Introduction - Religion and Politics in Contemporary Japan - page 21

Evans-Prichard himself overcame the problem of structural objectivism, this
is a point that I need to take seriously, even as my relative insider status
allows me other kinds of understanding and participation. As pointed out,
from a political science perspective it could be said (and is said) that because
Soka Gakkai does not elect its leadership, it is not democratic. By extension,
the nature of its political support for Komeito is suspect. Without wanting to
deny the undemocratic elements and bureaucracy that exist, however, this a
priori notion is contradicted at the grassroots level of observation. It is both
my observations as an anthropologist and my relative insider status that make
me take more seriously the

assumptions about religious organi-
sations. This does not mean that I revert to a belief that as a matter of course
a host of democratic institutions all in support of progressive social participation
will exist within this or other religious groups; this is clearly case-dependent.
Still, certain insider

' rationalist '

predisposes me to accept some irreducible
components to religious experience and the motivations that stem from it,
which become part of my methodology, just as the existence of no such
knowledge makes for other predispositions. Importantly, however, the
knowledge of my informants that I was an SGI member allowed me to criti-
cally observe and question people without them feeling defensive. This was
because the standard of judgement in many ways was their own. I was the
implicitly trusted stranger whom the interlocutors knew as someone who
lived her personal life with similar social objectives as they did. Certain
assumptions engaged us in discussing in particular ways the complex process
of social transformation of which they saw themselves a part, a social trans-
formation that for them within a Japanese context extends to support for
Komeito. Our assumptions included the

' knowledge '

that if you want to
change something you take responsibility for it. Moreover, I could sympathise
with this common sense transferred into the political level. This had not to do
with any experience of political engagement as an SGI member myself, of
which I have none, but more to do with an upbringing in a politically engaged
family. This is probably also why I am interested in politics and political
philosophy in the

' common sense '

first place. Yet I could not imagine the same kind of poli-
tical involvement of SGI members in the UK. While support for one political
party made the process of social engagement of a religious organisation more
complex and contentious, knowing of the Japanese political history and cul-
ture, I could also relate to how it made sense (which it would not have done
within the context of the UK, for instance).
I did interpret my interlocutors involvement as driven by a desire to con-

tribute to greater social transformation. With this empathetic stance, there
was an implicit sense of trust that characterised our interactions, and facili-
tated an openness that would never have been part of a deductive level of
analysis where no

'

first-hand research is undertaken. For example, people who
had heard about my interest in the dilemma I imagined they would have when
Komeito as a coalition partner to the LDP had seemingly supported the
invasion of Iraq in 2003 were eager to meet me and verbalise their apprehensions