On this episode of Japan Station, author Hiroko Yoda joins us to talk about the complexities of religious and spirituality in Japan, a topic she covers in her new book Eight Million Ways to Happiness.

• Why Hiroko Yoda was told to tell people she's Buddhist before going to the U.S. to study abroad
• About "Yaoyorozu no kami"
• About the history of the word for religion (shūkyō, 宗教) in Japanese
• About the wide variety of Japan's "eight million gods"
• Why Japanese people say they are not "religious"
• The problem with surveys that ask Japanese people whether they are "religious"
• About why Japanese people get married in the "Christian" style
• Why Hiroko Yoda decided to write Eight Million Ways to Happiness
• What Shugendō (修験道) is
• About Shugendō practice
• About the connection between Buddhism and funerals
• Why funerals in Japan can be so expensive
• About post-death Buddhist names
• And much more!

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Eight Million Ways to Happiness： Wisdom for Inspir by Hiroko Yoda is available now wherever you get your books. You can also use the links below to get a copy.

• Amazon
• Penguin House

And here's some other relevant links.

• Hiroko Yoda's Newsletter
• Hiroko Yoda's Instagram
• Hiroko Yoda's Bluesky
• Hiroko Yoda's X

• X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/japankyonews
• Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/tonyrvega.bsky.social
• Tony R. Vega Personal Instagram: https://instagram.com/tonyrvega
• The Anime Linguist YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@theanimelinguist
• Japan Station YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@japankyonews
• Website: https://japankyo.com/
• Tony R. Vega Personal X/Twitter: https://x.com/thevegatony