ABSTRACT
In 2007 the scholar of religion Ishii Kenji published a book of statistical data on religion in Japan taken from numerous major surveys. We could easily hand-select data from this book to piece together a mosaic that depicts Japanese Buddhism sailing through the mainstream of Japanese contemporary culture. We find, for example, that more people say they have faith in Buddhism than any other religion in Japan; that there are over 75,000 Buddhist temples, which claim over 93 million members; and that just in the traditional Buddhist organizations alone, there are over 125,000 clerics.
