ABSTRACT
Contemporary Japan strikes many observers within and without the Japanese archipelago as a secular society. The major world religions register relatively few adherents; churches, temples, synagogues and other places of worship that are ubiquitous elsewhere are not only few and far between but relatively poorly attended except on special occasions and by tourists. The term for religion (shūkycō) has an officious, if not ominous, ring, not infrequently connoting authoritarianism, occultism and even terrorism. Kowai (scary) is a common response to the very idea of religion—evoking fanaticism and terrorism—something outside of mainstream, polite society. In this line of thinking, religion plays a negligible role in Japanese society.
