FROM RELIGIOUS CONFORMITY TO INNOVATION:
New Ideas of Religious Journey and Holy Places
INOUE Nobutaka
(Social Compass 47-1,2000,)

1. Introduction
Japanese society has undergone enormous social changes since the end of World War II. As these changes have involved all aspects of society, including politics, economic, and culture, religious organizations likewise have not immune from drastic change. First, the traditional religions of Shinto and Buddhism were forced to search for new ways of accommodating the postwar situation under the new principles of religious freedom and the strict separation of church and state. In comparison, Christian churches found themselves under newly advantageous conditions, and faced a new stage of missionary activity. New religions were also able to enjoy much freer activities than during the prewar period. As a whole, it became possible for people to affiliate with any religion more freely than it had been before.
Under these circumstances, during at least the first quarter century following the war, the main current of activity among Japanese religions could be summarized as improving upon prewar conditions or re-adapting to the new postwar situation. For both Shrine Shinto and Buddhist denominations, the main concern was to maintain the social foundation which they had established during the prewar period. In short, they paid most attention to preserving their existing membership. Leaders of Shrine Shinto wanted to maintain the traditional idea of the ujiko, the parishioner of a shrine living within the shrine's traditional parish boundaries. Buddhist denominations, on the other hand, wanted to maintain the identity of denomination members as danka or patrons of the respective Buddhist temple. It appeared that the basis for the traditional religions would remain relatively stable--at least in economical terms--if the identities of the ujiko and danka did not change.
Christian churches, on the other hand, felt that the postwar situation, with its principles of religious freedom and separation of church and state, presented considerable advantages to their missionary activities. They eagerly engaged in missionary activity in the effort to prevent the society from returning to the prewar conditions of Emperor system and national protection of Shrine Shinto.
New religions also enjoyed a freer range of activity compared to their status in the prewar period, when some of them had been frequently criticized as "pseudo-religious" associations. As a result of the Religious Corporation Ordinance1 issued in 1945, many new religious groups registered as independent denominations. Some of those have now grown to major organizations, including Soka Gakkai, Rissho Koseikai, and Sekai Kyuseikyo (Church of World Messianity).2
A new trend was observed, however, from around the 1970s, namely the appearance of new religions which fundamentally differ from the former trend of "maintaining" or "improving" upon the existing prewar situation, and instead represent a new freedom from specific cultural traditions. This new current appears to be intimately related to the new social conditions of globalization and free spread of information.3 While the overall scope of this new trend is difficult to assess, due to the relatively little data and information we currently possess, it is likely appropriate to describe it an expression of a global current of change.
Examples of religious movements reflecting this new current can be found particularly among the Japanese new religions which form the main object of my study. While many new religions have been established since Japan's entry to the modern period, most can be characterized as basically "modern versions of traditional religions." In other words, they can be understood as being based on the teachings, rituals and organization of earlier traditional religions, and as adopting those elements as an "infrastructure," so to speak, while trying to accommodate those elements to a new modern condition. Even now, the new religions continue, as a whole, to possess this basic character.
On the other hand, however, some new movements are now appearing which cannot be understood merely as "modern versions of traditional religions." It may be easier to understand why such movements have appeared by considering recent worldwide tendencies. I recently began using the term "hyper-traditional religion"4 in order to characterize this type of movement. Hyper-traditional religious movements represent more than the mere reorganization of traditional religions, but are quite free from indebtedness to any specific religious tradition. Although I have no time here to describe the concept in detail, I feel that this type of religious movement has become more noticeable since the 1970s.
What, then, are the factors that have promoted such changes since the 1970s? Needless to say, social changes in modern Japan have prompted the adaptation of new religions as well as of traditional religions. Urbanization, industrialization and other social changes have caused a functional weakening of both the family and the local community, and religious organizations have been forced to cope with this situation. And admittedly, these same problems must continue to be taken into consideration in relation to today's new religious movement.
Other, new factors, however, have also appeared in addition. These new factors tend to be global in nature, and are related, first, to the growth of the advanced information age, followed by the rapid expansion of human exchange and higher education around the world.
In the following discussion, I will refer to the new trend of "religious journeys" and the "image of holy places" in modern Japan. I should make it clear, that I present this discussion against the background of the assumed new global factors I mentioned above.

2. Religious Journeys and Holy Places
Many customs and rituals related to the idea of holy places or pilgrimage have been formed within the traditional religious practices of Japanese religions. Historically, differences exist regarding the popularity of specific religious facilities or mountains, and the degree to which such cults were observed throughout the population, but the basic attitude of veneration directed toward holy places and religious journeys has remained consistent throughout the process of modernization.
Visits to famous religious places and holy mountains, and pilgrimages to famous Shinto shrines or Buddhist temples continue to be highly popular in Japan as traditional types of religious journey. During the New Year's holidays, more than half of the Japanese population visit famous Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples, including the Grand Shrine of Ise, the Meiji Jingu Shrine, or the Kawasaki Taishi temple. Many people, except most Christians or members of exclusive sects, likewise visit famous shrines or temples on their regular festival days to pray for happiness and good fortune. The shrine Izumo Taisha, and the Buddhist temple complexes at Mount Koya and Mount Hiei are also well known as traditional holy places.
One of most famous traditional religious journeys in Japan is the pilgrimage to the eighty-eight designated temples on the island of Shikoku, although most pilgrims today travel by car or bus rather than by the traditional means of walking. Other Japanese may climb Mount Fuji and Mount Ontake, which remain well-known sacred mountains.
Visiting traditional holy places for worship continues to be common behavior among the Japanese people, even in modern times. While the traditional idea of the religious journey and sacred place have generally continued to exist, the sacredness of traditional religious journeys and places have been challenged by rapidly changing social conditions of postwar Japan. For example, journeys to traditional religious facilities, including famous Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples, now feature the additional elements of leisure and entertainment. Kyoto and Kamakura are home to numerous historically important buildings, and visits to shrines and temples in those cities often takes the form of sightseeing.
Most shrines and temples are aware of this situation. Of course, the presence of the element of secular entertainment was well known even prior to the modern period. Certainly, the Grand Shrines of Ise became known as the holiest of Shinto shrines in the Meiji period because they represented the ancestral deities of the imperial family, but in earlier times, the o-isemairi or pilgrimage to the Grand Shrines of Ise involved many kinds of amusement, including visits to bordellos located in the shrine town.
Even admitting that the religious journey has always included a secular element, it is nonetheless true that the religious journey of the present age has increased its secularity. Even when people visit religious facilities, their religious aims are not crucial, since it appears that of the people who visit traditional religious facilities, the percentage of those confessing beliefs in shrine Shinto or Buddhism is gradually decreasing. In present-day Japan, a glance at statistics provided by various press agencies and research institutes makes it clear that the younger generations have less concern for religion.5 However, many young people continue to visit famous shrines or temples in Kyoto, Nara, Kamakura and other places. Certain holy places known as sites where mountain ascetics trained have even become the destination of picnic routes. This trend may be characterized as an increase of "secular journeys to sacred places."
On the other hand, new, non-traditional concepts of sacred place and religious journey have also appeared in recent years. These have become especially remarkable since the 1970s. An important question here regards what sociological and psychological differences are observable between traditional and new ideas of sacred places, but this issue has not yet been fully discussed in Japan. Not all scholars even share the recognition that such phenomena exist, perhaps because they are at their first stages of appearance.
Recognizing this situation, I want to use today's presentation as a means of preparing for the task of pursuing the questions I have noted above. I will present three new conceptual types of religious journey and sacred places found in present-day Japan. I will point out the characteristics of each type and consider the social background of the new concepts. I will place especially heavy emphasis on the current social environment, since these new types of behavior are particularly popular among the younger generations.
The three main types I wish to present include (1) a trip to an "inner world"; (2) outer space as sacred space; and (3) "virtual space" as sacred place.

3. A Trip to an Inner World
The prayer or meditation forming a practice in various religions requires strict concentration of mind. In that sense, a deep interest in one's inner mind is not a new phenomenon at all, and it has a crucial role in religious mysticism. What I would like to discuss here, however, is the kind of religious phenomenon in which the "trip to the inner mind" itself is consistently regarded as a central part of daily religious activities, and sometimes becomes virtually their ultimate goal.
One example suggesting this tendency is the concept of an "inner trip" advocated by the new religion of Reiyukai. One of the largest new religions of Buddhist origin, Reiyukai was established in 1930 by KUBO Kakutaro (1901-71) and KOTANI Kimi (1901-44). After the war, Reiyukai underwent schisms, leading to the creation of new groups like Rissho Koseikai, Myochikai and other sects. As a result, among the Buddhist new religions, those of Reiyukai origin are today quite influential.
Reiyukai is based fundamentally on ancestor worship and belief in the Lotus Sutra, tendencies which have not changed at all since its origins until today. In the 1970s, however, the second president of the sect, KUBO Tsugunari instituted a new movement called the "Inner Trip." The main targets of the movement were members of the younger generation, and it aimed at a respect for human relations and the "development of mind."
The monthly magazine Inner Trip was issued in 1972 as an organizational periodical. The slogan "inner trip" is used during each summer seminar for young persons held at the group's center Mirokusan, located in the middle of the Izu peninsula in Shizuoka Prefecture. The slogan "inner trip" has been commented on widely, and some have said that the words may suggest new potential for the discovery of identity by young people.
The interest in "inner mind" is observed also in beliefs about the "spiritual world" and the prevalence of "faith healing." The movement or phenomenon commonly called the "spiritual world" has became particularly popular since the 1970s. A variety of elements and beliefs are involved, however, and full-scale analysis of the movement has just began. However, one of the central characteristics of the movement is that primary concern is placed not on society, but on the individual, together with strong emphasis on the concept of the healing of mind or soul. While earlier new religious and social movements frequently insisted upon social reform or revolution together with individual awakening, the "spiritual world" movement places its emphasis exclusively upon the issue of the inner mind of each individual.
Interestingly enough, concerns about the inner mind overlap the analytical psychology of Jung and his school. As is widely known, analytical psychology of the Jungian school places heavy emphasis on the concept of individuation. In the process of individuation, the "self" is directed toward a higher level within a dynamic relationship between consciousness and unconsciousness. In Japan, Jungian theory is often applied to the discussion of religious matters without referring to "god."
As a result, the motif of a trip to an inner world seems to be related to the idea of a "mental cure" or "healing" and also to the practice of psychoanalysis. A tendency appears to be taking shape in which the individual inner trip provides more religious and authentic meaning than a visit to an actual or traditional holy place. These trends might thus be called a "sacralization of the mind."

4. Outer Space as Sacred Space
Another characteristic of some of the new religious movements which have developed since the 1970s is a deeper interest in outer space. Within these new religions, sacred places are frequently depicted as existing on remote planets rather than on the earth, and the deities worshiped likewise live within the solar system or on remote planets. This trend may be related to recent tendencies toward imagining aliens not as invaders, but as beings who bear divine message to human beings. An expression "cosmic deity" is found in the teachings of some sects, and it makes us wonder whether the concept of cosmic sacredness, or of a sacred contained by the universe, may be gradually changing as a result of space age technology.
On rare occasion, we find groups which believe in a specific planet as home to deities. An exceptional example is Yamato no Miya, with headquarters in Yamagata City. Establishing the group in 1977, the founder AZIKI Tenkei (1952-) states that she received divine messages from a figure called W. A. Terebeto, as well as from Sakyamuni Buddha and Amitabha Buddha.6 She says that Terebeto, a resident of the planet Venus, came to the earth on a UFO as a messenger from the deity Arah, who rules the universe. Terebeto reason for coming to earth was to inform human beings that the earth is now facing critical conditions.
The idea of such a space messenger is related to the familiarity with "aliens" that has spread especially among recent younger generations in Japan. Another example can be found in the group called Zushi Yo Yo, which can be included within the spiritual world movement. The leader of the group, AI Yoko (1941-), admits that she was influenced by TAKAHASHI Shinji, founder of the earlier new religion God Light Association or "GLA," a new religion of Buddhist origin.
AI established her "Healing Hill Zushi Yo Yo" at Zushi city, Kanagawa Prefecture in 1993. She claims that the purpose of her activities is to promote the spiritual awakening of persons who gather at the site.7
The group's building is said to have been constructed by taking into account its "tuning to the cosmic waves," and it is claimed to be located at an intermediary position between the universe and the earth. Since it is also said to be a base for the release of energy into the universe, the group claims that UFOs often visit the site for recharging. Meetings are composed of members aged mostly in their 20s to 40s. For these members, "aliens" and "UFOs" are not the stuff of science fiction, but genuine existences. These cases indicate that the concept of the "sacredness of the universe" is becoming a familiar pattern, even though it may not represent a majority view.
Here, we should also consider a change in the function of holy places in modern society. When considered from the perspective of their process of formation, two types of holy place can be suggested in Japan. The first is the place which is regarded as sacred based primarily on natural geographic or topographic conditions, such as mountains or places beyond the sea. In this category would fall numerous mountains and forests which have been considered sacred since ancient times. Large, impressive rocks are also often considered symbolic of the holy. Needless to say, not all mountains, forests or big rocks are viewed as sacred. They must be particularly impressive, possessing natural conditions making them exceptionally beautiful, attractive or mystical in appearance, or difficult of access.
The second type is that kind of place viewed as holy due to unique historical reasons, which may be ancient or modern in origin. For example, the Grand Shrines of Ise are regarded as sacred places since the shrines have been maintained since ancient times. An example from the modern age might be the jiba which is located at the center of Tenrikyo headquarters. The founder of Tenrikyo, NAKAYAMA Miki (1798-1887) said to her disciples that the jiba was the center of the earth, the place where creation was first accomplished, and that the source of human salvation would be revealed here first and foremost.
Because of this teaching, a place in a village inhabited by a mere thirty families came to represent highly sacred meanings. More recently, the cases of Sekai Mahikari Bunmei Kyodan and Sukyo Mahikari, a sect which separated from it, are well known. Sekai Mahikari Bunmei Kyodan constructed a sacred shrine in the Izu peninsula, and Sukyo Mahikari did similarly in Takayama City, Gifu Prefecture in the 1970s. Both structures were based on revelations which OKADA Kautama (1901-74), the founder of both sects, claimed to receive from a deity. As a result, new holy places were established in those locations.8
Of these two types of holy places, the second type is not threatened by the modernization process. As long as there exist believers who support the claim that a place is holy, any holy place remains holy. 9
Just as in the case of Jerusalem or Mecca, the second type of holy place does not lose its function as sacred space among believers merely due to modern social changes. Sacredness as observed in the first type of holy place, however, is largely based on natural conditions, and this type may sometimes be affected by rapid social changes regarding the function of such natural places as sacred space. While Mt. Fuji was long considered a sacred mountain, modern changes have led to inevitable changes in attitudes toward that sacrality, and today, the mountain can be accessed by car to the halfway point of the climbing route.10
This convenient means of climbing to more than two thousand meter of height makes it easy for large numbers of visitors to climb the mountain today. As a result, large quantities of garbage are found everywhere on the route, and in turn, it is inevitable that the sacredness of the mountain under this condition is affected. Other holy places based on natural features are likewise affected by the process of secularization within the society.
On the other side of this coin, however, may be the trend to attribute greater sacredness to outer space, a trend which may represent a modern development of traditional ideas about sacred places. The mystical reverence directed since ancient times toward high and precipitous mountains, deep lakes, or remote places beyond the sea may have been partly lost through the attacks of our modern lifestyle on these elements of natural scenery. The sacrality of mountains has been damaged by the establishment of golf courses. The provision and enlargement of roads has made it possible for ordinary persons to climb steep mountains previously inaccessible. In short, places which were formerly open only to mountain ascetics or trained Buddhist priests are now open to everyone. In sum, in those cases of holy places where remoteness or inaccessibility formed one of the bases for their sacrality, modern society has tended to deprive such places of their basis for sacredness.
In that sense, this element of remoteness or inaccessibility may make it possible for more people to maintain the concept of outer space as a sacred space providing a mystical atmosphere even now. Remaining unviolated by human beings, its sacrality may be kept more easily than most holy places on earth. Of course, outer space is not completely an unknown element today. Space probes are constantly gathering more information about the moon, planets, and other celestial bodies. As a result, familiarity with space and planets is increasing.
Worship of the sun, the moon or stars has been common to every tribe and ethnic group since ancient times. To the degree that this worship was based on familiarity with such phenomena, the reason for the familiarity can be found in the fact that celestial phenomena could be observed regularly and directly. In an age when nights were quite dark, and people relied on the moon and stars to calculate time and day, they might be quite familiar with the celestial bodies. But such familiarity with space and planets was based on a world of imagination, since earlier peoples knew no means of reaching those bodies.
Today, we can see the surface of the moon on film and we know the image of earth from space. The religious meanings of space and the planets may have changed as a result of the modern situation produced by natural science and technology. The ancient idea that space and the planets influence the human mind and spirit might produce a new and different level of sensation today. As a result, the fact that younger generations embrace the idea that spiritual information might be generated from a certain planet can be understood as a product of our recent times and technology.
Although not directly related to religion, the comic book, or manga called Galaxian Express 999 achieved high popularity among young people in the 1970s and 1980s, and that popularity may serve as a good example to illustrate changes in the recent meaning of space and the planets. Published serially in the weekly manga�@magazine Shonen Kingu, the story was made into a popular animated movie in 1979. The leading character of the story is named HOSHINO Tetsuro, a young boy who heads off into space on a steam locomotive. He travels to the Andromeda Galaxy to obtain a mechanical body. A review of the story's narrative might prove interesting as a reflection of the mysticism and hope directed toward outer space among recent younger Japanese generations.
Such trends have likely been rapidly enhanced in recent years as space and the planets have become objects capable of provoking the imagination on more familiar and intimate lines, and are viewed as furnishing energy for revival through their mystic power. How this trend is connected with genuine religious feeling is not yet clear, although it is possible that space and specific planets may come to be referred to as concrete "holy places."

5. "Virtual Space" as Sacred Space
The third element would appear at first glance to be located at a different topical level from the others, and symptomized by the appearance of what might be called a "virtual sacred field." This phenomenon has become notable as a result of the rapid spread of Japanese computer users since the 1980s, and the rapid increase of Internet users in the 1990s. As display technology allows the reproduction of increasingly realistic scenes, and feedback from the user can be used to change the image as desired, the boundaries between "virtual reality" and ordinary reality became vaguer, and the former may tend to become more influential than the latter.
Methods of proselytizing used by the new religious sect Aum Shinrikyo (responsible for the sarin gas incidents at Tokyo subway stations in 1995), and the activities of the Heaven's Gate organization, which used the Internet in its eventual mass suicide in California in 1997, may cause more people to think about how virtual reality influences religious activities. Overall, however, is currently rare for a Japanese religious organization to use the Internet for any more than providing general organizational information.
One of the important characteristics of the Internet, however, is that it easily transcends national boundaries, or that it has no boundaries at all. Although the language barrier certainly continues to exist, Japanese religious organizations will inevitably be influenced by foreign religious organizations which undertake missionary work via the Internet. Methods used successfully by one group or movement will be easily imitated by others. Each influence will be more rapid, and wider in scope as a result of the appearance of this new tool.
From the perspective of the concept of holy places and religious journeys, the recent practice of "virtual visits to temples and shrines" and "virtual visits to ancestors' graves" should be discussed here. Certain temples, shrines, as well as other groups and individuals have recently begun websites that offer "virtual visits" to temples and shrines. And when an individual makes a virtual visit to an ancestors' grave by means of an Internet website, their religious affiliation is, of course, unknown.
Virtual visits to temples and shrines usually take the form of simple introduction to the various parts of the temple or a shrine involved, allowing the user to click on hyperlinks to pages describing the main structures, gardens, attached museums, and landscape features of the site. In short, such sites represent little more than the transposition of earlier introductory brochures to the medium of the Internet. In some cases, merely entering one's name in the site's guest page is regarded as a substitute for actual registration at the temple or shrine.
Virtual visits to ancestral graves is a quite simple device. The Japanese people conventionally visit their ancestors' graves during equinoctial weeks of spring and autumn, and during the summer festivals of obon in August. As a result, the grave site of each individual family represents a sacred place for that family. On websites offering virtual grave visits, an ancestor's gravestone may be shown on the screen; by clicking on the image at some point, the tombstone will be automatically decorated with flowers, and the voice of a sutra recitation can be heard. As proof of a visit, the visitor can then register or enter his or her message in the site's guest book.
When this type of grave visit first became known to traditional religious organization in the mid-1990s, some representatives of the traditional religions denounced such virtual visits as heretical activities. This is quite interesting, since it suggests the opinion that such virtual visits to graves is viewed as a profanation of the normal idea of a holy place.
As is shown in this case, virtual holy places have not yet gained general recognition as genuine sacred space. But as the case of Aum Shinrikyo suggests, the utilization of this new technology, combined with the aforementioned element of "sacralization of mind," might make it possible to accept virtual mystical experience as an imaginative inner journey to the mind.11
New technology and its virtual reality have brought about transformations in the sensation of the religious journey and sacred space. The first effect of virtual holy places and virtual pilgrimage is the sensation of reality resulting from advances in computer technology. This can be more easily understood by considering it as a religious version of online shopping via computer. This sense will be further enhanced by continuing technical innovations which reduce the gap in sensation between conventional and virtual reality, and it will also be boosted by the appearance of religious groups which aggressively utilize this technology for instruction of members and proselytizing of prospective new members.12
There may be another intriguing aspect to the effect of virtual reality. Here, I want to use the example of the "tamagotchi temple." As many of you know, tamagotchi was a popular game toy among Japanese young people in 1996 and 1997. Long queues formed in front of computer game shops each time a new version of the toy went on sale. The word tamagotchi itself was compounded from the words tamago or egg, and "watch." It is a small game machine toy shaped somewhat like an egg in appearance. Inside the game is a computer chip which displays a small being that is born, lives, and eventually dies, so it could be considered a kind of mechanical pet, or even a pseudo human being.
If the owner of the tamagotchi does not take proper care of his pet, namely, he does not pay attention by making regular and proper inputs, the pet will "die," and the game is over. Of course, one can then reset the game and start again. So it might be said that this game contains a pseudo-death situation, and in response to that situation, tamagotchi temples began appearing as "virtual temples" on the Internet for the purpose of giving memorial service to one's dead electronic tamagotchi pet.
Here, the tamagotchi, originally a pseudo living being, undergoes pseudo death, and pseudo-burial. Everything that happens is in an electronic, virtual world. In the conventional world, this kind of phenomenon might be similar to the Japanese term mitate. Mitate describes to the practice of viewing one object fictionally as something else. For example, a comic storyteller (rakugoka) often uses his sensu or folding fan to imitate a pair of chopsticks. On a larger scale, the practice of building fujizuka is famous. Fujizuka are tiny hills constructed in gardens so as to resemble small emulations of Mount Fuji.
While the development of computer technology has made it possible to produce more realistic mitate in this sense, it also has made it possible to produce new stories that are quite independent from the real world. In this virtual world, holy places and religious journeys themselves take on a virtual character with their own new, unique meanings. Sacred places and journeys experienced solely electronically are now appearing, with narratives which are born, live, and die entirely in the virtual world.

6. Mystic Feelings Produced by the Unknown
The three features I have described above may be viewed as the results of different causes. But at the same time, each of these phenomena can also be understood as deeply connected or related to the others. Free from traditional religious devices, they might be a symptomatic of the emergence of a new religious sensitivity.
Through the process of modernization, the collective, uniting power of families and local communities has been gradually weakened, and this tendency has progressed even farther during the past quarter century. As a natural course of events, those religious rituals and practices which were based solely on earlier, traditional social structures have lost their vivid meanings.
On the other hand, most new religions have responded to the modernization process by restructuring families and local communities. They have functioned in the role of intensifying family unity, or as a substitute for former local communities.
Apart from these general responses among traditional religions and new religions, other new movements and phenomena seem to appear, and without attempting to stop the collapse of traditional structures, they point to new ways of organizing people and teachings, as I have indicated in my examples here.
In light of this last trend, it may be that drastic changes are occurring in the structure itself which has supported traditional holy places and religious journeys. And the current high-level information age and globalization process cannot be excluded as fundamental conditions of this situation. Both elements are promoting quite rapid intercourse between various cultures. Famous holy places around the world are now consumed as sightseeing commodities. Japanese travelers today travel the globe to visit new holy places as a means of obtaining information of interest to them, regardless of their personal religious affiliation. As a result, the enigma or mystery attached to such holy places is instantly consumed, and just as instantly lost. Under these circumstances, it may be difficult for holy places and religious journeys to maintain the element of mystery which is crucial to religion.
In spite of this, modern persons are continuing to pursue true holiness, somewhere. If this holiness cannot be provided by the traditional religious devices or their renewal, it is only natural that some people will seek a substitute for those traditional devices. Whether the three cases I note here are capable of serving as genuine substitutes is not yet clear. It may be that the release from traditional religious devices suggests the potential for the appearance of new feelings or sentiment toward religion.
At present, however, these new movements appear to be without definite goal or destination. It will be necessary to further examine and analyze these tendencies carefully, in order to determine whether or not they are becoming stronger and more influential. In closing, we must ask whether it is not possible that this "journey without a goal" might bear sacred meanings precisely because it has no goal.

Notes
1. In 1951, the Religious Corporation Ordinance was set aside in favor of the Religious Corporation Law. The latter is presently in practice. After the March 1995 Sarin gas attack in the Tokyo subway system committed by Aum Shinrikyo, the Diet enacted major revisions of the law in December 1995.
2. As general introduction of new religions after the war, see Inoue, Nobutaka (1991), New Religions
3. My discussion about influence of globalization on religion, see Inoue (1997), Globalization and Indigenous Culture.
4. My discussion about the concept "hyper-traditional religion," see my paper (1999), "Shinshuukyo no Genzai: Atarashii Nami no Touraika?"
5. The research survey project, one of the projects established in Japanese Association for the Study of Religion and Society, started annual survey on students by questionnaire method in 1995. Numbers of samples are 3,773 in 1995, 4,344 in 1996, 5,718 in 1997 and 6,248 in 1998. The results show that the percentages who reply that they have faith in any kind of religion are between 5% and 6%.
6. See Aziki (1985), Shingyokukai karano Yogen no Sho. Information on Yamato no Miya was obtained by author's interview with Aziki in 1944.
7. Information on Zushi Yo Yo was obtained by author's interview with AI in 1994.
8. See Okada, Kautama (1970), Goseigen.
9. One quite rare case of a holy place which was abandoned or destroyed can be seen in the case of the Shohondo of the Buddhist sect Nichiren Shoshu. The Shohondo was a building which had been constructed at the foot of Mt. Fuji through cooperation with Soka Gakkai; as a result of the schism between Nichiren Shoshu and Soka Gakkai, however, the site was destroyed in 1998.
10. The climbing route to Mt. Fuji is divided into ten stages. From Lake Kawaguchi at the foot of the mountain, to the fifth stage, a paved road called "Fuji Subaru Line" climbs the mountain to the height of 2,305 meters.
11. Information on Aum Shinrikyo is based on my interview with Asahara, the founder of Aum Shinrikyo, in 1991 as well as many publications of the sect. Several video tapes were also obtained in 1991.
12. Analysis of influence of the Internet on religious ideas and activities just began in Japan. The Internet project started as one of the project of the Japanese Association for the Study of Religion and Society in 1997.

References
Aziki, Tenkei (1985), Shingyokukai karano Yogen no Sho [Book of Given Words from Divine World], Tokyo, Sanju shobo.
Inoue, Nobutaka (ed.) (1991), New Religions, Tokyo, Institute for Japanese Culture and Classics, Kokugakuin University.
Inoue, Nobutaka (ed.)(1997), Globalization and Indigenous Culture, Tokyo, IJCC, Kokugakuin University.
Inoue, Nobutaka et al. (eds.)(1996), Shinshukyo Kyodan Jinbutsu Jiten [Encyclopedia of groups and Leaders of New religions], Tokyo, Kobundo.
Inoue Nobutaka (1999), "Shinshuukyo no Genzai: Atarashii Nami no Touraika?" [New Religion Now: Arrival of New Waves?], in Suwa, Haruo (ed.), Gendai Nihon no Shukyo Jijo [Religious Situation in Current Japan], Tokyo, Bensei Shuppan.
Okada, Kautama (1970), Goseigen [The Holy Words], Tokyo, Sekai Mahikari Bunmei Kyodan.
Sukyo Mahikari (ed.) (1983), Dai Seishu [The Great Lord], Tokyo, L.H. Yoko Shuppan.
Tamura, Takanori (1997), "intaaneto no shuukyo joho: sono kanousei to kikensei [Information of Religion on the Internet: Possibilities and Dangers]", in Religion & Society, Vol.3, Tokyo, the Japapnese Association for the Study of Religion and Society.
*The full text of New Religions can be obtained on the homepage of IJCC. The URL of IJCC is as following.
http://www.kokugakuin.ac.jp/ijcc/

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