Is Japan losing its religion? Cults, Unification Church scandal seen driving rising distrust

Nearly 40 per cent of respondents to a survey said they had lost trust in religion, as some say they see no reason to visit Buddhist temples any more

Problems caused by ‘new religions’ such as Aum Shinrikyo and the Unification Church are still affecting Japanese society, an analyst notes

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A Buddhist monk prays at a temple on Mount Koya in Japan’s Wakayama prefecture. About two in five people interviewed for the survey said their sense of trust in religion had declined in the past two years. Photo: Shutterstock

Published: 9:31am, 19 Apr 2023

A study by a major Buddhist temple in Tokyo has revealed a growing distrust of religion in Japan, a trend analysts suggest is the consequence of religious cults that have in the past used violence to advance their aims – and the more recent scandal surrounding the infiltration of politics by the Unification Church.

A knock-on effect of this loss of faith, they say, will be the inevitable weakening of Komeito, the junior partner to Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in Japan’s ruling coalition.

Komeito was founded by lay members of Buddhist religious movement Soka Gakkai in 1964 and is considered to be the new religious movement’s political wing.

The survey on religious trust, carried out by the Tsukiji Honganji temple, revealed that 39.7 per cent of the 1,600 people interviewed said their sense of trust in religion had declined in the last two years.

Members of the Aum Shinrikyo religious cult that was behind the 1995 sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway system, including cult leader Shoko Asahara (centre, back), are seen in this undated file photo. Photo: EPA-EFE

The results were most visible in women aged between 18 and 49, with around 50 per cent saying they have less trust in religion today than in the past, although a more exact determination is difficult as the survey was the first of its kind.

Is Japan losing its religion? Cults, Unification Church scandal seen driving rising distrust

Nearly 40 per cent of respondents to a survey said they had lost trust in religion, as some say they see no reason to visit Buddhist temples any more Problems caused by ‘new religions’ such as Aum Shinrikyo and the Unification Church are still affecting Japanese society, an analyst notes

Nearly 40 per cent of respondents to a survey said they had lost trust in religion, as some say they see no reason to visit Buddhist temples any more

Problems caused by ‘new religions’ such as Aum Shinrikyo and the Unification Church are still affecting Japanese society, an analyst notes