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Why Japan and Tohoku?

So why does Japan and Tohoku need missionaries? Isn’t it a developed country? Here are some reasons why we are here and why you may want to be involved in partnering with us.

  • Japan is one of the least-reached areas in the world by the gospel. The Tohoku region is particularly unreached. Out of a population of 126 million, only around 1% know Jesus.

  • Though the church is small in Japan, the evangelical church is declining every year.

  • Japan has a very high suicide rate. In 2019, 20,169 people committed suicide--the equivalent of over 55 people per day.

  • Family breakdowns are very common. Due to long working hours and a broken family culture, Japan is known to be a “fatherless” nation. Many grow up without knowing the love of their father.

  • Though Japan is materially well off, it is spiritually very poor.

  • There are still many cities and towns where there is no church at all, especially in Tohoku.

  • Culturally, people follow Buddhism and Shintoism and worship their ancestors.

  • Many Christians tend not to share their faith with friends due to a strong culture of not wanting to offend.

  • Christians find it hard to attend church and focus on God because of pressure from society and long working hours.

  • It is said that an average “faith life-span” of a Christian in Japan is 3 years (meaning that, many leave church or stop actively following Christ).

  • New Christians can face the risk of being disowned by family due to the pressure of ancestor worship, a tradition that has been passed down through many generations.

Resources

Here are links to more resources about Japan:

https://joshuaproject.net/countries/JA

https://movingworks.org/japan/

https://prayercast.com/japan.html

https://pray.omf.org/japan/

https://www.kairosprojectjapan.net/prayer-points

http://blog.godreports.com/country/?countrycode=jp&joshua=ja