Japan’s kami were traditionally thought of as anthropomorphized natural phenomena. Pronounced shen in Chinese, the character 神 carries some divine attributes, but they are of a decidedly low rank and far below those of the highest power in Chinese theology, termed 天 ( tian) or 上帝 ( shangdi) in Chinese.
Common words in both languages using this character, such as 精神 (pronounced seishin in Japanese), meaning “spirit” or “mind,” and 神経 ( shinkei), meaning “nerves,” are related to human mental qualities. The written Japanese form, 神, is influenced by the Chinese meaning of the character. “God” is the supreme being of monotheism and is customarily capitalized to indicate the unique nature of the deity and draw a distinction with the multiple gods of polytheism.
However, to avoid misunderstanding, it would be better to think of God, 神, and kami as three separate concepts. When the English word God is translated into Japanese, it is generally represented by the kanji (Chinese character) 神 and pronounced kami.