A Park around Tokyo
Spiritualism in Japan
Japan opened the door and started full diplomatic relationships with other countries such as the U.S. and European countries in the late 19th century, and since then Japan has successfully introduced Western civilization to become a leading industrial country in East Asia. But, Japan has not fully accepted Christianity. Even today Christians account for about 1% of the Japanese population.
Yet, Japanese do not deny power of Christianity, since Imperial Japan was defeated by the U.S. in WWII. Japanese Shintoism gods and other deities of Buddhism did not bring victory to Imperial Japan over the Christian nation, the U.S., and other allied nations. It looked as if Christian spirits had superseded Japanese traditional deities of Japanese Buddhism and Shintoism. Even the current Japanese national constitution is based on American democracy based on Christianity. Japan has become a quasi Christian country after WWII under influence of the U.S. Therefore, even the Japanese Imperial Family respects the cultures of the U.S., the U.K., and other European Christian countries. Yet, most of the Japanese people have not lost their faith in Japanese Buddhism and Shintoism.
Spiritualism in Europe and the U.S. is rooted in Christianity, but spiritualism in Japan is rooted in Japanese Buddhism and Shintoism as well as nature worship that seems to have started 30,000 years ago when a group of the mankind first arrived at the Japanese archipelago from Africa through Siberia or the Chinese mainland or South East Asia.
According to official statistics of Japan, those who believe in Shintoism account for 48.5% of the Japanese people, those believing in Buddhism account for 46.3%, those believing in Christianity account for 1%, and others for 4%. But, all of the Japanese are under influence of the nature worship, which makes the Japanese unique in their behaviors in the world where monotheistic faith is mainstream.
But, with influence of Western culture and civilization, there has been a trend of suppressing spiritualism based on Shintoism and Japanese Buddhism. So, modern spiritualism in Japan has been introduced from the U.S. and Europe although spiritualism based on Shintoism and Japanese Buddhism has never been lost among general population of Japan. Even the authority of the Imperial Family of Japan is still based on Japanese mythology based on Shintoism.
In Japan there are women who perform communications with the dead by profession in addition to those who perform occult acts based on Shintoism or Japanese Buddhism. However, if a doctor in a university hospital gave treatment to the sick like a psychic healer, he should be naturally expelled.
But, a professor of the University of Tokyo working as a doctor in its university hospital claimed that he could communicate with his deceased mother through a spirit medium. He wrote a book on his experience with the spirit medium, and the book sold well.
After retiring from the University, the professor started to make spiritualism popular, emphasizing that after physical death one's soul should go on living in the spirit world. He also started to study qi (energy emitted from the human body). He seems to come to believe in existence of unseen energy and entities such as spirits, which is not accepted by mainstream scientists in Japan.
However, according to some scholars, there have been many examples in the Japanese history where spirits or ghosts played major roles behind the scone. Many Japanese people like to tell or listen to ghost stories. Yet, only one third of the Japanese believe in existence of the afterlife or the spirit world while two thirds of Americans believe.
The Japanese people are absorbed in convenience, pleasure, or pleasant sensation modern technology and industry give. The more materialistic people become, the less spiritual they become. Japanese Shintoism and Buddhism are useless in maintaining spiritualism in this era of science and technology. Rather, Christianity seems to have more chances in keeping spiritualism in this era.
However, the traditional Japanese affection to simple and pure life coincide with teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ. Traditionally the Japanese despise those who love money and accumulate wealth. The Japanese believe that excellent monks of Buddhism and priests of Shintoism who are poor and pure can have supernatural power. Indeed, the poorer and purer a religious man becomes, the more he can perform a miracle, which is a kind of Japanese commonsense.
Yet, modern material life has tarnished spiritual sense of the Japanese people. We can see how Satan has made the Japanese lose interest in the afterlife or the spirit world. "Make one love money and wealth" is Satan's strategy so as to make people unable to understand the teaching of Jesus Christ.
So, I hope that the Japanese will come back to their tradition of respecting poor and pure life so as to be able to understand teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ. Then, spiritualism will be more clearly promoted in Japan. And, Japanese people will cease to be afraid of death.
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John 6, King James Version
15 When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force, to make him a king, he departed again into a mountain himself alone.
16 And when even was now come, his disciples went down unto the sea,
17 And entered into a ship, and went over the sea toward Capernaum. And it was now dark, and Jesus was not come to them.
18 And the sea arose by reason of a great wind that blew.
19 So when they had rowed about five and twenty or thirty furlongs, they see Jesus walking on the sea, and drawing nigh unto the ship: and they were afraid.
20 But he saith unto them, It is I; be not afraid.
21 Then they willingly received him into the ship: and immediately the ship was at the land whither they went.