However, I would be surprised if Yonsei published textbooks on engineering or political science (not directly related to religion) had Christian references.

I actually had opportunity to think about this subject a lot last week when my family and I had to suddenly return to Japan for my mother in law’s funeral. 4 or 5 days after the funeral, I asked Ryoko if it would be alright for me to play the piano a bit. Her response is that such things wouldn’t be appropriate until after the 49 day mourning period was over. Also related, even though the local summer festival was Tuesday night, no one in Ryoko’s family participated, since they were in mourning.

So this is a fairly simple thing, which I call “not engaging in boisterous activity during the mourning period”. It could be viewed very differently depending on your perspective.

I initially just viewed this as simple superstition, and in fact it kind of annoyed me at first. My better sense prevailed however, and I listed to my wife and didn’t make an argument out of it.

Ryoko, although she shares my belief system, viewed it very differently. She was simply showing respect to her father, her deceased mother, and her extended family by observing the appropriate Japanese traditions.

To Ryoko’s father and family, this was the proper religions observation. Although Ryoko’s father is what I would classify as the stereotypical Japanese ‘culturally Buddhist’, Ryoko’s mother was as active practitioner/worshiper of Shingon-shu, so everyone wanted to make sure that all the ceremonies were done according to her faith.

So in the end I repented of my initial knee-jerk reaction of ‘meaningless superstition’ and instead adopted my wife’s attitude of ‘politely showing respect for other’s beliefs’. So I wore the juzu on my wrist, lit the incense at the altar, and sprinkled the incense on my forehead like everyone else. I even helped sing some prayers with my father-in-law every evening while I was there. The only thing that was really hard was sitting in seiza for so long during the funeral (I actually was able to relax a bit and sit cross-legged when I noticed other family members doing the same).

It seems that this is the same attitude that most Mormons in Japan adopt. A strict interpretation of thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, […] nor bow down thyself to them, nor serve them would be that doing such is idol worship. Perhaps some of the Christian sects in Japan interpret it this way, I don’t know. But the Mormons in Japan I’ve talked to feel that true worship is what is done in your heart, and so things like lighting incense at a butsudan, bowing to a ojizou, or clapping and ringing the bell at a shrine is not idol worship if you are not worshiping the ancestors/Buddha/kami in your heart. (by this interpretation, probably a large majority of normal Japanese aren’t guilty of idol worship either, but I digress…)

Since most Mormons in Japan are converts, if a member of a Mormon family dies, they usually still hold the wake or vigil in the standard Japanese tradition, the only exception being the absence of a Buddhist priest, and the altar being much simpler and containing only the picture of the deceased. Then the next day the actual funeral is held at the church, closely resembling their western counterparts (truth be told though, I’ve never been to anything but a Mormon funeral in the US, so I have little to compare it to).