ABSTRACT
The overseas development of Japanese religions has, until recently, been tightly linked to Japanese emigration policies (Shimazono 1992, 1993; Shimpo 1995).1 Not surprisingly, it is in regions such as Hawaii, the West Coast of the United States, and South America, where there are well-established Japanese communities, that Japanese movements have been most successful, although different movements appear to have succeeded in different countries and for a variety of reasons. What are we to make, though, of Japanese religions that seek to expand in regions where there is little Japanese immigration and little shared history or cultural background, such as the European countries?
