Jed and I both spent some time in Japanese culture, and he may greatly disagree with me. As I see it, Japanese militarism centralized Shinto worship to an unprecedented by putting greater emphasis on the role of the Emperor. After defeat and occupation, state-sponsored Shinto was taboo (and Americans deliberately cut the emperor down to size while leaving him on the throne for stability's sake), but a spiritual void remained.
I do not think that had much to do with it. Serious state-sponsored religion only began around 1880, and most of the "ancient Shinto beliefs" were invented at that time, in a conservative backlash against Westernization. (This was also when the U.S. "rapture" beliefs were "concocted," according to Moyers.) And the Americans did nothing to disestablish Buddhism. Furthermore, the populations in European countries were equally disenchanted with religion after the war. (At least in England, France and the Netherlands. I have not read about Germany.)
The ancient Japanese tradition of lifetime employment began around 1920, by the way. A lot of these timeless traditions go back as far as Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer (1939).
So while Christianity took off in Korea, it didn't spread much in Japan. Instead, Japan has sprouted one New Age sect after another, some more harmful than others.
There have been quite a number of them, and one of them formed a major political party, the Komeito. But I do not think their influence is great, and the percentage of the population that reports belief in God is low.
Of course this is a very complicated subject because of cultural differences, as you can tell from this essay, which begins with a quote from my old Prof. Robert Smith:
http://www.japanesestudies.org.uk/discussionpapers/Fitzgerald.html
- Jed
