validity. BTW, Jesuit missionaries first came to Japan in the 16th century. And not just any Jesuit... St. Francis Xavier.
@@curtiskimm7225 Ah interesting, so it’s just a wide spectrum of belief & values, well at least it’s tolerable but just in the mind that not a lot people care other than Shintoism/Buddhism. Typically foreign cultures challenge the status quo but I hope people are okay with it. Thanks for the correction, it was 16th century yet I’m not aware of St. Francis Xavier. I’ll have to research him.
The best thing about Shinto which is exclusive to Japan is that its not a religion that also doesnt feel the need of converting others or the need to thump that it is the only true religion. No hell or heaven concept either.
Shinto is exclusive to Japan but the core is essentially the same as germanic/nordic/gaulic paganism. You coukd probably argue Roman/Greek as being close enough to be included.
Yeah ikr That's what I like about non Abrahamic religions. Like take any Indian japanese or Chinese religion and they don't force you to believe in God. Buddhism shintoism Jainism Hinduism Sikhism and taoism
@@Obanai_Iguro720 they dont force you because they are based on heredity and upbringing lmao. They are like the others. At least they are not proselityst like the semitic ones
Nice topic! 👍🥰🙏 親鸞聖人 is the one that answered all my curiosity and brought me deeply into Japanese Buddhism, Shinto & histories. It took me many years to self studies & still learning. Hopefully, U cud help ppl to understand more with your interviews. 💪🏽👍🤟🏽🙏🙏🥰
Japan seems culturally agnostic when it comes to religion. Still acknowledging churches and shinto temples/shrines as sacred and important, and perform rituals and ceremonies for them. But don’t necessarily follow any religion in particular.
The guy in the bright orange/yellow shirt is right. Belief in God and religion are not the same. Very insightful. Also Sakuraco is a great snack box! 😆
If you as a Gaijin feel a connection with Christian beliefs, going to church in Japan is an excellent way to overcome a lot of the social distance that’s usually there, especially towards foreigners. My daughter attends Korean church in Germany, because her best friend is half Korean and she’s a huge K-pop fan. She was accepted with open arms into an otherwise quite secluded community - and she’s learning Korean and Korean customs that way, too.
Yes. Religion means to believe in something. Buddhism says, you should not believe anything. You should practice and proof for yourself if the teachings are correct. If you find out something is wrong with the teachings, discuss about it, and buddhism would adjust then, correct the mistake. Yes, its like science
yea this is correct. Unfortunately, many followers just don’t understand this and often spread misinformation. Like some believers actually believe Buddha is a god and spread that incorrect information. They believe in made up stories without understanding the true meaning or lesson behind those stories.
I still think Buddhism is a religion because at its core is the notion of belief that one should reach nibbana, which means no more rebirths - but the notion of rebirth is not easily tested by the scientific method - though see the work of Ian Stevenson from University of Virginia - his work is interesting, not replicated, and not well accepted.
@@dylanjayatilaka8533 Until now, science could not proof that buddhism is wrong. If its wrong, then buddhism will adjust to science. If youre interested in buddhism and science, then watch on youtube the documentary about Padmasambhava, the lotus born master and his connection to quantum physics
Hey Takashii, it’s my first day in Japan. I’m staying at All Day Shibuya Hotel. I think you should do a Craft Beer Bar episode. I booked this hotel as it has a great craft beer bar underneath but I would have gone with your recommendation if you had already made a video on the topic. This is a good place to start.
@@robinharwood5044 Religion kind of dictates what customs and practices you should follow to believe in a certain God. Some dictate practices so that you can be in the good graces of God (Muslim, Christian). Belief in god just means you believe a god exists, but that there is no religion that is 100% in sync with god. Most religions have people/person who were in communication with god, and so dictate what you must do because that is what god told them to do. That is completely different from someone that just believes a god exists, but that there is no religion that could even communicate what god wants. For ex, What if a person is a genuinely good person, who helps many people, is tolerant of all walks of life, etc... but doesn't follow religion? Does that mean that person doesn't get into a heaven (if there is one) all because they didn't follow a religion? Does that make sense? Or what if a person believes in god, but doesn't believe heaven exists? There are different ways of thinking about religion and god.
Most believe in parts of Shinto though, at least when it comes to keeping the memory of their ancestors alive, or at least they practice it without questioning it
But Buddhism is a religion, it has set of rules, and Buddhism is the reason for the spread of misogyny, gender hierarchy, and social hierarchies to be spread to Japan. Before the arrival of Buddhism Japan was ruled by Women. If you know you know.
My grandfather, who went to war a long time ago, didn't believe in gods and didn't make a Shinto altar when he built his house, but he made a Buddhist altar for his wife. I don't remember having many conversations with him and I don't know what he was thinking, but I remember thinking he was a wonderful person. I think that gods exist in people's wills, regardless of whether they believe in them or not.
As a german woman, i did grow up as buddhist. My japanese husband is not religious, but if he would choose, then buddhism. He is accepting and supporting me ❤ i practice every day
As a Muslim my best understanding of Islam is through Buddhism. Many Muslims I talk to seem surprised and opposed to what I say. The truth is they don't understand why Islam is so impracticable the reason being the Muslims even do not understand what the Islamic teaching entails and how to make it work in everyday life.
@@AlexandraFR38 Vajrayana Buddhism has deeply influenced my life, grounding me in mindfulness and compassion, shaping how I interact with others and view myself as part of the interconnected oneness of all existence
Great discussions! One great thing about Shinto belief is that everyone is encouraged to respect nature as they view it as sacred. It would be interesting to understand if nature itself is its own originator in shinto belief system or nature has an origin and if nature is imparted this sacredness or it was always sacred even before it existed(or it eternally existed?)
Japanese Buddhism is based on ancestor worship, but in most cases, preaching is more like philosophy. It teaches how to calm the mind in times of misfortune, how not to hold grudges against others, the idea of compassion for others, and how to live life without regrets. It is a philosophy, so faith does not mean unconditional help like Christ or Allah. It is a religion that teaches you how to do it, and you have to figure out the rest on your own. Buddhism has the idea of reincarnation, so if one does not live according to the teachings, he or she will have a more difficult life in the next life. Shinto basically worships the goddess goddess, who is the symbol of the sun, but it also worships a whole host of other gods. There is no need to bother converting to Shinto because most of them are the gods that protect the land of Japan. In other words, no matter what religion you follow, as long as you are in the land of Japan, you are under the watchful eye of the Shinto gods. Whether it is Christianity or Islam, the idea is that you can follow the teachings of God or wish for our own happiness as we wish, but you cannot allow them to pollute the land of Japan. The Japanese gods are merciless and strong. After all, the Shinto gods are in control of natural disasters in Japan. If we believed in Christ or Allah, would we be able to stop earthquakes and typhoons in Japan? It seems absolutely impossible, right? That's why Japanese people don't believe in monotheism.
If you have time to interview specific temples and sects and find out what they each put as their main teachings and beliefs and rules, that would be very interesting to see the differences. I know about Tibetan Buddhism and India, but Japanese Buddhism is a mystery.
Very interesting. It looks people altogether do not know what is God. Some of them consider God as helping hand, Some believe that pastor or church is a God, some think God is a concept for getting motivation, which means they have just heard about God Almighty. They are never told comprehensively about concept of God. On the other hand they have believe, because believe is human need. Some believe in traditions, some believe in good luck and others believe in human efforts. The concept of God is altogether different from all these concepts.
Religious attendance varies greatly in Europe. To say it is one and the same across all of Europe is plain wrong. Some examples: the Bible-belt, a region in The Netherlands, is extremely religious. Many Polish people attend church, even multiple days per week and they listen to prayer on the radio. Yes it is in decline, but there are vast regions where 99% are religious.
I am a pastor in the US and visit Japan almost every year with my wife. We visit churches every Sunday when we are there. I am much more progressive than many of these churches as most "mission" churches tend to lean conservative. Many of their goals are to convert. While I believe in spreading the "good news" of Christianity, mainly that God wants all of God's creation to experience fullness especially people and Jesus shows us the way, I dont need people to claim to be Christian. It would be great if they did, but it isn't my goal. In fact, I would say many people who claim to be Christian are far from living the way Jesus calls them to live. American evangelicalism has distanced itself from following the Jesus of the Bible for example. Also, I have heard my conservative friend say things like, "I feel a demonic force in Japan." How ridiculous and silly. These people didnt open their eyes to the beauty of Japan and its people. I dont say this lightly as a Korean American. I know the history of our peoples. I gained much respect for the spirituality of Japanese people as I would see them stop at those small shrines on the street and pray one the way to work or to home. There is a sense of "I will do my best today..." and a humility of , "help me to my best today..." Many people who claim to be relgious in the western world have lost this "at all moments" connection with their spirituality. Many think as long as I go to church once a week, or even worse, on Easter and Christmas, I am good to go. I will say that Japan definitely has its problems. It was sad to see people lining to gamble first thing in the morning. And yes, we all know about the lonliness problems. There are good Christian ministries doing what they can to bring the community together to build relationships. To me, God loves Japan.
Love your videos, I've been watching for probably over a year now. Wanted to say that your outro doesn't really make sense to a native speaker "thank you for watching so far" would be something you could put in the middle of a video, since you are saying "so far" which implies that there will be more to watch. But at the end, it makes you think there is more to watch. Again, thanks for all the great content, sending love from Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Hi Takashi, I watched your posting on religion in Japan. Prior to seeing this, I had seen/read that very very few Japanese believe in Christianity. As a Christian myself, I do feel that the rejection of my faith in Japan is mostly a fault of us not showing the Japanese people why we believe what we believe. However; in the end, it is free will and a person is free to believe what they believe. This trend (against Christianity and ALL faiths) is true in not only the U.S. but all the west.
Please, don't feel bad or blame yourself for not proselytizing Japanese people into what you believe because that's not the reason why so few Japanese are historically fall for your religion. For me, more I learned about it more I turned against it with its very concept of it which is so bizarre and its pick-and- choose teachings. I hope you're aware that, in general, Japanese are educated people and it's not going to be easy to convince them with all that out of this worldly stories. On top of that, there is absolutely nothing in common between the middle-eastern religion and Japanese!! This is my thinking: there were three religions born in the middle east around the roughly same time and they all worship the same entity, and I call all three "CULT", yet they are against each other and busy killing each other ever since!! They are sad CULTS. 😢
As a child of age five to maybe seven years old, I had a deeply transcendent experience in nature, which is not hard to do if you live the lush green of Oregon in the USA. The conscious realization was this: "everything is god." I use a small "g" because it was not a Christian realization. I realized there is no death and that nothing is really happening, there is nothing to fear because the "you" you think you are is actually the life force itself and is neither created, nor destroyed, and the "you" you ACTUALLY are is spread through all universes. This Force and Consciousness manifests itself in many forms, from so-called "living" and even "inanimate" consciousnesses, constantly recycling "itself." "It" is with you at all times. You need not go looking. I'm eighty now and I still realize this as a truth that revealed itself to a little girl in her grandma's garden.
@@videozz2012 A hog does have consciousness as anyone who has ever slaughtered a hog will attest. They don't want to die. Its consciousness is about at your level. Brute reasoning. Nothing outside the box. Nice try, Punk.
I regard the relative lack of religion (and lack of interest in religion) in Japan as a major plus for the country-and certainly Japan hasn’t suffered any great loss because of that.
I can only speak for my own beliefs, but obviously every religion has had people doing horrific things in the name of it. People have free will, this is a concept you can discern more that I couldn’t do justice. There will always be suffering and pain and loss and people hurting others. However… we know Japan has some severe social ills, lack of volunteering, donating (I believe they were last on many global lists) or interest in helping my others and stories of people walking past strangers suffering in need. Never mind loneliness, hopelessness, suicide, isolation… for me, Christ tackles all these things when I face them. And the best part, is that I would help a stranger.. as guided by my faith. So no, Japan is definitely not better off lacking what many religions can offer, moral code and direction, and hope when suffering.
Definitely. I think in the past religion has actually helped the world, but as civilization progresses there is less and less need to rely on something created by people from a bygone era. If modern Japan was "raised" with Christianity as a central religion the country may not have functioned as well as it does today. Though there could have also been benefits, perhaps a positive impact on the work culture. But if we're talking about the future, a non Christian country will do a lot of good (in my opinion at least). (Not mentioning other religions because Christianity is the only religion in Japan with a sizeable (ish) following besides Shintoism and Buddhism which I think have different implications.
@@lililinda6947 Just to be clear: while religion has had, undeniably, some horrific things carried out in its name, I had in mind the more subtle context in which some things become “issues,” particularly in the US (but not only there): evolution (as opposed to creationism), sex and procreative matters (e.g., abortion, pornography and sex work, marriage), education (prayer and religious invocation, the Ten Commandments in schools), even whether a politician professes “faith” or not. (I recall the 2007 US Presidential debate where journalist Tim Russert asked the candidates to cite their favorite Bible verse.) It’s all, to me, a tremendous waste of time and has _no_ place in the public sphere. (Whether someone wants to have religion inform his or her own view on those things is a personal matter.) And, further, there is a pernicious and highly parochial assumption that “Well, it’s a _given_ that we take the Abrahamic religious view of things into account.” (I don’t.) Japan is gloriously free of all that deadweight. Does the lack of religion account for the very low ranking of Japan in terms of donations, volunteering or helping strangers on the street? Well, obviously, correlation does not equal causation. On the other hand, Japan has remarkably low rates of crime compared to other far more religious countries-and, if you lose your wallet in Japan, you have a 97% chance of getting it back, with all the cash intact-so it’s really hard to make a case that the lack of religion causes some generalized moral deficit in the country. (And if your faith helps you tackle such problems, I say, as an atheist, that’s great.)
@@bagel_remover8945 I think if you look at more atheistic regimes you would see a lot of death and disregard for human life, like in Mao's China, so no progress doesn't mean to get rid of what helps you see the importance of good, truth and transcendence, that would lead to destruction. The human being has a deep need to believe in something beyond himself and when that isn't too obvious they end up denying God but believing anything else like the state, a mix of many things like syncretism, they believe in science as if it were a religion, which is no good for it. They adhere to activists movements with such fervor that it is religious.
As someone from Turkey, it's really interesting to me. They feel an existence of a God but they are not religious. Also when there are too many religions in their culture. In my country people say "We die for our religion!" so like I said, it's just interesting to me.
@@aiya5777 If your life is comedy that's your idea, I don't care about. But I can't let you're kidding people of my country. Of course I'll be serious about that. And why do you this much sure that I don't care about people in the world who're dying right now? I watch Palestine news every evening. Palestinians are dying for their religion in a way. Is it a comedy to you?
@@merihsavci the world is really really really big place the fact that you only mentioned Palestine, has proven that you're mostly indifferent with unrelated strangers dying every second all around the globe Palestinians are related to you by prolly religion, that's why you care about em somewhat how about many many many unrelated strangers dying in many many many other countries? you don't care and you know it
This is a great conversation, Takashi! I am yonsei Japanese-American and Buddhist. I have been doing family research, and my great-grandfather immigrated to the US in 1898 and settled in Oakland, CA for a bit. I had found an address and the Oakland Buddhist temple, so it makes me wonder if he was Buddhist (especially the temple seemingly being so close) or maybe he went there for the Japanese community. He eventually went back to Hiroshima and was supposedly attending "church" the day the bomb hit. (yes, he unfortunately perished) But I wonder if he was attending a Buddhist temple, or maybe a Catholic church? In doing research, I was surprised that there were Catholic churches, but I think it was because of missionaries. I also believe Nagasaki had many Catholic churches, or it may have been more popular there? It was interesting that when the bomb hit, it was a Monday morning. Interesting that it wasn't a Sunday. Maybe that gives a clue on what kind of church he went to?
I’ve always been so interested in Japan’s beliefs and how they often combine Shinto and Buddhism. I’m a practicing Muslim and love how respectful the Japanese are of our faith ❤ so many similarities like washing before prayer and focus on “ihsan” or good etiquette 😊
Very interesting video! Regarding Christianity, it’d also be interesting to interview foreign Christians in Japan, such as the Orthodox Christians for example. There’s a really beautiful church in Kunitachi that has an international community.
Hey Takashii, I think you should interview people who practice these religions like a Buddhist Monk, Christian Father, Shinto Priest etc. I believe they can help us understand how the people of Japan have evolved from the past till now when it comes to practicing religion because they are in regular touch with people who practice these religion and exchange ideas with each other, so they can give a better and broader perspective.
In March 2024, I visited Japan with my 4 daughters and we met @Takashii in Shibuya. We were surprised how much taller he is in person. I wished I had told him of my Japanese Buddhist mom from Kyoto who immigrated to the US and practiced her religion here for many years. Around age 40, she read the Bible and became a follower of Jesus. She is 90 now and doesn’t attend any church, but still believes in Jesus as her Savior. ❤
The man that speaks between the time of 2 minutes and 2 minutes 15 seconds. He is my kind of person. What a dude. If only there were just a little few more of him. He knows and he's proper 👊🏽💙
Why are you only asking people in the city, typically you want to ask people in the countryside. Countryside is usually more conservative and spiritual and or religious in any society.
Hello! I am Japanese and live in Gunma prefecture, which is called the countryside of Japan. I think we can say that we are conservative. However, I don't think we are enthusiastic about religion. It is true that Buddhism and Shintoism are believed in in Japan, but rather than religion, they are more like a heritage that shows the transmission of culture, customs, and ancestral history. Festivals exist to give thanks to the gods, but in reality, it is more about local people getting together and having fun than giving thanks to the gods. Originally, Buddhism and Shintoism existed separately in Japan, but these two religions coexisted. Until about 200 years ago, when the government issued the Shinbutsu Bunri Edict, Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines were located in the same place, and the temple priests and Shinto priests deepened their interactions together. Simply put, Shintoism shows the history of our ancestors, respect for nature, and education on lifestyle habits, while Buddhism shows benevolence, compassion, the afterlife and this world. It was also a means to import culture, politics, fashion, literature, art, and medical technology from ancient China, ancient India, and the ancient Korean peninsula. (Foreign monks who came to Japan taught us a lot of culture.) These two religions presented things that were so different that there was no need for them to fight. (Strictly speaking, there was a war when Buddhism was first introduced, but since then they have coexisted.) This is my opinion, but the image of God that Japanese people have is not one of teaching us something or doing something for us, but rather an object of awe that has absolute power and may bring us unexpected blessings, but at the same time brings us various disasters. It's like the Deer God in the Ghibli movie Princess Mononoke.
I was recently in Okinawa and went to a church there. The goalie of the Japanese National Olympic Team was there with his fiance. He might be someone interesting to interview.
Being spiritual does not necessarily translate to religious. Japan has famously low crime rates... which tells you that you can have morality without religion.
But morality is subjective. Without objective morality, there is no true guidance. In the past, sepukku is moral and an honorable act in japan, but in other places it is barbaric. In some places, prostitution is immoral, while in the west it seems normal. In the future, morality as we see today can and will change. Today, incest is considered a disgusting act, but in the future, maybe it'll be moral for a mother making love to the son. Today, suicide is considered not okay, but for some, it's the only way. If there is no objective morality, why stop someone who wants to liberate themselves from their depression by suicide. In the end we all die and our bodies will turn into fossils anyway. Shouldn't that be a moral thing to let them be free of this world? The thing is, objective morality only comes with a creator of mankind, and the creator gave objective morality through messengers/prophets as a guide to mankind. So the religion you take for granted also contributed to the laws you see today and gave you guidance on what is moral and immoral. There is the objective truth out there, but you just didn't research or care to look for it enough.
@@capricola8682But there are several problems with that kind of reasoning. First, throughout history, there have been thousands of proclaimed gods and phrophets, many of which have very different teachings and world views. How do you know which one(s), if any, are actually credible? Second, how is it automatically an objective, correct statement, when a prophet or god says anything about morality? Do we now not only have another opinion about what's moral and what isn't? How do you know that particular teaching of a god is moral? This relates to the Euthyphro dilemma: is something merely good because a god says so, or does the god say so because it is good? Either way, there is a problem because either morality becomes arbitrary since it is whatever a god states (if god said murder was good, it then would be good) or there is no need for god in this regard, since god is merely pointing out something which is true irregardless of his words. I think we can develop sound moral principles based on rational discourse and a thorough evaluation of the consequences of our actions on the lives and well-being of sentient beings.
@@capricola8682 you just very eloquently proved how there is no objective morality and there is also no need for it. your second paragraph is in complete contrast with the first and makes no sense. also, many people live normally after failed suicide attempts, so it is moral to give them that chance. But also, i agree one should have control over ones own life, including death.
I love being surrounded by rational people. Been here 18 years, and like the Japanese I toss the occasional coin into a temple or shrine, just because I appreciate the culture, not because I have any belief.
Hi Takashi... ❤ I recently watched the Shogun series and it was outstanding the clothing the hospitality the women and general rules of engagement etc... Is it possible for you to interview folks and ask what they think off the show and if there is anything else they can add or remove?...and how accurate is it to the era the show is being shot in😊. Arigato ❤❤
One of the things i like best about modern Japan is that it maintains rituals and respect for nature and other people without the hypocrisy and self-righteousness that often comes with religion. I guess the last time the Japanese believed god had given them permission to engage in horrific behavior was WWII, and that didn't work out too well for them. I wish the apologists and fundies in America, who claim to know the unknowable, and who grant themselves an unearned moral authority, would learn the same lesson.
I am not at all religious myself. So I am very pleased with the answers of the Japanese people in the video. They seemed friendly and thoughtful, very intelligent. I think, their attitude towards religion is one of the reasons why Japan seems such a good country for living, why it is safe and pleasant. Religious people tend to be more violent, more intrusive, more bullying, more willing to subdue others to their will, all in the name of a god (and whilst believing that they are the "good people" and others evil for not believing). Japan feels like a breath of fresh air in contrast to that! Very pleasant. I hope to visit the country soon and I could even imagine living there. I am German, "born" into Catholicism, never felt religious and rejected all religions already as a young adult, for many and good reasons. But the idea of appreciating nature, like Shinto seems to teach, is a valuable thought that I deeply share.
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Hello Takashii, I just saw your post and I visited your beautiful Country in the 80's . Please let me know if you have ever interviewed one of Jehovah's Witnesses in Japan. There are @214,000 . I am a
Witness from Boston, USA.
I Spent 4 days in Japan,would love to visit again.
You should read a book on The Life of Prophet Muhammad(S. A. W), after this you will find which religion is true.
@@joantench1794 Anyone can go to heaven even though we are all sinners. Jesus Christ became the one and only holy sacrifice for our sins. He was resurrected 3 days after He was sacrificed. This means that if you simply choose to accept Jesus Christ as your Savior for your sins, you’ll be saved guaranteed! Do not listen to other church goers who says you gotta do this and do that to go to heaven.
You Do Not need to do the following to go to heaven:
1. Repent of your sins
2. Follow the commandments
3. Water baptized
4. Go to church weekly
5. Do good work, but we shouldn’t take advantage of this & do bad things.
6. Pray the rosary, do the catholic sacraments & traditions.
Jesus Christ did all the hard, holy labor for us.
We need to believe only.
@@muhammadyaqoob5404 Anyone can go to heaven even though we are all sinners. Jesus Christ became the one and only holy sacrifice for our sins. He was resurrected 3 days after He was sacrificed. This means that if you simply choose to accept Jesus Christ as your Savior for your sins, you’ll be saved guaranteed! Do not listen to other church goers who says you gotta do this and do that to go to heaven.
You Do Not need to do the following to go to heaven:
1. Repent of your sins
2. Follow the commandments
3. Water baptized
4. Go to church weekly
5. Do good work, but we shouldn’t take advantage of this & do bad things.
6. Pray the rosary, do the catholic sacraments & traditions.
Jesus Christ did all the hard, holy labor for us.
We need to believe only.
Japanese people don't see Shinto as a religion but as a way of life. I agree with him at 6:53: Japan actually has a huge number of cults, so people tend to hold negative emotions about the term "religion" in my opinion.
Westerners should have much more motivation to view religion negatively, if you ask me.
Cult=Religion=Cult
@@אורן-ב8ע religion Is a point of view honestly, But The Word says "You want to know what Pure and Undefiled religion Is then Feed the homeless, tend to the Window, Raise up The Orphans, and defend the defenceless... GOD Is Love and Love Is GOD..."
@@אורן-ב8ע new testament, he was talking to the people who are the religious leaders and some of them are scribes But all of them Are the Real Enemies that the Bible talks about If we Really pay attention It's Actually BEAUTIFUL and Relieving to say the Least. 🙏🏾😂😅
@@אורן-ב8ע He was talking to the religious leaders and some of them were scribes and they To this day Believe that If you do Good works then we go to heaven, But that's Wrong, Good works can't lead us to heaven.... because we would be relying On ourselves and Not GOD.... We don't own nothing not even ourselves Unless you count In a Righteous way Or an Integrity way.... But Yeaa he was Basicly schooling em because they were trying to Lie to the New church and some people were getting lead astray and Just listening to anything these Wannabes tell em... Yk why? Because they want control over people that's what Religion is... A Way.... So this guy In the Word threw It back at them and he said THIS Is the Way we should follow... And Not Because we koved GOD first or other people But Because GOD Loves us first that's Why we Do Good works because It's from a Place of Genuineness from our hearts Not To go to Heaven or be seen of other people... Like the Pharasies and scribes
“The church and god are two different things.” I love that lady.
I don’t get it. It so obvious. The real problem was she expecting the pastor to be perfect.
Nobody in the Bible is perfect. She didn’t understand faith at all. But at the end of the day everyone has the right to believe whatever they want.🤷🏾♂️🤷🏾♂️🤷🏾♂️🤷🏾♂️
@@viniciuslima9430 human arent perfect, she did acknowledge that, but so many things in church is not aligned to what the bible say... so i guess thats why it makes a lot of people bitter, its important to understand that physical churches and God are different. The only real Church is Jesus who is the head of THE Church.
thank you for choosing this topic
Every video by TAKASHii I watch I am liking Japan more.
It is on my bucket-list to visit Japan. Such a fascinating region and people.
Funny I've felt the opposite.....that maybe I don't wanna visit.......idk.....
Though I am by no means an expert, I have done some studying on religion in Japan (both historical and modern), as I find it interesting, too. Most Japanese don't consider themselves religious (for one thing, the word "shukyo" carries some western religion connotations), yet Japan is a spiritual country, and there are a lot of religions in Japan, including elements of lingering folk religions. It's an interesting mix (and Japanese Bhuddism looks different than, say, Indian Bhuddism). There are some good scholarly works on this subject.
Indeed. If the question was “do you believe in ghosts?” 99% of the people would say yes 😂
日本人の自分としては、「何かを信仰している」という概念自体が元々海外から来た概念であり、日本人の中には元々ない感覚のように思います。だから戸惑うのだと思います。今の定義だと仏教も神道も宗教だとされておりますが、それが日本に浸透しているから「宗教を信じている」と言われると違うように思います。色々悩んだり考えたりすることはありますし、特に腹痛の時は神に祈る人が多いですが神がいるとは思ってもキリスト教徒の方のように神の存在について深く考えているわけではありませんし、どの神がどうという区別もあまりないのが日本の特徴だと思います。
I love to hear Japanese speak, they approach topics with intelligence and its refreshing
The language is beautiful, probably my favorite language in the world the way it sounds is beautiful. But I don't look at it as answering with logical thoughts and intelligence. It's them beating around the bush and trying to leave the person that asked a question with the best view of themselves the answer to the actual question doesn't really matter.
This is like the stereotype all British people are smart just because of their accent. Look at how far that country has fallen there all fucking idiots when it comes to common sense except the working class.
i agree
As an American, I couldn't agree more. It's often said that Japanese people are more reserved, but I think that's only really true with strangers. Once you start asking questions Japanese people tend to open up immediately. Americans remain closed off and don't really put forth their real opinions (or think very hard about them) unless and until an intimate relationship has formed. Damn backwards Americans!
The language lends itself to being articulate in your thoughts. The dilution of English by eh, culture, is part of the erosion of thought and virtue. Language is critical.
日本は基本神道だと思う。
日々行う何気ないことに神道の考え方が馴染んでる。
歴史が長いから馴染みすぎてみんな分からなくなってる。
不思議な価値観だよね。
春のお花見も山から桜に神様を迎えることだったり。調べると面白いよ😊
その意見は合っています。
@@earlysda Anyone can go to heaven even though we are all sinners. Jesus Christ became the one and only holy sacrifice for our sins. He was resurrected 3 days after He was sacrificed. This means that if you simply choose to accept Jesus Christ as your Savior for your sins, you’ll be saved guaranteed! Do not listen to other church goers who says you gotta do this and do that to go to heaven.
You Do Not need to do the following to go to heaven:
1. Repent of your sins
2. Follow the commandments
3. Water baptized
4. Go to church weekly
5. Do good work, but we shouldn’t take advantage of this & do bad things.
6. Pray the rosary, do the catholic sacraments & traditions.
Jesus Christ did all the hard, holy labor for us.
We need to believe only.
@@small_fries7573 small, you will be called "least" in the kingdom of heaven if you don't repent and show your love for Jesus by keeping his commandments.
If you knew how many thousands of idols are worshipped in Japan.
It is therefore not surprising that the population goes off the rails and loses their way.
@@DOA011970 DOA, your comment is very, very true!
Thank you for providing some very interesting insights on the practice and belief of religion in Japan. I could not understand a word, so thanks for providing sub-titles in English. But I just love hearing Japanese being spoken. It has a beautiful sound. Very pleasant to the ears.
Takashi please do an interview with a devoted Japanese Buddhist person! Would love to see their perspective of being a devoted Japanese Buddhist!
There’s less and less of us everyday, but we do exist!
Which branch of Buddhism? There are several. “Buddhism” doesn’t exist really.
You should ask Japan Christians why they believe in God. I believe.
Nichiren Sho shu
@@sebastienh1100 That’s like saying Christianity is not a thing because there are denominations.
That was really interesting. Made me want to learn more about Shinto
All you have to do is watch Miyazaki anime like Spirited Away. It is all Shinto.
An interesting topic and a bit unexpected but welcome. And I am impressed by the diversity of the people you found to interview and also the intelligence and consideration of thought each of the respondents offered.
I'm a Westerner, and I was always shocked by how many people I saw whenever I went to church on Sunday in Japan.
howmany more ?
I've heard they really like the Christian aesthetic, even if they don't actually follow or believe in the religion.
@@Amins88 Jesus is a lie !
You’re lying!
@Merukun6 I went to the cathedral of Saint Mary in Tokyo for Sunday mass and it was a Full House.
I would really appreciate a video about Buddhism or Shintoism to speak with people of varying levels of devotion and to ask what they feel the religion means to them and what some of their major teachings are like. I feel like a lot of us outside of that area of the world have little knowledge on the religion. As far as I know though, it is more about a lifestyle and respect for nature and others than it is following and worshiping a specific deity.
This was very interesting; I think you should do a part 2!
Several people in this interview answered, "I believe in God," but the God they believe in is probably not the Christian God, but the Shinto God, i.e., the gods of nature.
yeah, even Japanese culture has integrated Shintoism deeply into it, not to mention that Japanese Buddhism and Shintoism are so closely related and intermixed, they can hardly tell what Buddhist is and what is Shinto.
Praying for JAPAN 🇯🇵…beautiful people should have more positivity and most of all hope. Thank you TAKASHI. 🙏🏽♥️☺️
As a Christian Id love to learn more about Japanese and nonJapanese Christians in Japan. Why did they become Christians, what possible struggles they face as Christians in Japan and what traditions they maintain.
日本は奈良時代辺りに隋や唐を通してミトラ教やゾロアスター教が入ってます。
また、より古代に原始キリスト教【欧州がキリスト教化される前】が日本に入り込んでるそうです。
ユダヤ教も失われた１０氏族の一部が日本に伝来してるそうです。
これはイスラエルのアミシャーブも調査に来てます。
西洋人が思ってるほど古代にアブラハム宗教が入ってるそうです。
The film Silence, is a pretty great depiction of it. Portuguese and Italian missionaries spread Christianity to Japan 400+ years ago. The now famous servant Yasuke ( not a samurai) was sold to Nobunaga from a Catholic missionary.
I love all your topics you choose to ask! Interesting topics!
There's already a few videos about this topic in other channels
Struggles is out of question - no one is struggling.
Its probably just your mind
This is a very amazing interview Takashi san! Very interesting topic indeed.
面白いお話し聞いていただいてありがとう。ちなみに私はクリスト教で神様を信じています。日本人は神様を信じてる方は少ないけど礼儀があって人に尊敬するのがとてもいい事だと思っています。😊
why are you convinced of christianity?
@kawkaw I suggest you actually read the Bible. Most Japanese Christians I know have no idea about its content. There are so many things in there that defy logic and are unbelievably violent. It is a religion of fear.
Are you the young lady in the interview? I thought in the interview you said it didn't lead you to practicing the religion so I thought you no longer read the Bible, sing hymns or go to church.
@@Sfsew why do you forbid?
Religion is pointless there's no God
I watch your channel all the time to try to understand Japanese culture. This video is probably my favorite so far
I love your channel, Takashi. This was a good topic, and your interviewees answered thoughtfully (as always!)
Awesome video!
TBH the old Christian dude seemed happiest.
True
He did. His face lit up somehow compared to the others
What??
Please do an interview with Japanese people about their relationship with/views on Shinto. It’s something very interesting as an outsider
日本人です。神道の基本的な考え方は全ての者に神様がいると言う考え方です。例えば神道には山の神様もいますし、海の神様もいますしにんじんの神様もいます。全ての者に神様がいると言う考え方です。なので神道は神様は1人ではなく無限にいると考えられています。なのでこのインタピューで神様を信じている人たちは1人の神様を信仰している訳ではなく、よく分からない神様を信仰しているんです。
"I see nature as a reflection of God", that quote (1:13) is the essence of spirituality.
shinto is basically spirituality
Nonsense
@@Timur_Alma-ata Yup lot like you a whole lot of "non-🤪sense"
Jesus spoke the sun, moon, stars, and everything in this world into existence in 6 days, and rested the 7th.
@@hicharbud
God is unique. He is above His creations.
If a human made a house, it doesn't mean that he looks like a house or he is a house. This is nonsense.
In the name of God, the Gracious, the Merciful.
1. Say, “He is God, the One.
2. God, the Absolute.
3. He begets not, nor was He begotten.
4. And there is nothing comparable to Him.”
Such an interesting topic! Love this topic and related topics.
"Born Shinto, marry Christian, die Buddhist" is a common saying that describes Japan's religious syncretism.
"Born Shinto, live Inari, die Buddhist" I heard. Some request Inari for prosperity, a good harvest, good grades, etc.
That’s often said, but for a Japanese, I feel uncomfortable. Because Western culture is cool and fun, wedding ceremonies and Christmas styles are adopted, and the expression “marry” seems exaggerated.
Shinto and Buddhism are deeper and more serious in the Japanese mentality.. Marry christian isn't actually a religious thing but an exotic experience to have opportunity to wear a white wedding dress and be in a western traditional building and take pictures. The minister is just a hired White guy actor, and the choir are usually black American gospel singers set up by a wedding company.. I've been invited a few weddings in Japan.
@@gula_rataYep
@@atashintiiiiiiYeah it is
Hello! I am Japanese and live in Gunma prefecture, which is called the countryside of Japan. I think I am conservative. However, I am not enthusiastic about religion. It is true that Buddhism and Shinto are believed in in Japan, but rather than religion, they are more like a heritage that shows the culture, customs, and traditions of ancestors' history. Festivals exist to give thanks to the gods, but in reality, it is more important for local people to gather and have fun than to give thanks to the gods. Originally, Buddhism and Shinto existed separately in Japan, but the two religions coexisted. About 200 years ago, until the government issued the Shinbutsu Bunri Edict, Buddhist temples and shrines were in the same place, and the monks and priests of the temples deepened their interactions with each other. In simple terms, Shinto shows the history of our ancestors, reverence for nature, and education on lifestyle habits, while Buddhism shows philanthropy, compassion, the afterlife and this world, and was also a means of introducing the culture, politics, fashion, literature, art, and medical technology of ancient China, ancient India, and the ancient Korean peninsula. (Foreign monks who came to Japan taught us many cultures.) These two religions presented something so different that they did not need to fight. (Strictly speaking, there was a war when Buddhism was first introduced to Japan, but they have coexisted since then.) This is just my opinion, but the image of gods that Japanese people have is not one of teaching us something or doing something for us, but of gods who have absolute power and can bring unexpected blessings, but at the same time, they are objects of awe who bring various disasters. This may be a feeling unique to Japan, where natural disasters are very common. It's like the deer god in the Ghibli movie "Princess Mononoke." Therefore, we don't depend on gods or have absolute trust in them like Westerners do, and we don't think that things happen because of god's guidance. Things happen as a result of the path we choose for ourselves, and we have to take responsibility for them and deal with them. That's the idea. Of course, I think the Christian idea is wonderful too!
2:26 is a nice quote. You can believe in the existence of god without participating in any religious practices. I also think it goes back to how you define what god is and what believing means.
Some people define god as The Creator. It doesn't matter whether they're good or bad. Same logic as "the god of a novel is the author"
Some people define god as The Saviour which hence deserves to be worshipped
Some people define god as superior beings that live around us or watch over us, like in many multi theism believes
Others don't think much about it and just do the practices as customs
I share the thought shared by the last person, i also practice my religion alone for myself.
I lived 12 years in Japan & I was always confused when Japanese said “I’m not religious”, because I think most people believe in the supernatural. So even if they say they don’t believe in God/gods, that doesn’t mean they are atheists. In fact, most Japanese I know believe in ghosts. And they talk about 霊感 reikan, being able to feel ghosts, at times. And the people who say who have reikan they take it very seriously, even though they may have said “i don’t have strong believes”. But that “reikan” is a strong belief they have… Don’t ever argue about “reikan” is my advice 😂
TLDR; they may not believe in gods, but they aren’t atheists either because they strongly believe in ghosts.
I think Shintoism is a core part of Japan.
This video was very enlightening. I very much appreciate it and all of your efforts. Thank you so much.
It's interesting to read about Japanese saints and beatified - like Satoko Kitahara (her beatification peocess is ongoing) or Ukon Takayama (beatified by Pope Francis in 2017). Or about another Japanese Catholic, Takashi Nagai. Also about Polish saint (known by many Catholics, in many countries) Maksymilian Kolbe - who came to Japan in 1930 and spent six years there. He established in Nagasaki a Fransiscian monastery (called Mugenzai no Sono - The Garden of the Immaculata), still existing. To build a monastery he chose a place on slopes of a nearby mountain Hikosan (although it was said then them it's not a good place for that). But thanks to such decision the monastery survived, not destroyed, the atom bomb attack. After the attack and after the war also the Franciscians were helping the victims of the war, orphans, homeless, sick etc. Saint Maksymilian Kolbe himself came back in 1936 to Poland - he is worlwide known for giving his life voluntarily for another prisoner in Auschwitz German Nazi concentration camp, where he was murdered (in a hunger bunker) on 14th August 1941 (the prisoner he sacrificed his life for, thanks to him, survived whole war). And another Fransiscian friar who worked for his whole life in Japan, was friar Zeno Żebrowski - he came to Japan in 1930 together with saint Maksymilian Kolbe, but he stayed, and when the war ended he was organizing orphanages and housing for homeless people in Japan, the victims of the war, he was also cooperating with above mentioned Satoko Kitahara (who is going to be beatified by Pope). He died in Tokyo in 1982.
In the city I live in Japan there are a few Catholic statues around town. There’s one beautiful statue of St. Francis Xavier in front of the downtown train station, and another across the street from the prefectural office. One of this city’s most popular souvenir sweets is named “Xavier”.
@@mapinoita279 That's interesting. Which town is this? I've just checked in Internet and found information about Francis Xavier statues in two towns in Kiusiu, one called Oita and the other Kagoshima. Are the sweets named after him good? And are there some more Catholics there, some community of them? There's an TH-camr from my country whose half Japanese (his father moved to Poland many years ago) and visits his Japanese grandpa, who lives in Kiusiu, and his Japanese family are Catholics.
Never understood the point of beatification. Born-again Christians are by that very state saints.
@@GottMoxy well, before during the Roman era people needed to know what they looked like. Of course, things are different know, and I don't think its necessary
Thank you for posting such a well balanced, genuine video!
I’m a Lutheran and it’s interesting to hear the so and not so religious differences in Japan. I am aware that Christian missionaries visited the country around the 18th century or 19th if I can recall so there is some landing but it’s mostly Shintoism/Buddhism depending on the region. I’m just glad people are free to worship whatever they want.
It has been said that Japanese are born Shinto, marry Christian, and die Buddhist - it's about ceremony and how the sacred is situationally experienced. I was baptized and confirmed Lutheran, but grew up in Japan as an expatriate US American. Japan's approach to religion and spirituality taught me to consider the point of any, and all religious / spiritual human foci - all have their own validity. BTW, Jesuit missionaries first came to Japan in the 16th century. And not just any Jesuit... St. Francis Xavier.
@@curtiskimm7225 Ah interesting, so it’s just a wide spectrum of belief & values, well at least it’s tolerable but just in the mind that not a lot people care other than Shintoism/Buddhism. Typically foreign cultures challenge the status quo but I hope people are okay with it.
Thanks for the correction, it was 16th century yet I’m not aware of St. Francis Xavier. I’ll have to research him.
American , German , English ?
One of the most entertaining channels
I agree with everything that the old lady said.
Ps: I loved the voice of the guy from the forest. I could listen to him talk for hours.
The best thing about Shinto which is exclusive to Japan is that its not a religion that also doesnt feel the need of converting others or the need to thump that it is the only true religion. No hell or heaven concept either.
Shinto is exclusive to Japan but the core is essentially the same as germanic/nordic/gaulic paganism. You coukd probably argue Roman/Greek as being close enough to be included.
Yeah ikr
That's what I like about non Abrahamic religions.
Like take any Indian japanese or Chinese religion and they don't force you to believe in God.
Buddhism shintoism Jainism Hinduism Sikhism and taoism
@@Obanai_Iguro720 they dont force you because they are based on heredity and upbringing lmao. They are like the others. At least they are not proselityst like the semitic ones
Its because its based on rayce and nature lmao, they dont convert you because you are not their equal lmao
@@pierren___ no that's not the case. Even the scriptures haven't written any verse of punishment for apostates or atheists or disbelievers.
Nice topic! 👍🥰🙏
親鸞聖人 is the one that answered all my curiosity and brought me deeply into Japanese Buddhism, Shinto & histories. It took me many years to self studies & still learning. Hopefully, U cud help ppl to understand more with your interviews. 💪🏽👍🤟🏽🙏🙏🥰
Thank you for posting, it was an interesting video. I'm looking forward to your video about Japanese Christians as I am a practicing Christian.
Japan seems culturally agnostic when it comes to religion. Still acknowledging churches and shinto temples/shrines as sacred and important, and perform rituals and ceremonies for them. But don’t necessarily follow any religion in particular.
Sadly, nearly all Japanese follow the religion called "Evolution".
Every interesting interview. Thank yoi for sharing this valuable video with us.
日本の宗教観は本当いいと思う。仏教と神道とキリスト教が混ざってて凄くいい。日本の宗教観で問題になることなんて近代ではほとんど起きてないし、僕はこの価値観が大好きだな。
問題にならないことが問題でもあるのです。たとえば明治以後、日本が他国への侵攻をはじめたとき、反対を唱える宗教界の声が小さかった。政府や大衆など、大きな流れに抗議せず、迎合してしまうのです。宗教が問題にならないほどに力も気概もない、ということでもあるのです。
実際神様なんていないし、それぞれが好きに信じたいものを信じればいいが、それらがほかの人の生活を妨害するものであってはいけない。
ただ厄介なのは宗教に関して知識が少ないからこそ変な宗教やカルトに騙されやすいところですね。良いところばかり紹介されて、１つのコミュニティーに所属したい自然な承認欲求だけ勝って騙されて入ってしまうとか。。。
user-xu6, 「近代」。WWIIはもう「古代」か。
I want to learn more about Shintoism
Lovely Takasii!!😘😘
God love Japan and japanese people , God bless you
The guy in the bright orange/yellow shirt is right. Belief in God and religion are not the same. Very insightful.
Also Sakuraco is a great snack box! 😆
If you as a Gaijin feel a connection with Christian beliefs, going to church in Japan is an excellent way to overcome a lot of the social distance that’s usually there, especially towards foreigners. My daughter attends Korean church in Germany, because her best friend is half Korean and she’s a huge K-pop fan. She was accepted with open arms into an otherwise quite secluded community - and she’s learning Korean and Korean customs that way, too.
Your channel is awesome...great topics
Many Japanese people eat KFC on December 25th to celebrate the birth of Saint Colonel Sanders.
24th
神が人々を造ったのではなく、人々が神を創った。
という言葉が我々日本人にはしっくりくるんじゃないのかな？
According to the Dali Lama Buddhism is not a religion, but rather it is a science of the mind.
"With the mind observe the mind."
Yes. Religion means to believe in something. Buddhism says, you should not believe anything. You should practice and proof for yourself if the teachings are correct. If you find out something is wrong with the teachings, discuss about it, and buddhism would adjust then, correct the mistake. Yes, its like science
yea this is correct. Unfortunately, many followers just don’t understand this and often spread misinformation. Like some believers actually believe Buddha is a god and spread that incorrect information. They believe in made up stories without understanding the true meaning or lesson behind those stories.
This is true. Mind observe the mind. People should practice this. I do this for 4 years now.
I still think Buddhism is a religion because at its core is the notion of belief that one should reach nibbana, which means no more rebirths - but the notion of rebirth is not easily tested by the scientific method - though see the work of Ian Stevenson from University of Virginia - his work is interesting, not replicated, and not well accepted.
@@dylanjayatilaka8533 Until now, science could not proof that buddhism is wrong. If its wrong, then buddhism will adjust to science.
If youre interested in buddhism and science, then watch on youtube the documentary about Padmasambhava, the lotus born master and his connection to quantum physics
Hey Takashii, it’s my first day in Japan. I’m staying at All Day Shibuya Hotel. I think you should do a Craft Beer Bar episode. I booked this hotel as it has a great craft beer bar underneath but I would have gone with your recommendation if you had already made a video on the topic. This is a good place to start.
8:39 maybe a lot of Japanese agree that "Belief in god is something different from religion."
Could you explain what that is supposed to mean?
@@robinharwood5044 Religion kind of dictates what customs and practices you should follow to believe in a certain God. Some dictate practices so that you can be in the good graces of God (Muslim, Christian). Belief in god just means you believe a god exists, but that there is no religion that is 100% in sync with god.
Most religions have people/person who were in communication with god, and so dictate what you must do because that is what god told them to do.
That is completely different from someone that just believes a god exists, but that there is no religion that could even communicate what god wants.
For ex, What if a person is a genuinely good person, who helps many people, is tolerant of all walks of life, etc... but doesn't follow religion? Does that mean that person doesn't get into a heaven (if there is one) all because they didn't follow a religion? Does that make sense?
Or what if a person believes in god, but doesn't believe heaven exists? There are different ways of thinking about religion and god.
@@robinharwood5044read about agnostic
@@solenstyle I see what you mean. Of course, belief in god/s is itself religion, but most religions include more than just belief.
@@solenstyle solen, no one is "good", so your analogy breaks down from the start.
Another great Video Takashi! 🫰🏻🫰🏻🫰🏻🫰🏻🫰🏻 From 🇺🇸
Most believe in parts of Shinto though, at least when it comes to keeping the memory of their ancestors alive, or at least they practice it without questioning it
Good and interesting video ty
Buddha never Intended his Teachings
to become a Religion. He just
Preached a Way of Life, called
the Middle Path. 😊
But Buddhism is a religion, it has set of rules, and Buddhism is the reason for the spread of misogyny, gender hierarchy, and social hierarchies to be spread to Japan. Before the arrival of Buddhism Japan was ruled by Women. If you know you know.
What a liar! Lord Buddha is the True Lord.
Abrahamics are nothing more than an image of their jealous Middle East sand god… little automatons.
He wouldn’t be the first or last to have his beliefs turned into dogma, nor the first or last to be worshipped as a god or godlike being himself.
@@fredfonebone5108 Buddha is the Supreme Most. Others are only his servants.
That‘s what we are told. But it’s not unlikely.
My grandfather, who went to war a long time ago, didn't believe in gods and didn't make a Shinto altar when he built his house, but he made a Buddhist altar for his wife. I don't remember having many conversations with him and I don't know what he was thinking, but I remember thinking he was a wonderful person. I think that gods exist in people's wills, regardless of whether they believe in them or not.
As a german woman, i did grow up as buddhist. My japanese husband is not religious, but if he would choose, then buddhism. He is accepting and supporting me ❤ i practice every day
Can you tell me more about your beliefs?
As a Muslim my best understanding of Islam is through Buddhism. Many Muslims I talk to seem surprised and opposed to what I say. The truth is they don't understand why Islam is so impracticable the reason being the Muslims even do not understand what the Islamic teaching entails and how to make it work in everyday life.
@@yamazaki9366 Its tibetan Vajrayana buddhism
@@blume0121 when you say "I practice everyday" how is it showing in your life for example ?
@@AlexandraFR38 Vajrayana Buddhism has deeply influenced my life, grounding me in mindfulness and compassion, shaping how I interact with others and view myself as part of the interconnected oneness of all existence
Can you please make a video interviewing Japanese who practice Shinto? I would watch for sure.
Great discussions! One great thing about Shinto belief is that everyone is encouraged to respect nature as they view it as sacred. It would be interesting to understand if nature itself is its own originator in shinto belief system or nature has an origin and if nature is imparted this sacredness or it was always sacred even before it existed(or it eternally existed?)
Awesome video . Looked like you hard a lot of fun . Glad you made it back safely
Japanese Buddhism is based on ancestor worship, but in most cases, preaching is more like philosophy. It teaches how to calm the mind in times of misfortune, how not to hold grudges against others, the idea of compassion for others, and how to live life without regrets. It is a philosophy, so faith does not mean unconditional help like Christ or Allah. It is a religion that teaches you how to do it, and you have to figure out the rest on your own. Buddhism has the idea of reincarnation, so if one does not live according to the teachings, he or she will have a more difficult life in the next life.
Shinto basically worships the goddess goddess, who is the symbol of the sun, but it also worships a whole host of other gods. There is no need to bother converting to Shinto because most of them are the gods that protect the land of Japan. In other words, no matter what religion you follow, as long as you are in the land of Japan, you are under the watchful eye of the Shinto gods. Whether it is Christianity or Islam, the idea is that you can follow the teachings of God or wish for our own happiness as we wish, but you cannot allow them to pollute the land of Japan. The Japanese gods are merciless and strong. After all, the Shinto gods are in control of natural disasters in Japan. If we believed in Christ or Allah, would we be able to stop earthquakes and typhoons in Japan? It seems absolutely impossible, right? That's why Japanese people don't believe in monotheism.
Almost no one in Japan believes in any of the Shinto "gods".
The whole story of how they supposedly made Japan is ridiculous.
If you have time to interview specific temples and sects and find out what they each put as their main teachings and beliefs and rules, that would be very interesting to see the differences. I know about Tibetan Buddhism and India, but Japanese Buddhism is a mystery.
My Philippines friend told me that she became a believer in Christ while she’s in Japan.
The Philippines is a predominately Catholic.
Foarte buna întrebare ....este bine sa fim atenți la ce spun oamenii și la motivul pentru care au acea părere👍
Thank you for this. Very interesting. I know that Christianity is growing in Japan, especially with younger people.
Very interesting. It looks people altogether do not know what is God. Some of them consider God as helping hand, Some believe that pastor or church is a God, some think God is a concept for getting motivation, which means they have just heard about God Almighty. They are never told comprehensively about concept of God.
On the other hand they have believe, because believe is human need. Some believe in traditions, some believe in good luck and others believe in human efforts.
The concept of God is altogether different from all these concepts.
Religious attendance varies greatly in Europe. To say it is one and the same across all of Europe is plain wrong.
Some examples: the Bible-belt, a region in The Netherlands, is extremely religious. Many Polish people attend church, even multiple days per week and they listen to prayer on the radio.
Yes it is in decline, but there are vast regions where 99% are religious.
Yeah certain regions in Spain have high attendance in church
That is a very interesting topic 👀👏
I am a pastor in the US and visit Japan almost every year with my wife. We visit churches every Sunday when we are there. I am much more progressive than many of these churches as most "mission" churches tend to lean conservative. Many of their goals are to convert. While I believe in spreading the "good news" of Christianity, mainly that God wants all of God's creation to experience fullness especially people and Jesus shows us the way, I dont need people to claim to be Christian. It would be great if they did, but it isn't my goal. In fact, I would say many people who claim to be Christian are far from living the way Jesus calls them to live. American evangelicalism has distanced itself from following the Jesus of the Bible for example.
Also, I have heard my conservative friend say things like, "I feel a demonic force in Japan." How ridiculous and silly. These people didnt open their eyes to the beauty of Japan and its people. I dont say this lightly as a Korean American. I know the history of our peoples. I gained much respect for the spirituality of Japanese people as I would see them stop at those small shrines on the street and pray one the way to work or to home. There is a sense of "I will do my best today..." and a humility of , "help me to my best today..." Many people who claim to be relgious in the western world have lost this "at all moments" connection with their spirituality. Many think as long as I go to church once a week, or even worse, on Easter and Christmas, I am good to go. I will say that Japan definitely has its problems. It was sad to see people lining to gamble first thing in the morning. And yes, we all know about the lonliness problems. There are good Christian ministries doing what they can to bring the community together to build relationships. To me, God loves Japan.
Love your videos, I've been watching for probably over a year now. Wanted to say that your outro doesn't really make sense to a native speaker "thank you for watching so far" would be something you could put in the middle of a video, since you are saying "so far" which implies that there will be more to watch. But at the end, it makes you think there is more to watch. Again, thanks for all the great content, sending love from Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Salam Takashi!
A video on the perception of psychiatry in particular and mental health in general in Japanese society?
Hi Takashi, I watched your posting on religion in Japan. Prior to seeing this, I had seen/read that very very few Japanese believe in Christianity. As a Christian myself, I do feel that the rejection of my faith in Japan is mostly a fault of us not showing the Japanese people why we believe what we believe. However; in the end, it is free will and a person is free to believe what they believe. This trend (against Christianity and ALL faiths) is true in not only the U.S. but all the west.
Please, don't feel bad or blame yourself for not proselytizing Japanese people into what you believe because that's not the reason why so few Japanese are historically fall for your religion.
For me, more I learned about it more I turned against it with its very concept of it which is so bizarre and its pick-and- choose teachings.
I hope you're aware that, in general, Japanese are educated people and it's not going to be easy to convince them with all that out of this worldly stories. On top of that, there is absolutely nothing in common between the middle-eastern religion and Japanese!!
This is my thinking: there were three religions born in the middle east around the roughly same time and they all worship the same entity, and I call all three "CULT", yet they are against each other and busy killing each other ever since!!
They are sad CULTS. 😢
As a child of age five to maybe seven years old, I had a deeply transcendent experience in nature, which is not hard to do if you live the lush green of Oregon in the USA. The conscious realization was this: "everything is god." I use a small "g" because it was not a Christian realization. I realized there is no death and that nothing is really happening, there is nothing to fear because the "you" you think you are is actually the life force itself and is neither created, nor destroyed, and the "you" you ACTUALLY are is spread through all universes. This Force and Consciousness manifests itself in many forms, from so-called "living" and even "inanimate" consciousnesses, constantly recycling "itself." "It" is with you at all times. You need not go looking. I'm eighty now and I still realize this as a truth that revealed itself to a little girl in her grandma's garden.
@@videozz2012 A hog would be the one to recognize itself.
Jesus Christ spoke this world, sun, moon, and stars into existence in 6 days, and rested the 7th.
@@videozz2012 A hog does have consciousness as anyone who has ever slaughtered a hog will attest. They don't want to die. Its consciousness is about at your level. Brute reasoning. Nothing outside the box. Nice try, Punk.
I'd love to learn more about Shinto! If you are able to interview more about that!
I regard the relative lack of religion (and lack of interest in religion) in Japan as a major plus for the country-and certainly Japan hasn’t suffered any great loss because of that.
I can only speak for my own beliefs, but obviously every religion has had people doing horrific things in the name of it. People have free will, this is a concept you can discern more that I couldn’t do justice. There will always be suffering and pain and loss and people hurting others. However… we know Japan has some severe social ills, lack of volunteering, donating (I believe they were last on many global lists) or interest in helping my others and stories of people walking past strangers suffering in need. Never mind loneliness, hopelessness, suicide, isolation… for me, Christ tackles all these things when I face them. And the best part, is that I would help a stranger.. as guided by my faith. So no, Japan is definitely not better off lacking what many religions can offer, moral code and direction, and hope when suffering.
Definitely. I think in the past religion has actually helped the world, but as civilization progresses there is less and less need to rely on something created by people from a bygone era. If modern Japan was "raised" with Christianity as a central religion the country may not have functioned as well as it does today. Though there could have also been benefits, perhaps a positive impact on the work culture. But if we're talking about the future, a non Christian country will do a lot of good (in my opinion at least). (Not mentioning other religions because Christianity is the only religion in Japan with a sizeable (ish) following besides Shintoism and Buddhism which I think have different implications.
I think that too. Some religious people say morality comes from religion, but that's clearly not true
@@lililinda6947 Just to be clear: while religion has had, undeniably, some horrific things carried out in its name, I had in mind the more subtle context in which some things become “issues,” particularly in the US (but not only there): evolution (as opposed to creationism), sex and procreative matters (e.g., abortion, pornography and sex work, marriage), education (prayer and religious invocation, the Ten Commandments in schools), even whether a politician professes “faith” or not. (I recall the 2007 US Presidential debate where journalist Tim Russert asked the candidates to cite their favorite Bible verse.) It’s all, to me, a tremendous waste of time and has _no_ place in the public sphere. (Whether someone wants to have religion inform his or her own view on those things is a personal matter.) And, further, there is a pernicious and highly parochial assumption that “Well, it’s a _given_ that we take the Abrahamic religious view of things into account.” (I don’t.) Japan is gloriously free of all that deadweight.
Does the lack of religion account for the very low ranking of Japan in terms of donations, volunteering or helping strangers on the street? Well, obviously, correlation does not equal causation. On the other hand, Japan has remarkably low rates of crime compared to other far more religious countries-and, if you lose your wallet in Japan, you have a 97% chance of getting it back, with all the cash intact-so it’s really hard to make a case that the lack of religion causes some generalized moral deficit in the country. (And if your faith helps you tackle such problems, I say, as an atheist, that’s great.)
@@bagel_remover8945 I think if you look at more atheistic regimes you would see a lot of death and disregard for human life, like in Mao's China, so no progress doesn't mean to get rid of what helps you see the importance of good, truth and transcendence, that would lead to destruction. The human being has a deep need to believe in something beyond himself and when that isn't too obvious they end up denying God but believing anything else like the state, a mix of many things like syncretism, they believe in science as if it were a religion, which is no good for it. They adhere to activists movements with such fervor that it is religious.
As someone from Turkey, it's really interesting to me. They feel an existence of a God but they are not religious. Also when there are too many religions in their culture. In my country people say "We die for our religion!" so like I said, it's just interesting to me.
dying for the immortal (i.e God) would pack so much more punch than dying for fellow mortals🤣🤣🤣 i.e dying for another human etc
@@aiya5777 If you don't understand, please don't dare kidding. It's annoying and you don't have such a right.
@@merihsavci life is at best, comedy
why so serious?
many people are dying all around th world as we speak right now, do you care about em?
@@aiya5777 If your life is comedy that's your idea, I don't care about. But I can't let you're kidding people of my country. Of course I'll be serious about that. And why do you this much sure that I don't care about people in the world who're dying right now? I watch Palestine news every evening. Palestinians are dying for their religion in a way. Is it a comedy to you?
@@merihsavci the world is really really really big place
the fact that you only mentioned Palestine, has proven that
you're mostly indifferent with unrelated strangers dying every second all around the globe
Palestinians are related to you by prolly religion,
that's why you care about em somewhat
how about many many many unrelated strangers dying in many many many other countries?
you don't care and you know it
This is a great conversation, Takashi! I am yonsei Japanese-American and Buddhist. I have been doing family research, and my great-grandfather immigrated to the US in 1898 and settled in Oakland, CA for a bit. I had found an address and the Oakland Buddhist temple, so it makes me wonder if he was Buddhist (especially the temple seemingly being so close) or maybe he went there for the Japanese community. He eventually went back to Hiroshima and was supposedly attending "church" the day the bomb hit. (yes, he unfortunately perished) But I wonder if he was attending a Buddhist temple, or maybe a Catholic church? In doing research, I was surprised that there were Catholic churches, but I think it was because of missionaries. I also believe Nagasaki had many Catholic churches, or it may have been more popular there?
It was interesting that when the bomb hit, it was a Monday morning. Interesting that it wasn't a Sunday. Maybe that gives a clue on what kind of church he went to?
I’ve always been so interested in Japan’s beliefs and how they often combine Shinto and Buddhism. I’m a practicing Muslim and love how respectful the Japanese are of our faith ❤ so many similarities like washing before prayer and focus on “ihsan” or good etiquette 😊
Islam is forced cult not faith
Very interesting video! Regarding Christianity, it’d also be interesting to interview foreign Christians in Japan, such as the Orthodox Christians for example. There’s a really beautiful church in Kunitachi that has an international community.
Hey Takashii, I think you should interview people who practice these religions like a Buddhist Monk, Christian Father, Shinto Priest etc. I believe they can help us understand how the people of Japan have evolved from the past till now when it comes to practicing religion because they are in regular touch with people who practice these religion and exchange ideas with each other, so they can give a better and broader perspective.
In March 2024, I visited Japan with my 4 daughters and we met @Takashii in Shibuya. We were surprised how much taller he is in person. I wished I had told him of my Japanese Buddhist mom from Kyoto who immigrated to the US and practiced her religion here for many years. Around age 40, she read the Bible and became a follower of Jesus. She is 90 now and doesn’t attend any church, but still believes in Jesus as her Savior. ❤
Beautiful story.
Sounds like my story. 🙏🙌🏻🕊️✨
The man that speaks between the time of 2 minutes and 2 minutes 15 seconds. He is my kind of person. What a dude.
If only there were just a little few more of him.
He knows and he's proper 👊🏽💙
Why are you only asking people in the city, typically you want to ask people in the countryside. Countryside is usually more conservative and spiritual and or religious in any society.
Hello! I am Japanese and live in Gunma prefecture, which is called the countryside of Japan. I think we can say that we are conservative. However, I don't think we are enthusiastic about religion. It is true that Buddhism and Shintoism are believed in in Japan, but rather than religion, they are more like a heritage that shows the transmission of culture, customs, and ancestral history. Festivals exist to give thanks to the gods, but in reality, it is more about local people getting together and having fun than giving thanks to the gods. Originally, Buddhism and Shintoism existed separately in Japan, but these two religions coexisted. Until about 200 years ago, when the government issued the Shinbutsu Bunri Edict, Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines were located in the same place, and the temple priests and Shinto priests deepened their interactions together. Simply put, Shintoism shows the history of our ancestors, respect for nature, and education on lifestyle habits, while Buddhism shows benevolence, compassion, the afterlife and this world. It was also a means to import culture, politics, fashion, literature, art, and medical technology from ancient China, ancient India, and the ancient Korean peninsula. (Foreign monks who came to Japan taught us a lot of culture.) These two religions presented things that were so different that there was no need for them to fight. (Strictly speaking, there was a war when Buddhism was first introduced, but since then they have coexisted.) This is my opinion, but the image of God that Japanese people have is not one of teaching us something or doing something for us, but rather an object of awe that has absolute power and may bring us unexpected blessings, but at the same time brings us various disasters. It's like the Deer God in the Ghibli movie Princess Mononoke.
Very interesting video ❤
Born and raised in Japan.I am Christian but any of my friends nor family are believer.😢
So?
Ok
very interesting!!!
God bless Japan 🇻🇦🇯🇵
I was recently in Okinawa and went to a church there. The goalie of the Japanese National Olympic Team was there with his fiance. He might be someone interesting to interview.
Being spiritual does not necessarily translate to religious. Japan has famously low crime rates... which tells you that you can have morality without religion.
But morality is subjective. Without objective morality, there is no true guidance. In the past, sepukku is moral and an honorable act in japan, but in other places it is barbaric. In some places, prostitution is immoral, while in the west it seems normal. In the future, morality as we see today can and will change. Today, incest is considered a disgusting act, but in the future, maybe it'll be moral for a mother making love to the son. Today, suicide is considered not okay, but for some, it's the only way. If there is no objective morality, why stop someone who wants to liberate themselves from their depression by suicide. In the end we all die and our bodies will turn into fossils anyway. Shouldn't that be a moral thing to let them be free of this world?
The thing is, objective morality only comes with a creator of mankind, and the creator gave objective morality through messengers/prophets as a guide to mankind. So the religion you take for granted also contributed to the laws you see today and gave you guidance on what is moral and immoral. There is the objective truth out there, but you just didn't research or care to look for it enough.
The low crime rate is a result of a shame based education and society. Which brings its very own problems in other aspects of social interaction.
@@capricola8682But there are several problems with that kind of reasoning. First, throughout history, there have been thousands of proclaimed gods and phrophets, many of which have very different teachings and world views. How do you know which one(s), if any, are actually credible? Second, how is it automatically an objective, correct statement, when a prophet or god says anything about morality? Do we now not only have another opinion about what's moral and what isn't? How do you know that particular teaching of a god is moral? This relates to the Euthyphro dilemma: is something merely good because a god says so, or does the god say so because it is good? Either way, there is a problem because either morality becomes arbitrary since it is whatever a god states (if god said murder was good, it then would be good) or there is no need for god in this regard, since god is merely pointing out something which is true irregardless of his words.
I think we can develop sound moral principles based on rational discourse and a thorough evaluation of the consequences of our actions on the lives and well-being of sentient beings.
@@capricola8682 you just very eloquently proved how there is no objective morality and there is also no need for it. your second paragraph is in complete contrast with the first and makes no sense. also, many people live normally after failed suicide attempts, so it is moral to give them that chance. But also, i agree one should have control over ones own life, including death.
@@capricola8682which creator? You just think you looked.
My wife grew up Buddhist, but converted to Protestant, later in life. I was a Catholic who then became non-denominational. We are happily married.
I love being surrounded by rational people. Been here 18 years, and like the Japanese I toss the occasional coin into a temple or shrine, just because I appreciate the culture, not because I have any belief.
Jay, Sorry to hear you don't currently value your soul like your Creator, Jesus Christ does.
Hi Takashi... ❤
I recently watched the Shogun series and it was outstanding the clothing the hospitality the women and general rules of engagement etc...
Is it possible for you to interview folks and ask what they think off the show and if there is anything else they can add or remove?...and how accurate is it to the era the show is being shot in😊.
Arigato ❤❤
One of the things i like best about modern Japan is that it maintains rituals and respect for nature and other people without the hypocrisy and self-righteousness that often comes with religion. I guess the last time the Japanese believed god had given them permission to engage in horrific behavior was WWII, and that didn't work out too well for them. I wish the apologists and fundies in America, who claim to know the unknowable, and who grant themselves an unearned moral authority, would learn the same lesson.
bad ppl will do bad things, but religion can make even good ppl do bad things, and also feel good about it.
Well said guy at 2:16 so many people dont seem to understand this. I dont have a religion but i do believe in God
I am not at all religious myself. So I am very pleased with the answers of the Japanese people in the video. They seemed friendly and thoughtful, very intelligent. I think, their attitude towards religion is one of the reasons why Japan seems such a good country for living, why it is safe and pleasant. Religious people tend to be more violent, more intrusive, more bullying, more willing to subdue others to their will, all in the name of a god (and whilst believing that they are the "good people" and others evil for not believing).
Japan feels like a breath of fresh air in contrast to that! Very pleasant. I hope to visit the country soon and I could even imagine living there. I am German, "born" into Catholicism, never felt religious and rejected all religions already as a young adult, for many and good reasons. But the idea of appreciating nature, like Shinto seems to teach, is a valuable thought that I deeply share.
all, you do realize that the foundations of the Shinto religion is what helped drive Japan into WWII, don't you?
Thank you for this very interesting video. I would be curious to hear from those who are involved in religion in Japan.