GURŌBARUKA JIDAI NO NIKKAN SHINSHŪKYŌ: MYŌCHIKAI KYŌDAN TO ENBUKKYŌ グローバル化時代の日韓新宗教: 妙智會教団と圓佛教 [JAPANESE AND KOREAN NEW RELIGIONS IN THE AGE OF GLOBALI‐ ZATION: MYŌCHIKAI KYŌDAN AND WŎN BUDDHISM]. By YiHwa‐jin 李和珍. Shūkōsha 集広舎, 2021. Pp. 298. Hardback, ¥3500.

Yi is a researcher at the Religious Information Research Center (宗教情報リサーチセンター) of the International Institute for the Study of Religions (公益財団法人国際宗教研究所). The book is based on Yi's 2020 PhD thesis in Religious Studies submitted at Kokugakuin University, titled “The Development of Modern New Religions in Japan and Korea in a Global Era: Focusing on the Cases of Myōchikai Kyodan and Wŏn Buddhism” (グローバル時代における日韓の近代新宗教の展開: 妙智會教団と圓佛教の事例を中心に). Founded in 1950 as a splinter group of the Nichirenist Reiyūkai 霊友会, Myōchikai Kyodan claims nearly one million adherents today, ranking it among the largest new religious movements (NRMs) in Japan. Wŏn Buddhism is a Korean NRM established in 1916 with a membership well beyond 100,000 practitioners and, unlike Myōchikai Kyodan, maintains a notable international presence. Yi examines how globalization and informatization impact both groups within their respective socio-cultural contexts. In Part One, after outlining Myōchikai Kyodan's historical development and related research, Yi specifically discusses Arigatou International—ありがとうインターナショナル–, the group's NGO mouthpiece. In the second part of the book, Yi turns to Wŏn Buddhism, its history, and related research, as well as in particular the group's missionary activities in Japan and the United States. In the third part, Yi draws on two large-scale questionnaire surveys of several thousand adherents in Japan (2006/2007) and South Korea (2008/2009), looking at generational differences in religious practices and views on doctrine in the age of globalization/information. This volume is not to be missed by scholars of East Asian NRMs.