Shinto spirit
- Lucifadio Hearn.
Heart-moving shinto movies
- Miyazaki movies: Princess Mononoke, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. Miyazaki was clear about the dangers of monetheism and the benefits of polytheism (IMG1).
Family
- Japan 2017: just 2% of babies are born out of wedlock. (W-Germany:
25%, E-G: >50%, UK >45%, US40%).
Ancestors
“Hence, Noh has deep ties to the gods… I go to my ancestors graves at least once a month. I report to them having completed successful Noh plays and also inform them about upcoming performances…” - Michishige Udaka 宇高通成
Self-mastery
Due to influence of native spirituality, there is a high appreciation of self-mastery and discipline - which is attained by the few.
Importance
Few, if any, developments in the postwar era possess as great a significance as the rise of Japan. Normally, Japan’s rise is discussed in economic or political terms. Its religious significance, especially for a nation such as the United States whose cultural inheritance is so deeply rooted in biblical religion, is seldom discussed, much less understood.
Japan is the world’s most successful nation with non-Christian roots. Even the Soviet Union has Christian roots. Marxist atheism is grounded in the very biblical tradition that Marxism negates. Moreover, the apparent conflict between the Western proponents of a biblically grounded attitude and a secular ethic takes on the appearance of a family quarrel when seen against the horizon of Japanese religion and culture. Far from being the antithesis of biblical region, the secular spirit that pervades so much of Western life is its unintended consequence.
Wherever the biblical faith in a unique, exclusive, extramundane God penetrated, it was utterly destructive of indigenous gods and traditions. Sooner or later this polemical, desacralizing faith was bound to give birth to a consciousness that would not rest until all the gods without exception were dethroned. Under the circumstances, it is hardly surprising that a civilization as determined to preserve its own integrity as that Japan should marshal all its forces to resist both the believing and the secular manifestations of biblical religion.