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diggAfter fatalism, Japan opens to faith
Nearly 500 years since Christianity won its first adherents in Japan, conversions are increasing again.
When asked about her religious beliefs, a Japanese friend and co-worker of mine replied with a smile and the standard, well-rehearsed explanation, "We [Japanese people] aren't religious; we don't really believe anything." In the same vein, I vividly recall an esteemed college professor and Asia expert stating that Japan and religion, specifically Christianity, are quite simply incompatible.
An extensive 2006 Gallop poll in which a mere 30 per cent of Japanese avowed a religion seems to confirm the widely-accepted understanding of an agnostic and even fatalistic Japan. Of this 30 per cent of believers, 75 per cent considered themselves Buddhist and 19 per cent considered themselves Shinto. Yet today, both of these traditional religions have become mainly ceremonial and do not play an active role in the daily life or moral outlook of most Japanese.
Is the adoption of Christmas and Christian-style weddings simply a superficial result of Japan's interest in Western culture? While for many this is the case, for others the outward imitation of Christian holidays and sacraments seems to create an inward feeling for Christianity and an attraction to it.
At first glance, Japan is one of the most secular nations in the world. This is evidenced by a disturbing trend in suicides, abortion used as birth control, rampant pornography that businessmen shamelessly imbibe in supermarkets and on subways, and a general lack of hope. Bill McKay, research director for the 2006 Gallop Poll, explains: "There is a degree of fatalism in [the Japanese people's] sombre mood. Teens' perspectives on life tend to a sense of nihilism to an alarming degree. A note of hopelessness is found in the responses to a number of questions. And there is little evidence of eternal hope, although a considerable number do believe in some form of life after life." Masaaki Suzuki, founder of the Bach Collegium in Japan, once said (First Things, 2000) that the Japanese language "does not even have an appropriate word for hope. We either use ibo, meaning desire, or nozomi, which describes something unattainable."
Do a lack of hope and low numbers of believers mean that Japan and Christianity are indeed mutually exclusive?
A brief review of history indicates otherwise. In 1549 the great Jesuit priest Francis Xavier and fellow missionaries arrived in Japan with their sights set on evangelization. Remarkably, 10 per cent of the Japanese population became baptised, believing Christians. This mass conversion began to make Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the ruler of Japan, afraid that the missionaries were paving the way for colonisation. Consequently, he outlawed Christianity under pain of death. Many of the new converts risked their lives, taking their beloved religion underground.
In 1597 Toyotomi made an example of 26 Christians -- six missionaries and twenty Japanese -- by cutting off their ears and marching them from Kyoto to Nagasaki in the dead of winter. Upon their arrival in Nagasaki he had them crucified. During the underground years countless Christians were tortured and thousands were martyred for their faith. But when Christianity was legalized in 1873 a small but dedicated community of believers remained.
Nevertheless, in the 21st century Christianity often seems little more than a blip in Japanese history. Materialism attempts to fill the void of religion and the hope that traditionally accompanies it. The recently popularised tradition of Christmas in Japan poignantly illustrates this. For most Japanese, Christmas consists of date with a lover, fried chicken, Christmas cake, and presents. Opposed to bowing to the Christ child, Christmas enthusiasts bow to materialism, completely ignoring all religious origins and implications. When asked the reason for celebrating Christmas, about half of my teenage students responded that it had something to do with Santa Claus (his birthday, perhaps?), a quarter said to get presents, while only the remaining quarter knew it was related to Christ.
Another instance of the adoption of a Christian tradition hollowed of its religious significance is the prevalence of Western "church" weddings. It is estimated that as many as 90 per cent of Japanese weddings are conducted in this style. The bride wears a white wedding dress and is escorted down the aisle to her groom; rings are exchanged; a cross adorns the front of the chapel; Christian hymns are sung; Bible verses are read; and a "minister" -- frequently a Caucasian English teacher earning some extra cash -- presides. The vast majority of these newlyweds, however, are not Christians.
So then, is the adoption of Christmas and Christian-style weddings simply a superficial result of Japan's interest in Western culture? While for many this is the case, for others the outward imitation of Christian holidays and sacraments seems to create an inward feeling for the faith and an attraction to it. This may help to explain a recent discovery. Since the legalization of Christianity in the late 1800s, the number of believers had stubbornly hovered around one percent. The 2006 Gallup poll, however, disclosed that an astounding 12 per cent of Japanese who claim a religion are now Christian, making six per cent of the entire nation Christian.
However, there is no inherent reason why that should surprise us. Other Asians have taken to the Christian faith. The Philippines -- thanks to a lot of help from Spanish colonizers -- is the stand-out example with over 90 per cent of its population Christian, but South Korea is a substantial 26.3 per cent Christian, Vietnam 7.2 per cent, and even China has been reported to be approximately 5 per cent Christian. It is impossible to determine the exact percentage in China because many Christians there remain underground in fear of the communist security forces, which use discrimination, torture, and harsh jail sentences in an attempt to thwart evangelisation and conversions. Yet, like Toyotomi Hideyoshi's attempts to stifle Christianity in 16th century Japan, modern China's attempts are also in vain: thousands are said to convert daily.
Confronting, as it does, the problems of an advanced industrial society -- a critically low birth rate, an ageing population and the unravelling of family ties that once bound society together -- Japan has every reason to look for sources of hope beyond its old traditions. The Christian faith that won so many staunch converts nearly five centuries ago is an obvious candidate.
Jennifer Van House Hutcheson is a freelance writer who recently returned from Okayama, Japan, to her hometown of Atlanta, Georgia.
Recent financial crisis is opening the eyes of everybody,
whether they are rich or poor. We are going to address
the greatest challenge of this century, also the masses are
going to find out, who is real God. People were hooked up
with religion of all sources; some of them moderate but a
few of them extremely radical. Jesus, the Prince of peace
will be revealed to the millions in the days ahead. God loves
everybody, and the nations of the world are going to have
Christian revival like an inferno. Let it start from Japan
where materialism and nihilism was the way of life.
very interesting....
I would like to know,what christmas is about in Japan not things having to do with christmas in Japan. ok, allright you got me!
Hi Erick
Point taken on India, although your post was not specific to that great country. I do want to point out, though, that Shinto is not a version or offshoot of Buddhism. It existed in Japan long before the introduction of Buddhism (which was not until the 6th century). There is no doubt, however, that modern Shinto has taken on certain Buddhist themes and practices. But they are not completely amalgamated--any Japanese person will define them as separate religions. Add to that mix distinctly Confucian (but slowly changing) concepts of filial piety and social structure and an ingrained self-concept of uniqueness in culture, language and even natural landform, and you have another truly great country, Japan. I lived there for 5 years in the ‘90s and in many ways it was the best time of my life.
Hi Denise. To me Japan still follows its own localized version of Buddhism called Shinto, that came to them through China. My comment was about India. It’s a rich diaspora of cultures, invaded by many, but never invaded anyone. It even let go of a lot of northern territory to China and Pakistan, but India itself has been astonishingly peaceful. There’s a reason why the Hippies of the 60s chose to take their inspiration from India.
Erick, your comment did show up, despite its glaring historical error: “There is a reason why these Hindu and Buddhist countries have never invaded another country.”
Do you honestly mean to imply that Japan has never invaded another country? Some people from Taiwan, China, Thailand, Burma, the Philippines and Korea, among others, would disagree with you. Get yourself a good history book, and not one recently produced by Japanese Ministry of Education high-school textbook editors. And, please, “parts of the world that have older religions, those that have had a little less bloodshed than Jesus-mongers,...” Like who? The Mongols?? Chairman Mao? Pol Pot? Osama bin Laden? Uncivilized behavior by “the ilk of US, Canada, Australia” (to which I highly suspect you belong) does not erase historical, bloody invasions and terrorism by the rest of the world.
Now I get it. This is a Christian site! Guys, you may consider traveling to other parts of the world that have older religions, those that have had a little less bloodshed than Jesus-mongers, and for very good reason. Many people in Japan are ‘shinto buddhists’, a form of Buddhism, which as some of you may know, derived from Hinduism. There is a reason why these Hindu and Buddhist countries have never invaded another country. That is the meaning of ‘civilization’ but given that you hail mostly from the ilk of US, Canada, Australia, this may not necessarily be conducive to your own way of thinking. In any case, I suppose this comment will never show up.
There are many similarities between Christianity and Buddhism. Both believe in Heaven and Hell, and life after death. Both say if you did good in this world, you will go to heaven but bad deeds take you to the hell where you will be tortured. Difference is that Buddhists believe in reincarnation like bad ones will be reborn as some kind of animals and tortured again in this world while good ones will be born to the better societies than they were in the previous life where you can enjoy your life in full.
Anyway, putting those differences aside, I think Japanese are easier to be converted to Christianity from my experience. We were taught to be humble, and doing good to others is doing good to yourself. The enemy resides in yourself, if you could deny yourself (another word, control yourself) completely you will become the strongest being,etc. I can give you thousand more similarities, but I will close it for now. I am converted Catholic myself, and am always thankful for that. At the end, I would like to say that there is a word for hope in Japanese (KIBO, and NOZOMI is wish)
Thank you, Jen, for replying to my remark^^ I retract the word ‘blatantly’ from my statement: I used it unfairly.
Nihon wa suteki na^_^ Japan deserves better than the problems you addressed, and surely should focus on solving them.
Have a nice day^-^
I love Japan too, which is precisely why I decided to live there and am concerned about her problems like dangerously low birth rates, an ageing population, and the other issues I addressed in this article, such as pornography, suicide, and rampant abortion being commonplace.
I completely agree with you, Lesbian Down the Street, that these issues do not equal secularism. However, I do think that they are frequently evidence of it. (Please note: I didn’t just “blatantly use those [issues] as a measure of how secular Japan is"- that is why I cited the 2006 Gallop poll “in which a mere 30 per cent of Japanese avowed a religion.")
I also agree that there are many noble agnostics, but I know that for many it is difficult to oppose these issues because without a belief in an objective reality it all boils down to one person’s opinion versus another’s.
Thank you for recommending “Maria-sama ga Miteru” I will have to check that out!
“If I may be so bold as to point out my own personal example… “Maria-sama ga Miteru” takes place in a catholic school in Japan, and it’s the only Anime that I consider a genuine art form. Check it out if you ever feel like doing so^^ It’s very beautiful, very touching, and very Christian^^”
Also very boarding school lesbian. Nice try, but aside from the statues in the school, it’s hardly Christian, let alone very. The sad part is its not the only one with the same veneer.
The Japanese (or at least, Japanese mangaka) tend to equate Catholic Christianity with homosexuality. I suppose it has something to do with the modern homosexual experience being Western, and without any proper Christian grounding, it is easy to mash Christianity with it just because Christianity is also Western (to the Asian eye).
If we’re talking about examples of Christianity’s burgeoning advance into the Japanese psyche, there are better examples than the hollowed-out Christianity presented in manga and anime. (I find that the most Christian of anime/manga tend to have Christianity nowhere in sight, like in Rurouni Kenshin.) The best cultural example I can think of is the author Shusaku Endo. Here was a guy who struggled with Christianity at a time wherein it wasn’t very fashionable to be a Japanese Christian, who ends up writing spiritually mature novels of a Christian flavor. One sure sign that Christianity has permeated a culture is that the said culture can produce its own truly Christian mystics. The Philippines had its first such mystics by the 18th century barely a hundred years after the Spanish first tried to Christianize the country. I would think that this guy Shusaku Endo, in hs own way, is Japan’s first Christian mystic. A good sign for the future of Japanese Christianity.
Hey now^^;; I’d like to just throw out something…
I heart Japan! (Like, a lot. I’m somewhat of an Otaku, in fact.)
That said, all the cultural problems you’ve tossed at us are… well, sadly true. But I don’t think it’s 100% fair to just blatantly use those as a measure of how secular Japan is. Pornography, Suicide, and Abortion do not = Secularism. I’m sorta agnostic, and I’m not pro-any-of-those-things.
But back on track. It doesn’t actually surprise me that Christmas and weddings have been stripped of their Christian origins. -I- celebrate Christmas as a time of merriment and cheer, not a time of the birth of baby Jesus.
Regardless, you’re correct in the notion that Christian faith is rising in the land of the rising sun^^ If I may be so bold as to point out my own personal example… “Maria-sama ga Miteru” takes place in a catholic school in Japan, and it’s the only Anime that I consider a genuine art form. Check it out if you ever feel like doing so^^ It’s very beautiful, very touching, and very Christian^^
And that’s about all I have to say about that^^ Have a nice day, y’all^^
Another approach might be to ask what in Japanese culture IS a compliment to Christian hope. Think on that, and you will likely aid their turn toward Christ.
Another good search might be for other words and concepts in Japanese that might serve as their word for “hope.” That is how these things work: each culture has words that are adopted and integrated with the Christian concepts, virtues etc.
Get to it!
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