>>509675388
Shinto and Buddhism are like Christianity in the West, they are institutional and usually state supported. They don't need followers to exist so nobody in Japan is going to put down they are "shinto" even if they visit Shinto shrines on national holidays, it's just part of the society. Is Hitomi Tanaka a Shinto? It's an absurd thing to even ask when you think about it. Only when foreigners enter the society does it have to justify itself. That's not necessarily a bad thing, religions often suck up money and resources.


Muslims (and Americans) don't understand this because their religions require constant participation and sectarian adherence, very frequently in a war-time context and often their government tries to reduce or even ban the religion influence, not support it.