Eastern and Western religions are all very different in many ways; but I am specifically going to speak about the Christian religion in America and the Shinto religion in Japan.
Shinto has been around since pre-historic times according to some but it wasn't actually given a name until the first Buddhists arrived from China and the Japanese realized that they didn't have a name to express their own beliefs.
The place of worship for Shinto is different from the western idea of churches, temples and mosques. In the west we worship inside the place where God lives, but the shrines built in Japan are literally the home for the kami and are often built in sacred places. People, other than the priests, are not allowed inside them at all; they worship from the outside of the shrine.
Kami is the Japanese word for spirit and they are everywhere; they live in rocks, trees and rivers. To Shinto, even God is a kami, although He gets the name Kami-sama, the sama shows great respect.
In the Christian religion it is said that man is above nature, not a part of it; that we are the pinnacle of creation on the planet and as a result, we often waste and use the resources of the planet, including all other forms of life, for our enjoyment and pleasure. In Shinto things are much different - like all things on the planet, mankind is a part of nature and everything has its own spirit, soul or kami; so all things on the planet need to be respected.
That's just a short explanation, there are a lot more to both religions that I couldn't possibly get into in a quick blog post. I can't help but wonder how different the world would be now if Western religions had not placed mankind above nature and instead had taught us that all things on the Earth should be respected.
Maybe the world would be a much nicer, cleaner and safer place if they had.
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