ABSTRACT
Japan has copious statistics on the frequency of certain religious practices but there remains a scarcity of local-level studies that can shed light on what these statistics actually mean in daily life. To some extent, studies of Japanese religion have tended to focus on practices that can be observed easily, especially those that are public and socially organized. It is easier to study a formal social group, such as one of the so-called 'new religions', or to observe the ceremonies at a Shintō shrine or Buddhist temple, than to find out what religious practices ordinary people are observing in their daily lives. By spending time in local communities and building up relationships, anthropologists may understand people 'where they are at' and get a 'grass-roots' perspective which is absent from many surveys reported in the mass media that might be filled in online or answered in a short telephone call.
