re, religion cannot be limited by this or that sect or idea.
Religion cannot be limited to Christianity, Buddhism, Confucianism or
Mahomedanism. Uchimura says that it is the essence of Christianity
which has the power to rescue Japan from its chaotic state. But the
essence of Buddhism can also contribute some important element to the
future of Japan. The notion that the essence of Christianity and the
essence of Buddhism are far apart is artificial and prejudiced."

One day some weeks later I walked with Yanagi on the hills. He said:
"The weakest point in the Japanese character is the lack of the power
of questioning. We are repressed by our educational system. And so
many things come here at one time that it makes confusion. What is so
often taken for a lack of originality in us is a state resulting from
an immense importation of foreign ideas. They have been overpowering.
Many of us have no clear ideas on life, society, sex and so on, and
you will find it difficult to get satisfactory answers to many
questions which you will want to ask."

As to morality, it was dangerous to say "this or that is immoral."
Morality was often merely custom. Ordinary morality had scant
authority. Critics of Japanese morality should not forget that, in the
opinion of Japanese, Western people were more erotic than they were.
Western dancing--not to speak of Western women's evening costumes--was
undoubtedly more erotic than Japanese dancing. Again, the sexual
curiosity of foreigners seemed stronger than that manifested by
Japanese. It was a well-known fact that the girls at many hotels and
restaurants had not a little to complain of from foreign men who
misjudged their naive ways. It must be remembered that Japanese were
franker in sexual matters than Europeans and Americans. Sexual
ill-doing was not so much concealed as in Europe. A wrong impression
of Japanese morality was taken away by tourists whose guides showed
them, as in Paris, what they expected to see.

"I wonder," he said, "that Western visitors to Tokyo who talk of our
immorality are not struck by the fact that in an Eastern capital a
foreign lady may walk home at night and be practically safe from being
spoken to. The Japanese are undoubtedly a very kind people. They may
be unmoral, but they are not immoral."

"Most of our people do not understand liberty in the mental sexual
relations. Love is not free. In a very large proportion of cases,
indeed, parents would oppose a ma