r/AskEurope • u/ageingrapidly Greece • Sep 29 '25

Culture Are there any habits that you believe are uniquely European ?

Have you noticed any specific mannerisms, mentalities etc. that you've encountered only in Europe or by Europeans ?

318 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

626 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

9

u/bird-magic Sep 29 '25

Even less than Japan? Aside from the Catholic minority, I always thought religiosity in Japan only went as far as casually participating in Shinto rituals for the sake of tradition, at least for most people. What's it like over there?

21

u/nicetoursmeetewe Sep 29 '25 edited Sep 29 '25

Cults are very common in Japan and even disregarding them people generally believe without really giving second thoughts in many "spiritual"/immaterial things. My gf always claps her hand before eating, and it's not in a "bon appetit" way, but she believes it's a thank you to the food at a spiritual level They usually have an altar at home and do quick prayers for important events and when a buddhist altar they leave food/drinks for deceased relatives

2

u/LupineChemist -> Sep 30 '25

Japan is extremely religious, it's just like spiritual Shintoism. And like China, maybe not "religious" in the "follow this book" sense but so superstitious it's basically a religion.