Recent Trends in the Geography of Religion in Japan - Geography of Religion in Japan: Religious Space, Landscape, and Behavior - page 12

Oda ( 2004 ) indicates three areas for future historical geography studies of
religion: (1) how and why religions have been distributed, in cooperation with the
historians of religion; (2) clarify how Japanese religions interpret environmental
modifi cation; and (3) grasp religious phenomena in the light of social, economic,
and political situations of the religion. Suzuki ( 2004 ) considers we need various key
notions of cultural studies when we consider the concept of space (such as function
and structure, surface and depth, signifi cance and signifi cation, representation and
discourse, and text and performance) and insists these concepts should be applied to
studies of the geography of religion. Empirical studies on religion and geography
accumulated over the twentieth century. We should now use these empirical studies
to construct systematics and theories that explain geographical phenomena. In the
twenty-fi rst century, I expect the geography of religion will develop a more impor-
tant role in Japanese geographical study.
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