Although most Japanese people think that Japan is not very religious, the fact is that Japan's religions are typically pagan. Pagan religions are not usually concerned with ethics, they are concerned with ritual purity and appeasing the gods. Japanese have numerous ceremonies aimed at appeasing the spirits of dead ancestors or whatever other spirits and gods they fear in a particular locality. Although this may be largely forgotten by those who participate, Japanese festivals are usually concerned with driving away evil spirits. Visits to Shrines and other ceremonial aspects of the New Year celebration too aim at protection from harm by spirits.
Carpenters are very careful to appease the spirits before they build a house.
Politicians visit shrines and temples to pray to local deities for protection and blessing for their localities. Japanese companies are very much involved with religious rites too. To cite just one specific example, there is a company in the Kyoto area that has special rites twice a year to appease the spirit of a long dead man. In February 1927 an Italian engineer committed suicide. He was one of the chief technical advisors among a group of men who installed machinery in a Japanese synthetic fibers factory.