Chapter 27
Disaster and Religion
Field of expertise: Religious Studies

Toshiaki KimuraTranslated by Catherine Sachi Kikuchi

Summary
In the areas affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake, many people suffered from grief andsurvivor’s guilt. In order to provide spiritual support, we thought about making use of religious
leaders who could be described as being experts on death and the afterlife. In the midst ofdifficulties such as resistance to religion and the separation of church and state, Tohoku University
has explored the possibility of religious people supporting disaster victims by proposing a newimage of clinical religious leaders and realizing a training program for them.
Keywords: death, memorial, folk religion, spiritual care, Interfaith Chaplain

Introduction
How do you feel about religious groups and people supporting those affected in disasterareas? Many people may feel that they do not like religions because they are scary, or that
followers of that faith may proselytize or brainwash others. However, in the areas affected by theGreat East Japan Earthquake, especially in the areas severely damaged by the tsunami, manypeople have experienced loss of loved ones. Grief and survivor's guilt are tormenting them. In
these areas, there is room for religious practitioners who are backed by religious traditions thathave accumulated wisdom over centuries of thinking about the meaning of life and death. Tohoku
University has developed a new model for religious leaders called "interfaith chaplain (RinshoShukyoshi)," and has established a training program for them, in order to create a framework inwhich religious leaders can reach out to those affected in disaster areas.

1: Problems Revealed by the Great East Japan Earthquake
What happened?
The Great East Japan Earthquake that occurred on March 11, 2011 claimed the lives ofnearly 20,000 people, including dead and missing people. In particular, many in the tsunamiaffected areas experienced the sudden loss of family members who they last saw cheerfully going
to work or school that morning, colleagues who they had been working alongside, and friends who1they had just had tea with the day before. In cases like these, where a small difference in judgment
or chance was the difference between life and death, there are many cases of survivor's guilt. Thishas highlighted the need for emotional care to alleviate stress in the survivors.
The earthquake also impacted the funerary system. In particular, many temples andcemeteries in the tsunami-affected areas were damaged, and crematoriums stopped operating due
to fuel shortages. Some local governments, struggling to handle the bodies of victims, conductedtemporary burials without cremation. Even if cremation was possible, it was difficult to hold anormal funeral in the tsunami-affected areas. The fact that the bereaved families were not able tosend off their dead properly was also a great stress to them.
The reality of the damage
The traditional way of dealing with death and funerary issues in Japan was for religious
people, such as Buddhist monks, to act as experts. In Miyagi Prefecture alone, 41 Buddhist
temples of the Soto Zen sect were completely destroyed, 69 temples were partially destroyed, and6 priests died (as of March 31, 2014). (The official website of the Soto Zen sect, Soto Zen Net
Damaged Temples list, in Japanese: https://www.sotozen-net.or.jp/teqw-hisai-higashi). According
to the Jinja Honcho, 68 Shinto shrines in Miyagi Prefecture were completely destroyed, 86 werepartially destroyed, and 4 priests died (as of July 15, 2011). This left an extremely large number ofbereaved families without adequate funeral services or anyone to consult, and with a great deal ofemotional anxiety.

2: Paradigms Destroyed by the Earthquake
Difficulties for religious leaders to provide support in the disaster area
In Japan before the Great East Japan Earthquake, there was strong resistance to religious
people working in disaster areas, and it was almost taboo to provide emotional care to the victims.
After the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake in 1995, which is said to be the first year ofvolunteerism, various NGOs and other organizations played an active role in disaster relief andreconstruction, and various religious organizations also sent many volunteers to the disaster areas.
However, it is reported that it was difficult to overcome the distrust of the government and local
residents who were afraid of being proselytized, and they had no choice but to hide their identities
and engage in the same activities as ordinary volunteers. Since the latter half of the 20th century,
the world's religions have been increasingly interested in social contribution activities that go
beyond servicing their own followers. Faith-based organizations (FBOs) of various religious
backgrounds have formed to help people and societies suffering from poverty, discrimination,
disaster, and conflict. Similar momentum was rising in the Japanese religious communities toparticipate in social movements, but the case of the Great Hanshin Earthquake highlighted thedifficulty of social contribution activities of religion in Japan.
Japanese people's dislike of religion
One of the major barriers to religious support for disaster victims is an almost allergic
response to religion among many Japanese people. According to a well-known survey conductedby the Yomiuri Shimbun in 2008 (Yomiuri Shimbun Annual Survey of Japanese People 6: Views onReligion), only 26.1% of respondents answered "Yes" to the question, "Do you believe in religion?”
The percentage of people who answered “No” to this question was 71.9%. When asked, "Do you2think that religion is important for leading a happy life?” 36.6% said “Yes,” and 59.1% said “No”.
Not only that, but many Japanese people even have a sense of fear and dislike toward religion,
which may be partly due to the Aum Shinrikyo incident in 1995.
The world of folk beliefs
This does not mean that Japanese people are indifferent to the dead or invisible beings. In
the same survey, the percentage of respondents who answered “Yes” to being asked if they often
pray before a Buddhist temple or Shinto altar at home, make a New Year's visit to the shrine, orvisit the family grave during the Bon Festival or other seasonal rites, was 56.7%, 73.1%, and78.3% respectively. From this, we can see that the habit of showing respect to and trusting
invisible beings such as the dead or gods, persists among citizens. The problem is that thesecustoms belong to the realm of folk beliefs , which are deeply related to the teachings of eachreligion but are considered to be somewhat off-center. For example, a Buddhist altar is an altar for
worshiping Buddhas and Bodhisattvas according to Buddhist doctrine, but many Japanese people
use it as a way to worship ancestors. In providing support to the disaster-stricken areas, religious
leaders need to take this difference into account and refrain from imposing the orthodox teachingsof their own denomination.
The principle of separating church and state
The principle of separation of church and state is another reason why it is difficult forreligious leaders to get involved in disaster relief. In particular, there were many cases where local
governments were hesitant to provide funds or information to specific religions, making it difficult
for religions to participate in disaster relief. There was also a tendency for religious groups to berestrained from entering evacuation centers and temporary housing because they were suspectedof proselytizing. In fact, after the Great East Japan Earthquake, there were religious groups thatwere involved in missionary activities at evacuation centers, and this is a problem that continues tohaunt religious groups when they try to provide relief to disaster-stricken areas.

3: A New Approach!"#$%&'(#)*+)',-'("./*01("2)345)67/32)(8The Tohoku University method, which trains Interfaith Chaplains, is a new way of being areligious teacher that was created after the Great East Japan Earthquake in order to solve theabove-mentioned problems and realize support for disaster victims. In Miyagi Prefecture, after theearthquake, a non-denominational "Counseling Room for Heart" was established to provide
support for disaster victims through cooperation among volunteers from various religions, including
Buddhism, Shinto, Christianity, and new religions. It developed a variety of activities in cooperation
with governments and other NGOs, and received good feedback. This experience gave birth to theidea of training religious professionals who can provide emotional care to disaster victims in public
places in cooperation with other religions, governments, NGOs, etc., without proselytizing. In April
2012, the Graduate School of Arts and Letters established the Endowed Chair of PracticalReligion, partly because the Religious Studies Department had been the secretariat of theCounseling Room for Heart, and it has been implementing a program to train practitioners from3

various religions. In 2018, the Society for Interfaith Chaplaincy in Japan began a certification
system for Interfaith Chaplain.
The difference from a chaplain
A major feature of an Interfaith Chaplain (Rinsho-Shukyoshi) is that they do not engage inevangelism and do not impose the doctrine of their religion. The purpose is to listen. In Europe andthe U.S., chaplains are assigned to hospitals, schools, and the military to provide emotional carefrom a religious perspective, but in such cases, the care is based on the assumption that thepatient shares a particular religion, such as Christianity, and relies on the doctrine of that religion.
On the other hand, Interfaith Chaplain in Japan can be said to have adapted to the culture, wherethe view of life and death is deeply connected to the realm of folk beliefs. As for the relationshipwith the government, the fact that various religions cooperate with each other and do not aim toproselytize has been praised, and cooperation in various fields, which was not considered before,
is progressing.

4: Achievements and the Future
The spread of clinical religious teachers
Using Tohoku University's certificate program, the training program for Interfaith Chaplain atTohoku University was reorganized into two programs in 2017: Liberal Arts Course and PracticalCourse. By the end of fiscal year 2019, 213 people had completed the training program, 118 ofwhom were certified as Interfaith Chaplain by the Society for Interfaith Chaplaincy in Japan. Atpresent, 9 universities in Japan, including Sophia University, Ryukoku University, and Aichi Gakuin
University, are training Interfaith Chaplain. As of June 2020, nearly 20 hospitals, including publichospitals such as Tohoku University Hospital, are employing Interfaith Chaplains who completed
the program.

Conclusion - from the author
In the future, it will probably be difficult to avoid the loss of life from large-scale disasters
such as the Great East Japan Earthquake. Religious traditions can be difficult to manage, but theycertainly have the advantage of having thought about death for a long time. It is important to utilize
them as one of the many resources to build a disaster-resistant society.

References
Kimura, T. (2012). The trend of religions after the Great East Japan Earthquake. In N. Watanabe(Ed.), A Book to Understand Religions and Modernity 2012. Heibonsha. ISBN 9784582702927 (InJapanese)
Suzuki, I. (2016). The Birth of the "Clinical Religious Master". In Isomae J. & S. Kawamura (Eds.),
Othering: Religion and Public Space, Nakanishiya. ISBN 9784779510380 (In Japanese)4

Taniyama, Y. (2016). Religious Resources Connecting Continuing Bonds: From the Sites ofSupport for Victims of the Great East Japan Earthquake. Annual of the Institute of Thanatology. (InJapanese)5