Recently Ichiro Ozawa, secretary general of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan, made a speech that, translated into English, seemed to insult Christians by calling them "self-righteous," contrasted with the more "magnanimous" nature of Buddhism. The speech was delivered on Mount Koya, birthplace of the Japanese Buddhist school of Shingon.
At Japan Times, Roger Pulvers explains that many nuances of Japanese were lost in translation into English that made the speech seem harsher than it really was (although the speech was still mostly a pile of "shallow generalities," Pulvers says). From there, Pulvers discusses the roles that religions have played in Japan since the 1930s. In the case of Buddhism, that role was not always beneficial. Some of you might find Pulvers's commentary as interesting as I did.
Another news tidbit from Japan -- the Ryohoji temple of Tokyo has launched a promotion featuring manga to draw more visitors to the temple. This weekend the temple set up tents and opened a temporary cafe, staffed by young women in popular manga role-playing costumes. The temple is also selling 500 yen ($5) cards with cartoon characters that allow one to download a video to a mobile phone of the Ryohoji chief monk chanting prayers.