Religion

The two main religions in Japan are Shintoism and Buddhism. However most Japanese citizens would not consider themselves to belong to any religion. Regardless of that fact, temples and shrines always have people visiting them. Most of the time these people are praying for help with something in their life or just sight seeing. To a foreigner everything connected to these religions can seem a little strange. Buying a fortune and if it is a good fortune tying it to a post in hopes that it will come true seem like a fun diversion, but not something that is connected to religion.

The Japanese religions seem more concerned with people's day to day lives than our western religions. This focus on the day to day is reflected at the temples and shrines by the things that one can do and buy there. Kiyomizu temple sells paper dolls that after bought a person writes their problems on and drops it into a bucket of water. When the doll dissolves in the water the problems written on it also disappear from the writer's life. Fushimi Inari just a few minutes away by train has two stones that people pick up and depending on if they feel heavy or not the person lifting the stone is able to tell if they will be able to get rid of their problems or not. Every shrine and temple also seems to have a gift shop type area that sells charms to help in different aspects of a person's life.

Japanese people are said to be born shinto and die buddhist, and from an outsiders perspective the religions they practice during life seem to be a helpful guide from point A to point B.