Shrine or temple? The beginnings of research.

I hear Shinto (they have the shrines- with the torii gates and often lion statues standing watch) and Buddhism (they have the temples- with incense and the Buddha statues), don't have much affect on day-to-day life, but since most in Japan apparently claim one (or both), I though I'd enjoy doing a little bit of research, just to see what I find. After all, a religion that's been ingrained in a society for, well, forever, has got to have some kind of impact on one's worldview, right?

By the way, the picture to the right is of me and my lovely mother at...a temple? If so, it may be the one they tried to visit, but I screamed my head off the moment they entered :)

I've been starting at the beginning: Shinto's creation story. So: here was this massive glob, which separated into heaven (light and clear) and earth (watery and muddy). A green plant sprouts grows, and tah-dah! There's god. Then he made a male god and a female god, and told them to finish making earth. They stand on a rainbow and stick a spear into the muck, and tah-dah! There's an island, which they live on (then create Japan). The female dies in childbirth, male is bummed, washes his eye- and there's the sun god; washes his other eye- there's the moon god; and washes his nose, and there's Susanoo. Sosono?...that god. And at a glance he has me really intrigued! Check it out: unlike the other gods, this one goes to earth, where he finds mourning parents who have lost all their daughters but one to the wicked serpent. So the god protects the remaining daughter, kills the wicked serpent, and takes the daughter as his wife. Anybody else find that theme vaguely familiar? ...I'll certainly be looking into this story for more details!