The majority of Japanese adhere to Shintoism, a traditional Japanese religion focusing on rituals and worship at shrines. In 2021, around 48.6 percent of the total population of Japan participated in Shinto practices. Closely behind is Buddhism, with more than 46 percent of the population adhering to its practices. Most Japanese thus practice both religions. The original ShintoShintoism adherents worship spirits or gods at shrines, often publicly, through rituals and traditions. Shintoism is deeply ingrained in the Japanese culture and way of life, but the number of followers has been decreasing over the past years, as has the number of Japanese who are adhering to any kind of religion. Tradition seems to have to make way for modern attitudes and choices – still the number of people who call themselves Shinto adherents is quite high, even if they do not actively practice it. Everything zen in BuddhismWhile Shintoism seems to become a thing of the past, the number of Buddhists, on the other hand, has been stable over the last decade, and if anything, has only slightly decreased. Japan is, in fact, among the countries with the largest Buddhist communities, right after China, of course, and Thailand. This might be due to Buddhism being able to adapt much easier to modern times and its adherents’ everyday lives, as well as a better PR machine – Buddhism is, after all, also quite popular in the Western world.

In 2022, the number of religious adherents affiliated with Christianity in Japan amounted to approximately **** million people. The number of Christians decreased compared to around **** million people in the previous year.

In 2022, the number of religious adherents affiliated with Shintoism in Japan amounted to approximately ***** million people. During the same period, around **** million people followed Christian beliefs.

Japan: Protestant Christians as percent of the total population: The latest value from is percent, unavailable from percent in . In comparison, the world average is 0.0 percent, based on data from countries. Historically, the average for Japan from to is percent. The minimum value, percent, was reached in while the maximum of percent was recorded in .

Japon: Catholic Christians as percent of the total population: Pour cet indicateur, The Cline Center for Democracy fournit des données pour la Japon de à . La valeur moyenne pour Japon pendant cette période était de pour cent avec un minimum de pour cent en et un maximum de pour cent en .

In 2024, the share of funeral participants in Japan who attended family funerals amounted to ** percent. Family funerals were the most common type of funeral that respondents attended in that year, as there was a considerable decline in attendance at general funerals after the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Japon: Non religious people as percent of the population: Pour cet indicateur, The Cline Center for Democracy fournit des données pour la Japon de à . La valeur moyenne pour Japon pendant cette période était de pour cent avec un minimum de pour cent en et un maximum de pour cent en .

In 2022, the number of religious adherents affiliated with Buddhism in Japan amounted to approximately ***** million people. This represented a decrease compared to about ***** million Buddhists in the previous year.

** percent of respondents in India and Thailand agreed with the statement that religious practices are an important part of their countries' citizens moral life. By contrast, only ** percent of respondents in Japan and ** percent in Hungary and Sweden did the same.

In 2022, the number of religious adherents affiliated with Shintoism in Japan amounted to approximately ***** million people. This marked a decrease in Shintoists compared to around ***** million people in 2013.

About ** percent of Japanese respondents stated that their religious or spiritual well-being contributes to some extent to their personal happiness, according to a survey conducted in June 2019 by Ipsos on happiness. Among ** countries surveyed, Japan showed the lowest share of respondents claiming to gain greatest happiness from their spiritual well-being.