ENGL1302 - Japan: Culture and Religion

This study examines how well disaster myths were rooted in Japanese people after the Great East Japan Disaster, as well as the effects of information sources on these misconceptions. Five common disaster myths are covered (panic, psychological shock, looting, increases in the crime rate, and material convergence), and information sources were divided into two types: public and private. Three hundred participants were asked how much credit they would give the five myths and which information sources they would rely on in post-disaster situations. The results found that, as in Western societies, these disaster myths do exist among Japanese people. Also, only public sources of disaster information, such as television and Internet news websites, had some effect on the degree of belief in disaster myths, while private sources, such as one's family, friends, and social networking sites, did not. Factors affecting the degree to which people believe in disaster myths are also discussed.

Analyzes the resiliency that Japan's traditional religion has displayed since the pre-war days despite major economic and political changes. Japanese Supreme Court cases involving religious freedom; Legal and social antecedents for the Supreme Court decision on a suit concerning the enshrinement of the soul of a dead soldier; Tenets of Shinto tradition; Sociological analysis of the code of Japanese culture.

This study introduces data from a new random sample of Japanese adults. Findings show that reporting of distress symptoms are: (1. positively associated with a religious coping index (i.e., beliefs that religion or supernatural beings provide comfort, support or protection), (2. associated in different directions with ownership of different household altars (positively for Shintō altars and negatively for ancestor altars), (3. negatively associated with frequency of ancestral grave visitations, (4. positively associated with certain beliefs (e.g., in supernatural beings), and (5. generally do not differ per religious identification (e.g., religious vs. not religious). Also, physical health and "balance in life" (i.e., balance between work/household obligations and leisure) are strongly and negatively associated with depression symptoms. Results indicate important distinctions between Japan and the United States concerning the relationship between religion and psychological distress.

In this article based on extensive ethnographic interviewing of eighty-six Japanese adults, I analyze the different ways in which they understand life after death, and consider the societal implications of their views. I examine senses of life after death as based in communion with departed family members as linked to practices of ancestor veneration and ideologies of Japaneseness. I consider heaven/hell or reincarnation as linked, through the idea of impartial judgment of the individual, to meritocracy and the examination system. I examine agnosticism and relativism in senses of life after death as linked to the idea that individual freedom of choice may exist in the next world if not necessarily within the constraints of this Japanese world. I examine disbelief in any realm beyond the grave, and the symbolic immortality pursued through ‘leaving something behind’, whether one's creative works, one's children, or one's return to nature, with all the societal implications these different pursuits hold. This article's analysis demonstrates, through its ethnographic exploration of senses of life after death, the linkages between realms of imagination in today's Japan and the different potentially emerging social orders of tomorrow's Japan.

An essay is presented in which the author considers the stoicism and self-discipline of the Japanese people in the face of an earthquake that occurred in March 2011, particularly how Shinto and Zen Buddhism can help people to cope. The writings of Dogen (1200-1253) and of poet Matsuo Basho are considered as are older beliefs in a storm god. The role of the Japanese government in dealing with the aftermath of the earthquake and the fact that sovereignty lies with the Japanese people are considered.