Learn Japanese pitch-accent and pronunciation from my Patreon Series "Japanese Phonetics" / dogen Dogen / Dōgen / Japanese / 日本語 / Religion in Japan / Are Japanese people religious? / Christianity in Japan
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@CaptainHandsome9 ай бұрын
It's cool that you can have a conversation about religion during your game of DDR
@NanomachineExE9 ай бұрын
🤣
@jiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii9 ай бұрын
The Zen of silent-mode DDR.
@Anolaana9 ай бұрын
That would certainly explain the jogging motion Dogen is doing lol
@Dogen9 ай бұрын
brought to you by Butterfly
@azurepulse18709 ай бұрын
Green, black, and blue make the colors in the sky. @@Dogen
@keakuma9 ай бұрын
Also, let's buy some omikuji and an amulet on our way out... by the way, lately I feel my shoulders stiff, do you think some bad spirit may be following me? maybe I'll ask the kannushi to perform a harai on me...
@laxminarayanbhandari8559 ай бұрын
笑
@muhammedjaseemshajeef67816 ай бұрын
I am not religious The same person 😂
@Killermatt-mn6qc9 ай бұрын
My Japanese religion professor in college was a total rockstar. He was telling our class one day how someone asked one of his head monks (he was training as a monk) what religion they were and they answered “non religious” but when the question was changed to “what house of Buddhism does your family follow” they were able to give a more in depth answer. Really a cool story and how Japanese people think religion and Buddhism are different
@kakahass88459 ай бұрын
@@SpacePopeIIII don't think Japan told Christianity to go away if I remember correctly until a British guy came there and convinced them to kill the Christians Japan actually had a non-insignificant population of Christians but this could be just a fairy tale of history.
@kani-licious9 ай бұрын
@@SpacePopeIII they are essentially pagans. The japanese practice shintioism regularly, marry in churches and attend funerals the buddhist way. In other countries that kind of mixed practice would be considered blasphemy.
@xaphon899 ай бұрын
@cunnylicious Christians celebrate Christmas by going to church and also decorating a tree in their house
@doctorakiba9 ай бұрын
Religion is simply when people believe a myth to be true and are steadfast about that view. Buddhism is more of a discipline than a religion. It cares less about having belief in myths (and adherence to it) and focuses on self growth. Weirdly enough, despite having a ton of deities (or maybe because of it), Shintoism has a ton or interesting stories behind it but does not force people to blindly believe. At the very least, doesn't vilify non-believers.
@bitfreakazoid9 ай бұрын
@@xaphon89 And?
@brandonhughes40769 ай бұрын
I’ve always heard that in Japan religion is something you “do,” not something you “believe.”
@ernstschmidt47259 ай бұрын
it's just traditions, for getting good luck, avoiding bad luck ya know. nothing you need believe on it right?
@TheOvy9 ай бұрын
@@MaxIronsThird Same reason non-Christians will nonetheless celebrate Christmas -- cause it's fun, cause it's social, cause it's nostalgic, cause it's habitual, etc.
@henrym50349 ай бұрын
Some people classify religion as “what you do” and faith “what you believe”.
@frafraplanner92779 ай бұрын
Meanwhile Protestantism has "sola fide" (Latin for "only faith")
@satyakisil97119 ай бұрын
@@TheOvy or why atheists say "oh my God".
@FutureAIDev20159 ай бұрын
I feel like the point of this video is how Japanese society tends to gravitate more towards the ritualistic side of religion rather than the dogmatic side, because rituals tend to give you a sense of structure and order.
@SkinnyBlackout9 ай бұрын
Dogenmatic side.
@tomispev9 ай бұрын
Some religions are more about orthodoxy (right belief) while other are more about orthopraxy (right action).
@kimitohanahala86749 ай бұрын
It's not really about what side, it's that both are traditional practices that different people from different places have been used to and still carries out today out of habit.
@carljones96409 ай бұрын
Ironically, religious or spiritual rituals are dogma.
@melonlord14149 ай бұрын
I think one aspect is the influence of Confucianism that lies a strong focus on rituals
@runespar9 ай бұрын
I came across a comment years ago that said that Japan's real religion is its culture. The higher power isn't some deity, rather it's society's expectations.
@ChadKakashi9 ай бұрын
That’s some hardcore religion.
@CerridwenAwel9 ай бұрын
Very perceptive of the commenter
@Jordan-inJapan9 ай бұрын
20+ years living in Japan as a foreign-resident, and I totally agree with that statement!
@oooow68619 ай бұрын
as a japanese, It's true.
@寝太郎三年-g6g9 ай бұрын
クリスマスを祝った一週間後、寺にお参りし、その翌日に神社に行くことに違和感を持たない国にっぽん
@yeehaw6939 ай бұрын
Japan: The country where one week after celebrating christmas you go to the buddhist temple, and the day after that you go to the shinto shrine without it feeling weird.
@poniso91429 ай бұрын
@@yeehaw693 俺が小さい頃にクリスマスにKFCは無かったが、、、これも神道なんか?
@Cthulhu-l_-n-_l-b9 ай бұрын
@@poniso9142あのチキンの美味しさは神レベルだよ よって神道
@zUJ7EjVD9 ай бұрын
In America 65% of Americans identify as Christians, 41% attend church regularly. In Australia those numbers are 44% and 8% respectively. So America definitely does have a high rate of church attendance, although not universal.
@soffio20009 ай бұрын
41% attend regularly? I'm from Italy and like, what the hell. EDIT: I looked it up and, for reference, in Italy the people who attend a place of worship on a weekly basis are the 18% (ISTAT), with 80% of the population being christian (read: baptised. Reminder to self: formally reject faith already).
@hoangdung74949 ай бұрын
is there difference between Christian church and Catholic?
@parkerkeller97789 ай бұрын
@@soffio2000 i have to imagine that there's either a really loose definition of "regularly," or perhaps some older and/or regional (i.e. Southern/bible belt) groups that are really lifting those numbers. Almost nobody I know goes to church at ALL, let alone enough to consider themselves "regulars"
@Eldiran19 ай бұрын
41% "regularly" ? wtf? and what does that mean? One time per month? I'm not american (thanks god!) but these numbers seem a bit exagerated, don't you think?
@insertnicknamehere9 ай бұрын
@@hoangdung7494 catholic is one of the many branches of christianity, too many of them to list.
@dtst-j5n9 ай бұрын
Hey Japanese here. I recently found out that me and my people are religious than I originally thought, however, most people (including me) wouldn't say that they believe in a specific religion. To my understanding, this is because we are animists and not shintoist nor buddhist etc.... This is probably because shintoism(which many japanese believe in in some way) is a polytheistic religion, meaning there are many gods in one religion, and also because shintoism doesn't have rules/scriptures like the bible or the koran. Because of the 1st one, every single religion can theoretically be included in shintoism. Like if Amaterasu (the sun god) is God No.1 , budda could just be God No.2 , and so on. And because of the 2nd one, any "religion" is understood as a part of a culture rather than a belief or a rule that you follow. I personally go to my local shrine for new years, celebrate christmas, go to a buddhist funeral and wish for the dead during the Bon festival. I don't even know if the last one is a religious thing or not, but you get the point.
@Astavyastataa9 ай бұрын
I think praying for the spirits of the dead is definitely religious.
@ActionGamerAaron9 ай бұрын
Animism isn't inherently religious, but it is supernatural and not based on scientific evidence.
@Astavyastataa9 ай бұрын
Yes it is. Religion ≠ Abrahamism@@ActionGamerAaron
@noseboop43549 ай бұрын
@@Astavyastataa Japan must be the only OECD country which doesn't have widespread Abrahamism.
@TheDarklugia1239 ай бұрын
But what do you think that happen to the dead? Do you believe that there exist something supernatural (souls, life after death, gods and spiritual beings, destiny,etc)? Sorry to bother, I'm just curious, because this is a spirituality a bit hard to understand for a westerner like me.
@jembawls9 ай бұрын
This reminds me of a time I was under the Umeda Sky Building in Osaka around Christmas time. They had a bunch of Christmas stalls set up, including a nativity scene with baby Jesus in a manger. However what I noticed BLEW MY MIND. Baby Jesus was COVERED in coins. People had been hurling these small metal discs at this baby, presumably, out of respect. My non-Japanese brain could only imagine that perhaps the folks there were mimicking the customs at temples/shrines where you throw coins into the little pit before praying? And so it's a perfectly reasonable thing to do I guess given that it's a religious symbol and the customs already established in Japan, but as an Australian who was raised Christian it was very bizarre at first glance. I had never seen anyone throw coins at a baby before (Jesus or otherwise) so that was new. A very cherished memory 😂
@Jordan-inJapan9 ай бұрын
Were they 5¥ coins? That would kind of make sense.
@kokorochacarero80039 ай бұрын
Hey, one of the gifts given to baby Jesus by the 3 magic kings (idk how anglophones refer to them) was gold, so it's kinda lore-accurate
@jembawls9 ай бұрын
@@kokorochacarero8003 true. and i believe we refer to them as the "3 wise men". I prefer magic kings though xD
Closet wannabe Christians? 😂 “I don’t what to switch over, but I’ll still try to gain KIRISUTO’s favor. “ 😅
@LanguageSimp9 ай бұрын
Maybe I should learn Japanese...
@alythesniper27379 ай бұрын
do it, learn anime language and finaly become a true gigachad alphamale attractive to all females, and weebs on the planet
@fakeusers29 ай бұрын
Jozu desu ni 😂
@НиколайНиколаев-г8в9 ай бұрын
You already our dear waifu.
@brunoboy11439 ай бұрын
YEEEEEESSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!! お願い!!!!!!
@WolffStaedtler9 ай бұрын
You have to learn Japanese. There is no better language to use to insult weebs with.
@chndsmmll9 ай бұрын
私は通りすがりの日本人です。私は無宗教ですが、初詣には毎年欠かさず行きます。そして「初詣」は、単語自体には日本語でも英語でも「初めて訪れる」という意味しかありません。しかし、何故か初詣といえば1月の前半くらいに初めて神社に行きます。不思議ですね。 I am a Japanese passerby. Although I am not religious, I never miss visiting a shrine for the first visit of the year. And the term '初詣 (Hatsu-moude)' itself only means 'the first visit' in both Japanese and English. However, for some reason, when we talk about Hatsu-moude, it refers to visiting a shrine for the first time in the early half of January. It's quite curious. Translated by ChatGPT.
That's so interesting! Thank you for sharing that. Is it still common for young adults to visit a shrine in January? それはとても興味深いですね!教えてくれてありがとう。1月に若い大人が神社を訪れることはまだ一般的ですか? (ChatGPT)
@ああ-z4f4sАй бұрын
@@jergarmar かなり一般的だと思います😊
@Jordan-inJapan9 ай бұрын
I live near Ise Jingu in Mie Prefecture, and people come from all over Japan to pray here… or even just ‘feel the presence of God’ (aka the Sun Goddess Amaterasu-Sama). I always found it really interesting, because people here seem totally non-religious most of the time. But not in Ise, apparently.
@54032Zepol9 ай бұрын
Can I go?
@seregruin9 ай бұрын
To be fair, another big point to draw people there are power spots and the touristic "edo-mura" aka souvenir paradise.
@すどにむ9 ай бұрын
Japanese is totally religious, just "the religion" has no name or a book. Some consider it barbaric superstitions, I don't know, but there lies the joke.
@Heightren9 ай бұрын
From the Christian perspective it could be generalised paganism
@popersson9 ай бұрын
Well, to be fair, it is the holiest shrine in Shintoism, so it makes sense.
@AquilusDesign9 ай бұрын
Love the fact that you emmulated the two walking towards the shrine, that's some next level immersion
@watvannou9 ай бұрын
I just saw weird bouncing and thought it was very odd, did not catch on until i read this comment.
@jiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii9 ай бұрын
Kinda made me nervous.
@Meg_of_all_threads9 ай бұрын
Someone in the comment said they were saying DDR 😂
@ThalesWell9 ай бұрын
There’s a line in the film Silence where the Japanese lord is telling the priest, “We don’t need your foreign religion, we have Buddhism.” and I thought, “um, that’s from India.”
@digitaljanus9 ай бұрын
Shintoism isn't a 100% indigenous belief system either, since there was definitely influence from a variety of mainland practices over the centuries.
@yaygya9 ай бұрын
@@digitaljanus there's even a lot of connections to be drawn with Indo-European religions (think Norse, Hindu, Roman, and Greek mythology).
@setiawanraestloz35049 ай бұрын
Well it isn't "from India". Chinese immigrants and returning Japanese personnel brought it home. As far as they're concerned that's not foreign, that's just neighborhood religion. Imagine if some aliens from Andromeda came to introduce new numeric glyphs to Americans and when refused they say "um your numbers come from India, this is also foreign"
@KasumiRINA9 ай бұрын
And got to Japan through China, with a weird mix with local folk religions.
@NovaShards_Scarlett9 ай бұрын
@@yaygya "Indo-european"? What-??
@VV-xl6sr9 ай бұрын
Religion "Japanese" Main sect: Shintoism/Japanese Buddhism/Japanese Christianity Founder: Every single Japanese citizen Faith: Japan Dogma: Respect Japanese Culture Script: public opinion Who give you your right?: All existence that make Japan Japan Who judge your sin: All existence that make Japan Japan What is the goal: To maintain a stable society
@rompetiss9 ай бұрын
Japan
@cube6119 ай бұрын
Japan
@noodlelicious.9 ай бұрын
Nippon
@チキン南蛮-r4p9 ай бұрын
完璧
@manana14449 ай бұрын
So, a shame based religion?
@napoleonfeanor9 ай бұрын
Yes, they are usually casually religious in a mix of Shinto and Buddhism and there are also significant minorities who take their religion seriously (mainly some Buddhist sects). The casual religiousity is largely ritual focused and religious dogma doesn't play much of a role for most.
@Sora-ce1zx9 ай бұрын
For many Japanese people, religion is a medium for rituals(such as funerals, weddings etc.) or customs(New Year’s Day’s visit, Visit before an important day such as entrance exams etc.), but it’s not something to be practiced. They don’t know “why” they do it, but they do know “how” they do it, because they’ve accompanied their parents and grandparents visiting shrines, buddhist temples, churches, on certain occasions. Religion is not a moral pillar for them either. People do good deeds and refrain from doing bad not because “God is watching” or “I will go to Hell if I do bad things” but because they think good deeds are the right things to do and bad deeds are wrong.
@laclochard8 ай бұрын
You confused yourself. What you are describing is literally practice. The good/bad thing comes from millenia of several schools of thought including buddhism... Wether they realize or not. In rural areas of Japan people may be more conscious about these things.
It's so funny: recently I talked with a japanese girl (around 30 I would say), told her I was interested by religious and history of japan, she's straight up told me japanese people weren't really into religious stuff 😅
@bookofkittehs9 ай бұрын
She was probably a woman if she was that old
@FruitsChinpoSamuraiG9 ай бұрын
that's because the word for religion in japanese is a word made up to translate english or dutch "religion" which fits religions such as christianism, so by definition they're right in a sense, because shintoism or boudhism don't have the same system as abrahamic religions do. however, that's where it gets tricky : how to define religion as a concept rather than a single restrictive word ? and this is where most japanese people would agree, that they're indeed religious.
@V01DIORE9 ай бұрын
It seems to be treated more as culture than religion.
@Lukeirin9 ай бұрын
@@bookofkittehs english ain't my main language :/
@keinick45699 ай бұрын
Yeah, because foreigners in Japan that start the conversation with “I’m interested in religion” are usually Mormons and Jehovah’s witnesses.
@Wizzyhatg9 ай бұрын
An old guy with pretty good english was talking to me on the Shinkansen (for two hours straight) and was only recommending me Shinto sites in Kyoto, until I clarified I'd be interested in Buddhist sites as well, and he said Oh you'd be interested in religious sites too? So based on that I'm pretty sure yes
@annabellwoods27999 ай бұрын
Dogen's ability to make me believe he's two different people never cease to amaze me
@whatever33859 ай бұрын
I've wondered about this a lot and it's surprisingly hard to find a straight answer online. I think when Americans ask "are you religious?" what we really mean is "do you believe that spiritual beings exist or are you a materialist?" so the question of whether the Japanese are atheists as we use the term or if something is lost in translation persists.
This is definitely one of the biggest bruh moments of the century.
@FuiSaoGai9 ай бұрын
Dogen, I assumed you named yourself after the founder of Soto Zen Buddhism? Is there a story behind that?
@tausiftt52389 ай бұрын
okay that was actually pretty good XD
@Waldemarvonanhalt9 ай бұрын
When St Francis Xavier first came to Japan, he thought the language was wonderful and was very optimistic. A bit later he concluded that Japanese must be the devil's language if there ever was one, since it was devoid of the vocabulary necessary for him to adequately explain theological concepts.
@mac-su7pm9 ай бұрын
This is one of the dumbest shit I've ever heard. He simply didn't come up with the good translation so he put the blame on the Japanese language. He must be stupid to think European languages had adequate words for theological concepts in pre-Christian era. Most of the theological terms were loaned or translated from Greek philosophy or Semitic languages.
@TheMahayanist9 ай бұрын
It's hard to explain nonsense through sensible language.
@azurepulse18709 ай бұрын
@@TheMahayanist Which is why it's hard getting them to understand English and English grammar in general. But that's probably cuz English is a bastard language with Greek, Latin, German, and French all mixed in.
@Waldemarvonanhalt9 ай бұрын
@@TheMahayanist Rich coming from Buddhism.
@Cherodar9 ай бұрын
@@azurepulse1870No more so than Japanese is one with multiple waves of Chinese, Portuguese, German, English, and more all mixed in.
@とーふ-t4f9 ай бұрын
As a Japanese I can't agree with you because I didn't know the both "Two bows, two claps, and then one bow" and "甘酒 is made from rice".😢
@VV-xl6sr9 ай бұрын
its interesting that not knowing that kind of thing is considered 非常識 or 世間知らず while its normal to not know the difference of temples and shrines.
@とーふ-t4f9 ай бұрын
@@VV-xl6sr Yes, and it sounds very reasonable lol Now i'm getting to feel like Japanese people are religious in a way.
@2712animefreak9 ай бұрын
@@VV-xl6sr And yet, despite not knowing the difference, they instinctively know not to clap at temples.
@gahllib9 ай бұрын
@@VV-xl6sridk if it's normal to to not know amazake is made of rice, but the temple shrine confusion kinda makes sense because lots of shrines (like those to inari) were built inside temples and smaller devotional buddhist altars , especially jinzo and fudo myo-o, were often built in temple-shrine complexes. Like in the west, the houses of worship are explicit to that religious group in terms of use, which is easier to enforce because, the objects central to worship (e.g.: reliquaries, crucifixes, copies of the torah) are all portable, but in Japan, sacred places historically act as kind of religious centers that prior to buddhism were the site of a village's local gods due to special geologic formations/springs/other natural features that acted as an object of worship to communicate with kami (you've probably seen pictures of these sacred trees or boulders with paper streamers on them), but then after buddhism arrived they specifically built temples next to the shrines so the priests could "help the kami with their karma", basically co-opting shinto cosmology into japanese buddhism. So the official title of "shrine" or "temple" basically comes down to which religion happened to be more in power politically when the local government registered the name in regional maps; while in reality most of the time it's just both.
@Kloppin4H0rses9 ай бұрын
It's funny. I've been studying Japanese off and on for about a year in a way that's not serious or formal but when this played on my speaker (I was listening to another KZbinr before this played next) I could understand it almost entirely without subtitles or context. Neat!
@yyyy-uv3po9 ай бұрын
I love how "Un, genki genki" translates into "Not much" 💀
@Trainfan1055Janathan9 ай бұрын
I've always found it weird how in Japanese, certain words that used to be polite in "the ancient times" like 野郎 or 女郎 are rude in modern times. (The example words used to mean "young man" and "young lady" respectively, but are now "bad words.") I don't think we have any words like this in English. Swear words that are repurposed from polite words from way back when.
@WD2du9 ай бұрын
We kind of have that. It's called a euphemism treadmill or perjoration, where neutral or positive terms gain negative connotations. An example is that "moron," "idiot", and "imbecile" were neutral medical terms for varying levels of intellectual disability. Eventually they became generic insults we throw at people and were completely divorced from any medical meaning. These aren't quite swear words today, but the idea is the same, just less extreme.
@Trainfan1055Janathan9 ай бұрын
@@WD2du Another good example I just thought of is "bitch." It means "female dog," but no one uses it that way anymore. Now it's a slur for women.
@CrizzyEyes9 ай бұрын
@@Trainfan1055Janathan It's still the official term of the AKC. You will hear many who style themselves dog experts call female dogs bitches in the US.
@NnT0429 ай бұрын
@@Trainfan1055Janathan It seems to me that people who raise and breed dogs do still use the term bitch in its original denotation without any problems, to this day. And it's no longer just a slur on women, lately people just throw it on anyone of any gender who is behaving contrary to how they want them to, or has an unpleasant attitude in general.
@buciallstar9 ай бұрын
Try calling a woman Miss
@vr48939 ай бұрын
Fun fact Back in 2019, Japan's religion affiliation are divided into 70% Shintoism, 60% Buddhism, and
@V01DIORE9 ай бұрын
Syncretism though much for show rather than religion I'd bet, like atheists celebrating Christmas (itself stolen from pagan roots) it's just a fun event.
@yo2trader5399 ай бұрын
Japanese culture is Japanese religion and vice versa. The two are so intertwined, we could no longer tell the difference. And it shows in everyday customs, vocabulary, poetry, gardens, architecture, cuisine, clothing, social interaction, tourism, or aesthetics. Practices such as 御屠蘇, 盛り塩, 地鎮祭, or 初詣, gardens such as 枯山水, or concepts such as Wabi-Sabi and 断捨離 are so embedded and integral to Japanese life, nobody really thinks they are religious in nature. In 7th century, Japanese diplomats visited 住吉大社 and prayed for a safe sea voyage when they had to make the life-threatening trip to Sui and Tang Dynasties. Nowadays, we pay visits to shrines to purchase お守りfor protection from car accidents, pass entrance exams, or wishing for 安産. Many Japanese festivals (お祭り) are originally related to Shinto Shrines and Buddhist Temples, which is why 祀る and 祭り have the same cognate. As such, Japanese religion is Japanese culture, and Japanese culture is Japanese religion.
@colossusjak29 ай бұрын
This is true for the west too specifically catholics, which is the point of the video. People say “oh my god” and “bless you” in every day life so much the original meaning is lost. “Jesus” is used as an interjection when you are surprised instead of having actual meaning. People go to church like they do shrines and dont even know what the bread and the wine represent anymore. They go because they are pressured to. Most of europe is atheist but their entire architecture, culture, and rituals are extremely christian with some pagan. My family had traditions in new year that were definitely religious at some point (not eating meat) but now are just “traditional”. Rituals are an interesting thing, at one point they had a meaning and were used to remind us of spiritual connections, now they are just husks of their former selves, acting as something that makes us just relate to other people of our culture, but not carry any spiritual meaning. It’s normal in the modern world to say you’re not spiritual, even though you pray for bad things not to happen, do rituals which had connotations but now dont, and use words that have spiritual meanings but now dont either. We live in a strange world
@CrizzyEyes9 ай бұрын
I'll pretend that I learned something amid all that Kanji and Chinese.
@CerridwenAwel9 ай бұрын
I wish wabisabi was ingrained in japanese culture. The japanese would greatly benefit from rediscovering it and learning how to appreciate imperfection, how to find perfection in Imperfection and be less obsessed with manipulation (of even the atmosphere) and outward appearances.
@Jordan-inJapan9 ай бұрын
Now there’s a perceptive and well-researched comment! I’ve lived in Japan for 20 years now, and that concept wasn’t something I really understood until recently. But yeah, absolutely. 👍
@yo2trader5396 ай бұрын
@@Jordan-inJapan Thank you for noticing. I spent my elementary school years outside of Japan due to my dad's work, and when my family returned to Japan I was fascinated by Japanese customs. I often wondered why many people in Japan identify as 無宗教 (or no religion), yet have no issue with Christian/Church-style weddings, Buddhist-style funerals, celebrating Christmas, and visiting Shinto Shrines for New Years. It didn't make sense to me until I took a class in college on Japanese Cultural History, and only then I realized that Japanese culture/customs and religion are so intertwined, most Japanese people don't or can't differentiate the two. This aspect is what makes Japan unique, but it also explains the enormous cultural difficulty when Japanese nationals move abroad or when foreign-nationals live in Japan. (The barrier is not simply grammar/vocab, it is cultural which spans from how people interact and how society is organized.) I think Japanese society is one that puts enormous amount of pressure on foreigners to adapt and assimilate to Japanese language, culture, and mannerism. Some foreigners struggle with it, others absorb and integrate with Japan. As you must have realized over the years, the latter group are the ones who are deeply appreciated, valued, and trusted by Japanese society.
First time I've seen these acted conversations done like this - brilliantly done! I'll have to keep an eye for more.
@gabriellecoco61839 ай бұрын
神道は日本人そのもの。 あとから宗教という名前が付いただけだと思っている。
@katl88259 ай бұрын
I (a hard STEM student at the time) took a “Religions of Japan” class to fulfill some of my graduation requirements. It was one of the most fascinating and interesting classes I took in those four years, especially as I consider myself non-religious and non-spiritual.
@haruyu1239 ай бұрын
Consider it as a philosophy to live life but not like hardcore religion like abrahamics.
@MazAMaTaz9 ай бұрын
I visited Japan for the first time this year and went on a pilgrimage visiting a bunch of Catholic churches in Japan. There are some incredibly gorgeous ones all over the country, especially in Nagasaki, and I loved that there was a beautiful added layer of reverence to worship (since you even have to take your shoes off before you go into the church!). I met a couple of priests and Catholic laypeople while I was there who were super nice and we talked a lot about Christianity in the East vs. the West. Someone told me there's a little bit of hesitation from Japanese about Christianity because there's been a lot of groups like Jehovah's Witness giving it a bad name... but yeah, it's interesting to see how a lot of Japanese say they aren't religious, yet still follow these kinds of rituals, plus how some of them kind of sort of reflect ones in Christianity (not that they're exactly the same, but still). So interesting!
@raulmartino75319 ай бұрын
Oh, I didn't know you had to take your shoes of when going to church in Japan. That's interesting.
@SurAuvers9 ай бұрын
I took a class on Japanese religion. The japanese teacher said "youre born shinto, married Christian, and die buddhist."
@mhjy93949 ай бұрын
I love this topic haha, this is something I've always found so funny about Japanese people. Where literally 90% of them go 'pray' in shrines during special holidays but also 90% of them say that they're atheist
@katara20219 ай бұрын
It's kind of like Hinduism. Like in my own family, my father never prays but does celebrate certain holidays and performs yearly ritual rites for the ancestors. My mom prays (when she has the time) but isn't strict about blasphemy or looking at religious texts as just mythology. And for me I'll participate here and there for the community feeling but inside I don't believe in Gods. When I look at Japanese behaviour towards rituals and superstition I'm reminded of my father's stories about how their village didn't really worship idols or go to temples when he was young. It was seen as a way of life rather than something you needed to perform. A lot of people have actually become more dogmatic about Hinduism now compared to before.
@kattkatt7449 ай бұрын
This is common in many European countries also, particularly in Northern Europe. People go to church for Christmas and Easter, get married and baptise their children in the church, but if you ask them if they actually belive they will say they are atheist or agnostic. They do the church thing because it is tradition and because it gives important life events a framework, and because they don't want to offend that one aunt that is an actual believer. Very few, even if staunchly atheist, will take themselves of the member list of the local church.
@henrym50349 ай бұрын
I was kind of expecting Ken to say セイサン?
@ThalonRamacorn9 ай бұрын
Japanese say they are not religious because their concept and definition of "religion" is different. By religion (宗教) they think about organized religions with a leader, members, strict teachings, rules they have to follow, etc. Shinto and buddhism doesnt really have these things. There is no holy book, founder or rules of shinto. Also there is no God in Buddhism, its more like a spiritual philosophy. They are not religious by their definiton of "religious", but are very traditional and spiritual. Also I dont think the japanese ritualistic mindset is concious... it is heavily engraved in their collective conciousness, thats why an individual doesnt even know he is following spiritual traditions.
@nyhyl9 ай бұрын
This was genius😁 Perfectly demonstrated how ritual religiousness works in the US too.
@yeepsleep9 ай бұрын
0:48 wild Bulbasaur appeared!
@theramendutchman9 ай бұрын
It does sound like its original Japanese name!
@pietro46189 ай бұрын
I found a wonderful Catholic community in Hakodate. Very welcoming.
@Herghun9 ай бұрын
That's great ! How's the Japanese rite look like ? :)
@pietro46189 ай бұрын
@@Herghun not much different from the European traditions. I found very compelling the fact that the eucharist veneration can be done sitting on the ground.
@southcoastinventors65839 ай бұрын
Also Jesus apparently died in Japan as well so he got around
@nomado-sensei9 ай бұрын
I am one of those people that can be considered an atheists and religion is one of the things I hate the most in the world. But even I followed rules and rituals in Japanese shrines. It has nothing to do with being religious.
@shineengfan7109 ай бұрын
The main problem with "are Japanese religious" is the translation. The answer, in English, is yes, most of them are religious or at least superstition to a point. In Japanese though, they aren't. Because the meaning of the word in Japanese isn't "are you a believer in something" but "are you part of a religious group" so those who don't actively attend a church or temple paying dues don't consider themselves Japanese religious. Hence the confusion. If you explain the term first, then ask, you get more varied answers. It's really a "Japan doesn't have the concept of religion as a standalone thing outside of a social group" issue more than Japanese actually think they aren't religious issue 😅
@papafhill91269 ай бұрын
Religion is simply any worldview that seeks to answer the questions of origin, meaning, morality, and destiny. There are apparently more, but that's the gist. Even if the worldview is not necessarily "standard" to other structured religions, it is still a worldview nonetheless of which you are religious towards.
@65fhd4d6h59 ай бұрын
I was brought up as non-religious and never had to participate in any religious activity until I moved to Japan, where I have to do the bowing and the clapping and the handwashing, as well as attending to Buddhist ceremonies, several times a year.
@henryxyz19 ай бұрын
0:05 元気元気! "Not much"
@nathanbrinson9 ай бұрын
As someone who is just at the beginning stages of learning Japanese, learning 元気 has basically tripled my vocabulary.
@JuanTabares9 ай бұрын
As someone who is newbie to Japanese Language, that definitely caught me off guard, cuz I would imagine that a double genki = I'm great
@Ridorim9 ай бұрын
Just think of it like in English: "Everything going well?" "Yeah yeah(in that same tone)" Double "yeah" doesn't mean the yeah is stronger. If anything it's a completely dismissal of the question. It's also the same in German (ja ja) and in French (ça va ça va), probably many other languages that I don't know well enough to speak about them too, where the doubling of the answer does not correspond to a strengthening of the answer.
@reigenlucilfer61549 ай бұрын
i guess he just doesnt translate it literally, i noticed his subtitle always try to adjust it with how american usually speak english, if that makes sense.
@mousefire7779 ай бұрын
@@JuanTabaresit’s kinda like if someone said “how’s it going” and you said “fine, fine”. Doubling it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s doubled in intensity
@XSpImmaLion9 ай бұрын
Amazake nonde kaeru ka... xD I guess Japanese culture would have more Christian inherited habits if it wasn't for the persecution back in the 17th century and earlier. Not sure how much it would have influenced though given that other religious inheritances went over a millennia far back... There is some distinction to be made though, a bit nitpicky. A whole lot of the habits and customs inherited from Buddhism and Shinto in Japan have become part of the culture, and practiced by anyone independent of them being part of any faith or not. Not as a religious thing, but more like a cultural thing. Western nations also have those, markedly through all the Christian related holidays and whatnot. But also, lots of different types of celebration, food culture, pilgrimage, down to small gestures and habits that relates to Christianity somehow. But I guess there are a few things that are still reserved mostly for the followers of the faith, even though in Japan there are way fewer people left that actually believe and have faith on specific sects. So, stuff like cleansing rituals, meditation, shrine maidens, dances... well, there are some that are more reserved for practitioners, and others that already fell into general Japanese culture. Festivals, amulets and divination, kamidana...
@paulwalther52379 ай бұрын
Casual religion is probably pretty similar across the world but in America you have group religion where you listen to the priest talk about life and morality etc and you have group events so it’s like you’re part of a community but for Japanese people they don’t get that. The religion is brief and individual between them, their thoughts, and whichever deity’s shrine they’re visiting.
@m.m.13019 ай бұрын
Which is kinda like what pagan Europe/middle east was like before monotheistic religions took over
@Laticia19909 ай бұрын
Aren't there also festivals in Japan? And days where you might visit a temple or shrine may be during big holidays, so there will be a lot of people attending.
@danielutriabrooks4779 ай бұрын
@@m.m.1301Maybe for the common people, we don't actually, but those that could afford it did grand and lavish ceremonies with sacrifices and all that
@answer50929 ай бұрын
America isn't the only country that practices mass, you know...
@haniwadog9 ай бұрын
@@Laticia1990 There are but it's more like a state fair you don't listen to a priest talk at those.
@Turuma-y5n9 ай бұрын
0:42 Japanese:HooOoOoOoOOo Translation: So interesting
@DiLiNiTi8 ай бұрын
Dont forget about the left hand being slightly above the right in clapping to signify the gods being above man... :D
@cleanphreak51039 ай бұрын
Sorry Dogen, the thumbnail is in English. I can't understand it.
Genki? Genki Genki! Translation: All good? All good! Dogen (aka native/real translation) : What's up? Not much! Perfection.
@salarycat9 ай бұрын
There are temples and shrines literally everywhere.
@davem73599 ай бұрын
The only natural conclusion to this conversation is for both of them to attend a Japanese-language Catholic Mass, which is a great experience for the record, especially in Nagasaki. 天には神に栄光!
@arandomlanguagenerd18699 ай бұрын
This is just Rakugo at this point and I love it
@focotaku9 ай бұрын
I’m from Spain, traditionally a catholic country. I lived 12 years in Tokyo and I see more people going to temples & shrines than people go to churches in Barcelona, for instance. It could be more of a tradition than a religious thing, but there’s also the belief in the supernatural. From purely personal experience I would say 99% of Japanese believe in ghosts, so I’d say they can’t be atheists if they believe in the supernatural. In Spain perhaps it’s more like 50%. I got many Japanese people trying to convince me I’ve seen ghosts when I’ve had sleep paralysis (金縛り), and zero of that in Spain. However, religious people in Spain are quite fanatical… I haven’t seen much of that in Japan. Interesting topic 👍
@estjack8 ай бұрын
ウィットに富んでいて面白いです。
@madensmith70149 ай бұрын
From what I've seen so far, the loss of religious piety in Japan is real. A lot of small shrines and dieties are being abandoned by many and the big ones that we do hear about are more like tourist attractions. You do some thing in that hot spot that everyone does, make a wish or check out your luck, but really almost no one clings on to the belief that something in that big shrine would make it all true.
@RenopunkJo8 ай бұрын
Don't get me started on Japanese people claiming they're non-religious while literally PRAYING at the shrine and doing all the superstitious traditions and habits, meanwhile people in Czechia (atheists): 👁👄👁
@lowrhyan5677 ай бұрын
There' differences between non-religious and atheist.
@keinick45699 ай бұрын
You could still be an atheist and go to festivals, appreciate the culture, and follow the tradition. Practically nobody in Japan believes god will do something or anything would change after praying at a shrine, except for those who does, in which case they would spend considerable amount of money to make their wish happen. I, being Japanese, have never spent more than 5-yen a year for Shinto and even so it’s not like I believe there is a slight chance that gods can make anything happen, it’s more like for the tradition and culture.
@katara20219 ай бұрын
I do it in India! Mostly cause it's fun but also for a sense of community. Plus it's cool to see all the mythology.
@lastnamefirstname86559 ай бұрын
there are many surprising parallels that dogen has just discovered and realized.
@xnamkcor9 ай бұрын
Alcohol is totally fine for Catholics. Forbidding alcohol is more a Protestant thing.
@Candlemancer9 ай бұрын
Really only a Puritan thing. European protestants still do the wine thing and have no prohibitions against alcohol, since we drove all the puritans out to go live in america
@xnamkcor9 ай бұрын
@@Candlemancer Good on ya.
@southcoastinventors65839 ай бұрын
Poor Mormons everyone always leaves them out
@V01DIORE9 ай бұрын
@@Candlemancer Well it's their fault they even banned Christmas at one point for god sake. Real uptight a oles, quite unfortunate even current America has to deal with the historical consequences of their migration.
@mm-ec1mq5 ай бұрын
I pray at shrines only a few times in a year. I donate shrines only once or twice in a year. I know something like precepts, my family taught me, and try to keep them as much as possible. But I don`t go to preeching like my grandparents had done. I`m not enough serious, so I`m not religous.
Exactly this topic is something I would love to do street-interviews in Japan about, but I don't know if I can just stop people on the street, in the Japanese culture? Is this considered rude? I have experience from Brazil, Argentina, Colombia etc. where there were no problems
@MatthewMartinDean7 ай бұрын
Approaching this as a language geek- even in the west, Atheism is used as "not Christian," the discourse on Atheism in the west is 99% taking down Christianity, 1% taking down any other religion, especially the ones that are not madlibs of Christianity (i.e. have few parallels in structure). This all makes perfect sense since it is the dominant religion in the US and Europe, but when the word and texts cross borders, in a non-Christian-dominant country, using the word Atheism to mean non-Christian would be using it just like the Americans are using it.
@shreksoffspring3 ай бұрын
Atheism isn't taking down Christianity that's so untrue and dumb. It's like me saying Christianity is 99% touching kids and disrespecting other religions. See how messed up that is.
@noname-dk7ri9 ай бұрын
日本の結婚式のカオスっぷりはヤバい
@PickleDroner9 ай бұрын
I actually had a good laugh when showing the subtle ('hypocrisy' is a bit too strong of a word) but it's there. I mean don't they literally have さけ barrels at some shrines?
@lotharlights9 ай бұрын
I think Japanese are borderline religious. Many believe in spirits or even God but don't quite pursue it further. My girlfriend's family was like this.
@CRBungalow9 ай бұрын
There are 2 churches and 1 mosque on the main road of my neighborhood and a huge church complex off on of side streets. That 4 religious house in less then a square mile, maybe more. And that's just my neighborhood. I couldn't even begin to count the religious house in my city. And I live in the northern part of the u.s.a
@seimei1119 ай бұрын
In my opinion, the basis of Shintoism is harm(障り) and awe(畏れ). Not believing named gods (atheist by Japanese definition) doesn't mean that one does not have awe of harm. It will be more accurate to be agnostic than atheist.
@4grammaton9 ай бұрын
I thought the basis of Shinto was musubi.
@seimei1119 ай бұрын
@@4grammaton Japanese mythology, yes. I meant they lie underneath Shintoism.
@davevanfunk89179 ай бұрын
Mushukyo was one of the first words I learned in Japan.
@user-kagura_aru3 ай бұрын
Hello! I am Japanese. I think we are probably animistic. We believe that there are many kinds of gods in nature and the earth. We call them "eight million gods." And I think we treat nature as gods because we are moved by its transcendent power and feel awe for it. However, sometimes we do not only make gods of nature, but also make real people gods. For example, we worship the vengeful spirit of a defeated general in a war as a god. This also comes from "fear." I think there is a lot of "fear" in our Shinto. This is because the gods we believe in do not only bring us happiness, but also bring us misfortune. I think we respect the power of the gods, fear them, and have the idea of coexisting with them. I think this feeling was probably born because Japan is a country with many natural disasters.
@runoriwa9 ай бұрын
I'm really glad that Japan doesn't have a religion that makes people unhappy or kills each other. For me, religion is something that makes people happy and enriches their lives. Just say ``Itadakimasu'' and ``Gochisousama deshita'' before and after your meal to enjoy delicious food.
@bluemoyuuki9 ай бұрын
今回も面白いですー!
@YevhenRawrs9 ай бұрын
At most churches I believe it's just grape juice these days, but I would totally just affirm that they drink wine because that tells a better story, Life of Pi logic and all that.
@kodokudeusotsuki9 ай бұрын
Japan is doing religion exactly the way it should be done. They keep the cool traditions, they think it would be cool if it was real but they don't actually believe it's real, they don't expect others to believe it's real.
@GraceofGod2479 ай бұрын
Or The Eucharist😂 Gosh And its Grape Juice this is funny
@scribbitb.45199 ай бұрын
Happy New Year's to you too 😅
@mmmhorsesteaks9 ай бұрын
The Japanese employing a double standard? Who ever heard of such a thing.
@henrym50349 ай бұрын
A better word would be cognitive dissonance, but it can sound rude
@notuxnobux9 ай бұрын
That's not what it is. Japanese people follow religious traditions but they aren't religious. It's more like a cultural thing now. The same way atheists in the west celebrate christmas.
@henrym50349 ай бұрын
@@notuxnobux but 二礼二拍手一礼 is certainly Shintoism… the point is practising religious ritual within the confines of a religious construction
@groerhahn2259 ай бұрын
Japanese people aren't really irreligious. They just swapped religious deities with the companies they work for. And, in a more abstract way, the social order.
@kori2289 ай бұрын
somewhat Confucianism: making the secular like sacred but also religion is historically really just a set of practices, not so much a belief system
@ZuLKiNG9 ай бұрын
Hah.. Just a heads up that the wine thing is because it comes from Jewish ritual which uses wine. We have something called "kiddush" (sanctification,for lack of a better word) for certain important moments and it involves wine. Christianity later took the concept and built around it for it's own theology. The bread thing also relates because every meal of an important event (i.e. the sabbath, holidays) requires bread..and wine...
@melinaouzouni61519 ай бұрын
Man that was funny and relatable🤣
@nykdepss89 ай бұрын
The notion of religion and theism itself is very much Judeo-Christian in nature in the first place. Through that lens there obviously will be many oddities and idiosyncrasies to how the Japanese people approach their beliefs and rituals. It has to be evaluated in its own right. I guess it's also worth noting "religion" has a pretty bad reputation in Japan (including Christianity), so much so it's often seen as synonymous with cult. So when they say I'm not religious what they usually mean is they don't wanna be associated with cults or paedophilic fathers in Vatican or things of that sort. That's why when they dismiss "religion" they quite often talk about brainwashing and supposed absolutistic attitudes towards their beliefs and teachings. Many (including some elders) can have scientistic tendencies as well, often staunchly believing science is _the_ means to uncovering the truth of this world. Antisemitism has also been on the rise as well, though far from being quite as widespread, on the basis of Jews' supposed evil beliefs. I guess this is not that different from what it's like in the Anglosphere nowadays but things like these definitely add to the general narrative regarding religion, especially when most people try to take some distance away from "religion".
@masamiyaleco9 ай бұрын
isn't Dogen Buddhist?
@reaganwiles_art9 ай бұрын
exactly my experience in Japan
@LuckyMark777-z3x9 ай бұрын
He's not wrong I rather have Sake than wine
@ShinChara9 ай бұрын
This Christmas, I'll fight Hades again, then give all the hearts I've collected to Viridi.
@ScottMcMaster-er4xj9 ай бұрын
Most Japanese are more superstitious than religious. They do traditional rituals for luck and good fortune, but they don't really believe in those rituals and they do not really believe in any god existing at least not as any religion would claim.