While most Japanese identify themselves as either Buddhist, Shinto, or both, at least eighty percent of Japanese are not practicing any religion. Although secularism has swept Japan, many are hungry for a spiritual experience. An average of 100 new cults shooting off of Buddhism and Shintoism are founded every year. The largest of these, Sokka Gakai, has over 17 million adherents. Japan's national population approaching 122 million is one of the most homogenous in the world.
Minorities are fewer than one percent.
Alternately subjugated by Chinese and Japanese invaders, Ryukyuan peoples adopted a stance of tolerance and passivity. Considered to be backward by the Japanese, the principally Buddhist Ryukyuan peoples are steeped in superstition. They often believe in many unseen natural and ancestral spirits which must be appeased but can also be manipulated. Spirits of the ancestors who are buried in elaborate tombs are venerated by the community, and the spirit powers of nature are worshipped in households. These powers are frequently consulted before major personal and household decisions.