Japan is a lovely country and there are many temples to visit. However, there is a distinction between Buddhist Temples and Shinto Shrines. While Buddhism is a religion of compassion and tolerance, Shintoism worships the Emperor as the direct descendant of the Sun Goddess, and was the driving force behind Japan's WWII military aggression.

Japan has continued to whitewash its WWII history and refuse to officially apologize and recompense the victims of its war crimes, slavor labor, comfort women, germ warfare, etc. The young people of Japan are brought up on revised history books which neglect to mention any of the atrocities committed by Japan.

As an individual, there's not much that I can do but to make it a principle not to visit any Shinto Shrines when I travel to Japan.

Since there are many beautiful and serene Buddhist temples to visit, in addition to other historical landmarks, it's not a loss to avoid a Shinto Shrine.

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/world..._chorlton.html