Outside the 400-year-old Kyoouji Temple in Tokyo, Japan, a monk named Kansho Tagai, dressed in his traditional robes began bobbing his head and then broke into a lyrical rap. Tagai, or Mr. Happiness, as he prefers to be called, is delivering an ancient message to a hip hop beat, reports CNN. The monk hosts hip hop shows at his temple, drawing young people to a place that is traditionally filled with the elderly. His hip hop message is so popular that twice as many people now visit his temple. The ancient religion is in crisis, Tagai said, because monks are not reaching the young with a message that brings spiritual relief. Japan is home to 75,000 temples, but those numbers are on the decline. The Japanese Agency for Cultural Affairs reports that since 2000, hundreds of temples have closed every year.
