Hiroko Yoda

We just go in, simply check it out or having a take a moment or whatever.

But we never consider ourselves as a Buddhist.

Like say we decorate Christmas trees for fun, but we never describe ourselves as Christian.

One family member raised a hand, and I remember they said, excuse me, do you think it's appropriate to answer Buddhist?

An orientation organizer answered that, yes, we are aware.

How awkward to say.

But West America, for example, is a religious country.

So they need some kind of answer.

Right.

So that was the beginning of my actually the questions.

It's like, about my culture.

What's going on?

To make the story short, it basically, I realized that I am Japanese.

So if the people asked me the same question today, I would say, I'm Japanese, part of the culture.

Because the word religion, it's a problematic word for Japanese people, to the vast majority of people.

Because the word, shukyo,

That's a Japanese word for English religion.

But the word shukyo was only coined in the 19th century.

It's a new word.

Japan had been closed for 100 years.