Students’ Perception of Religious Phenomena in Japan and the Inadequacy of ’Religion’ as Conceptual Tool in a non-Western Context

The main purpose of this study was to evaluate the attitude of Japanese university students towards religious phenomena in Japan, with specific emphasis on the ones labelled new religious movements. This has been achieved through ten semi-structured interviews with female and male university students based in Tokyo, all with varying personal experiences with religion. Drawing on Horii (2018) and Lewis (2015), this thesis further sought to contribute to the debate on how to develop more appropriate conceptual tools for the study of “religion” in Japan. The students' attitudes in this research differed greatly when it came to Shinto and Buddhism, world religions like Christianity, and new religious movements. Shinto and Buddhism were seen as an integral part of Japan's culture rather than religion, and world religions were generally viewed positively. New religious movements on the other hand were regarded with suspicion bordering on fear by some respondents. Lastly, the study found that “religion” is indeed not an appropriate category of analysis and should be replaced to properly capture the reality of Japanese society