Religion in Japan

Although many Japanese don't affiliate with any religion, many of their daily rituals are tied to Shinto or Buddhism. My Grandma is Japanese, but doesn't consider herself religious. However, when I was growing up, she always had a little shrine dedicated to her son who had died. Every morning she would bring food to the shrine and talk to him. I never really understood this when I was younger, but this past week I had the privilege of meeting my Japanese relatives, and went to some of the family graves and shrines which helped me understand my Grandma's rituals. The Japanese relatives don't associate with religion either, actually when I asked one of the cousins about Shinto, he didn't know what I was talking about. When it came to the customs of Shinto however, they were all very practiced. Even the children knew exactly what to do at the family shrines, as well as bigger shrines and temples. Most of the family still prays every morning to the ancestors and offer gifts of food and drink to them. I had brought some gifts of food to the family, and they immediately put it in my Great aunt's shrine. I found this interesting that they offered the food to the deceased before enjoying it for themselves. Overall from what I have seen so far, religion seems fairly widespread in Japan, but is not labeled as traditionally as other religions around the world.

For more on ancestor worship:

http://www.sacred-texts.com/shi/jai/jai04.htm

http://family.jrank.org/pages/85/Ancestor-Worship-Ancestor-Worship-in-Japan.html