Understanding Japan’s complex religious landscape
Researchers analyze how Japanese people describe their religious identity, what they believe in, and how they practice
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A recent study explores the plural, layered, and culturally rooted aspects of religion in Japan. This graphical representation shows the population distribution of Japanese people across different religious and nonreligious domains.
view moreCredit: Assistant Professor Koki Shimizu from Doshisha University, Japan, https://doi.org/10.1111/jssr.70065
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 “shūkyō” (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.
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 on April 12, 2026, 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, USA, 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 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.
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,” remarks 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.
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.
About Assistant Professor Koki Shimizu from Doshisha University, Japan
Dr. Koki Shimizu obtained a master’s degree from Aoyama Gakuin University in 2015 and a doctoral degree from Hokkaido University in 2020. He currently serves as an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Social Studies of Doshisha University. He specializes in sociology, and his research interests center around values, religiosity, and subjective well-being. Dr. Shimizu has published 20 scientific papers and several books and book chapters on these topics.
About Professor Yoshihide Sakurai from Hokkaido University, Japan
Dr. Yoshihide Sakurai obtained a Ph. D from Hokkaido University in 2002 and he has served as a Professor of Sociology since 2004 at the Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences of Hokkaido University. He specializes in comparative sociology, and his research interests center around religious culture in Southeast and East Asia. Dr. Sakurai has published 44 scientific books and more than 150 papers on these topics.
Funding information
This study was supported in part by a grant from the John Templeton Foundation, Grant number 61951, “Global East Religiosity and Changing Religious Landscapes,” to Purdue University.
This graph shows that many people who identify themselves as nonreligious still participate in ritual practices.
Credit
Assistant Professor Koki Shimizu from Doshisha University, Japan. https://doi.org/10.1111/jssr.70065
Journal
Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion
Method of Research
Data/statistical analysis
Subject of Research
People
Article Title
Ambiguous Boundaries of Religious Belief, Behavior, and Belonging in Japan: A Descriptive Analysis of Plural and Cultural Religiosity
