The per capita income for the village was $18,389. About 5.5% of families and 9.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 11.0% of those under age 18 and 2.6% of those age 65 or over.
Shinto plays a ceremonial role in daily Japanese life as opposed to an important role. Why is the ceremonial assumed to be unimportant? Others might say that ritual and tradition are the heart of a culture, and the fact that even being a Christian can't dissuade your coworker from shrine worship is clear evidence of the importance of Shinto to Japanese culture.
Historically, rice has many links to various aspects of Japanese culture. For example, the Emperor became a priest-king early in Japanese history. Many of his priestly functions under the Shinto religion revolved around rice-growing and included rice products such as sake (rice wine) and mochi (rice cakes), as well as the actual grain and its stalks.