Alternative Facts in Eastern Utopia/Article and Interview/Kyouko Kasodani

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Page 104-105

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修行は労働か否か!? ブラックすぎる宗教界の実態	Is training manual labor or not?! The Reality of the Sweatshop World of Religion.
命蓮寺の境内掃除担当兼雑用担当の幽谷響子氏が、本誌に激白だ。彼女が言うには命蓮寺では修行と称して妖怪が無償で働かされ、しかもその内容および従事への強制が実に過酷だという。時間外労働がほぼ毎月１４０時間にのぼるほか、年間の勤務日数が「３５６日」、そのうち３４９日は連続出勤だったという。幽谷氏は命蓮寺に敷地の縮小を求めていると語った。	Ms. Kyouko Kasodani, who is in charge of sweeping the Myouren Temple grounds and other odd jobs, spoke her mind in this issue. According to her words, this so-called temple training makes the youkai work without compensation. Furthermore, the subjects and the forced engagement are absolutely harsh and rigorous. Overtime every month can reach up to 140 hours, the number of annual service days is "356", out of which 349 days require consecutive attendance. Ms. Kasodani spoke about her wishes to downsize the Temple grounds.
「こんなに修行修行の毎日で、これは私が妖怪じゃなかったらとっくに死んでるんじゃないかなあ。でも仏教の修行の目標は成仏だから、そこには近づいてるのかな？」（幽谷氏）	"It's just training and more training like this every day. If I wasn't a youkai, I'd be long dead already. But the goal of Buddhist training is entering Nirvana anyway, so I wonder if I'm getting closer already." (Ms. Kasodani)
妖怪が成仏へ至る道は、険しく厳しい。	For youkai, the road to Nirvana is steep and strict.