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Message: <blockquote data-quote="MadBlue" data-source="post: 851590" data-attributes="member: 7552">Shinto and Buddhism (particularly Shingon) are the most popular religions. Japanese people don't tend to be particularly religious, though, although people have Shinto groundbreaking and wedding ceremonies and Buddhist funerals - and I mean the same people. Weekly services, per se, aren't common, but there are days that everyone celebrates or observes, especially ones that deal with family members, deceased or otherwise. There are a lot of "new religions" that have weekly services, though. They tend to be more rigidly structured than traditional Japanese religions.New Year's Day is the most popular holiday. Almost everyone goes to a shrine on New Year's Day to receive their fortune for the coming year.There are special days in the Japanese (Buddhist) calendar that are auspicious or inauspicious for starting and/or ending things. Not that most Japanese people pay attention to them any more than most Americans pay attention to Catholic feast days.Also, people ask each other about Blood Type the way people in the West (or at least, the States) ask about Star Signs.There's a wealth of information that can be plumbed for a game set in Japan, especially a Mage game.  You might want to search for Japanese holidays and customs  and "new religions" in Yahoo.MadBlue</blockquote>