In Japan, there are various religions including Shintoism, Buddhism, and Christianity. The breakdown is as follows:
Shintoists 104,550,000
Buddhists 95,110,000
Christians 1,760,000
Other religions 11,210,000
Total: 212,630,000
Statistically speaking, the number of believers if twice as large as Japan’s total population, but this is because many households worship both Shintoist and Buddhist gods.
You may find it strange to learn that when you ask Japanese what religion they belong to , the most common answer will be, “I don’t have a religion.”However, if you ask them what sect they belong to, they will give you a specific answer such as jodoshusect or Sodoshu-sect.
Unlike Christians, Shintoists and Buddhists do not have the custom of going to worship services on a weekly basis, and so they are considered non-religions. However, a large portion lf the population does visit shrines and temples during New Years. Japanese traditionally pay respect to their ancestors, and in the past it was common for every home to have both a small family shrines for worshiping the gods of Buddhism and Shintoism. The falling apart of the nuiclear family in modern times has spelled the end to this custom..
日本有神道、佛教、基督教以及其它宗教。各个宗教的信徒数如下：
神道 10455万人
佛教 9511万人
基督教 176万人
其他 1121万人
合计21263万人
根据这个数字，信徒总数似乎是日本总人口的两倍，这是因为有些家庭既信奉神道也信奉佛教。
奇怪的是，当你问日本人他们信什么教时，最通常的回答是“我不信教”。但是如果你问他们的宗教是什么，得到的回答往往是“净士宗”或“曹洞宗”。
和基督教不同，神道和佛教没有每周去教堂祈祷的习惯，所以这些教徒往往被认为无宗教。但是，正月里去神社或寺庙参拜的人很多。日本人是祖先崇拜的民族，过去每家都有佛坛和神龛。现在，随着独生子女家庭增多，这种习惯也逐渐消失了。
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