JAPAN: Spiritual, Religious Groups Rise amid Material Affluence

By Suvendrini Kakuchi Reprint | | Print |

Suvendrini Kakuchi

TOKYO, Jul 9 2002 (IPS) - Ichiro was unemployed 10 years ago when he joined a 300-strong organisation led by a leader who encourages followers to get in touch with their inner feelings to “understand” themselves better.

“The teachings were my first encounter with the spiritual world,” he says of ‘Mebusi’, a type of physical training that supposedly helps people get in touch with their inner selves.

” I have no regrets as I believe the teachings have built my confidence and made me ready to take on the responsibilities of the real world out there,” he adds.

Now 36, Ichiro has hopped from job to job since he finished high school. He believes that part of his economic instability stems from the lack of deeper spiritual roots, recalling that he was not exposed to religion at home in his childhood days.

“When I was lonely or sad, my mother just told me to study harder and that things would get better when I get a good job,” he says. “I just longed for some spiritual healing.”

Surveys indicate that almost 80 percent of Japan’s 127 million people say they do not actually practise a specific religion.

Most say they are Buddhist or Shinto in relation to funerals or specific customs – which is why officially, nearly 95 percent of Japanese are Buddhist and Shinto followers. Many actually follow more than one religion.

But at present, scholars estimate that there are almost 2,000 new cults and religious groups of all sorts operating in the country.

Likewise, large groups such as Tenrikyo, a respected Buddhist sect, claim many followers. Among the new sects are Kagayaku Ora no Kai, which helps followers develop spiritual awareness, and the Unification Church.

“The Japanese claim to have no religion but there is no denying there are an increasing number of people interested in spiritual matters at a time of economic and social breakdown,” says Toshimaru Ama, a professor of history at Meji Gakuin University.

Experts point out that Japan’s economic depression — unemployment is now close to 6 percent — and social upheaval — crimes by young people are rising — has encouraged more people to turn to religion and spirituality.

While this interest and need has fueled the birth of notorious cults, such as Ho-no-hana, whose leader was arrested last year for swindling money from its followers, Ama explains it should not be concluded that new religious groups are merely superstitious ones or lack deeper thought.

Analysts explain that Japan’s religious background is actually a mix of various religions. Buddhism entered from China and joined the indigenous Shinto faith, which comprises myths about the origin of Japan and follows various rituals in the worship of nature.

The Meiji Restoration in 1868 was a turning point. During that time, Shinto became the state religion, under which the emperor was a god. This reinforced Japanese nationalism, which led to military aggression of parts of Asia and on to World War II.

Japan’s defeat at the end of the war led to its occupation by the United States, during which a new Constitution separating religion and the state was embraced by a public fed up with militarism.

The next 50 years after that was a time when everybody in war-torn Japan focused on economic development, according to Susumu Shimzano, who teaches religious studies at Tokyo University.

Religion, he explains, was sidetracked for economic gains and also because of district by some religion because of its links with the militaristic past.

Indeed, a 2000 survey by the Japanese daily ‘Yomiuri Shimbun’ on the role of religion shows that only 30.7 percent of the almost 2,000 respondents said they believed religion is important in their pursuit of happiness. This, experts said at the time, is an indication of the lack of a spiritual role in the lives of the Japanese.

Hiromi Shimada, a religious scholar, agrees that religion plays a shallow role in Japanese society.

The role of religion becomes obvious during a funeral or important celebrations such as a new birth, he explains, but this also limits its function to rituals and only certain aspects of life. This lack of deep roots, he says, is why a large number of new religions have been able to mushroom in Japan.

Indeed, some say that the fact that many Japanese are joining new religious groups shows their yearning for “mental balance” that is not provided by economic affluence.

“The rise of new religions indicate a new generation with its own needs, but Japan’s political and social leaders have no caught up with these needs,” says Shimada.

Social isolation may have been what led 38-year-old Tomomitsu Niimi, a leader of the banned AUM Shinrikyo cult who was sentenced to death last week for involvement in the sarin gas attacks in Tokyo subways in 1995, to the group in the first place.

The Japanese media reports that Niimi was taunted in school for a physical deformity, leaving him lost and with no confidence in life. During his trial, Niimi said he still relies for guidance on AUM founder Asahara Shoko, alleged to have masterminded the gas attacks.

Asahara, who founded AUM cult in 1986, is a self-proclaimed prophet who taught A mixture of Buddhism and mysticism as a way to salvation. At its height, the cult boasted of having 10,000 members, most of them college students unhappy with modern life.

Despite its heinous crimes, AUM continues to exist under a group with a new name, Aleph. It is under close watch by the police.