Japan became one of the most industrialize countries in the world; it has grown rapidly in the economic arena, however, religious liberty in Japan is still in maturing. Different from the United States and other Western countries in where the principle of separation of church and state took place, Japanese tradition continues with the usual patter in where governments control religion. Most Japanese people do not identify themselves adherent to a single religion; instead they incorporate different elements from various religions. Japan enjoys religious freedom. Minority religious like Islam, Hinduism and Christianity are practiced as well. But census perform in Japan show that 70% of its population prefers not to affiliate with any religion, 65% do not believe in God, 55% do not believe in Buddha. This numbers create many question in whether Japan’s modern lifestyle and religion beliefs create conflict among the Japanese population. It’s this rapidly modernization of Japan leaving traditions outside Japanese culture?
Japan’s religious belief and Japan’s modern, materialist society create and ideological conflict that kept on growing. Contradictions between the old and the new, modernity and tradition are part of the contemporary issues of religion in Japan. Ideological conflicts like this create repercussion leaving a schism in the psyche. Because of this, beliefs and life styles of the Japanese community grow to become more difficult giving as a result internal confusion and isolation. As Japan’s economic power grows, Japanese people are able to enjoy many goods and more modern urban areas and cities. Japan industrial era and religion’s messages creates conflict in the Japanese society. People are facing struggle while tryi...
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Compare And Analysis The Japanese Buddhism And Indo Buddhism Buddhism is a religion and philosophy founded by Siddhartha Gautama in northeast India during the period from the late 6th century to the early 4th century BC. Spreading from India to Central and Southeast Asia, China, Korea, and Japan, Buddhism has played an influential role in the spiritual, cultural, and social life of much of the Eastern world. It is the prevailing religious force in most of Asia (India, China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, and Tibet). ‘Buddhism’ is reformulated and re-expressed in different cultures and at different times, adopting and redefining aspects of the cultures in which it has taken root. Today, there are about 300 million followers. (Yamplosky) The Indian religion Buddhism, founded in the sixth century BC, is one of the common features of Asian civilization, and Buddhist institutions and believers are found all over East, South, and Southeast Asia. While Buddhism is now just a minority belief in the country of it’s founding, it remains a significant religious and cultural force in Japan today. Buddhism started in India and made its way to China and Korea. From there, it ended up in Japan. Buddhism went through several different periods before it became Japan's national religion. In indo Buddhism, the temple is the main sanctuary, in which services, both public and private, are performed but Japanese Buddhism is mainly hub of individual activities and services. Similarly to Japanese Buddhism, in Indo Buddhism the monastery is a complex of buildings, located usually in a spot chosen for its beauty and seclusion. Its function is to house the activities of the monks. Images are important features of temples, monasteries, and shrines in both Indo a...
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Japan has been a home for Shinto and Buddhist religions for centuries. The Christian missionaries during the 16th, 19th and 20th centuries worked hard to evangelize the Japanese nation but could not get desired success. There efforts in past failed partly due to sanctions imposed by the local rulers. The Jesuits missionaries traveled with Spanish and Portuguese traders to many areas of America and Asia-Pacific and established their churches and religious missions. They were funded, sponsored and trained by their respective governments in order to spread Christianity. At several places they preached the Christian faith by force but the aboriginal population did not accept it wholeheartedly. Initially the Jesuits targeted the elite class of the country and a large number was converted. The rulers also forced their subject to embrace the same faith. About 300,000 Japanese were converted in the first phase. Later on, Christianity was prohibited as the rulers started seeing them as a threat to their authority. Following a change of regime, the ban was lifted and missionaries were again allowed to enter Japan. Like many Native American tribes, the Japanese also resisted the new religion. As a result, presently Christians form only 1% of the total population in Japan. This paper is focused on how the Christian religion was introduced in Japan, the evolution of evangelism, establishment of churches, the restrictions and hurdles faced by the missionaries and priest of the new religion and the response of Japanese nation towards an alien faith. All these queries are answered in detail given as follows.
...ty for one that better suited its capitalistic tendency. That opportunity came in1868 when the Meiji imperial rule was able to overthrow the Tokugawa regime, setting off a political, economic, social and cultural change that transformed Japan. As Japan embraced modernity with full force, some began to realize the negative impact of modernization on the rural life, social structure and most importantly on its culture, blaming it on the western influence on its modernization. Thus as Japan neared World War II, it embraced a new sense of modernization, one that was separate from westernization, creating a nationalistic and fascist government policy. Japanese society is characteristic of plurality and opposing value systems coexisting. As new ideals and institutions arise, Japan sees itself transforming and changing at the hands of internal and external forces.
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Fourteenth century Japan was a time of peace for many people. Buddhism had just become a major part of Japanese culture due to the Shogun Yoshimitsu. He became ruler in 1367 at the sapling age of ten (Waley 21). Yoshimitsu needed to distinguish himself from his ancestors and he did this by being devoted to Buddhism, specifically the Zen Sect (21). “Zen Buddhism and the life and teaching of Shinran are popularly identified as typical Japanese Buddhism.” (Takeda 27) However Buddhism, in Japan, is different and unique from Buddhism in other countries because it is considered the “funeral religion” (27). This is mainly influenced by ancient Japanese beliefs of the onryo.
These factors affected collective and individual identity as Japan tried to redefine itself (Slater 2011). There was a move away from wartime discourses such as, “personal sacrifice for traditional Japan, understood as a moral, hierarchical sociopolitical order” (Slater 2011:104). Rather, a new construction of social identity was emerging which was associated with personal achievement in a meritocratic society (Slater 2011). Additionally, Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai (1954) addresses issues surrounding Japanese identity, class structure and nationhood (Yoshimoto 2000). Japan’s disorientation over their national cultural identity is emblematic of Kikuchiyo’s character (Yoshimoto 2000).
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Therefore, filial piety remained inherent to Japanese society in the period following World War II—the era of high-speed
Western people influenced Japanese people to follow the American culture. The western culture had a huge impact in the Japanese people because American’s were in Japan’s territory so they decided to follow the western culture. ‘’After Japan surrendered in 1945, ending World War II, Allied forces led by the United States occupied the nation, bringing drastic changes. Japan was disarmed, its empire dissolved, its form of government changed to a democracy, and its