Japan is the only developed country where people openly espouse two distinct and incompatible religions at the same time — Buddhism and Shinto. The Japanese go to Shinto shrines for weddings and children’s celebrations. They go to Buddhist temples for funerals. Shinto shrines are sometimes found within the precincts of Buddhist temples, and vice versa, so it’s possible to beseech Buddha and the fox god in the same ten minutes.
To confuse the picture still further, Japan is one of the most secular places on Earth: atheism is practised simultaneously with the other mutually incompatible religions. My Japanese wife, for example, visits and prays at temples and shrines, but in all other respects takes a scientific attitude to the world (and is trained in medicine). Temple- and shrine-going are deeply embedded in Japanese daily life, and the myriad places of worship are well-maintained and prosperous. I have never seen a temple or shrine undergo the fate of a church in the West; that is, to be ‘repurposed’ as an art gallery, puppet theatre or café. Such an idea is very odd.
Other developed countries practise religious pluralism, whereby incompatible religions tolerate one another, but the case of Japan is different: toleration is not the same as actual belief.
Because religious syncretism is seen as natural and normal, Christianity too has been allowed into the mix. When a couple get married, they do so first at a Shinto shrine, and then, very often, after a costume change, in a Christian ‘chapel’. But there aren’t enough real priests or real chapels to cope with the demand, so 99 per cent of Christian-style wedding services are done with a ‘fake priest’ in a ‘fake chapel’. Sometimes the fake priests are western English teachers looking to make some easy money.
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