Forbidden Japan

• Shinto (indigenous shamanic animistic kami religion)
• Shapeshifting kami are not demon-monster yōkai
• Mahayana Buddhism in Japan
• Shingon Buddhism (Japanese Vajrayana)
• Nichiren Shōshū: way of devotion to other-power (tiriki)
• Zen Buddhism: the self-powered (jiriki) way

Buddhism, Shinto, atheism East and West

If one billion Chinese Buddhists are not counted and there are only six choices, here's breakdown

(No Nonsense Spirituality | Britt Hartley) What Japan told me about atheism and belonging

• Buddhism in Japan
• Shinto (kami-controlling priests)
• Japanese Ainu shamanism: kami, pre-Shinto, Zen

Man confronted by the Fox goddess

Shintoism is a religion from Japan classified as an East Asian religion by scholars. It is often regarded by its practitioners as Japan's indigenous religion and as a "nature religion." Religious scholars sometimes call its practitioners "Shintoists," although adherents rarely use that term themselves. With no central authority in control of Shintoism, there is much diversity of belief and practice evident among practitioners. A polytheistic and animistic religion, Shinto revolves around supernatural entities called the kami (神), who are believed to inhabit all things, including forces of nature and prominent locations.

Shinto: The Kami Spirit World of Japan

These shapeshifting kami are worshipped at kamidana household shrines, family shrines, and jinja public shrines staffed by priests, known as kannushi (those who deal with the kami), who oversee offerings of food and drink to the specific kami enshrined at that location. This is done to cultivate harmony between humans and kami [shapeshifting spirits, apparitions, ghosts, genies, poltergeists, elementals, ghouls, monsters, tricksters, fairies, gargoyles, or other invisible beings] and to solicit their blessings. Other common rituals include kagura dances, rites of passage, and kami festivals. Public shrines facilitate forms of divination and supply religious objects, such as amulets, to the Shintoists. The religion places a major conceptual focus on ensuring purity, largely by cleaning practices such as ritual washing and bathing, especially before worship. Little emphasis is placed on specific moral codes or particular afterlife beliefs, although the dead are deemed capable of becoming kami. The religion has no single creator or specific doctrine and instead exists in a diverse range of local and regional forms.

History of Japan through housing

(Patina) Why do Japanese houses not touch the ground?

Statue of legendary Japanese cryptid to be replaced after years of 'service' | Coast to Coast AM

• Weird Japanese Monsters | Coast to Coast AM
• Something Wicked from Japan: Ghosts, Demons, Yokai
• Tales of Japan: Traditional Stories of Monsters and Magic
• The Book of Yokai: Mysterious Creatures of Japanese Folklore

What are kami?

Yoshitoshi ground spider yōkai

Yōkai are also referred to as ayakashi (あやかし), mononoke (物の怪), or mamono (魔物). Some academics and Shinto practitioners acknowledge similarities within the seeming dichotomy between the natures of yōkai and most kami, which are generally regarded as relatively beneficent by comparison. Shintoists classify the two as ultimately the same type of spirits of nature or of a mythological realm [3]. Their behavior can range from malevolent harm or mischievous trickster pranksterism to benevolent towards humans. More: yōkai

• 

  Joe Smith, John the Baptist, Oli Cowdery

  Mormonism: the theology and religious tradition of the Latter-Day Saint movement of Restorationist Christianity started by Joseph Smith in Western New York in the 1820s and 1830s. As a label, it has been applied to various aspects of the movement, although since 2018 there has been a push from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) to distance itself from this label [1]. A prominent feature of the theology is the Book of Mormon, a 19th-century text that describes itself as a chronicle of early Indigenous peoples of the Americas and their dealings with [the white man's] God [2]. This theology combines mainstream Christian beliefs with modifications stemming from belief in revelations to Smith and other religious leaders.

All hail the Great Spirit of the Indians! (Rainbow Gathering Bosnia, Europe, 2007)

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The atheist symbol is an atomic whirl

Atheism: knowing that there are no Gods (theos); in the broadest sense, an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are certainly no deities. Atheism is contrasted with theism, which is the belief that at least one deity exists.

• A world of atheism topics

Nontheism is not atheism

The "whatever" religion

NONTHEISM: The position that whether there is a God(s) or not, that has no bearing on an individual's enlightenment, liberation, deliverance, salvation, emancipation. (Why? The gods/Gods are caught in this samsaric rounds just as other beings are). It is a range of both religious [1] and non-religious [2] attitudes characterized by the absence of espoused belief in the existence of a God or gods.

• What are some nontheistic religions?

How much do we care what the Truth is?

It has generally been used to describe silence towards the subject of gods (deus, theos, dīvus) and differs from atheism, which is an active disbelief in any gods. It has been used as an umbrella term for summarizing distinct and even mutually exclusive positions.

Some of these are default atheism, the ever-popular agnosticism (not knowing), apatheism (apathy), egotheism [not to be confused with messiah complex, egoism, egotism, narcissism, Trumpism, or solipsism], ignosticism, ietsism, pantheism, deism, pandeism, 🌈 transtheism, skepticism, or the greatest bunco-religion ever invented, at least so far, Flying Spaghetti Monsterism (aka Pastafarianism).

Religion with most believers is the right one

Science: As pirates go down, temperatures go up (misleading graph)

 

Believe and be saved or deny and go to hell

(We apologize in advance if our statements have offended any FSMists; it is never our intention at WQ to offend, diminish, mock, or otherwise find fault with the religion or nonreligion of anyone's choosing. Do carry on believing and never mind our backwards ways. In fact, everyone should convert to this religion and/or make up their own, such as George Costanza Sr.'s Festivusism. We ourselves are nontheists, Buddhists yes, but nontheists.)

FSM Pastafarianism

One day the eternal Creator Deity blessed humankind with starch but cursed it with gluten

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Impale the shorthaired nonbelievers!

The Flying Spaghetti Monster (FSM) is the supreme deity of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster [of the latter-day tortellinis], an ironic, satirical, and parodic new religious movement that promotes a light-hearted view of religion [3]. The parody originated in opposition to the teaching of intelligent design in public schools in the USA. According to adherents ("Pastafaris"), Pastafarianism (a portmanteau of pasta and Rastafarianism 🌬️) is a "real, legitimate religion, as much as any other" [4]. It has received some limited recognition as such [5, 6, 7, 8, 9]. More

Japan's mummy monks and Kundalini

(dakota of earth)

Yamabushi (山伏, one who prostrates oneself on the mountain) are Japanese mountain ascetic hermits [1]. They are generally part of the syncretic Shugendō religion,* which includes Tantric [Vajrayana] Buddhism and the indigenous Shinto [2].

Their origins can be traced back to the solitary yamabito ("wild hill people") and some hijiri (聖) ("wandering Buddhist ascetics and renunciants") of the eighth and ninth centuries [3].

According to American writer Frederik L. Schodt:

• "These positively medieval-looking nature worshipers carry metal staves and conch shells and wear straw sandals and sometimes a hemp cloth over-robe with the Heart Sutra written on it. They follow a mixture of esoteric or tantric Buddhism mixed with Shinto, the native animistic religion of Japan" [4]. More

Kundalini Gone Wild

(Vismaya) Kundalini Gone Wild: the real cases

• 

  Kundalini: The Evolutionary Energy

  Kundalini: The Evolutionary Energy in Man by Gopi Krishna HAS 4.7 out of 5 stars with 230 reviews: Coiled like a snake at the base of the spine, "Kundalini" is the spiritual force that lies dormant in every human being. Once awakened, often through meditation and yogic practices, it rises up the spinal column and finds expression in the form of spiritual knowledge, mystical vision, psychic powers, and ultimately, "enlightenment." [This is not real enlightenment or bodhi as defined in Buddhism, but what other traditions consider "enlightenment."]
• This book is the classic first-person account of Gopi Krishna, an ordinary Indian householder who, at the age of 34, after years of unsupervised meditation, suddenly experienced the awakening of kundalini during his morning practice.
• The story of this transformative experience, and the author's struggle to regain balance amid a variety of powerful psychic and physiological side effects, forms the core of the book.
• [This condition afflicts an estimated 100 or so Westerners a year who visit India and go "crazy" from either exposure to energies, the Himalayas, the Moon, mystics, god beings (possibly extraterrestrial or interdimensional), artifacts, or dedicated practice... It has happened to two young blond Americans we know of and one we met who, like Gopi Krishna, regained stability, earned an advanced degree, and tries to counsel victims to bring the chakras back into balance and stabilize this energetic kundalini force. One really can make it back to normal.]
• His detailed descriptions of his dramatic inner experiences and symptoms such as mood swings, eating disorders, and agonizing sensations of heat—and of how, with the help of his wife, he finally stabilized at a higher level of consciousness—make this one of the most valuable classics of spiritual awakening available. More

A new syncretic religion in Japan

What the Buddha Never Taught

*Shugen-dō (修験道, lit. "the Way [of] Trial [and] Practice," the "Way of Shugen or Gen-practice") [1] is a syncretic Esoteric Buddhist religion, a body of extreme ascetic practices that originated in the Nara Period of Japan, having evolved during the 7th century from an amalgamation of beliefs, philosophies, doctrines, and ritual systems drawn primarily from

• Esoteric Buddhism [Shingon Buddhism],
• local folk-religious practices,
• Shinto,
• mountain worship, and
• Taoism.

The final purpose of Shugen-dō is for practitioners to find supernatural power and save themselves and the masses by conducting religious training while treading through steep mountain ranges. Practitioners are called Shugenja (修験者) or Yamabushi (山伏, lit. '"Mountain Prostrator"') [2]. More

Asian girls taking over Western metal?

(The Heaviest Show in the Universe)

(Kowdee) A Westerner investigates Tokyo's illegal Sex Underworld

China has a metal scene

(Andrew Lee) Touring China's metal underground in 2026

Buddhism the Japanese way: Shinto kami

(Slice)

When Buddhists Attack (Zen of martial arts)

Theravada Buddhist Muay Thai champion versus Shaolin Kung Fu master from Far East

Buddhist Wisdom (Tuttle Publishing)

Uncover the historical truth about Buddhist warrior monks with this informative and enlightening book.

Exploring the origins of Buddhism and the ethos of the Japanese samurai, martial arts practitioner Professor Jeffrey Mann traces the close connection between the Buddhist way of compassion (karuna) and the way of the warrior.

This Zen book serves as a basic introduction to the history, philosophy, and current practice of Zen as it relates to the Japanese martial arts.

Maybe they'll be ghosts (kami)

It examines the elements of Zen that have found a place in budo (bujutsu or bugei)—the "Martial Way"—such as zazen, mushin, zanshin, and fudoshin, then goes on to discuss the ethics and practice of budo as a modern sport.

 

Offering insights into how qualities integral to the true martial artist are interwoven with this ancient religious philosophy, this book on Buddhism helps practitioners reconnect to an authentic spiritual discipline of martial arts.

Southeast Asian Silat, most dangerous martial art?

Film, television, and popular fiction have long exploited the image of the serene Buddhist monk who is master of the deadly craft of hand-to-hand combat.

While these media overly romanticize the relationship between a philosophy of non-violence and the art of fighting, When Buddhists Attack: The Curious Relationship Between Zen and the Martial Arts shows this link to be nevertheless real, even natural.

• BOOK: When Buddhists Attack (Tuttle Publishing)

Prof. Jeffrey Mann, Dept. of Religious Studies

ABOUT: The author Jeffrey K. Mann is a professor and the chair of the Religious Studies Department at [the Protestant Evangelical Lutheran] Susquehanna University (susqu.edu) in Pennsylvania. He earned his doctorate in religious studies from Vanderbilt University and has also served as a visiting professor of religion at Senshu University in Ikuta, Japan. A longtime student of Japanese martial arts, he has trained and competed in karate tournaments throughout North America, Japan, Okinawa, and the Philippines. He is an instructor of the Susquehanna Goju-ryu Karate-do Club, a school affiliated with the International Okinawan Goju-ryu Karate-do Federation.

• Warrior Wisdom (Tuttle Publishing)
• Hojoki: A Buddhist Reflection on Solitude
• Yurei Attack! The Japanese Ghost Survival Guide
• Buddhist Wisdom: Daily Reflections
• Jeffrey Mann; Pfc. Sandoval, Dhr. Seven, CC Liu (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Strange sex girls in Buddhist Japan: Tokyo

(Japan explorer) LIVE: Tokyo in one long day: 12 hours from morning to midnight

(Japan explorer) Hello, Kitty. There's a place to get Japanese girl from a vending machine. (Japan's only place to do it)

(Kazu Kusano) Japanese female stand up: Gray-haired Jewish husband?

Woody Allen married his adopted daughter Soon-Yi Previn

Partying in Japan's redlight district, LGBT

(Japanese girls interview) Sex worker interview ❤ The realities of the job in Japan

(Anthony Bourdain Parts Unknown) Anthony Bourdain shows the real Yakuza (Japanese mafia, mob, organized crime) run side of Buddhist Tokyo, Japan.

(Japan explorer) Revealing Tokyo's underground nightlife secrets

(TAKASHii) Inside Japan’s biggest LGBTQIA+ Gay District

Japan surrendered over Russian invasion not US nukes

The Russians invaded Manchuria

Alan Watts: Don't take life too seriously

Don't take life too seriously. Alan Watts explains why

There's meaning to it all: This video will find you when you most need it | Alan Watts 2025

Sex, loneliness epidemic, Buddhist Japan

Lost in Translation (with Scarlett Johansson and Bill Murray

BabyMetal a joke? Japanese girl metal

Maybe the strange form of Buddhism that thrives in Japan due to the preexisting practice of Shintoism (kami veneration cults), like Babymetal's "Fox God," explains the form of Zen (Chan Buddhism) and Nicherin Buddhism on the powerful island.

• SLICE: What makes Japanese Buddhism so distinct?

Shaman/Shinto priest placates kami

When Buddhism reached the Far East, its Zen architecture evolved to an extraordinary level of perfection—one that seamlessly harmonizes with the elements of nature. In Japan, it encountered the ancient world of the kami, the spiritual forces of animistic Shintoism. This meeting gave rise to a unique architectural fusion—a never-before-seen blend of sacred styles, where Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines began to echo one another, reflecting a profound spiritual and cultural syncretism.

Documentary: Sacred Spaces – Asian temples. Humans, Nature and Gods directed by Véronique Legendre and Production: ZED, Arte France, CuriosityStream. More

Babymetal were a JOKE until they conquered metal

BabyMetal live at Sonisphere 2014 (full concert fan cam compilation 4K (video remastered)

(The Heaviest Show in the Universe) Premiered Nov. 16, 2025: Metal laughed at them — until Babymetal made the world bow. Babymetal was once laughed out of the metal world. Critics said they were a manufactured pop gimmick. But they didn’t quit. They conquered Download Festival, Sonisphere, and the global stage. In this episode of The Heaviest Show in the Universe, we break down how Babymetal went from novelty to legend.

(Gumiho) What happened to dancer/singer Yui "Metal" Mizuno?

 

Check out some more bangers 👇🤘 Remember to subscribe to help the channel grow: @theheaviestshow.❗Contact information for business inquiries/collabs/review requests: theheaviestshow@gmail.com. Background music courtesy of Karl Casey @WhiteBatAudio #Babymetal #Metal #KawaiiMetal

Can heavy metal save Japanese town?

Heavy metal festival aims to revive Japan 'town of steel'

(NEWSNHK WORLD-JAPAN) Nov. 13, 2025: The western Japanese city of Yasugi is known as a "town of steel" for its centuries-long iron-making tradition. As it faces depopulation [and decline], one man is trying to revitalize the community by linking the "metal" of Yasugi's steel with heavy metal music.

NHK is a Japanese public broadcast service. #japan #music #heavymetal. More stories on Japan: www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/ne... Subscribe: @nhkworldjapan

Was that a growl or roar?

(NBC News) Don't feed the cute, cuddly bears when visiting Japan

What's happening to Japan? (Is it cooked?)

(Abroad in Japan)

Yamamoto wins it for LA Dodgers, Japan

Series was won by two incredible double plays.

Dodger pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto named World Series MVP (Patrick Smith/Getty Images)

The most insane World Series Game 7 ever seen | Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Toronto Blue Jays

Dodgers are World Series champions after defeating Blue Jays in dramatic Game 7 | LAist

• Good sportsmanship 👼⚾🧢 means being friends after a fair win. Someone has to lose in capitalist competitions, and everyone knows that going in (only no one knows it might be them).

What is dukkha?

Dukkha: disappointment, not getting what one wants, suffering, ill, woe

(seerasan) Baseball is as Japanese as rice and Zen or mamasan and sushi

Happy b-day, Fernando's ghost

Mexican pitching marvel Fernando Valenzuela comes through for the Dodgers again. Although his contribution this year was posthumous, it is his birthday and it is the Day of the Dead, and something unseen pushed Yoshinobu Yamamoto to greatest tonight. It has to seem supernatural to overcome the odds and win the biggest game of his life. There may be trouble in celebratory Los Angeles, still reeling from Halloween Carnival in West Hollywood tonight, Samhain trick-or-treaters going all night, and the seasonal festivities of Christian-Pagan syncretism.

• VIDEO: The Dodgers' hopes rest on Yamamoto

MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto

Yoshinobu Yamamoto (山本 由伸, born 1998) is a Japanese professional baseball pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball (MLB).

He previously played in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) for the Orix Buffaloes, where he became one of the most decorated pitchers in league history.

Between 2021 and 2023, Yamamoto won three consecutive Pacific League Most Valuable Player Awards, three Eiji Sawamura Awards, and three Triple Crowns, leading the league in wins, strikeouts, and earned run average in each of those seasons.

Shohei Ohtani is having fun, and that's gotta hurt.

He also threw two no-hitters and was a key figure in Orix’s 2022 Japan Series championship.

Following the 2023 season, Yamamoto was posted to MLB and signed a 12-year, $325 million contract with the Dodgers—the largest ever for a pitcher at the time.

In his rookie MLB season, he contributed to Los Angeles’ 2024 World Series title, becoming the first player in baseball history to win a World Series, an Olympic gold medal, and a World Baseball Classic title.

In 2025, Yamamoto was named to his first All-Star game. Internationally, he has represented Japan in multiple tournaments, earning gold medals at the 2019 WBSC Premier12, the 2020 Summer Olympics, and the 2023 World Baseball Classic. More

(Fan First Jays) Losing is unreal as Dodger fans shoot fireworks

Dodger fans react to World Series win for the ages | FOX 11 LA

• Yoshinobu Yamamoto in the clutch: every pitch the World Series MVP threw in Game 7 😱 | 山本由伸ハイライト
• Dodgers vs. Blue Jays Game 7 Highlights 🔥 World Series on FOX

Short summary: What happened?!

(MLB Vault) Ending of every Dodgers World Series championship (9 titles between 1955-2025)

• Somewhere there's a Shohei Ohtani Industrial Complex, and that somewhere is Japan, extending to other islands like Hawaii and California (which is also an island according to many European maps)
• Baseball Authority; Eds., Wisdom Quarterly

Dodgers vs. Blue Jays at end of world

The stakes: If the Los Angeles Dodgers win tonight (Day of the Dead, Nov. 1, 2025), they’ll be the first team to win consecutive titles since the New York Yankees did it from 1998 to 2000.

Meanwhile, the Toronto Blue Jays won back-to-back championships in 1992 and 1993 — and they're back in the series for the first time in 32 years.

Help from the Other Side

If Toronto wins, it will be ecstasy for the country of mighty Canada, smearing it in the face of the Orange Dictator in his Demolished House commanding his ICE Gestapo.

• Do the LA Dodgers have a supernatural edge tonight thanks to their large Latin/Asian fan base? YES! Today, the Mexican Day of the Dead, is Mexican super-pitcher Fernando Valenzuela's birthday, and the greatest living Dodger pitcher, Shintoist ONE MAN SHOhei Ohtani is pitching tonight. Nando willing, tonight is a cinch for the Dodgers!
• What makes the Dodgers so good? It's the best team money could buy. And this is a capitalist country with a capitalist game that glorifies competition, rivalry, violent grit (sometimes breaking out in massive gang fights on the field when they lose and a little sports hooliganism on the streets when they win).

How did Shohei Ohtani happen?

(Search Party) Shohei Ohtani, #17, is the $700 million dollar man

World's greatest pitcher and hitter: S. Ohtani

How we got here: The Blue Jays on Friday seemed poised to tie the game in the ninth inning until Dodgers infielder Kiké Hernández initiated an incredible double play to end the game and secure a trip to Game 7.

Where things stand: The last game, the tiebreaker, will be at the covered Rogers Centre in Toronto, where the team of champions will claim Major League Baseball's Commissioner’s Trophy. More: World Series Game 7: The winner takes all as Dodgers seek a repeat title tonight (LAist.com)

Orange Dictator humiliates USA in Asia

(Comedy Central Africa) South Korea literally crowns the Clown President with king's headgear

YMCA greetings for a king | The Daily Show

Why do we Americans dishonor our king?

(Comedy Central Africa) Oct. 31, 2025: "The village people must be so proud that their song became America's official presidential anthem" 🤭 when all they did was write a song about getting r*iled at the gym. | The Daily Show on Comedy Central, DStv Ch122

• MLB Highlights, 10/31/25; LAist.com; Desi Lydic, The Daily Show; CC Liu, Pfc. Sandoval, Crystal Q. (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly