Reaction paper 2

                For this reaction paper I want to focus on the thing that mainly caught my interest recently in Japanese culture, their religious beliefs.  It was fascinating to see how their beliefs are truly shown throughout their everyday life and traditions, which I believe you don’t see as often in the United States. What really surprised me was how they usually claim to not have a belief. First I will discuss and compare the Japanese beliefs then I will discuss their relevance within their everyday lives.

                What surprised me the most was how when most Japanese are asked whether or not they have a religion, they say that they do not have one. “Many Japanese people claim to be non-religious, if asked directly. They have no strict allegiance to a particular religious organisation, and if asked whether they believe in a god or gods they my reply ‘no’, or ‘only if I want something’.” (116 Hendry). It’s hard to understand being able to have more than one religion, let alone that a group of people whose beliefs influence their everyday lives would say that they are not religious. In America, religion isn’t as flexible allowing for believing in more than one religion. Religion is also often fought over. I believe there is much more religious freedom and flexibility in Japan, while there is more discrimination of those from other regions.

                What’s also interesting is how these religions in Japan influence individuals on a daily basis. American religions usually don’t influence everyday life, American religious traditions usually affect only when going to services, such as church or weddings. Besides that there aren’t many other traditions that would affect daily life.

                Those are the things I found interesting that we have learned in class recently. They caught my interest due to how different they are from traditions and our beliefs.

Which culture do you think religion influences more, American or Japanese?