Japan

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Official name: Area: Government: Official languages: Monetary unit: Cities:

DEMOGRAPHY Population: 127,433,500 Population density: ECONOMY GDP (PPP): per person: </small>

LIFE & LIBERTY HDI

Contents 1 Geography 1.1 Location 1.2 Climate 1.3 Natural Resources 2 Demographics 2.1 Peoples 2.2 Provinces 3 Life 4 Economy 5 Government 6 Religion 6.1 Shintoism 6.2 Islam 6.3 Buddhism 7 Christianity 7.1 History 7.2 Churches 7.3 Church and State Relations 7.4 Evangelization in Japan 7.4.1 The use of the Web 7.5 Mission 7.5.1 Church Planting 7.5.2 Broadcasting 7.6 Councils and Networks 8 Future Trends 9 For More Reading

[edit] Geography

[edit] Location

[edit] Climate

[edit] Natural Resources

• Many of the mountains are major spiritual symbols and homes to religious headquarters.

[edit] Demographics

[edit] Peoples

• In all aspects – racially, ethnically, culturally – the Japanese comprise one of the most homogenous people groups in the world. Migrant groups such as the Brazilian Japanese have a difficult time fitting into the Japanese culture which prides itself on respecting that which is traditional and time-honored.

[edit] Provinces

• The Provinces of Japan
• The Islands of Japan
• The Cities of Japan

[edit] Life

• Japan’s suicide rate is one of the highest of all industrialized nations, topping over 30,000 every year since 1998. Japan's ancient Samurai culture and Buddhist traditions make this practice an acceptable and even honorable way to alleviate shame that may have been brought to the family. When a cabinet minister hung himself hours before facing a bribery probe, Tokyo's governor praised the action, calling the dead man a real samurai.
• Japan has a history of “honorable suicide.” Samurai warriors would often kill themselves to avoid shame. In World War II, young men – kamikaze – would deliberately fly bomb-laden planes into Allied ships. Buddhist tradition does not encourage suicide, nor does it condemn the act – in effect making it religiously acceptable.
• May the Japanese see that the most important treasures are not on earth but stored in heaven.

[edit] Economy

[edit] Government

[edit] Religion

[edit] Shintoism

• Shintoism, the native religion of Japan, is rooted in animism and is polytheistic. In the sixth century, Buddhism was added to Japanese culture, and today most Japanese claim both sets of beliefs. These traditions, combined with those of Confucianism and Taoism, contribute to the most widely accepted religious principles in Japan: ancestor worship; religious practices centered on the use of prayer meditation; amulets and purification; close ties between religion, family, and nation; and a free exchange of ideas among religious systems.

[edit] Islam

[edit] Buddhism

• About 90 million (69%) consider themselves Buddhists, and new Buddhist cults make up another 24% or 30.9 million. Religious freedom is granted by the constitution but nationalistic Shintoism is rising in power. Buddhism is strongly mixed with ancestor worship and other spiritistic beliefs. Extreme pressure to conform in society hinders people from acting freely and makes evangelism difficult. Religion does not directly affect the everyday life of the average Japanese very strongly but is felt at key points in life.

• Japanese Buddhism

[edit] Christianity

[edit] History

[edit] Churches

• The average church in Japan has 20-30 members, and usually is not growing. But now some Japanese churches have turned become international churches, because in their community many foreigners are living, but also native Japanese, who have lived for some generations in South America. So the churches have started to services not only in Japanese, but also in Tagalog (language spoken in the Philippines), Spanish and Portuguese. This has a wonderful side effect, people in the community see that many people come to church, now a number of them has joined the church, despite when it was only a small Japanese church, they have never considered that.
• Pastors are in short supply in Japanese churches. The SFDD has sixteen churches. Three of them are being led by pastors who have officially retired but are still working, with no successor in sight. Please pray for wisdom on how to adapt to cope with the shortage, and for more young Japanese Christians to train at Bible college.
• Many Japanese think of Christmas as only related to Santa Claus, but they are often more ready to go to church at Christmas than at any other time. Many churches combine their financial resources to rent large halls for evangelistic Christmas meetings. Many churches distribute Christmas-related tracts to houses in their area.

[edit] Church and State Relations

[edit] Evangelization in Japan

• Their ancient traditions are a big hindrance to understand thatthe Truth is Jesus.

• Kinomoto is a small county town where the traditional ties to the local temple (Shintoism) can be very strong. The local church continues to struggle to grow, with only a few members. There is a need for a breakthrough.

[edit] The use of the Web

• A missed mission opportunity: One of the ‘major modern mission misses’ of our time is the huge disparity between the highly-wired, tech-loving 127-million Japanese population, and the searing lack of on-line evangelism in the Japanese language. Many aspects of the Web are very popular in Japan, see for suggestions: [Gospelcom].

[edit] Mission

• About 500 Japanese missionaries are serving overseas.

[edit] Church Planting

• Fewer than 0.4% of the Japanese population is Christian and most churches are growing very slowly or not at all. Please pray for those WEC missionaries who are currently in language study, sometimes finding it very difficult. missionaries from Korea can often find it easier than Westerners to learn Japanese.

[edit] Broadcasting

[edit] Councils and Networks

[edit] Future Trends

[edit] For More Reading

• Wikipedia
• Joshua Project
• GRN