Japanese Religions and Globalization by Dessì Ugo; Dessì Ugo;

Author:Dessì, Ugo; Dessì, Ugo;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Group

The same concept is reaffirmed by Umeda Yoshimi (1933–2010), the late director general of the Shintō Kokusai Gakkai, with reference to the dynamics of contemporary society. In a world that is “steadily becoming globalized,” he affirms, Japan must “open the door to its secluded regions,” and give access the international community to what lies “beyond the wall of State Shinto.” According to Umeda, this serves for the “internationalization of Japan” and the “awareness of Japan in the world” (Umeda 2009: 1).

In order to pursue these goals, the Shintō Kokusai Gakkai promotes activities such as lectures, conferences, publication of books, religious and cultural events outside Japan, and an Annual Shintō Essay Competition. Similarly to the Bukkyō Dendō Kyōkai, the Shintō Kokusai Gakkai has also been sponsoring, since 1997, the establishment of university chairs focusing on “Shinto as the core of Japanese cultural values” in various countries. The first of these was endowed at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and has been followed by others at Zhejiang University, the aforementioned London University School of Oriental and African Studies, and Columbia University (International Shintō Foundation 2009b). The latter chair is funded through the Toshu Fukami Professorship, named for Fukami Tōshū (b. 1951), the current president of the Shintō Kokusai Gakkai and controversial leader of the Shintō-based new religious movement Worldmate (Wārudomeito).3 Through these academic activities, and the collaboration of well-known scholars of Japanese religions, the foundation has been able to enhance to some extent the visibility of Shintō at the international level. As is clear from the discussion above, in the Shintō Kokusai Gakkai's intentions, information provided to the international public should preferably focus on Shintō as “the core of Japanese cultural values,” and emphasize aspects that are not related to State Shintō. It is obviously very difficult to verify to what extent this agenda has been successful. In principle, as suggested above in the case of the Bukkyō Dendō Kyōkai, it is always possible that some conflict with the secular interests of an academic endeavor may arise. That this may also happen in practice has been suggested by Klaus Antoni, according to whom some academic research on Shintō published by members of the Shintō Kokusai Gakkai may correspond “to the aims of this foundation to free the image of Shinto from all political contamination.” 4 Be it as it may, this issue tells us something else about cultural flows, namely, that globalization is also a history of omissions. Within global dynamics, cultural and religious elements do not simply cross borders, glocalize, and hybridize, but also undergo preemptive processes of selection before (and after) being entered in these flows, and are thus potentially eligible to contribute to the agendas of global players interested in strengthening their prestige and cultural power.

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