I wouldn't say "almost doesn't exist" considering that there had been some Portuguese missionaries who went over in the 17th century, and the subsequent attempts to purge Christians due to realizing that if people started to look to the Pope as a religious leader it would undermine the influence of the Emperor. And then once the Meiji Era happened in 1868, there has been efforts to get more Western influence because the country wants to catch up to the rest of the Western world, and that includes having people going to other countries to study at universities which may be religious anyway (as per the genesis of a lot of universities in the West).
However, this isn't to say that the history of Buddhism and Shintoism weren't tools of state power since getting people know the Emperor as a divine influence means they have push either one with all they got depending on which happens to be more popular. Not to mention Confucian influences since that is a philosophy/religion that structures the government.
What I think should be noted is that the emphasis on the "Youth League" isn't just something like proponents of a "Modernity vs. Traditionalism" which X-2 and some elements of X have included. It also has the metatextual level, I think, of being an active criticism of Japan's tendencies to prioritize the old over the young. This isn't me being a kind of expert, but whenever there's been criticism against the government or business practices one of the most common things I've seen is that there's tension between older groups of people who still maintain fundamental control over the country and those people tend to be not only conservatives but super nationalists. This is something that goes back to WWII, as well, since those beliefs were rooted from that kind of ultra-nationalism, and that includes convincing every one of the citizenry to have utmost devotion to the militarized government.
And a lot of times, the dialogue back then was that anytime there was criticism against Imperial Japan, it's usually framed around how the United States was right and justifies its occupation while also avoiding blowback from Asia. Then there's other things nowadays like why the gov't was so ineffectual in mitigating the aftermath of the 3/11 Tsunami disaster, as well as toward the nuclear/electric companies responsible for Fukushima. Or whenever there's sketchy work stories about how new entry-level people can't seem to make it up the corporate ladder while committing unreasonable work hours but the senior workers are cut so much slack.
But nowadays, it's not too much of a stretch to see that what the Youth League represents is a reactionary opposition against old traditionalists, usually the older generation, who take advantage of continuing generations by what they say as "Yevon lies" which to me is code for brainwashing. It's like how the aftermath of the attack against Sin near Djose is always framed around how it's people who go against the teachings, and so it's putting the "nonbelievers vs the true believers" even though two maesters were there to help and oversee its success. Who wouldn't be pissed at New Yevon, when it seems like they're trying to be Yevon-lite but they're supporting an old system that would throw so many people under the bus while putting on the face of "helping" it succeed since there's the common cause of defeating Sin.
Which is also like, yeah I wish X-2 would delve more into it, but I wonder how much the production team was willing to go that way without having to align political parallels, so I guess padding the game out with a whole chapter of sphere video viewing (omg, all the cutscenes that goes one after another for 100% completion), and a burgeoning consumerist culture might be the middle ground. Though my question is when the hell did pop music get its start in Spira, but I guess if heavy metal is in 1000 yr ago Zanarkand, I guess power ballads are still going strong.
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However, this isn't to say that the history of Buddhism and Shintoism weren't tools of state power since getting people know the Emperor as a divine influence means they have push either one with all they got depending on which happens to be more popular. Not to mention Confucian influences since that is a philosophy/religion that structures the government.
What I think should be noted is that the emphasis on the "Youth League" isn't just something like proponents of a "Modernity vs. Traditionalism" which X-2 and some elements of X have included. It also has the metatextual level, I think, of being an active criticism of Japan's tendencies to prioritize the old over the young. This isn't me being a kind of expert, but whenever there's been criticism against the government or business practices one of the most common things I've seen is that there's tension between older groups of people who still maintain fundamental control over the country and those people tend to be not only conservatives but super nationalists. This is something that goes back to WWII, as well, since those beliefs were rooted from that kind of ultra-nationalism, and that includes convincing every one of the citizenry to have utmost devotion to the militarized government.
And a lot of times, the dialogue back then was that anytime there was criticism against Imperial Japan, it's usually framed around how the United States was right and justifies its occupation while also avoiding blowback from Asia. Then there's other things nowadays like why the gov't was so ineffectual in mitigating the aftermath of the 3/11 Tsunami disaster, as well as toward the nuclear/electric companies responsible for Fukushima. Or whenever there's sketchy work stories about how new entry-level people can't seem to make it up the corporate ladder while committing unreasonable work hours but the senior workers are cut so much slack.
But nowadays, it's not too much of a stretch to see that what the Youth League represents is a reactionary opposition against old traditionalists, usually the older generation, who take advantage of continuing generations by what they say as "Yevon lies" which to me is code for brainwashing. It's like how the aftermath of the attack against Sin near Djose is always framed around how it's people who go against the teachings, and so it's putting the "nonbelievers vs the true believers" even though two maesters were there to help and oversee its success. Who wouldn't be pissed at New Yevon, when it seems like they're trying to be Yevon-lite but they're supporting an old system that would throw so many people under the bus while putting on the face of "helping" it succeed since there's the common cause of defeating Sin.
Which is also like, yeah I wish X-2 would delve more into it, but I wonder how much the production team was willing to go that way without having to align political parallels, so I guess padding the game out with a whole chapter of sphere video viewing (omg, all the cutscenes that goes one after another for 100% completion), and a burgeoning consumerist culture might be the middle ground. Though my question is when the hell did pop music get its start in Spira, but I guess if heavy metal is in 1000 yr ago Zanarkand, I guess power ballads are still going strong.