Comments on Never Stop Dreaming: Japanese society: at crossroads of religion and su...

After the major Earthquake & Tsunami: 1) THE C...

2011-04-23T16:59:49.309+09:00

After the major Earthquake & Tsunami:
1) THE CALM: Not a single visual chest-beating or wild grief.
2) THE DIGNITY: Discipline queues for water & groceries. No rough word or crude gesture.
3) THE GRACE: People only brought what they needed for the present so everyone else could get something.
4) THE ORDER: No looting in shops or homes. No honking or overtaking on roads.
5) THE TENDERNESS: Restaurants reduce prices. Unguarded ATMs left alone. Strong cared for the weak.
6) THE SACRIFICE: Fifty workers stayed to save the Nuclear plant.
7) THE TRAINING: Everyone knew exactly what to do.
8) THE MEDIA: Showed restraints in the bulletins. Only calm reportage.
9) THE CONSCIENCE: When the power went off in a store, customers put things back on the shelves.
10) THE ABILITY: Building swayed but did not fall.

hEy .. most of the japanese believe in superstitio...

2011-02-10T04:15:16.245+09:00

hEy ..
most of the japanese believe in superstition and i also agree with them .. superstition exsits and we can cure many thing with it's help ..

thanxx for sharing ..

Deependra-jee, A very thoughtful post on your obs...

2010-01-12T04:52:01.325+09:00

Deependra-jee,

A very thoughtful post on your observations of Japan. I've only visited once and that was for a week, so I have no experience with society there. It was therefore very educational to read your analysis. Well done.

What the taxi driver said about "living a str...

2010-01-07T17:48:20.694+09:00

What the taxi driver said about "living a straight life doesn't depend on having a god" sounds so very atheist. All he does care is to do good and help others. And it also means not harming other properties. But do you really assess
he's completely HAPPY and FREE?. Most of the time we make other people feel everything is OK,that's so superficial but I guess somewhere deep inside every person is a DEEPER, UNFATHOMABLE NEED that can only be filled by the Holy Spirit. I'm sorry to disappoint you but I'm a full-pledged Christian and I'm just sharing my thoughts. Why do you think many rich and famous people commit suicide or die unmercilessly under the influence of drugs or booze? It's because they feel empty and that emptiness can only be filled by a touch or an act of SOMETHING OMNIPRESENT AND ULTRA POWERFUL.

Thank you all for sharing your opinion. @ Natsu, ...

2009-12-13T15:03:48.125+09:00

Thank you all for sharing your opinion.

@ Natsu, with more than 300 million followers worldwide, Buddhism is considered as one of the major religions. However, sometimes people tend to differ and claim it as 'philosophy of life' rather than a religion but it depends what you mean by a 'religion' and what by 'philosophy of life'. Like all major religions Buddhism contains an explanation of the origin of existence, a morality, and a specific set of rituals. However, due to the ambiguity in definition of god and religion, we often fail to perceive what Buddhists would mean by god. What I believe is that every religion has the basic concept on transformational goal, a desire to improve one's situation, and a distinct moral code. with this view point, Buddhism is definitely a religion.

Thank you all once again for making the discussion lively by putting up your thoughts. I agree with the comment made by Anonymous that it would be more appropriate to describe Japanese as spiritual.

I think it would be more appropriate to describe J...

2009-12-11T15:15:25.875+09:00

I think it would be more appropriate to describe Japanese as spiritual. Not in the sense that new-age palm readers are spiritual, but in that they believe in, or respect, the sacredness or life-force within people, things, actions. Everything has meaning and potential.

'Consumerism' is the 'religion' in...

2009-11-20T00:06:45.906+09:00

'Consumerism' is the 'religion' in which most of the Japanese believe. The number is continually growing who think money is the solution to everything. And it makes me feel good about this country that religion doesn't play a very big part in society.

For some reason the "lack" of religion i...

2009-11-19T17:54:43.408+09:00

For some reason the "lack" of religion in Japan annoys a lot of people.

I always like to think that Christianity never took hold in Japan because the first missionaries that came over demanded that their followers stop bathing. In the end the population chose to be clean over religion. Seemed like things worked out for them.

True picture of Japanese society about religion! ...

2009-11-18T23:09:39.882+09:00

True picture of Japanese society about religion!

I got similar responses from some Chinese friends too when I asked them about the religion they follow. One Chinese friend humorously said that he follows "communism religion" as he is from a communist country. But one thing I found is that the influence of Christianity is increasing in these countries.

Very informative and interesting post. Thanks !!!

2009-11-18T22:35:29.064+09:00

Very informative and interesting post. Thanks !!!

Yeah. Most Japanese will asnwer you like you have ...

2009-11-18T14:24:00.680+09:00

Yeah. Most Japanese will asnwer you like you have mentioned and there are few who will come up and say they are Buddhist.

But, for me, it is hard to believe Buddhism can be a religion.

Very elaborative post Deependrajee! Thank you for ...

2009-11-18T13:20:46.003+09:00

Very elaborative post Deependrajee! Thank you for posting such an well analyzed post.