Kandering av religion i Japan : Bruket av gulliga bilder och lekfulla figurer i religiösa institutioner i Japan

Sammanfattning: This essay has sought to highlight, study and contextualize a selected phenomenon in Japan: the usage of cute pictures and figures by religious institutions. In the essay, four case studies of religious institutions, which at some point have used an aesthetic concept called moe, which is associated with youthfulness, playfulness and consumption, are studied. This paper seeks to study why this happens and how the public reacts. During the course of the thesis, I come to the conclusion that these four religious institutions have gone through a process that I have chosen to call the kanderingsprocess (the process of making candied fruit): the religious institutions have chosen to cover part of their activities with a sugar layer, cuteness (moe), thereby moving the focus from their religious activities to more secular elements that can attract a larger audience.