Perhaps it is only because we can witness life in contemporary Japan unfolding before our eyes or because the beginning of modern Japan is so recent, but the modern period has arguably been one of the most exciting and transformative in the long and rich history of Japanese religious culture. Modernity has not brought about the secularisation of Japan as was often predicted, but instead has seen the flowering of new religions, shifts in the practice of long-held traditions and extended debates among practitioners, government leaders and scholars as to what role religion has, can, does and should play in Japanese society. Moreover, the last few decades have seen the growth of a subfield within the study of Japanese religion that focuses on the modern period. Works by Shimazono, Inoue, Reader, Tanabe and others have all sought to explore the varied and fascinating religious life of modern Japan. The aim of this chapter is not to neatly summarise a 'modern Japanese religious culture', rather it is to present the religious life of modern Japan from myriad viewpoints and to introduce the reader to approaches taken in the study of Japanese religious culture. This chapter attempts, thereby, to express the complexity of both the religious life of modern Japan and the study of Japanese religion. Anyone who has been lucky enough to travel to Japan has surely been struck by the multifaceted religious life of the Japanese.