More and more Japanese start seeking spilituality…?

I watched a YouTube the other day and a person from British said, “We’ve lost religion in the West. We’ve lost a kind of spiritualism.”

I don’t know if it’s true because I never have lived in the West or I don’t even have friends from the West.

But at least, in Japan, on the contrary, I feel more and more Japanese start seeking spirituality these days because I often see more and more Japanese go visit Shinto shrines or Buddhist temples in recent times.

I don’t know if people truely believe in kami (Shinto deities in English) or Buddhism teachings, but I guess people might feel “something” even if it’s a small thing as you get refreshing and invigorating feeling after visiting shrines or temples.

Also, there is an aspect that visiting shrines and temples has become a trend in a way. Some people love collecting unique stamps called “Goshuin(御朱印)” that can be obtained from Shinto shrines or Buddhist Temples. It’s a kind of proof that you have visited a specific shrine and temple.

It’s like that.
⇩

Either way, Japanese are becoming more and more interested in visiting shrines and temples. It might sound weird because Shinto and Buddhism are Japanese fundamental religion and we’ve only recently developed an interest in visiting shrines and temples.

Actually, most Japanese people don’t know much about Shinto and Buddhism. One of the reason is that we rarely get education about Shinto and Buddhism or other religions at school.

We don’t even receive education of Japanese mythology although it is deeply related to the founding of Japan. If you ask Japanese what kind of religion do you practice, most people will answer “I don’t have any specific religion.” We don’t even talk about religion with family, friends or anybody.

However, even if we don’t get the education, especially Shinto is ingrained in day-to-day life profoundly so that we often fail to even perceive it. It’s all connecting to our life.

For example, before meals we say “Itadakimasu” to bless and thank everything not only the food, but kami, farmers, ancestors and so on. We bow to show appreciation. We put off our shoes when entering home because we want to keep it clean, which also leads to show respect to the house itself because we believe everything has an identity and deserve to be respected even if it is just a stuff, although we’ve always unconsciously done these things.

It seems Japanese were more devout before World War II. To pray for kami was natural at that time. After World War II we’ve lost our devout belief but I guess these DNA ingrain to Japanese even now and Japanese starts to recall that we once had strong connections to kami including nature and all natural phenomena. That’s why we go to shrines. Most shrines are surrounded by nature and we feel peace of mind and feel kami though it can’t be seen. I think more and more people start realizing spirituality and regaining inner peace. If so, I believe Japan will be becoming more and more happy, peaceful country.

I