Psycho-spiritual disease and the struggle with mortality is a pressing matter in contemporary Japan on a number of fronts. In the next forty to fifty years, roughly eighty million Japanese people will die due to natural causes because of its rapidly aging population demographic. Since 1998, Japan has experienced over 30,000 suicides per year – a number which crosses all age groups and expresses the deep sense of human alienation from years of rapid economic development. Finally, the trauma of the 3/11 tsunami and the subsequent nuclear incident in Fukushima has further unsettled a people who had been firmly rooted in traditions of intimate community. In an attempt to revive their connections to society and community, more and more Buddhist priests are engaging in pro-active psycho-spiritual support for the living and suffering, rather than what has become their role over the past few centuries of acting as ritualists for the dead.
- Compassion, Courage, and Connection: Discovering Ourselves in Serving and Caring for Others Special Seminar #3 with Rev. Joan Halifax (April 5, 2023)
- The Rinsho Buddhism Chaplaincy Training Program 7th Comprehensive Training Session (2020-2021)
- Rebuilding Human Bonds amidst Japan’s Disconnected Society: A Buddhist Path through Rural Decline, Migrant Laborers, Poverty & Homelessness (October 13, 2020)
- Planting Seeds of Care at Sites of Suffering: The Rinsho Buddhist Chaplain Training Program Enters Its 7th year with Commencement Ceremony and Public Seminar (June 18, 2020)
- The Rinsho Buddhism Chaplaincy Training Program 6th Comprehensive Training Session (2019-20)
- Café for Carer’s Peace of Mind (June 2019)
- Standing at the Edge – Creating Balance and Resiliency in Psycho-Spiritual Care: Special Seminar #2 with Rev. Joan Halifax (April 22, 2019)
- Understanding the Interconnectedness of Personal and Social Suffering through Engaged Buddhism: Special Seminar with Rev. Joan Halifax (December 17, 2018)
- Towards Reviving a Society with Connection (yu-en): The Hitosaji Association’s Work with the Homeless and Disconnected (mu-en) (October 4, 2018)
- Contemplative Care & Spirituality: Going Beyond Mindfulness Practice for Being with Suffering & Grief Public Symposium presented by the Rinbutsuken Institute for Engaged Buddhism, the Sophia University Institute of Grief Care, and the Tokyo Jikei Medical University Palliative Care Center (November 4, 2017)
- Considering Life (Inochi) Care: What Sort of Spiritual Care can be Adapted to Japanese Spirituality? Public Symposium sponsored by the Rinbutsuken Institute for Engaged Buddhism and the Kyoto University Kokoro (Heart-Mind) Center Kyoto (September 15, 2016)
- Contemplative Engagement: The Development of Buddhist Chaplaincy in the United States & Its Meaning for Japan by Jonathan S. Watts and Rev. Jin Hitoshi (November 2015)
- The Rinsho Buddhism Chaplaincy Training Program (2013->)
- Ghosts of the Tsunami (a profile of the work of Rev. Taio Kaneda, abbot of Tsudai-ji, a Soto Zen temple in Kurihara City, Miyagi & supervisor of Cafe de Monk, which provides counseling in disaster stricken areas) by Richard Lloyd Parry (London Review of Books, Vol. 36 No. 3, February 6, 2014)
- Buddhism and Social Activism in Today’s Japan: The Activities of the Hitosaji Association by Rev. Akinori Takase (May 25, 2013)
- Buddhist Priests Who Are Present at the Time of Death by Kyoko Isa Asahi Shimbun January 28, 2013 (evening edition)
- The Power of Prayer in Reviving Localities in Japan by Kyoko Isa (Asahi Shimbun November 20, 2012)
- The Potential of Rinsho Buddhism and Developing Buddhist Chaplaincy in Post 3/11 Japan by Rev. Hitoshi Jin (November 28, 2012)
- The Deep Listening Gyocha Volunteer Activities of the Soto Zen Youth Association by Rev. Taiko Kyuma (January, 2012)
- Psycho-Spiritual Relief Work in the Tsunami Areas: An Interview with Rev. Jin Hitoshi by Jonathan Watts (November, 2011)
