[MMM]

Originally Posted by RealJames

would you say that most Americans treat xmas as a serious religious ritual or as a cultural tradition?

I think it depends who you talk to. That is a common debate in the US, but the US is also a mostly Christian nation.

Originally Posted by RealJames

We agree on the whole suicide bit, and I think we agree about this too if anything just the words I'm using aren't explicit enough
My original thing was that religion is hardly taken seriously in Japan.
It definitely is a major part of modern Japanese culture, but people don't even think of it most of the time, even while doing those cultural "religious" things. Right?

When you say "hardly taken seriously" I read that to mean it is a joke. I think you mean more literally, it isn't a motivating force in people's lives. On the other hand, people are never critical of organized religion in Japan, mostly because they never need to be. The followers of Buddha and Shinto are not on tv or on street corners yelling for people to repent or go to hell. You never hear Japanese people say "Those stupid Buddhists are a joke."

So people will go to the temple every year and buy a new good luck charm out of tradition, but for most Japanese that is the extent of their faith. In places like Nara and Kyoto these places of worship are seen more as attractions than holy places.