Young couples take their children to a Shinto shrine at the shichi-go-san festival to celebrate the ages 3, 5, and 7. For funeral and periodic memorial services, a family invites a priest from a Buddhist temple that belongs to the same Buddhist sect with which the family ancestors were affiliated. Kamachi 29)

The Japanese, both officially and unofficially resisted the influence of the western religions, while at the same time conglomerating the traditional faiths of the region into an amalgamated faith of sorts.

In the past, every family in Japan had to be registered at a Buddhist temple to comply with the antiChristian policy of the Tokugawa government (1600-1868). After the country was opened to the Western world in the mid-nineteenth century, the Christian faith and ethic attracted many influential leaders among intellectuals; however, the number of Christians in Japan has remained only 1 or 2% of the entire population.

Kamachi 29)

Korea on the other hand has proven a different case as the source of much upheaval stems from divergent faith and nationalistic pride, helped along again by western colonialism and the cohesiveness of the "right" of rebellion.

A the collaboration issue was debated with renewed urgency as the legacy of pro-Japanese collaboration was seen as a tumor eating away at the vitality of the Korean nation. As one of the more recent publications on the issue puts it: Collaboration is the original sin of Korean society. If this issue remains unresolved, not only can Korean society not develop, but even utter survival will be a major problem. Collaboration is the wellspring of both the division and economic dependence of the Korean nation. Military dictatorship was collaboration's bastard child and social upheaval its result. No matter what problem arises in Korean society, it is never unrelated to the question of collaboration. (1)

Ceuster)

Hong Kong, being the only non-communist Chinese hold, as a separate nation, very recently reabsorbed into the rest of China, has also proven to be the seat of much of the western modernization...

Additionally Singapore has recently entered front center stage with regard to their reliance of western trade and divergent pride and lastly the colonial position of outer Asia, Australia and New Zealand have played and import role in the modern changes of the region as the recent conflict emphasis there upon the dominant culture being western immigrants, indigenous populations and most recently the growing resentment of outside Asian immigration is further proof of the divisiveness of the modern world and the reliance on xenophobia as the outgrowth of diversity teaching related to pride in self.
Mellor)

Works Cited

http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=14315057

Allen, Douglas and Henry Warner Bowden, eds. Religion and Political Conflict in South Asia: India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1992. http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=102417825

Bhatt, Chetan. Hindu Nationalism: Origins, Ideologies, and Modern Myths / . New York: Berg, 2001. http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5002437782

Ceuster, Koen De. "The Nation Exorcised: The Historiography of Collaboration in South Korea." Korean Studies 25.2 (2001): 207+. Questia. 29 Apr. 2005 http://www.questia.com/. http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5002319318

Gardezi, Hassan N. "Gandhi: Hind Swaraj and Other Writings." Journal of Contemporary Asia 29.2 (1999): 263. Questia. 29 Apr. 2005 http://www.questia.com/. http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=98382639

Gilson, Julie. A Partnership for the Twenty-First Century? A Partnership for the Twenty-First Century?. Houndmills, England: Macmillan, 2000. http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=15083458

Kamachi, Noriko. Culture and Customs of Japan. Ed. Hanchao Lu. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1999. http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5006548020

Mellor, David. "The Experiences of Vietnamese in Australia: The Racist Tradition Continues." Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 30.4 (2004): 631+. Questia. 29 Apr. 2005 http://www.questia.com/.