あけましておめでとうございます！

At one point in Japan’s history, there had been debate as to which religion was “best” for the Japanese. While Buddhism, an influence of China, was integrated into Japanese society during the Yamato era around 550 BC, during the Tokugawa era Shinto was labeled as the “pure” and “untainted” religion of the state. The presence of Confucianism and Taoism in combination with the influences of Orthodox Russian, Catholic and Protestant missionaries simply added to the complexity.

Today, religion within Japan is unique from that of other countries in that there really is not one dominating religion. At the very least, but even this is not entirely true, there are two prominent religions: Buddhism and Shinto. Perhaps the words spoken by Prince Shotoku centuries earlier (574-622) help explain how the Japanese have come to view religion and the role it plays in their lives:

Let Shinto be the Trunk from which Buddhism spreads its branches, luxuriant with the etiquette of Confucianism to achieve a flourishing in the real world. The gods must be respected but the gods of Japan can bring evil curses even through the respected. The Buddha will allay those curses, so we must worship the Buddha as well.

Prince Shotoku died many years earlier, yet his words still resonate within Japan. Believing in Shotoku's dualistic approach to religion gave many “freedom from religion." Rather than abiding only by the texts, doctrines, and laws of one dominant religion, many Japanese have instead selected from a variety of religions and then taking from them the favorable aspects. Perhaps this is why Japan is a nation with deep traditional roots in both Buddhism and Shinto and why Japanese can literally be both Buddhist and Shinto at the same time. The ability to pick and take from different religious ideologies and merge them into a single religion explains the reason behind the saying, "Japanese are born Shinto, marry Christian, and die Buddhist."

If I haven't bored you away with my take on Japanese religion by this point then let me tell you about my holiday. New Years or Shogatsu in Japan was a new first for me and it was quite the experience.

On New Year's Eve we spent the entire day cleaning. The men worked outside on the cars, in the yard, and outside on the house windows while the ladies worked inside on everything else. Cleaning the house symbolizes a fresh new start to a fresh new year. That evening Koko's mom piled mochi, Japanese rice cakes, onto one another and then placed them in several different places around the house. Traditionally, mochi was offered as a gift to the gods. Placing mochi around the household ensures that new spirits will accept these offerings and then enter into the home.

Shortly after midnight on January 1st everyone piled in the car and went to both the Buddhist temple and Shinto shrine. Why did we go to both? The reason is because the Japanese generally believe the two are equally important. At the shrine the Japanese get right with the gods and at the temple they show gratitude to Buddha, asking for guidance from Buddha so that they too can find the same enlightenment that Buddha found.

We were not alone as everyone in the neighborhood congregated to pray for the New Year. It went like this: bells, chants, fires, offerings, fortunes, food, laughter, smoke, gold statues, silver statues, stones, emotions. . . I cried that night.

We weren't out for very long and by 1:00 AM were at home eating soba, Japanese buckwheat noodles. The reason we ate noodles was because noodles are long and this symbolizes the longevity of life. I asked why it had to be soba noodles and no one really knew the answer so we agreed that any noodle would suffice. I'm thinking about having Fettuccini Alfredo next time.

I went to bed earlier than the others because at 10:00 that morning I would be running the Yamanashi 4K. With help from Koko's mom I woke up on time, ran the race, and placed fourth too. Grandpa was the photographer and in charge of taking pictures, but the camera was a new birthday present and he forgot to take the lense cap off so you'll just have to imagine what it would have looked like.

When I got home everyone had already started eating and drinking. Grandma and grandpa were already a bit tipsy too. Mostly we ate traditional Japanese dishes, all of which had some symbolic meaning, but there was also Kentucky Fried Chicken and I had three pieces. We ate and drank until about noon, everyone slept, and then we woke up and did the same thing for dinner.

Japanese kids look forward to New Years in Japan because this is the time they receive otoshidama or lots of cash. The money is for the kids to buy something fun for themselves. After taking a poll in some of my classrooms it seems as if all the kids in Nagashima bought video games. Graduation from college and entrance into the working world is supposed to mean that you no longer receive money and instead you have to pay it, but this year I was lucky and I also got otoshidama. I'll just have to wait and see if I’m as lucky next year as I was this year.

あけましておめでとうございます！
A little late, but I wish each of you a very Happy (year of the boar) New Year.

Spencer Reid