HMN 2026: How to Understand Japan’s complex religious landscape

On New Year’s Day, millions of people in Japan visit Shinto shrines to pray for good fortune. In summer, many return to their hometowns to honor ancestors in Buddhist rituals. Families often maintain household altars, and seasonal festivals remain a central part of community life. Though this may look like a religious practice, many of them may identify themselves as nonreligious.

This apparent contradiction reflects Japan’s unique religious history, shaped by centuries of blending between Buddhism, Shinto, and folk traditions. Moreover, the term “sh?ky?” (often translated as “religion”) tends to evoke organized and exclusive institutions, something many people do not associate with their everyday practices.

This disconnect creates a problem when trying to measure religiosity in Japan. Social scientists have long relied on survey questions built around the assumption that being religious means having a clear affiliation, holding defined beliefs, and regularly practicing. These categories work reasonably well in societies shaped by Western Christianity, but they fit Japan poorly.

Although qualitative research has already shown that many Japanese people engage in rituals without thinking of themselves as religious, no study had measured this gap rigorously at the national level, looking at identity, belief, and ritual practice all at once.

New study to measure the gap

To this end, a research team comprising Assistant Professor Koki Shimizu from the Department of Sociology, Doshisha University, and Professor Yoshihide Sakurai from Hokkaido University, Japan, set out to address this gap.

Their study, published online in the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, carefully analyzes data from a nationally representative survey conducted in Japan in 2024.

The project is part of the broader Global East Survey of Religion and Spirituality, an international project led by Professor Fenggang Yang of Purdue University, U.S., to better understand forms of religiosity that do not fit conventional Western frameworks.

The researchers analyzed responses from more than 4,000 participants, examining three dimensions simultaneously: how people identify themselves religiously, what rituals they took part in, and what they believe about concepts such as gods or the afterlife.

Participants could select multiple religious identities, and questions were carefully worded to avoid the assumption that belief, affiliation, and practice must align.

Overall, the findings revealed a complex and layered picture. Over 40% of respondents described themselves as nonreligious or atheist. At the same time, a large portion of these individuals reported participating in rituals, such as shrine visits or ancestral rites. Even among those with no religious identity, participation rates for such activities remained high. The researchers also noted that people commonly identify with more than one tradition, such as both Buddhism and Shinto, without perceiving any contradiction.

Layered identities and varied beliefs

Respondents’ personal beliefs were similarly varied. “Beliefs in gods and the afterlife are diverse and do not align neatly with conventional categories of religious identity,” said Dr. Shimizu. “These results highlight how religiosity in Japan is often expressed through culturally embedded practices and inherited traditions, rather than through formal belief or institutional membership.”

The study also uncovered a methodological issue with broad implications for social science. When the researchers compared their findings with other national surveys, they found that small differences in wording—such as asking whether someone “believes in” or “has” a religion—can produce very different results. Estimates of the nonreligious population varied dramatically depending on the phrasing used.

“This insight can help improve the design and cross-cultural comparability of future surveys on religion, spirituality, and values, both within East Asia and in broader international comparisons,” notes Dr. Shimizu.

Why the findings matter globally

Beyond its technical contributions to sociology, this research offers a more nuanced way of understanding religion in Japan. Rather than viewing the people as largely nonreligious, the findings suggest a form of religiosity that is diffuse, culturally embedded, and not tied to formal institutions. This has practical implications for how religion is discussed and understood outside academic settings.

“A more nuanced and context-sensitive understanding of Japanese religiosity may contribute to better discussions of religion-related issues in the media, classrooms, and cross-cultural dialogue,” concludes Dr. Shimizu.

By documenting how identity, belief, and practice can diverge, this study challenges conventional assumptions about what it means to be religious. It also points to the need for more flexible tools in global research that can capture the various ways in which people engage with religion in different cultural contexts.

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