New Religions, Depopulation, and the Aging Population

More than 20 percent of Japan’s population is over the age of sixty-five, and 45 percent of all cities, towns, and villages in Japan are classified as “depopulated” by the national government. Researchers have long been aware of the challenges that the aging population and depopulation pose to tradi...

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Détails bibliographiques
Auteur principal: Watanabe, Masako 1950- (Auteur)
Type de support: Électronique Article
Langue:Anglais
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Publié: Brill 2016
Dans: Journal of Religion in Japan
Année: 2016, Volume: 5, Numéro: 2/3, Pages: 263-305
Sujets / Chaînes de mots-clés standardisés:B Risshō Kōseikai / Konkōkyō / Dépopulation / Exode rural / Histoire 1960-2016
RelBib Classification:AD Sociologie des religions
AF Géographie religieuse
AZ Nouveau mouvement religieux
KBM Asie
RB Ministère ecclésiastique
TK Époque contemporaine
Sujets non-standardisés:B New Religions depopulation aging population social welfare community service Dharma centers
Accès en ligne: Volltext (Verlag)
Description
Résumé:More than 20 percent of Japan’s population is over the age of sixty-five, and 45 percent of all cities, towns, and villages in Japan are classified as “depopulated” by the national government. Researchers have long been aware of the challenges that the aging population and depopulation pose to traditional Buddhist temples. In contrast to those temples, many new religions were formed when people moved from farming villages to cities. This history of providing urban forms of belonging that sometimes fed off of the depopulation that traditional Buddhist temples struggle with has led scholars to overlook ways that depopulation and the aging population might be affecting new religions. This article asks whether and how population change in contemporary Japan is affecting new religions. More specifically, through the use of statistical data, interviews, and newsletters from Konkōkyō and Risshō Kōseikai, two new religions that have locations throughout Japan, it shows that new religions are facing many of the same issues as traditional Buddhist temples. Comparing the organizational form, practices, legal structures, and membership size of these new religions, this article looks at ways that they are affected by depopulation and the aging population and how they are working to serve aging members in depopulated areas.
ISSN:2211-8349
Contient:In: Journal of Religion in Japan
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1163/22118349-00502003