So listen to me, I often get this question. But, this is
quite difficult to answer. Ok, before I tell you about that,
let me explain quickly about the religions.
So this is what the religions in Japan look like.
But probably, you are not familiar with this, right?
That's because Shinto is a purely Japanese religion.
No other country has this.
It's a kind of ritualistic belief system that believes in multiple Kami,
which is often translated as "gods" in English.
Basically, we believe that almost anything has Kami.
Kami for trees, Kami for sea,
Kami for mountains,
Kami for sky, or anything.
But Kami are usually associated with natural phenomenon.
So they are actually considered more like spirits
rather than specific beliefs or actual gods.
Unlike Christianity or Islam, it has no official
founder or missionary,
, it doesn't have that concept.
That's actually the reason why Shinto and Buddhism
have been coexisting peacefully. Shinto is basically
just to engage with
through a ritual like wedding, funeral,
festival, or a national sport event.
Ok, this is an important point many people misunderstand.
The concept of Kami in Japan
is not actually gods.
That's a completely wrong translation. And Japanese people
believing in Shinto are not necessarily theists.
So let's just get back to the question,
According to a survey, about 80% of Japanese people practice
Shinto or Buddhism, more or less. Such as going to a shrine
or temple at New Year's Eve.
Yes, 80%. That sounds like a lot.
That seems like we are really religious people, right?
Technically speaking. But it's actually more like just
tradition or ceremony, rather than practicing
a religion. We don't have any scripture or
dogmatic beliefs. Nobody identifies themselves as
Buddhists or Shintoists. So maybe you
could say that we are actually atheists, but
not exactly, in my opinion. Here's the thing,
we RARELY talk about religion.
It's not even a conversation topic at all. Of course,
I can't speak for everyone. But at least the Japanese people
I asked, "Do you believe in God?"
Almost everyone said, "I don't know,
"I guess I do? But,"
 
Yeah, you get my point.
Probably a majority of Japanese people. including me,
answer like this. Actually, until my audience
asked me that, it never came into my mind.
You see, we are just so indifferent in religion.
So when you ask random Japanese people
"What's your religion?" Probably they say they believe in Shinto
or Buddhism. But I'm sure they actually know
nothing about the religion. So in the end,
I wouldn't say Japanese people are
They are more like
I know, it's probably not a 100% accurate word
but if I have to label them by English word,
I would say this is the closest word that describes
Japanese people. By the way, speaking of religions,
I am often asked this question too.
Why do Japanese people have a
even though they are not religious? Ok, first of all,
I'm not really sure religion
has something to do with morality. If you just compare
the most religious countries and the least
religious countries and think about which one looks more
peaceful and stable as a country, you can see that
right? According to this article, there is actually
no correlation between religious countries and
high homicide rate countries. Some people believe that
if you don't believe in God,
there is no morality.
But maybe that's not the case actually. So the reason
why Japan doesn't have a lot of crimes is the
in my opinion.
I would say most Japanese people think like this.
If you do something bad,
other members of the same group you belong to
like company, school, or family
This mentality
STRONGLY encourages us to behave well
and prevents us from commiting crimes.
Of course, I know. That could be a bad thing. in fact,
living in Japan, I think we tend to be like this
because of the strong group mentality.
Not everything is great. There are pros and cons.
Having said that, I wouldn't say all religion
has nothing to do with our morality. I remember when I was
in elementary school. My teacher always said,
 
Like I said earlier,
Kami is EVERYWHERE. anywhere you go,
according to Shinto. And if you feel like somebody
is always monitoring you, you don't wanna do
bad things. Of course, I am not gonna say that's the only
reason, but growing up in Japan,
maybe Shinto has a big influence on the
behavior of Japanese people, to some extent,
subconsciously. School teaches like that
when it comes to morality. Okay, lastly,
let me tell you the reason why I made this
video in the first place. Some people are saying it like this,
"If you are a religious person unlike Japanese,"
"you shouldn't go to Japan. You just don't"
"fit in the society. People will just think you are weird." That's just a ridiculous assumption.
Just because we don't believe your religion, it doesn't mean
we don't want to interact with you. Because your religion
is NOT your only identity. We know that
every Christian is different. Every Muslim
is different. Maybe Japanese people you are gonna meet
are quite ignorant about your religion. And that might be
even offensive for you.
But don't think that we are strongly against
your religion entirely.
Definitely its not. We are just indifferent
and just don't care whatever your religion is.
So, don't be afraid of talking with people or
making friends in Japan. My message is
regardless of your religion, you can come to Japan
and
 
 
