SCANDAL's Religion? Does anyone know?

Have you ever wondered what's the religion of SCANDAL members? Because I am wondering if they were Christians (Catholic for that matter, and there's only a small population of Christians in Japan), because If you'll notice, they were all wearing a rosary in their TaiKimi PV particularly along with their Striped Uniform.. And I remembered the hosts in VMAJ asked them about the rosary too.. Actually I never give much thought about that ('cause it doesn't matter to me what their religion is) but yesterday a friend of mine (a very, very religious girl) pointed this out and said "WOW! They were Christians!" while we're watching TaiKimi PV (LOL I was actually infecting her with SCANDAL Virus that time.. Hehe..). Please take a look at the photo below...


So, any info guys?? Hehehe arigatou gozaimashita!


(I don't know if this topic was discussed before, so please delete this if this was already posted..)

Err, honestly, I think it was just part of their costume, instead of any outward show of their religions. Like, they also showed a decorated rosary in the PB for Temptation Box, and I think it just kinda fit in with the overall theme of the photobook, like, carefree fun and peace, hippie-like values, as opposed to an overall display of religious affinity.

And of course, you should know that religion in Japan is a very err...well, strange thing, to say the least. People will get married in a church and celebrate New Year's at a temple, so it's kinda hard to say in the first place. XD

But if the host in the VMAJ asked them about it, I'd love to hear their response :p Curious here too XD

Shinto and Buddhism are the two major religion in Japan

I think most of the youth in Japan are mostly unreligious and only take part in religious (mostly Shinto) activity as part of cultural tradition.

Up until a couple years ago, Christmas wasn't even celebrated widely throughout Japan, but with the uprising in foreign residents, it just became a trend to do so publicly... Santa in Japan? Yup, never existed til a couple of years ago...

So yeah, the rosary was probably just another trend... Now don't get offended when I say that, because remember that Japan's fashion is heavily trendy, so anything goes...

Well, to be honest being Catholic I'm actually insulted that the girls were using the rosary as a fashion accessory and that really upsets me... the rosary is a sacred and fundamental part of Catholicism (and perhaps Christianity as a whole I guess) and it is used to bless the sick and dying, and also in prayer when we recite the Rosary. Overall, what I'm saying is that the rosary should be treated with respect and reverence not as some fashion trend of the week to be discarded when one tire of it. I've lost a little respect for SCANDAL, irregardless of the Japanese religious subculture. Sorry guys, it's my own view so don't get mad (although some of you might)

Paladinoras wrote:Err, honestly, I think it was just part of their costume, instead of any outward show of their religions. Like, they also showed a decorated rosary in the PB for Temptation Box, and I think it just kinda fit in with the overall theme of the photobook, like, carefree fun and peace, hippie-like values, as opposed to an overall display of religious affinity.

And of course, you should know that religion in Japan is a very err...well, strange thing, to say the least. People will get married in a church and celebrate New Year's at a temple, so it's kinda hard to say in the first place. XD

But if the host in the VMAJ asked them about it, I'd love to hear their response :p Curious here too XD

I think so .

In Japan, most people respected Shinto
so I think their respect Shinto

i think shinto. they went to a temple once in scandal summit i think? not sure though

They went to perform at a location near a shrine once,and they recevied blessings of a sort from a religious person in the shrine there if i'm not wrong.They also partook in some religious activity while they were in Hong Kong,and these activites were distinctly Hong Kong's because i recognise it from the photos,and certainly the girls were doing merely to pray for a good performance in accordance to the Hong Kongers' beliefs.

What i am trying to say is,the girls are of a more free-thinking type,not really sticking to any religion in my opinion.Also note that i used more generic terms so as not to term anything wrongly.

whatever their religion is doesn't matter to me because i love them so much.

EugeneAng wrote:They went to perform at a location near a shrine once,and they recevied blessings of a sort from a religious person in the shrine there if i'm not wrong.They also partook in some religious activity while they were in Hong Kong,and these activites were distinctly Hong Kong's because i recognise it from the photos,and certainly the girls were doing merely to pray for a good performance in accordance to the Hong Kongers' beliefs.

What i am trying to say is,the girls are of a more free-thinking type,not really sticking to any religion in my opinion.Also note that i used more generic terms so as not to term anything wrongly.

Yea, pretty much. That's just how religion goes in Japan, methinks. Some of my friends live there, and religion has never been a rather important thing there, simply because for a long period of time, Japan shut itself in and promoted rather traditional sorts of religions, hell, even Catholics and Christians were persecuted for a period of time. This just kinda contributes to their overall lack of spirituality.

(Thus, the high suicide rates XD) So can't really blame teh SCANDAL girls for using it as decoration, for what's worth, a lot of artists in Japan use it methinks O_O. Case in point, Gackt lol.

well like people have said, Japanese's view of religion is quite hazy. since Japan is a small country, with a big population, people concentrate on getting decent jobs and salaries. and from what i've seen, when Japanese take on something, they take it seriously; if they get a job, they get really serious about it; if they decide to they get into a religion, they become religious. so roughly speaking, SCANDAL doesn't really "have" a religion. roughly.

Spoiler:

if you've watched Lucky Star, Kagami said that their family worship every religion. so yeah.

If they don't have a religion, then let us start one up.

I suggest they worship Plutomomism.

^ That is the worst idea ever thought of by mankind.

Demo, there are pics, when they are crossing their hands, and pray.
and also the video.
if im not wrong, the video when they are praying is in TB dvd.
Myabe, they are christian or catholic.

I agree with rreizend, I think they don't really care about their religion. They care more about their career.

(I didn't expect much response from you guys so I'm kind of surprised to see 15 replies when I signed in.. Hehe)

As I said before, I don't care what their religion is. I am not a religious person myself but, to be honest, I will be a little offended If they were just using the rosary as part of their costume (I'm a Catholic BTW). As porcupine said, It is a sacred thing for us. But of course, we'll never know how the Japanese minds works, and we're not really sure what their religion is.. I hope our Japanese members here will enlighten us about this stuff.. Hehehe..

Anyway, I love them because of their music, and I won't let any religious belief to interfere with my admiration for SCANDAL.. Hehehehe

I'm not from Japan (I'm from America; more specifically, Los Angeles), but I'm Japanese and can totally relate to the whole disjointed-religion-thing. Like, most of us Japanese-Americans here in LA consider ourselves "Buddhist" and whatnot, but most of us are not "religious." We know somewhat about Buddhist teachings and stuff, but we don't really stick to the religion. We're busy doing other stuff with our lives (jobs, school, etc.) and hardly have time for anything else, so religion isn't a big thing for us, I guess. I had no idea about the religion situation in Japan, but after hearing what you guys said about it, it makes sense; I guess we JAs got this religion thing from them haha.

Anyway, I think I went off-subject haha. So, I personally don't think SCANDAL is Christian or Catholic, and I think that they did decide to wear rosaries purely for aesthetic reasons/for their costumes. Rosaries used as accessories is a pretty popular trend right now. I'm sure a lot of people who aren't in a religion where a rosary is used don't know the rosary's meaning, so I think SCANDAL just viewed them as a fashion accessory to go with their outfits. And, because they probably don't know what it means, they couldn't have meant it in an offensive way.

Okay, I don't know if this makes sense, nor did this actually explain anything...hahaha. Sorry if this is just pointless!

gunnersforlife wrote:I agree with rreizend, I think they don't really care about their religion. They care more about their career.

i agree with you guys..

i just love when they performances....

and their song, and many more...

Personally, I don't think it really matters. Religion shouldn't enter into your opinion of a band. I can appreciate the reason for wanting to know, just wanting to know more about a band you love, but as far as the rosary beads go that's just how things go in Japan. Most of the time, if someone likes how something looks, they wear it for the sole reason that they like how it looks.
Religion isn't a big thing in Japan. They have shrines and stuff, but from what I gather, the Japanese gods are more like the Norse or Greek gods than the Christian/Jewish God, it's not a religion, you just pray to different gods for different reasons. I could be wrong, but that's what I can gather from the little research I've bothered doing.

Just as a side note, I'm technically Christian, because of the fact my parents had a man in a robe draw a wet cross on my forehead, long before I had control over my own bowel movements. I don't, haven't, and probably never will practice any sort of religion, other than pretending to follow mock religions like Haruhiism.