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digital world

Cashless Offerings

The last research report from Issue 277 of Shintō Shūkyō that I want to talk about is “Possibilities for Doctrinal Research Regarding Cashless Payment at Shinto Shrines”, by Hasebe Haruhiko. This is a topic I have mentioned several times before, because with the decline in the number of people carrying cash it is becoming increasingly important for jinja, as a matter of economic survival. Hasebë starts by looking at the general situation. He notes that the number of religious corporations accepting cashless payments has increased in the last five years… Read More »Cashless Offerings

Going Digital

The hatsumōdë survey published in the March 9th issue of Jinja Shinpō also covered several aspects of the digital transformation. Social media, AI, and cashless payments were picked out as major issues, and there seem to have been a lot of responses. The attitude to social media is broadly positive, and a lot of priests are seeing good results from putting photographs of their jinja on Facebook or Instagram. They also mentioned that if you put information about events and such online, people, particularly young people, find it there, and… Read More »Going Digital

Digital Administration

The January 26th issue of Jinja Shinpō included an article that was entirely about practical issues involved in running a prefectural Jinjachō. It was written by one of the staff at Okayama Jinjachō, and if I am remembering correctly it was the latest in a series reporting on their move to a fully digital system. This article reported on the successful shift to completely digital communication between the Jinjachō and the local groups within it. It seems that quite a lot of administration happens this way: individual jinja communicate with… Read More »Digital Administration

We Need to Talk about Shinto

In the 8th December issue of Jinja Shinpō, the “Thoughts in the Forest” column was by Suzuë, and talked about the need to talk about Shinto. It was prompted by an article in an earlier issue that explained AI to Shinto priests, but is more broadly about communicating Shinto in the internet age. This is something I have an interest in… She starts by observing that the Shinto community in general has been very cautious about the internet, but that young people looking for information today do not open books… Read More »We Need to Talk about Shinto

Digital Publicity

The July 7th issue of Jinja Shinpō had two articles about digital publicity for jinja, both connected to Jinja Honchō. One was quite simple, about a jinja creating a website. These days there is nothing particularly remarkable about a jinja having a website, and most do not get articles about it in Jinja Shinpō. One reason for the article is that one of the newspaper’s correspondents wrote about it. (The importance of that sort of practical reason should not be underestimated.) The other reason is that this jinja, Hiyoshisha (日吉社)… Read More »Digital Publicity

Cashless Offerings

Recently, there have been a couple of articles in Jinja Shinpō about the digital transformation, and specifically cashless offerings. The first, in the 5th May issue, reported a study group held by Saitama Prefectural Jinjachō. This group had four presentations, by a member of the Jinjachō staff, a tax accountant, and two priests at jinja that were already accepting cashless offerings. For the most part, they raised the issues that I have mentioned in earlier posts on this topic (see the tag). The tax accountant did confirm that simply using… Read More »Cashless Offerings