Simply saying that "Shintoism" led to atrocities is a massive oversimplification of the Japanese during WW2. This topic is so complex and Japanese culture (esp

Simply saying that "Shintoism" led to atrocities is a massive oversimplification of the Japanese during WW2. This topic is so complex and Japanese culture (especially pre-WW2 culture) is so complex that I hesitate even to comment on it. Ever since the war ended scholars have been trying to make sense of the unique cultural stew that led to the atrocities, mass suicides (civilian and military), and organized Japanese units continuing to fight into the 1950s and individuals as late as the '70s. Shintoism, Bushido, Zen Buddhism, the imperial system with a living-deity emperor, and anti-western colonialism (just to name a few) all played into it.