Maintenance of Shared Resources and the Use of Agricultural Pesticides Considered in Terms of Health Risks and Agricultural Marketing

1Shin Buddhism and Japan Mercantile Economy:Reassessingthe Doctrine of Fumitoshi GotoYasuhiro SakaiProfessor Emeritus, Shiga UniversityAbstract This paper explores the relation between Shin Buddhism and Japan Mercantile Economy from a new modern angle. Having been inspired by the great work of Max Weber on Religion and Economy, the late Professor Fushitoshi Goto of Kinki University at Osaka has carefully investigated the question how and to what degree Religion has influenced the economic development of Japanese Economy. Observing that Japan has never been a Christian-dominated country, Goto has argued that the powerful Shin Buddhism, and definitely not Protestantism, has a critical role in the development of Japanese Economy since the pre-modern era in the 16th century. Although the three religions of Shinto, Zen Sect and Shin Buddhism have more or less affected Japanese way of life in their respective fashions, it is the last Shin Buddhism of the high priests Shinran and Rennyo that by means of Osaka Temple Town and many other satellite towns, has acted as a dominant player in continuously shaping and reshaping Japan mercantile economy since its pre-modern era, Unfortunately, however, Goto's important work has so far received much less attention than it should have.This paper is an attempt to mend such long neglect in the economics profession in Japan and all over the world.