Contrary to what most people might think, Japan is arguably one of the most religiously unaffiliated countries in the world. Up to 57% of individuals in the country indicate that they do not belong to any religious affiliation (Gul, 2018). It is no wonder, therefore, that striking a balance between tradition and modern elements imminent in the Japanese and United States culture is bound to be a daunting task. The U.S. is the leading nation in terms of religion in the world. There are many diverse religions with Christianity bearing the greatest significance (Henning, 2000). This contrasts with Japan where most individuals do not believe in religion.
The Shinto and Buddhist historical religious connotations clearly play no significant part in the religious beliefs of the Japanese. Some religious practices which are experienced in Japan such as Shichi-Go-San are, however, representative of the beliefs held by a section of the population ( Gul, 2018 ). Japan is also more of a homogeneous society where a majority of individuals may decide to focus on certain aspects pertaining to spiritualty, unlike the heterogeneous society of the Americans whereby individuals belonging to different cultures seek to join divergent religions ( Insoll, 2011 ).
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For a religious American, moving to Japan might be a disheartening experience since it is likely that they may end up participating in their own religious practices without any involvement of the Japanese residents. It would be very unusual for a religious person living among people who willingly claim not to hold any religious inclinations ( Ellwood, 2016 ). In the U.S. religion even stops people from participating in criminal activities unlike the Japanese culture where only the law of the land is utilized in a bid to reinforce lawfulness. Despite religion acting as a form of disunity in the United States whereby Muslims often experience dejection, it is deemed to be a symbol of unification, yet this is clearly missing in the Japanese culture. No one can, therefore, assume to be aware of the Japanese way of life unless they seek to reside there and become part of the normative experience so that they can learn to appreciate their own American heritage.
References
Henning, J. M. (2000). Outposts of Civilization: Race, Religion, and the Formative Years of American-Japanese Relations . NYU Press.
Insoll, T. (Ed.). (2011). The Oxford handbook of the archaeology of ritual and religion . Oxford University Press.
Ellwood, R. (2016). Introducing Japanese Religion . Routledge.
Gul, H. (2018, February 27).How Japan is Both Spiritual and Not Spiritual at the Same Time. The Hoot News . Retrieved from https://sites.temple.edu/thehootnews/2018/02/27/how-japan-is-both-spiritual-and-not-spiritual-at-the-same-time/
