Japanese turn to past lives for future comfort

TOKYO, May 25 (Reuters) The room suddenly grows quiet as Hiroyuki Ehara stares at the Japanese actress in front of him, closes his eyes and leans forward in deep thought.

Moments later, the wide-eyed actress's past life is revealed -- she is the reincarnation of a British nobleman's daughter.

''You should never go to Britain,'' she is told. ''You have too many painful memories there.

''You couldn't marry the man you loved and were instead forced to marry someone else. But that family was ruined and for the rest of your past life you were impoverished.'' The popularity of the bearded Ehara, a self-professed spiritual counsellor, and his weekly television show where he looks into celebrities' past lives and reads their ''auras'', has set off a boom of Japanese seeking comfort in their inner selves.

Spiritual books, counselling centres and even ''power stone'' jewellery have become hits in a country where spiritualism has a long tradition but has met with scepticism in modern times.

Ehara's books alone have sold more than 7 million copies.

The fascination, social commentators say, appears to reflect growing anxieties over work, family and lifestyles in general that have led many Japanese to feel a loss of identity.

For Yukari Kato, head of a company that makes teaching materials, visits to spiritual counsellors are an annual ritual.

''I saw two different counsellors and I was surprised how they used the exact same expression to describe my social and business network just by looking at me -- that it was like a spider's web,'' she said.

''They said they were speaking with 'someone' next to me, someone like my guardian angel,'' she said, admitting to spending 20,000 to 60,000 yen an hour for the readings.

JAPANESE PSYCHE The popularity of Ehara's show, co-hosted by a cross-dressing singer said to be the reincarnation of a 17th century Christian revolutionary, seems to have surprised even its producers.

Some experts say the phenomenon is no passing trend.

Spiritualism has a long history in Japan, with books on the subject dating back to the late eighth century.

Shinto, the country's native religion, is a form of animism, and many customs -- such as groundbreaking ceremonies to bless new buildings -- are based on a belief in spirits.

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