{
  "id": 7708445,
  "title": "Japanese monks embrace material world to raise cash as donations shrink",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/16/japanese-monks-embrace-material-world-to-raise-cash-as-donations",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-09-16T04:30:45.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "South China Morning Post",
    "slug": "south-china-morning-post",
    "url": "https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3367667/japanese-monks-embrace-material-world-raise-cash-donations-shrink"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": null,
  "summary": "Koukyo Yoneta, a fifth-generation Buddhist priest in a small town in Japan’s Hokkaido, was struggling to keep up with the maintenance needs of his century-old temple, so he chose a path that would have been unthinkable for his predecessors – rather than wait for his congregation to give money they do not have, he invested what they had already donated. The move paid off. Within two years, his…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}