Will the Laïcité of Recognition Take Root in Japan?
This article aims to delineate the problematic nature of laïcité in Japan, where the word is hardly ever used ordinarily. I will try to show that the question of laïcité needs to be explored by linking the separation of the state and religion (seikyô bunri) with the coexistence of diverse cultures (tabunka kyôsei). First, I will show that in an attempt to establish a secular regime in Japan, the elements that constitute laïcité were already part of the Constitution of 1946. Next, I bring up some cases that appear to contradict the principle of separation of the state and religion. This brings us to reexamine the relationship between the political and the religious. Increasingly in Japan, the role of religious institutions has become publicly recognized at the expense of being politically useful. Lastly, I will assess the way in which diverse ethnocultural and religious communities are being organized from the viewpoint of a “laïcité of recognition.”