Several years ago the Ishihama Shrine, located in Arakawa Ward along the Sumida River, announced it would expand its graveyard, prompting protests from local residents that reflects the usual cultural queasiness about anything associated with death. In this case it was manifested in a straightforward economic concern: The local homeowners and small businesses were afraid that the cemetery might bring down their property values.
It may be a valid complaint given that the expansion was carried out for economic purposes. According to the man in charge of selling plots, his company saw a business opportunity and suggested the expansion to the shrine. The company, Nichiryoku, would develop the small adjoining plot of land and sell squares of it along with monuments to people who needed family graveyards.
We asked if only people who followed the Shinto religion are allowed to buy plots, and he said that Buddhists and even Christians were welcome as well, meaning that, while the land was owned by a Shinto organization, the graveyard was, in effect, nondenominational. That might sound mercenary or even hypocritical, since Shinto burial practices (no incense, no memorial) are different from Buddhist practices, but religion has always been fluid in Japan. Spiritual activities have more to do with circumstances than with belief systems.