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Part I: Killing the Rumor
Yes, folks, not a Church, but a Shinto Shrine! That photo SOS has.. was for a press release.. If that is not enough, I can state that most Japanese are not Christian, in the first place, only a small minority are, unlike the United States. Alex Glover, Pallapalla (from the AQ Worst of the Web, Pallapalla is also part Japanese herself), Ilsevet Waterborn all explicitly stated that they doubt it, plus some Japanese friends of mine (including my pen pal.. *grins* The one I named Alice-chan). She has also said of the Moon Chalice, "This is the scene where Sailor Moon takes the legendary holy chalice. I found a photo collection of the Vatican at a book store, spread them out in my house, and one treasure caught my eye, the chalice. I wondered about such a divine item as that appearing next. In that way, I finished the image of the moon chalice." (Tranlated by Alex Glover). She does not exhalt God. She does not state any affiliation with Christ. She simply states that she webt to the Vatican and felt inspired by a dazzling item. Most Christians are familiar with a Chalice, but she seems to state that she did not until she saw it. In the next entry she also states, "I did this picture thinking of drawing a picture in the style of William Blake. In Sailor Moon's right hand is the holy chalice, and in her left hand is the cane. And with the angel wings, this became kind of a religious-type painting." (Translated by Alex Glover). She didn't say a Christian, she said a religous. She does not praise God at all. Also in her dedications to people, she never once mentions God, which is typical for Christians to do. She instead thanks her staff, her mother and father, and she thanks her editor. She never mentioned God once. While Christianity has been on the rise in recent years (from accounts of umm.. *colorful* notes to Ogata Megumi-san, check the bottom of page for source.), most Japanese are a combination of several religions and don't even realize it. They often are said to be born Christian, live Shinto, die Buddhist. "Over the years, the Japanese have added Taoism, Confucianism, elements of Hinduism and, Most recently Christianity to their spiritual storehouse. Christian missionaries are often dismayed to find that new converts see no problem in hanging a crucifix on the wall beside the family shrine, just above the statue of Budda. The mix-an-match additude is most evident in Japan's new religions. Adherents of the Ryugu Otohime shrine near Kyoto, forexample, revere their founder as the Shinto sea goddess, the Princess of the Dragon Palace. They also equate Hehovah with the Japanese wind god Susano, worship both Christ and the Torah, and insit that there cana be no harmony on Earth until matriarchy is restored and the Jews are at peace in Isreal. That's a mix even Sourther California can't top." (Levi: 36) It goes on to explicate examples of this on page 37 with Silent Mobius, Judge, Oh, My Goddess!, Urusei Yatsura, and 3x3 eyes. Also to support this further: "Americans are also likely to be confused about possible Christian significance of the crucifixion scene which occurs in tThe Hakkenden. A similar scene occurs in Kabuto which plays, more accurately in the sixteenth century. Infact, such crucifixions are only distantly and indirectly related to Christianity. When Westerners first arrived in the middle of the sixteenth century, they brought their religion with them. Unfortunately, the main thing Japan's warlords seemed to learn from the story of Christ was that crucifixion is a truly horrific way to kill someone. When Japan was reunited in 1601 and Christianity was banned, crucifxion remained in the new Shogun's judicial system as the ultimate form of capital punishment. Today, it remains linked in the minds of most Japnese with the brutality of feudal rule. It does not necessarily imply any reference to Christianity." (Levi: 72-73) Other pages such as pages 104-105, 108 in Levi's book support this notion further. So, for ceremonies like Baptism, and marriage, they will use Christianity for the ceremony. The marriage usually for show if they choose to do it in a church at all. Such as with Usagi and Mamoru. Though they seemed to be married in a church, most Japanese women (and Korean Women as well) like the big dress and the fancy clothes. The real ceremony will be held at a Shinto shrine. Marriage is a celebration of life and also of "a new life together" or a birth of someone new. It's because the Shinto ceremony is so stripped that there is a strong desire amoung women to have more show. (Levi: 62) This also follows for holidays in Japan. All ghost stories are told in the summer (umm.. because it gives people chills. Source: Akemi, designer. ^^;; Arigato shimasu.) Halloween is not celebrated (though my pen pal seriously wishes it were.. ^.~. But Christmas is, however it's not the celebration of Christ's birth there, but rekindling love. (whereas Valentine's day is a Saddie Hawkins day with chocolates). Christmas = birth of Christ, thus again, birth. Shinto is often used in every day rituals, like making prayers for something to happen. It has noise, which the Japanese associate with life. Shinto gives out charms too. Shinto is a celebration of life, where they believe that all living things have a soul, and are a part of a greater thing. (AKA, what Lucas ripped off of to create the Force, but without the Science Fiction explanation.). Shinto rituals are usually noisy with a lot of celebration and cheering. Buddhism is seen as dark, because it deals with rebirth, which means you are looking forward more to death than life. Buddhism works on the mechanics that you will advance once you die. So the Japanese often lean towards this for burial purposes. Part II: The Use of Christian Symbols The use of Christian symbols is simply one of mysticism and of mystery. Christianity is very unknown in Japan, with such a small population of people that are Christian, it's not surprising to find most of the symbols are misused, or reinterpreted. "And most anime depiction's of Christianity are equally superficial and focused on image. Hundred Pound Gospel, for example, features a nun whose main connection to any religion seems to be her outfit. Costuming is also the main reason that Tokyo Babylon's hero, Sumergi Subaru, sports outlandish outfits with crucifixes prominently displayed. It's not because he's Christian, it's because he's connected to the occult. The same s true of the supernatural defense attorney in Judge. His affinity for churches and for crossing himself is also a Mark of his profession. Ranka, the doll demon of Vampire Princess Miyu stores her grotesquely transformed victims in an abandoned church, but there is no other reference to Christianity in the episode. Similarly, when Makie, the Black World heroine of Wicked City, finally marries her human love, she does so in a church with stained glass windows. Or is it one of those hotel-run chapels? Churches can also reflect doom. In the opening episodes of the Captain Harlock series, Harlock's young ward is tortured by being forced to clean an enormous church floor with a tiny brush. Eventually, she is driven too far and falls to her death from its steeple." (Levi: 62-63) She goes on to explicate further on the subject I mention later, where we abuse Hinduism and Buddhism the same way. This could stem from the fact that, Churches are dark places. They are quiet compared to that of a Shinto Shrine, where a prayer is made by clapping twice and pulling a rope with a bell/things that rattle. Also in a Church there is a guy on a cross, dying (to be a bit blunt, and if I was an outsider on this.). This man is bleeding to death from puncture wounds, inflicted upon him. He wears thorns on his head. Since most Japanese don't know the Bible that well, and what they do read makes little to no sense of them, it would seem dark and mysterious that a place in the dark, with a guy dying on a cross would also be the place for Vampires, spirits, and things of the dead, and the mysterious. It doesn't take long to understand, that what you don't understand is scary, and therefore mysterious. Let's connect this to Sailor Moon, and see if there was such an abuse of these symbols, and therefore, perhaps a misunderstanding on the part of the Christian religious community. Sailor Moon is the Soldier of Mystery, as stated by Neo-Queen Serenity. Examining the first arc, before this was stated, there are no references to crosses, and in the anime, there is only one reference to the cross, which was cut out. This reference has the Sailor Senshi in a crucifixion (I should note here that Jesus Christ was not the only one to get tortured in this fashion, but many, many people were... even one of his disciples, I believe opted to die by being strung upside down, so he would not die like Jesus did.). The senshi are getting crucified, however, they are also being tortured by the enemy, the enemy is an unknown enemy at the time. They do not know Rubeus's origin, besides he comes from the future, and is Chibiusa's enemy. To continue this point, the Sailor Moon R movie again exploited the crucifixion, again with a mysterious enemy, and again, they were being brutally attacked, and it was tied in with who? Not the senshi, but Sailor Moon. She was the one that cried that she should be the one up there, not them. If you count the amount of crosses, per senshi, Sailor Moon, the Sailor Soldier of Mystery gets the most out of all the senshi. Most of the Christian symbolism surrounds SAILOR MOON (and Chibimoon to some extent, but same thing) and not the other Senshi. Who owns the Holy Grail? Who drinks from the Cup? Who transforms and almost has a cross-like transformation? Sailor Moon. I believe that Setsuna / Pluto has one in one picture, that of a wooden cross, but then what is time but a mystery? Hotaru does get a few too, but she is the Dark Messiah. She is supposed to be the opposite of Sailor Moon and dark and gloomy (in sterotyping). Haruka is supposed to be distant, she wears crosses too, however distance is also associated with Christianity. What is distant is also mysterious. The simple explanation is that Christian symbols = Dark and Mysterious. As for why Takeuchi-sensei would wear a cross? Takeuchi-sensei LOVES dark and mysterious. She's stated that one of her favorite characters is Tuxedo Mask. Part III: Cross Cultural Symbolic Abuse At this point I know most of you are ready to leave with your heads high into the air and thinking that I am making things up, or "That's so RUDE". I can assure you that I will have a list of all of my sources at the very end of this essay, and I am hard pressed to lie (which I have references for. --;; I'm a horrible liar). Secondly, you should examine your own culture before putting down another person's culture, because you might find some hypocrisy in what you are about to say. We "abuse" East Asian culture in the same way. I can't tell you how many times people think that yin-yang is only about balance, and a neat trinket. How many English speaking citizens know it's true value and worth in Hinduism as supposed to Buddhism, or Zen Buddhism? Why is a symbol for balance? What makes it that way? I can answer these questions, how many people in the English speaking countries can? I doubt very many Christians that think that misuse of the cross in anime and manga would know what a yin yang symbol really means. If someone put a Chinese deity in the window though they did not practice the religion, and though it was a neat "trinket" no one in English Speaking Countries would object, save for those who know it's true worth. Often people go to other countries, or a part of their town and take their symbols as souvenirs. They think of them as "neat trinkets", but nothing that carries a great deal of meaning for them. They are neat because they are mysterious, though they have no real personal value, or believability for the person who holds this new symbol. The media looks at symbols often the same way. That person buying that "souvenir" can be a Movie producer who does not know anything about the culture, but knows the audience will think that the whole thing is mysterious. For years there were martial arts in Hollywood movies using the martial arts as something to laugh at, and something to make fun of, or something to spice up a plot or movie. It was from another culture and widely unknown. A plucked instrument would play in the background, and made up battle cries. Most Asians were side-kicks, or at best, villains, for years. If no one else thinks this is a bit odd and insulting to the people of those cultures, consider that the Japanese are just doing the same thing to your symbol of the cross, except with a bit more understanding than the last example. Often, symbols are exchanged overseas, but misinterpreted. Let's take the example of the Swastika. The Swastika, Hitler believed was the Aryan symbol for supremacy. He was actually wrong. Thus because of his gross incompetence in knowing what the sign meant, it's still interpreted badly today, and continues on like that. (Which is his final heritage to the world.) Hitler abused the symbol. We might have a loose sense of what the symbols mean, but we have no idea how they connect, or the universe, or ideas that they connect to, so we do abuse it. Ironically the symbol was there before the Aryans came. So like many things that Hitler said, this one was just as debased as any other. (He also drew the thing wrong, which in Hindu belief changes the meaning of the whole thing. --;; Oy) For a more recent example, after the 9.11 attacks, the media often portrayed the rites of the Muslims as "mysterious" and "wrong". The person who most abused these conceptions was George W. Bush. He slandered a culture he did not know, and forced his conceptions on their government when he talked about "freedom". I heard one particular Radio show portray all Muslims as "radicals". He was Jewish, (and I have inherited the religion of the Jews, so don't think I'm just slandering), when he was pointing to extreme groups. Only to extreme groups, thus again, gross misinterpretation. CONCLUSION So, Takeuchi-sensei, in accordance with the Japanese culture, is wearing a cross as we would wear a yin-yang symbol (in accordance with our culture). She plasters it all over Sailor Moon to give it a mysterious feel for the Japanese people. It's the way it is, not the way you want, or think it should be, that's how the culture IS. Takeuchi-sensei herself, is as most Japanese are, not Christian. The majority of Japanese are NOT religious. Most Japanese go through life and celebrate various holidays that are not any one religion. They will often be Baptised, marry in a Christian Church for show, and be buried like a Christian, with someone from Buddhism in attendance. To pray for a boyfriend, or good luck on a test, they will turn to Shinto and ring the bell. When they are going to die, they turn to Buddhism and Christianity. It probably would terrify most Christians, but often in Japanese shrines you can find Holy Virgin Mary right next to Ameratsu (from my Modern Japan Professor and also from my Anthroplogy teacher, refering to the work of another anthropology teacher.). Before you flame the Japanese culture for that, reconsider the symbols you use on your clothing, and don't be hypocritical about it. Some other anime that uses Christian Symbols for similar means:
Some American shows that have used the same kind of thing.
So, she is not Christian, as much as we are not Buddhist for watching and using those symbols. BTW, I should note that a lot of cultures are guilty of symbol misinterpretation. So this isn't against these two cultures highlighted, or for, but it's a fact that everyone should consider. --;; KNOW the culture before you jump to conclusions. And as my anthropology teacher was want to say, "There is no, 'It's not that way.' It IS that way. There is no room for disbelief. For them it's true, you have to believe it too." Or something to that effect. LINKS AND BOOKS Levi, Antonia Samurai from Outer Space: Understanding Japanese Animation: Open court publishing, 1996
Akemi Imafuku from Tokyopop. ^_^
Verbal communication and written communication with a few Japanese friends. E-mail from Ilsevet Waterborn. Pallapalla Worst of the Web (I'm still trying to find her review) The Manga of Takeuchi Naoko by Alex Glover. (I got the information through e-mail communication.) http://www.nihongo.org/english/culture/religion/
http://jin.jcic.or.jp/today/culture/culture1.html
http://www.askasia.org/frclasrm/readings/r000009.htm
http://www.muc.edu/re/WorldReligions/HolidaysOfJapan.htm
Akadot - Article - Rocking the Boat: Megumi Ogata on the heights of fandom and the depths of the Japanese animation industry
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