Japanese Religions & Anime Survey
Alright, as part of my upcoming panel on Japanese Religions in Anime at Anime Punch 2009 I would like to present some data on how Anime and Manga has influenced the spirituality of Anime fans. If you would like to contribute below is a 21 question survey - reply ether in a comment, a comment linking to a journal/blog entry, or an email to tsulakala ( Read more... )
DK, 18, Female
2. Where do you presently live (City/town, State/Provence/other division (if applicable), Country)? Have you at any time lived in Japan? If you have lived in Japan at what ages and for how long?
Chicago, Il, USA. Never been to Japan or anywhere outside the US.
3. What do you consider your socioeconomic status to be? (Lower, Middle, or Upper) Working Class, (Lower, Middle, or Upper) Middle Class, or (Lower, Middle, or Upper) Upper Class?
Upper Working Class (though I'm a little confused, isn't the ranking supposed to be poor-middle/working class-upper-wealthy??)
4. What is your highest level of education completed? (Ex. Junior High School, High School, Some College, Associate's Degree, Bachelor's Degree, Post-Graduate Degree)
High school, currently going for my associate's in Biology, and then my Bachelor's in either Biology or Zoology.
5. What is your current occupation? (Ex. Student, Office Worker, Sales Clerk, et cetera)
Studen/cashier
6. What political party do you support, if any? What label do you use to describe your political view point? (Ex. Libertarian, Conservative, Liberal, Moderate, et cetera)
I'm a moderate, but I tend to lean more towards Democratic ideals.
7. How do you label your Primary Path/Tradition/Folkway/Religion/et cetera? If you have any additional affiliations, list these as well. (Ex. Roman Catholic, Pagan, Soto Zen Buddhist, Kemetic Orthodox, Mormon, Reform Jew, Follower of Mahikari, et cetera)
Animistic. I grew up Catholic but no longer consider myself a member (despite the piece of paper saying I am one).
8. What are your primary religious/spiritual practices, if any?
A nice little blend of inspiration from taoist, neo-pagan, shamanistic, totemic, and necromantic paths flavored with divination and symbolism tools. And a strawberry on top.
9. In a short summery what are your views on God(s)/the divine/spirits? Ethics? Impurity/Pollution/Sin? and Death?
I'm a bit of a polytheist, so I think each deity/spirit is (or can be) an individual; alongside the animistic belief that basically everything can have a spirit/soul. I think some basic ethics are necessary for us to survive as a group (like rules against murder and stealing), but some are rather ridiculous for me. I prefer the basics. As far as sin goes I don't think there's such a thing as absolute sin, because that would require an absolute punishment in my view. With my belief in reincarnation, staying in a horrid life or staying in "hell" would only be temporary, and another chance is given. And death is simply change. Change from one part of life to the next.
10. If were born into a different religious tradition than you currently practice, what was the religious tradition of your birth community? (Ex. Roman Catholic, Pagan, Soto Zen Buddhist, Kemetic Orthodox, Mormon, Reform Jew, Follower of Mahikari, et cetera)
Roman Catholic.
11. What was your first exposure to Anime, Manga, and/or Japanese Pop Culture?
Ronin Warriors!!! I was a little girl (5 or 6) at the time, so I didn't even know it was a specific kind of show, I just thought it was another cartoon. Cartoon Network paved the way (oh how I miss the old CN).
12. How many hours do you estimate that you are exposed to Anime, Manga, and/or Japanese Pop Culture in a given day? A given week?
Depends on the part of my life. When CN was actually good, I'd watch those shows every day after school. Sailor Moon, DBZ, Tenchi, YYH, etc., that would amount to several hours basically. That lasted a good 4-5 years straight.
But now I hardly ever watch anime outside of my dvds. I prefer manga.
Outside of the actual stories/media, I was hardly ever exposed to the culture surrounding them. Never went to a con, and only met one person who actually wore any cosplay items.
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Despite the fact that I greatly prefer anime/manga over the American equivilants (mostly for art and variety reasons), I don't consider myself a member of the actual fandoms or an Otaku. Maybe a fandom of Yu Yu Hakusho, but not generic anime fandom.
14. Do you interact or participate in any Anime/Manga fandom groups ether online or in your everyday life? If so describe your level of participation and activities.
Nope, none of the above.
15. Do you attend any conventions relating to Anime, Manga, and/or Japanese Pop Culture? If so how many per year?
Nope, though I do want to try to get to ACEN someday.
16. What do you consider to be your top three favorite Anime and/or Manga series/titles - If any?
Anime:
Yu Yu Hakusho
NightWalker
Anything from Miyazaki
Manga:
Hana-Kimi
Love Hina/Negima (can't decide!! I like the author/artist in general!)
Saiyuki
17. On a scale of 0-10 (10 being the greatest amount of influence), how much influence do you believe that Anime, Manga, and/or Japanese Pop Culture have had on your personal Religious/Spiritual beliefs and/or practices? If Anime, Manga, and Japanese Pop Culture have influenced you - How exactly has it influenced you?
Probably 8. It's not in a very obvious way actually...and it's mostly Yu Yu Hakusho that influences. There's a certain cosmology (3 worlds, demons, spirits, energy, etc) in that series that really appeals to me, and I find myself almost copying that cosmology without realizing. Also, the characters and archetypes of the characters are one's that appeal to me spiritually, and (Kurama especially) so I'll sometimes "copy" them for my own psycho-spiritual-drama.
18. What was your first exposure to Japanese Religious Traditions?
Can't remember, it was a while ago. Probably from looking up Kitsune in high school, where I would run into Shinto/Buddhist spirits and ideas.
19. If you currently practice a religion with Japanese origins (including sects of Buddhism and other religions originating in Japan) and were not born into the tradition, do you feel that exposure to Anime, Manga, and/or Japanese Pop Culture contributed to your decision to follow this path?
I don't actually consider myself a member of any, but I would say that yes, the inspiration I got from Shinto would not have happened if I didn't follow anime to begin with. Those got me interested in the real-world cultures and ideas behind the stories.
20. Do you have any personal religious/spiritual practices (outside of those that are formally part of your primary religious tradition) that have originated in Japan or are derived from Japanese practices such as Reiki Healing, Zazen, using Omamori, Performing Misogi under a waterfall, honoring/venerating/worshiping a Japanese Kami and/or Bodhisattva, et cetera? If so, list and describe these practices.
I used to honor Inari, but that relationship didn't continue. So no, not anymore.
21. Do your personal religious/spiritual practices include any practices derived from Anime, Manga, and/or Japanese Pop Culture or involving an characters or mythos derived from Anime, Manga, and/or Japanese Pop Culture? If so describe these practices.
Lol, yep. Actually, you know how some of the spirit people characters will create glowy energy balls out of their chi or whatnot? I use those ideas to help in visualization exercises, and get my mind "in the zone" and make it feel like I too am "powering up".
And as mentioned before, Yu Yu Hakusho's cosmology and character archetypes influence me as well.
Dude, this gives me an idea....I'm going to make a new religion called yyh-ity. It'll be fun to make spoof religions.
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Upper Working Class (though I'm a little confused, isn't the ranking supposed to be poor-middle/working class-upper-wealthy??)
It depends on the scheme and where you draw the boundaries - since class is about 75% culture and 25% wealth (ex a skilled mechanic may make more than a low ranking office drone but the mechanic would be upper-working class while the office drone would more likely identify with middle class - although more and more people are just identifying with the middles)
I'm going to make a new religion called yyh-ity. It'll be fun to make spoof religions.
LOL!
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