Japan is one of the world's least religious countries, according to a Gallup survey this year. Yet some observers have noted an uptick in the number of young people visiting religious sites at pivotal moments in their lives.
Yasunori Ueda may visit the Ise Grand Shrine every summer to pray to for his family and good health, but that doesn’t make him religious.
“Visiting a shrine to pray is different from being religious,” he says while walking along the gravel path that leads to the main shrine, the most sacred spot in all of Shinto, Japan’s indigenous religion. “It has nothing to do with religion. Most Japanese, including me, don’t think about whether we’re religious or not.”
It’s a common refrain at Japan's more than 80,000 shrines and temples. Yet evidence of an instinctive spirituality that infuses daily life can be spotted across the country, from the small shrines tucked behind busy Tokyo streets to the sacred grounds that dot rural byways.
A survey published earlier this year by Gallup International and the Worldwide Independent Network of Market Research found that Japan is among the world's least religious countries. Sixty-two percent of respondents identified themselves as either not religious or atheist, placing the country behind only China and Hong Kong in Asia.
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That enduring appeal has contributed to a booming tourism industry. A largely domestic audience of about 3 million people flock to Meiji Shrine and Senso-ji temple in Tokyo during the first three days of the New Year, Japan's most significant holiday. A survey conducted in 2012 by Travel and Leisure found that both sites receive 30 million visitors annually, the most of any religious sites in the world – a number that includes many visitors interested simply in seeing the landmark structures.
The number of visitors at the iconic Ise Shrine (pronounced ee-say) spiked at 14 million in 2013, the year the shrine was deconstructed and rebuilt as part of an ancient ceremony that's repeated every 20 years.