Do You See What I See? ‘Religion’ and Acculturation in Filipino–Japanese International Families

Alec R Lemay

doi:10.3390/rel13020093

Abstract

Catholicism prides itself on being a ‘global religion’. However, just how this ‘religion’ is contextualized into a specific culture has led to intercultural and intergenerational problems. In Japan, the Filipino–Japanese struggle to fit into a society that sees, in their Catholic upbringing, ‘religious’ activity that it deems un-Japanese. The concept of ‘religion’ (shūkyō) in Japan has been largely associated with congregational activity, an aspect that neither Shinto nor Buddhism stress. As a result, the Japanese people label acts such as the purchasing of lucky charms, temple and shrine pilgrimages, visits to power spots, and performing birth or death rituals as ‘non-religious’ (mushūkyō). On the other hand, they label similar Christian acts as ‘religious’. Associating Christianity with ‘religion’ has had consequences for Japan’s Filipino residents and their international families. This paper considers the role the concept of ‘religion’ plays in the acculturation of Filipino–Japanese children into Japanese society. Through qualitative interviews of four Filipino–Japanese young adults, it delineates, in eight sections, how the discourse of ‘religion’ isolates Filipino mothers from their ‘non-religious’ children and husbands. This begins at adolescence and culminates with the children’s absence from the Roman Catholic Church of Japan.

Highlights

When the Japanese claim something is a ‘religion’ or ‘religious’, they do so implying membership or close association with so-called world religions such as Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism
The aim of this work is to locate the discourse of ‘religion’ within the acculturation process of Filipino–Japanese children to assess how an early departure from the mother’s religious community impacts their sense of culturally hybrid identity. The conclusion of such inquiry is that the narrow manner in which ‘religion’ is contextualized in Japan has led to an increased degree of dissonant acculturation for Filipino–Japanese children who want little to do with their mother’s Catholicism
While there is no limit to the factors leading to Filipino–Japanese apostasy, Religions 2022, 13, 93 this paper considers the use of ‘religion’ as a discourse, and how this has affected young children and their heavy acculturation into Japanese society

Summary

Introduction

When the Japanese claim something is a ‘religion’ or ‘religious’, they do so implying membership or close association with so-called world religions such as Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism. There is no sui generis definition for this term For this reason, how we define ‘religion’ comes with real consequences, not the least being political and educational. The aim of this work is to locate the discourse of ‘religion’ within the acculturation process of Filipino–Japanese children to assess how an early departure from the mother’s religious community impacts their sense of culturally hybrid identity. The conclusion of such inquiry is that the narrow manner in which ‘religion’ is contextualized in Japan has led to an increased degree of dissonant acculturation for Filipino–Japanese children who want little to do with their mother’s Catholicism

Filipino and Filipino–Japanese Acculturation

Seeing ‘Religious’ Activity

The Significance of Church Flight on the Filipino Mother–Child Relationship

Religion and the Family