| TOKYO | From the print edition of The Economist
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| Where are the pilgrims and punters? |
Far from preaching abstinence from earthly pleasures, the Buddhist priests behind the counter of Vowz, a Tokyo bar, encourage the opposite. There are different paths to Buddha, says Yoshinobu Fujioka, the head priest, as he pours a gin and tonic for a customer. “Spiritual awakening can come in any conversation. We provide that opportunity.”
Such are the doctrinal contortions that Buddhists in Japan sometimes practise in their struggle to remain relevant. Some of the nation’s 77,000 Buddhist temples run cafés, organise fashion shows or host funerals for pets. Still, hundreds close every year. By 2040, 40% may have gone, laments Hidenori Ukai, the author of a new book on the crisis in Japanese Buddhism.
In 1950 the Temple of the Golden Pavilion in Kyoto was burned down by a schizophrenic monk who adored the place. Today’s temples, by contrast, are fading away in a puff of indifference. Japanese people are growing less religious, and less numerous, every year.
You might think that funerals would keep modern temples busy. Nearly 1.3m people died last year in Japan (a post-war record); Buddhism has for centuries been the religion of choice at funerals and in spiritual care for the bereaved. But with costs often in the region of ¥3m ($24,700), funerals in Japan are among the priciest in the world. Cremation is followed by a ritual in which the bereaved use chopsticks to pluck the charred bones of their loved ones from a tray and place them in an urn. A priest mumbles incantations and bestows a posthumous name. It’s all rather elaborate.
So cheaper alternatives are becoming increasingly popular. Over a quarter of funerals in Tokyo are now non-religious, says Mark Mullins, an expert on Japanese religion. Many families are opting to scatter ashes in forests or oceans, or even send them by post to collective graves. The Koukokuji Buddhist Temple in Tokyo runs an automated indoor cemetery packed with over 2,000 small altars storing the ashes of the deceased. That helps their families avoid the expense and inconvenience of a remote country plot. A website lists prices, options and walking distances to local train stations.
In the countryside, millions of Japanese still maintain family grave-sites attached to rural temples, paying as much as ¥20,000 for their annual upkeep. But the temples need support from 200 families to break even, say sociologists. Ageing, withering communities can no longer sustain them.
From the print edition: Asia - HERE.
A lot of temples are closing in Japan due to the Japanese people being less religious. Another reason is also because of the expensive price of funerals held by those temples that made families of the deceased choose a cheaper alternative which don’t require much action to do and more money to pay. The monks of those temples already tried to do some businesses to help them funding the temple, but it’s still not enough. In the rural area of Japan, some families still went to temples, paying a lot of money for funerals. But the amount of money is still not enough to support the temple. I think this is really sad since Buddhist temples are part of Japan’s traditional and religious culture. We can’t change the way of people wanting to opt for a cheaper alternative. I think some of those temples can be turned into a tourist destination for them to learn about living as a monk, eat vegan foods, and learn about the culture and manners there so it could count as one of the temple’s financial income.
ReplyDeleteFrom the post, it is said that a lot of Buddhist temple are closing down because Japanese people are getting less religious and getting less numerous. One of the reasons as to why the temple are getting closed down was because the people in Japan rarely visit them and when some of the people died, they didn’t go to the temple to burn the ashes and hired a Buddhist priest to mumble the incantations. This is due to the fact that funerals in Japan is one of the priciest funerals in the world with a total up to three million yen. So of course, since the people there doesn’t want to spend a large amount of money just for a funeral, most of them decided to scatter the ashes in the ocean, in the forest, or in an automated cemetery. To be honest, it’s actually really depressing to see that most of the people in Japan left their religion customary just because it’s too pricey. Then again, there are some country beside Japan that let their own religion customary changed into a non-existing customary but for different reasons. Right now, it actually depends on the country themselves if they want to keep their customary intact. If they don’t, well it’s their choice.
ReplyDeleteIt's obvious that more people in Japan nowadays have become less religious, based on the price of a funeral itself that cost a fortune, it would not be affordable for those people in the lower stratification or in the lower class. Temples are becoming more of a tourist site rather than a religious site, I do not think this is bad for Japan because as long as those temples are being taken care of or it is protected, it should not be a problem if temples become a tourist site. Japan is already famous for its beautiful temples so if those temples are turned into a tourist site it would somewhat help the Japanese economics status and would help those people in the lower class to choose a cheaper alternatives for funerals. The money earned from tourists could cover the cost to manage the temples.
ReplyDeleteI think just like any other communities of people in other nations in all of the parts of the world; people are getting less religious due to the evolving and globalizing world into more modern and advanced than before. It's part of our lives which forces us to move forward. Also, as mentioned before in the post, Japanese people also getting less and less in population; leaving more times and works has to be sacrificed by only one person. Even if that one person still has high level of a spiritual and religion, going to traditional Buddhist temples will consume a lot of his/her time. Each of Japanese people has to be the person that can balanced their works and praying time. In other hand, I think it's a good solution to have side business in each of the temples even if it doesn't result much in other to attract people and keeps the temples from going out of business.
ReplyDeleteJapan has been famous for their modern advancements in the world. The Japanese people are very ambitious and creative, and because of their advancements, they begin to leave behind their religious beliefs. One of the main points is also that their population decreases as time goes by, where a family with one child is not uncommon. Personally I believe that the Japanese people are some of the most polite people in the world. So even though they start to shut down their religious landmarks, it doesn't mean they stop being religious people. Most of the time, the Japanese people are very close to their cultural traditions with polite bowing or ethics on how to eat. In conclusion, does it really matter that a few temples are closing? No, it won't affect the individuals behaviour or beliefs. It's not just the Japanese, a lot of countries around the world are losing the interest of tourist for their landmarks, may they be religious or non-religious landmarks.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion it is a bit of a heart breaker for Buddhist temples to be going out of business all across Japan. What surprising for me is the fact that they are actually going out of business when those temples are not even a business entity. I suppose the lack of religious people in Japan is not something shocking for us all since Japan has been accelerating into the future from decades ago. Yet, the most intriguing detail for me is that this issue is actually happening in Japan. As far as I know, Japan is one of the countries where the people value their cultural heritage as much as they value progress. It is just does not add up to me when the temples are actually struggling on their own without getting any help from the government or even a heritage institution. I suppose it is the truth; yet, it would be relieving if efforts are being done to address this.
ReplyDeleteConstant growth and evolution ; is a way to describe Japan and it’s dynamics in every aspect of the people’s lives. It’s no surprise that secularism is growing due to this constant furtherance and vice versa as it posts greater tolerance for individual rights as the ultimate driver for growth. The more an individual is socially accepted, the greater is their participation in economic activity. Although this claim is still widely and openly debatable. Following it’s everchanging youth culture, conventional Monks shunning asceticism, which is one of the spiritual cartwheels Buddhism has turned to survive a steep decline in Japan by adapting to the advancements and dynamics of the people’s lives. Some of the nation’s 75,000 Buddhist temples have opened cafes, run fashion shows and hosted funerals for pets and even bars as these Buddhist order believes that spiritual awakening can come through different media. Unstable finances are also part of the larger problem ; Buddhist temples are often passed down from one generation to another, but in this modern world, grown-up children are moving away and opt for a normal working life in the city. Japan is also infamous for it’s “ageing population”, causing number of parishioners to further shrink with the decline in fertility and birth rates. Given that all religious organisations depend on this natural growth for real and potential parishioners, it is highly unlikely that many temples will be able to recruit new members.
ReplyDeleteYou guys might have heard the term that Japanese are often regarded as the most religious, religion less people in the world. This might be true since most of them still do prayer to the god of sun every day and yet, they do not believe in god. I also sees this as one the reason why Buddhist temple is dying each and every year there. Because of the constant growth and dynamic people, more and more people are leaving religion out of their aspect of live. They seems to believe more in science and common sense rather that believing in god and religion. In the other hand, Buddhist temple are relying on funeral, tourist and locals who come there for pilgrimage. This case didn’t just happen in Japan, a lot of people from all over the world are getting less religious these days, especially with the youngsters. Globalization and advancements have opened their mind and made them think that there are some things that are written in the bible and that are not common sense. I suppose everything must go on and so as the fate of most temple in japan as they started to go out of business.
ReplyDeleteTemples in japan are starting to become more of a tourist destination than a place to do religious things. As time goes by Japanese people started to become less religious because of the globalization that are happening especially in urban areas. Sure, some rural areas in Japan are still continuing the habit of going to temples to pray, but areas like Tokyo are starting to view temples as a place to earn money by inviting tourists to do site seeing there. Besides those facts, the cause of Japanese people being less religious nowadays is because of the price of funerals in Japan that is expensive (because of having the rituals in the funeral). Because of that, Japanese people really prefer the cheaper option of funerals. The cheaper option of funerals in Japan offers a non-religious way on doing a funeral. I once asked one of my Japanese friends about how many times have you go to funerals in your life and he said that he never even once went to a funeral ever in his life up until know. This fact really doesn’t contradict to what the article had stated.
ReplyDeleteWith the price of funerals in Japan being expensive, people choose to find new alternatives, one of which happen in Tokyo is people having no religion. They choose to scatter the ashes of their dead relatives in forest or oceans. This might be a factor why temples in Japan are closing. As they are closing these temples, it started to be one of Japan’s tourist attractions. The location of the temple in article is close to a waterfall which could make very beautiful scenery. Beautiful sceneries could be a main factor for tourists who like to take photographs and wanted to refresh their minds from the busy schedules that they have. I personally believe that religion does not affect the attitude of someone. If a person is a nice person, he or she won’t look at other’s religion, race and color. As long as they are nice to me, I will be nice to them too.
ReplyDeleteTemples that isn’t a tourist attraction possibly wouldn’t have any income. And due to the pricey traditional funeral cost, people would be discouraged to even do the ceremony. Some of the more famous temples like the Kinkaku-ji or the Ginkaku-ji are world famous tourist sites. Another reason that affected the decline of temples is that Japanese are becoming less and less religious. Japan is credited for making a lot of the foremost advancement in today’s society, which can be seen from their advance technology. But, at the same time they are getting further away from God due to their pursuit of science. They probably thought that religion is the old ways, and that they must embrace the new and upcoming ways to deal with today’s problems. While i don’t really support the lack of believers, I am supportive of their idea to change their old ways.
ReplyDeleteShinto and Buddhism are Japan's two major religions. From the article above, it says that religion does not play a big role in everyday life of most Japanese people today. I think this happens not only in Japan where people are becoming less and less religious. Overall, people are becoming less religious these days. Japan is very famous for its temples. There are more than 77.000 temples in Japan. No wonder why temples in Japan become a tourist destination and people are very interested to visit because temples in Japan have its own characteristic and uniqueness. It is actually everyone’s choice to choose whatever choices that they want. Either they want to become religious or not religious. But since Japan is famous for its temples, I think it is pity to hear that hundreds temples in Japan are close each year. It has been Japan’s uniqueness and earmark which should be preserved.
ReplyDeleteReligions are decaying and it is not only happening in Japan, but also in many parts of the world. I have always thought that Japanese are very religious because they hold on to their tradition strongly. But after knowing the high price for the Japanese to hold their tradition, such as funeral, I think it is quite rational for them to become less religious. Living cost in Japan is very high and I think it affects their way of thinking about life. They become less religious and less likely to marry and have child because the difficulty to afford these things. For them, working and earning money is above everything else.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I like about this article is about the priest working and preaching in a bar. For me, religions should also exist in sinful places and try to shine light to the “misguided” instead of just preaching from their holy places while labeling other people sinful.
The reason that shrines and temple are beginning get less attention is because I think most Japanese people don’t think much of it. Religions that tend to be used to in “Western” countries or some other heavy religion countries that they put a heavy emphasis on really believing in that religion from the heart. So for me, it feels uncomfortable to pray at a shrine or temple if I don’t genuinely believe in the gods or religion of that place.
ReplyDeleteIn Japan, it seems to me the outward form of the worship is more important. What you really believe on the inside - your conviction - doesn’t seem to be so important. Most people go to the shrine at New Year because that’s what nearly everyone does. Most people have a Buddhist funeral because that’s what nearly everyone does. I get the feeling that most Japanese people don’t really think about whether they really believe in the belief system at that temple or shrine, they just go there out of tradition and because that’s what most people do.
The article talks about Japan’s Buddhist temples are going out of business or shut down is because Japanese infrequently visit the temples, and this is due to a number of reasons. Firstly, it is because secularization, or when people are becoming less religious. Possible reasons behind this is globalisation or constant growth and evolution, where there is advancement on how they live, or into a modernized quality of life, although this is not the only reason. Not all of Japanese are secularized, but another reason is because of the price of funerals in the temples. It is stated in the article that costs of funerals in the regions can reach to three million yen or worth nearly 24 thousand dollars. It can be said that funerals in Japan dan be categorised as one of the priciest funerals in the world. Therefore, many Japanese families choose cheaper alternatives, such as scatter ashes in forests or oceans.
ReplyDeleteIn this article we were told that in Japan a lot of Buddhist temples are closing down. This problem is caused by the decreasing amount of religious people that actually use the temple itself. Other than that, it is considered expensive by the locals to actually hold a funeral in the temple, therefore most families tended to choose cheaper alternatives. Personally I was shocked to hear this fact because growing up, my parents always told to learn from Japan. This is because Japan is famous for being technologically modern yet they are traditionally cultured. This problem that Japan currently having can be seen around the world. Due to globalization a lot of people tended to drift away from their beliefs, but if even Japan has this problem then this problem is more alarming than I thought. The conclusion is even countries that are considered the best also deals with similar problems
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