While religion in Japan is traditionally linked to nationhood and nation-building, the post-war period has seen Shinto consciously invoked to restore a sense of national identity through a focus on Japan's victimhood. In this context, there is a focus on the Yasukuni Shrine, dedicated to the war dead and an icon of contemporary Japanese cultural nationalism symbolizing the use of indigenous religion in an interpretation of the war and post-war nationhood. This, together with the influence of the US, has contributed to a more pluralisitic view of national history in schools. (Contains 1 note.)