Issues.

I forgot to mention that a couple weeks ago I saw four mormon dudes on bikes near my school. I remember thinking too myself, "good luck with trying to convert a Japanese person to mormonism." Today, as I was waiting for the bus, I saw two of them walking towards me, bibles in hand. I do what I always do when I want to avoid someone, especially when it comes to someone who is on a mission to convert me, I pick up my phone and act like I am receiving a very important phone call. This always deters people. However, every once in a while the person(s) are completely oblivious and still try and talk to me. Then I say, "um, can't you see I'm on the phone?" I don't care if that's rude, I am on the phone and you're still trying to talk to me? Now that's rude. Leave me alone! 

When it comes to religion in Japan, almost 90% of Japanese people follow either Shinto or Buddhism. The other 10% is a mix of atheists, non-religious groups and religions such as Christianity, Hinduism, Islam and Judaism, bear in mind these are minority religions and their numbers are rather small. I was approached by Jehovah's Witnesses when I was in Hiroshima. And it seems as if the Mormons are trying to establish themselves here as well. Japan does allow religious freedom but it's interesting that most people do not convert considering how small the minority groups are.

The fact that this isn't a Christian country can account for some of their beliefs that foreigners, particularly the West, might have trouble with. One example is abortion. It's simply not an issue here. Birth control wasn't legalized until 1998 in Japan but even now it's rarely used. The most common form of birth control is abortion. The abortion debate in other countries is based off moral beliefs, i.e. religious beliefs. In Japan abortion is not a moral dilemma, it's just birth control. I'm all about "it's a woman's body and it's her choice" but using abortion as a form of birth control cannot be good for your body, especially if it's a common occurrence. Most Japanese people don't understand why abortion is such a heated issue in the West, especially in America.

On the other side of it because safe sex is not preached and rarely practiced, Japan is the only industrialized nation with a steady rise in HIV cases.  A lot of men do not use condoms here and the women don't seem to question it. Why would they? They aren't really educated about the risk of STDs or pregnancy like we are in the states. If they get pregnant they either have the kid or have an abortion, adoption is rarely an option. In Japan people have held a deep aversion to adoption because so much emphasis is put on blood relations so for some Japanese, another persons child would never feel like your own. Also, surrogacy is illegal. Someone cannot carry a child for you, which I think is completely wrong and is an example of the 'state' basically being in your bedroom. Too close for my comfort.

Another thing that is not an issue here like it is in the West is being gay. Like abortion, most people argue that the bible says it's wrong so therefore it's wrong, end of story.  Marriage is between a man and woman and blah fucking bullshit blah. Being gay is not an issue here morally, however culturally it's not something you talk about. The common attitude is, if your gay then your gay but just keep it to yourself. This may not be that much better than the states but at least here someone isn't going to hold up a sign that says, "God Hates Fags" or "You will burn in hell!" which by the way is one of the reasons I despise most religions. 

I am all about religious freedom however what gives anyone the right to think they can tell anyone how you should live your life and who you can sleep with or better yet who you can marry? Are you fucking kidding me? That is such a violation of the so called "freedom" Americans pride themselves on having and is why they think America is the best country in the world. These people are so full of hypocrisy and shit it makes me sick. Why can't people just live their lives they way they choose without being judged by someone who assumes that their religion and their beliefs are right?  

It's no wonder that Japan sometimes looks at the West with confusion when it comes to social and moral issues. The idea of an abortion doctor being murdered or members of a church standing outside of the cemetery of a gay Army soldiers funeral cheering his death saying it was God's punishment on America for tolerating homosexuality is just as perplexing as adopting or carrying someone else's child.  And at the same time the West looks at various social and moral issues in Japan with the same question marks above their heads. It's good to be critical and even better to vocalize it but it's also important to realize there's no right way to do things, there's just different ways. Even you don't always understand or agree with it, shouldn't you at least respect someone's right to do it differently?