IMHO, being an island on the Pacific rim, I think Japan has had centuries of "Well, that structure was lost to [insert natural disaster here], guess we'll have to rebuild". Whereas, Europe has "Its amazing that this structure has lasted through [insert any number of man made disasters, wars or disputes], we should see how much longer it can survive"
Don't forget lightning. When touring temples in places like Mt Koya, it felt like all the buildings had been rebuilt because the original had been stuck by lightning.
