“It’s not religious. It’s Japanese.” This was the building owner’s reply to a question about the shrine on the roof. Our teammate, Seth, had been looking for a new gathering location for a church plant in Kyoto, and he found a promising venue, but the owner delivered some bad news: “No religion allowed.” Upon hearing the policy, Seth inquired, “What about that?” pointing to the red-orange torii gate on the roof of the downtown building. He didn’t ask this question with any delusion of changing the policy. Culturally, when someone presents a possible hurdle to your plans, this is their way of saying, “No.” Seth knew that the church’s application to become a tenant had effectively been denied, but he hoped to challenge the glaring contradiction: why is Christianity classified as religious while Buddhistic Shintoism and/or Shintoistic Buddhism are not? Simple: Shintoistic Buddhism is part of Japanese culture and not a religion. It’s not a fish; it’s the water. Though this confusion...