Religion, Identity and Pangs of Conversion in Japan

These days whenever I see any old lady or an old couple approaching towards me, I really get scared. It almost seems that I have a real faithless face, which brings into people’s immediate attention that I may be going to hell soon. It was a great sunny day in April last year when I thought that I should go to the park and try to read in peace in the lap of nature. I was not able to sit reading for long when I was approached by an old lady trying to tell me something in Japanese. With my very basic ability of Japanese, I just understood, “Pray” and “Church” (my Japanese ability in April could be judged by these two words!). I was not sure, what she was trying to tell me, and at the first instance I thought that she was asking for an address of a church. A Church? I could have told her the way to “Ueno Jinja” but the very thought that a church could even exist in Japan was far from my mind. It was not my mistake! A brief glance at the Japanese history few years back had already stored in my mind that “Christianity” was made illegal by the Shogunate, and there could be hardly any Christians around. She kept insisting for sometime, while I tried to guess the meaning. I all of a sudden understood when she tried to take me with her. She wanted me to go to the church and pray with her, as it was the perfect Sunday morning for that. I tried to play deaf, dumb and uneducated for long, until illiteracy saved me for turning into a pious Christian. 

Not long after that, I again committed the mistake to imagine that a nice Sunday morning could be a good idea to take a walk outside. This time an old couple with a Mercedes wished me morning, which I politely replied. The polite conversation suddenly took off! She asked me which country I was from, and on answering quickly did a hand action for ‘Namaste’. Amused, I replied to that too. The next question was again if I would like to accompany them to church. How appropriate! This time it was impossible to act “Illiterate”, so I smiled and politely refused saying said that I had other plans. 

Before I came to Japan, I knew that most of the people in Japan identify themselves as Non-Religious. Pretty normal isn't it? That's what all developed societies always say. I did study some Buddhist and Shinto philosophy as an interesting exercise, and also experienced its effect on day to day Japanese life. Principally, I found Japanese people more fashionable than religious, completely realizing the phrase of “Fashion is the new religion”. I have heard that there are fake churches in Japan which just create the ambience of Christian marriages for couples. Still, there is something creepy with old couples trying to convert people around, a secret which I think needs to be unfolded. 

The life otherwise is so religiously perfect in this side of the world where people are born Shinto, marry in Christian way, die a Buddhist and still claim to be not aligning to any religion. This concept is actually quite wonderful. I was born Hindu. Sometimes I believe that being born a Hindu is a very convenient religious way. Everything is God, and nothing is. There are multi arguments for everything, nothing is constant and keeps varying and adapting. My mother is one of the best examples of this adaptation. She keeps all the religious symbol souvenirs presented to her by pilgrims of various religious faiths, and all Hindu gods of her own together at one place. “Aabe-zamzam” from Mecca sits close to “Holy Water" from the river Ganges in one corner. She claims, that she only knows one way of praying, but everything anyway is God, so her prayers would be understood. Such broad definition of God could have let me to go to a church and to sing Krishna bhajans, but I kind of tried to stop this urge within me. In short, for me it is as difficult to believe in one form, size or shape of God, as it is to believe that there is an actual existence of God. Fortunately, I never let this question to become one of the prime questions in life, and just do few things for the old tradition’s sake and sometimes just because I am a human being who likes doing few things to make other people happy. 

On a Sunday afternoon last week, my doorbell rang. I have a habit of directly opening the door in Japan without looking into the high-tech door camera phone. Once again I found a charming Japanese couple standing at the door. They were so old that they were tired even by walking door to door. They somehow gauged me as an Indian, and tried looking for a Hindi pamphlet which was nowhere to be found. I told them in my basic Japanese, that I could also read English. She instantly found one in English. I remembered a Christian story by Leo Tolstoy titled “Where love is, god is” in which the protagonist 'Martin Avdéiteh' is visited by different people in need, and he helps them in the best way he could and finally realizes that he was visited by the god thrice*. It was apt to call them inside sensing that they were tired and thirsty. They were happy to get some green tea, which I prepared without any Japanese precision. A conversation in Japanese was difficult to carry on, but they were happy at my little hospitality, and praised my house. Finally they left me a pamphlet titled “Do you want to know the truth?”. The pamphlet is still kept above my refrigerator asking me the same question everyday. 

Meanwhile, I received another interesting advertisement in my mailbox, asking me to book a Buddhist grave near Yamanote Transit Line for some premium price, so that my relatives could visit me easily. I kept the two together, and the truth dawned on me. Life is really short to know the ultimate truth. The gist is to learn and experience the journey, while being happy and content. “Rumi” again tells me something interesting. 

“Be grateful for whoever comes, because each has been sent as a guide from beyond.”

-Rumi

*The story by Leo Tolstoy is a true masterpiece. Read at the link http://www.online-literature.com/tolstoy/2892/