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Today I saw the Emperor in person and heard a speech from God. This isn't even the best part of my Japan trip, either.
What is this building? Scientology...?
No-- it says KOFUKU NO KAGAKU in Roman letters, with Roman columns. It's a Japanese new religion, which we will be studying this week. Its English name is "Happy Science." New religions are known in Japan for being crazy and cultish, with a heavy emphasis on evangelizing. The people at this religion, though, are aware of that reputation. They stressed that there was no pressure to drop your existing religious beliefs and we were not required to give our addresses to visit like one definitely would at Scientology.
Woah! But it looks like Scientology, doesn't it? This is their family altar... it looks nothing like a Japanese altar! It seems kind of crazy!
Look, this book is just like What Is Scientology! It's kind of scary already... should I turn around and leave?
Interestingly enough, the strong resemblance that Happy Science has to Scientology is only superficial. They both have an obsession with classical Greek architecture (we were shown a video of the Acropolis before we watched the message from the founder) and both emphasize that they hold the secret to human happiness, but the similarities end there. Well, they are both crazy. But Scientology goes to great lengths to cover up its craziness, whereas in Happy Science it is all out there on the service.
Actually, one of the first things we learned on our visit is that the founder of Happy Science also happens to be God the Father incarnate.
This photo was taken without authorization. I regret that I have no photos to show you of Ryuuhou Ookawa's video speech, but I was already possibly putting future visits to Happy Science in danger by taking photos instead of paying attention. All new religions, of course, expect you to visit, be amazed, and convert. We are currently banned from Mahikari, which is generally a friendly religion, because 18 people visited last year and 0 converted. So, acting like a gawking tourist is a bad idea.
After a short prayer to "El Cantare", the God of Happy Science, which you can see in the photo above (click to zoom in-- it is a REALLY weird-looking statue), we watched a DVD of a speech Ookawa made in English in Los Angeles. Ookawa did not learn English as a child and it is puzzling that he pushed himself to learn it for the purpose of preaching. He was constantly stopping for 30 seconds or a minute and trying to think of the word he wanted to use. It had an interesting rhetorical effect, though. He was quite loud and I could see that his speeches might be quite convincing in Japanese.
The video demonstrated some heavy naivete that perhaps some Japanese people have about Eastern and Western religion. Ookawa explained several times that he is God the Father and "the master of Jesus", and that Jesus called out to him when he was dying on the cross. In Japanese, to claim to be a kami (spirit) is out of the ordinary but not unbelievable. There's a cute anime called Kamichu where a middle school girl becomes a kami, and she is tasked by her classmates with the duties of divination, fortune-telling, channeling, and so forth, all of which Ookawa does as well. Ookawa claims that his kami-consciousness is that of the great cosmic spirit giving life to all humanity, so it makes sense that he would equate it to the Christian Godhead. But I don't need to explain that Europeans or Americans do not usually go around claiming to be God. The only Westerner I can think of who made that claim in a non-rhetorical way is Philip K. Dick, who was pantheistic.
Ookawa tailored his speech to Americans in an unusual way. He said we had better be careful with our nuclear weapons (I don't own one, personally). He also said America was "sick" and "degenerating" which is an elementary blasphemy most preachers tend to avoid. I did like what he said at the end of the speech. He explained that God is Love and love is faith in others, and then said, "You are already beloved by Buddha or God. So please abandon earthly things." I think that is a statement of a good religion.
The phrase "Buddha or God" is interesting. Some of my classmates were arguing that it is simply kooky because Buddha was a historical figure. But that is a belief of the reformed, atheistic schools of Zen and Theravada in America. I think Ookawa speaks to the common understanding of Japanese people when he calls Buddha similar to God. In Shingon Buddhism, there is a belief in a "cosmic Buddha" (大日 Dainichi) who permeates the entire universe and manifests Itself in the form of enlightened beings, both material and immaterial. It seems to me that if you were to quiz most Japanese people on what exactly the Buddhas are, you would soon realize that they believe in the theology of Shingon, and not of Zen or Pure Land.
After the speech we were treated to some ladies in kimonos playing "Oh Susanna" and "Camptown Races" on the koto, which our group could not help but giggle at. I think they took the laughter kindly but it was kind of weird to play American music on the koto. Perhaps Japanese music would not be at home in the severely Americanized sort of building standard to Happy Science (see above). In any case we were overwhelmed with an enormous gift of sushi and sandwiches they made to us, and we got to eat while we chatted with them. The volunteers were very sincere-- quite the opposite of Scientology. They basically subscribed to Ookawa's curious theories about economics, politics, and so forth, which were a mixture of generic New Age spiritual stuff, unapologetic adoration for America, and Christian-Buddhist syncretism. One woman excitedly walked around telling us, "We are energy!", and gave us all horoscopes based on our birthdays. Apparently I am an "entertainer"-- something to chew on. Also, Ookawa thinks Japan can rise out of its depression by partnering with America... I wonder how well that belief flies these days.
They gave us free books which contained even more amusing statements, not described here, and we were offered free koto lessons by the nice old ladies. All in all it was a marvelous time.
Pictured: the Empress of Japan, who happened to be driving by when we were walking home. You can also see the Emperor's hand behind her. Note that they are not flying the flag of Japan, which would assert some sort of political power, but rather the more neutral Imperial flag.
