Japan and Religion

We tend to have our views about countries in terms of how religious they are...or not.

Japan is no different. Kudos, then, to GetReligion.org for picking up on various reports as to the actual state of belief in Japan. Here's CNN.com on when the Japanese bring religion into their lives:

Proud of their secular society, most Japanese aren’t religious in the way Americans are: They tend not to identify with a single tradition nor study religious texts. "The average Japanese person doesn’t consciously turn to Buddhism until there’s a funeral,” says Brian Bocking, an expert in Japanese religions at Ireland’s University College Cork. When there is a funeral, though, Japanese religious engagement tends to be pretty intense. “A very large number of Japanese people believe that what they do for their ancestors after death matters, which might not be what we expect from a secular society,” says Bocking. “There’s widespread belief in the presence of ancestors’ spirits.”

And USA today on religious percentages:

Japan is 90% Buddhist or Shinto or a combination of the two, with young urban Japanese more inclined to have drifted from religious attachments.

The same writer, Cathy Lynn Grossman, begins a blog post on Japanese and religion by writing simply: Everyone prays.

Finally, Religion News Service tells us this:

Churches and Christians in northeastern Japan, the most heavily affected area, are still out of contact days after the disaster. Studies estimate that 2 percent of Japanese are Christian, with the vast majority practicing Buddhism and the indigenous Shinto religion.

The various reports go to confirm yet again, that there is no country in the world that can be simply called, 'secular.'

PS. There is a short news report video on this blog page showing some slightly more positive aspects post-disaster.

I can't get over it

In the light of the disaster and chaos and trauma in Christchurch, I was particularly interested in a book that came to my attention this morning.

It's not new - the second edition was published in 1996 - but it obviously hasn't dated, if the enthusiastic review I received today is anything to go by.

The book is I Can't Get Over It - a handbook for trauma survivors, by Aphrodite Matsakis. Dr Matsakis has worked for many years with victims of all manner of post traumatic stress disorder. Her clients have included Vietnam veterans, rape victims, disaster survivors. Though this book is listed as a 'self-help' book, and could probably be used that way, I suspect it's more valuable used in tandem with a counsellor, therapist, minister, supervisor - anyone who is willing to work through the PTSD a person is suffering.

"...one of the most informative and sensitive books on surviving violent trauma. [It] covers most useful techniques and self-help suggestions for safe recovery, empowerment adn groth following trauma." Yigal Ben-Haim, trauma specialist.

This may be a useful book to have on your shelf in the days to come, when many hundreds of people around Canterbury in particular will be looking for help to get past the horrors of this week.

Reflecting on disaster

The three most recent posts on Jason Goroncy's blog relate to the devastating second Christchurch earthquake.

One offers two poems/reflections by Walter Brueggemann, the second is called, Christchurch: a pastoral reflection, and the third is reprint of a theological reflection by Frank Rees on his own experience of disaster called God of the Tsunami.

Rees is Principal and Professor of Systematic Theology at Whitley College in Melbourne, and this paper was first presented at a conference in South Korea.