11 Sacred High City, Sacred Low City (Dr. Steven Heine)

Episode 11 of the Japan Station podcast is here and this time we're exploring the city of Tokyo.

Dr. Steven Heine is the director of the Asian Studies Program at Florida International University and author of the book Sacred High City, Sacred Low City: A Tale of Religious Sites in Two Tokyo Neighborhoods. In this episode we talk about:

• The history of Tokyo
• Why Tokyo is laid out the way it is
• The differences and similarities between the Shitamachi and Yamanote areas of Tokyo
• The differences and similarities between the Inarichō and Akasaka neighborhoods of Tokyo
• Why Inarichō is the "Akihabara of butsuden" (Buddhist altars)
• What a gendai (contemporary) butsudan is
• The relationship between the fox god Inari, the legendary creature tengu, and the Sōtō sect of Zen Buddhism
• Whether Japanese people are religious
• The 1984 Juzo Itami film Osōshiki (The Funeral)
• Some not so well-known sites to check out during your next visit to Tokyo
• And much more!

By the end of this episode you'll have a newfound appreciation for the city of Tokyo.