It's December, and as the weather turns cold, the Japanese are planning for Christmas and New Year's. Yes, the Japanese do celebrate Christmas, at least the commercial aspects of it, even though only one percent of the population is Christian.
Shinto, a form of nature and ancestor worship, is the indigenous religion, and it gives the Japanese their emperor, who comes from the longest unbroken ruling line in the world (more than 1300 years). This is because the emperor was supposed to be a direct decendent of Amaterasu, the Sun Goddess. This was publicly refuted by Emperor Hirohito following WWII, as a condition of surrender to the Supreme Commander Allied Forces (Gen. Douglas MacArthur) who abolished state Shinto and rid schools of Shinto-based "morals" courses, to purge from Japanese thought the traditional dogmas upon which ultra-nationalism had flourished.
Today most Japanese follow a mix of Shinto and Buddhism, and even then usually only at certain times, not giving religion much thought in their daily lives.
For example, "traditional" weddings are Shinto ceremonies, while funerals and funeral anniversaries are Buddhist. Most Japanese keep an altar in their homes for deceased relatives, and ring a chime, pray and make offerings of the relative's favorite food upon returning home each day after work or school.
So, if Shinto is the native religion, how did it get supplanted by Buddhism? Well, for the answer we have to go all the way back to the middle of the 6th century, when a plague that had been ravaging China and Korea finally crossed the sea to Japan. The Japanese looked to those two countries for answers to stopping the plague's deadly march, and what they noticed was that where there were Buddhist temples, more people survived. (Buddhist temples treated the sick and gave them food, which obviously increased their chances of recovering.) So the leadership of Yamato Era Japan asked his advisors whether or not to worship the Buddhist images he received from Korea, and in so doing caused a war that lasted several decades. (As in most political struggles, it had less to do with religion and more to do with which faction could benefit more from the public's acceptance of either religion.) In the end, the Soga family (pro-Buddhist) defeated the Mononobe (anti-Buddhist) faction, ensuring acceptance of Buddhism in Japan.
WHAT ABOUT ZEN AND ALL THAT?
The Kamakura Era (1185-1333) witnessed a sort of "spiritual awakening" among the masses in Japan as new sects of Buddhism sprung up and were carried to the peasantry in almost evangelical style.
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