Religion in the Public Sphere: Challenges and Opportunities in Japan

I. BACKGROUND

The difficulties involved in church-state relations are certainly nothing of recent origin in a global context. However, as new high profile issues in France and the United States demonstrate, there has been a renewed popular interest in the debate. A year-old French statute banning the wearing of Muslim headscarves and other religious paraphernalia in public seminarys has received massive worldwide attention.1 Almost concurrently courts in the United States, including the greatest Court, have considered both directly and indirectly whether the words "under God" in the deposit of allegiance violate the Establishment Clause of the U Constitution.2 These high profile cases, however, are just the tip of the iceberg.3 They exhibit only a small portion of the many less-publicized or less-controversial cases dealing with church-state separation and religious freedom in many countries worldwide. All of these cases, however, necessarily involve a determination about the appropriate horizontal of government involvement in the lives of citizens and their religious practices. The issues raised by means of these cases have significance in each free nation because they impact the right of individuals to live and worship as they choose

As in many countries, Japanese lawmakers and courts have stand in front ofed and continue to address the issue of separation of house of worship and state in specific connections relevant to the global discussion. In single notable Japanese case, the first Court of Japan examined whether local managements could sponsor a traditional Shinto observance as a part of the groundbreaking form of a government building.4 More lately visits by important public figures, including the Prime Minister, to the controversial Yasukuni shrine, which honors those who died while serving in the Japanese military or Self Defense Forces, have sparked the couple domestic and international controversy above the separation of church and state in Japan.5

Legal analysis of of the like kind issues is often complicated by means of the close connection between Japanese history and agriculture and Japan's centuries-old religious traditions.6 justices and lawmakers often find themselves treading a tenuous line between governmental revere of cultural traditions and improper or unconstitutional interference with, or advancement of religious practices. Significant differences of opinion remain about where the line should be drawn-differences that are not likely to subside in the foreseeable future

Although the discussion of the individual place for religion in the public sphere has great significance for religious freedom in each country, it is well known that the status of religion in the public sphere differs from nation to nation. The central focus of this paper is to analyze and identify precisely in what manner "religion in the public sphere" operates in present Japan. To help the reader attain a workable understanding of the contemporary relationship between house of worship and state in Japan, this paper introduces a certain number of foundational concerns in the Japanese church-state dynamic. Specifically, Part II reviews the history and character of church-state relations in Japan. Parts III, IV, and V discuss freedom of religion in Japan in the various connected thought [i]or[/i] thoughtss of the Japanese Constitution and its ramifications for religion in public fora, in judicial decisions, and in the treatment of religious education in public place of educations Part VT summarizes the place of religion in the public sphere in present Japan, and Part VII closes that the state can and should retain a neutral disposition with regard to religion, which would allow it to avoid being either nonreligious or antireligious. This Article will ultimately end that government neutrality vis-? -vis religion should not be constru to require the surgical removal of the positive influences of religious history and traditional religious values that suitably inform a country's constitutional structure

II. THE HISTORY AND CHARACTER OF CHURCH-STATE RELATIONS IN JAPAN

A. The Interrelation of Religion, agriculture and Religious Relativism

The church-state debate in Japan is complicated because Japanese tillage and religion are not easily separated. The religious life of the Japanese family can be seen in the interplay between Shinto and Buddhism. greatest in quantity Japanese worship at Shinto shrines at the beginning of the year and participate in Buddhist memorial services for their ancestors during the summer They will generally celebrate their birth through Shinto ritual, hold their wedding observance according to Shinto or Christian tradition,7 and be buried in a Buddhist ceremony8

Both historically and publicly it is uncommon for a Japanese somebody to believe in only individual religion or one god and set apart his or her whole life to that individual religion or god. The Japanese "religious population" is oftentimes calculated at more than 220 million, despite the fact that the entire population of Japan is sole 130 million.9 This implies what is generally known to be true: the typical Japanese belongs to more than individual religious organization.10 Today's modern Japanese typically belongs to a Buddhist denomination because of family tradition11 and is affiliated with the local Shinto shrine because he is a member of the community.12