Something Extra

This is a link to an article about the movie, Crossing

This is a video of the trailer I think on youtube.

If you can somehow get your hands on the movie Crossing, I strongly recommend you watch it.

A Japanese Saying

I keep hearing this Japanese saying nowadays - "A nail that sticks out gets hammered down." What does that reveal to you? I don't know how much I'll fit in if that is the case in Japan lol.

Something I read from a book

So I'm reading a book, it's called Why are the Japanese Non-religious? (I think. I don't have the book on me, and I can't get it right now because I get the internet in a place other than where the book is.) And I read something pretty interesting that I would like to share with y'all. 

So according to the book, westerners can't really understand how religion (for lack of a better word) is for Japanese people. The author differentiates between what he calls "revealed religion", such as Christianity, Buddhism, Islam, and "natural religion" which is basically folk religion. Japanese reject "revealed religion" for many reasons. When Japanese say they are non-religious, they actually mean they are non-"revealed religion" religious. So guidebooks came out as more and more Japanese started touring other countries, and these guidebooks recommended that Japanese do not identify themselves as being non-religious because other people would think them strange. Instead, the guidebooks recommended they call themselves Buddhists or Shintoists, but when asked what they believe, they cannot say because they don't know. Buddhist and Shintoist rituals have become secularized in Japan and therefore although these rituals are in nature religious, the participating Japanese (and it's the majority) aren't religious themselves. 

Anyways, more to come as I read. And who knows when that will be. :)