Story time...

In the beginning, there was a slimy blob, which contained good, evil, and germs, good and evil understood as yin and yang, the ancient Chinese philosophy of opposites.

In case you are unfamiliar: yang represents maleness, the sun, creation, heat, light, Heaven and dominance; yin represents femaleness, the moon, completion, cold, darkness, material forms and submission; each produces the other, cyclically and constantly, forever and ever, amen; creation occurs under yang, the completion of the created thing occurs under yin; the moon gives birth to the sun, from darkness comes light; on occassion, yin dominates yang, or vice versa, resulting in the temporary experience of health and sickness, wealth and poverty, power and submission; but nothing is forever, except, of course, diamonds.

Eventually the blob began to separate, as blobs do: imagine a chicken's egg stretching out toward infinity. The less germ-ridden part, the white, if you will, rose up and formed the heavens while the more germ-ridden element, the yolk, sunk down and formed the earth. Heaven, having few impurities, formed easily and perfectly; earth, being impure, experienced considerable setbacks; heaven came first and earth followed.

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That's my take on the creation of heaven earth according to Shinto.