Christianity in Japan

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Prayer Walk: Pastor Brett led us interns around Nagoya, to teach us more about Japanese culture and have us pray for the idols present in Japan and in our own hearts.

What I learned through this prayer walk:

1. The main religion that Japanese people have is a mixture of Shinto and Buddhism, although they don’t realize it themselves. If you were to ask a Japanese person if they were religious, most of the time they would say no. However, a mixture of these two religions is so ingrained into the culture that it is a large part of how to be Japanese. The Shinto religion believes humans are fundamentally good, and evil is caused by evil spirits. Thus, many Shinto rituals are prayers and offerings to the “Shinto gods” to keep the evil spirits away. This can look like buying a charm to do well on a test or drawing your fortune and praying for a better new year at a temple.
2. There is a presence of idols from these temples because of the belief that the Shinto gods or Buddha will listen to their prayers. The evil one takes advantage of this and there is a theory that demons are behind these temples and shrines that people give offerings to, thus strong spiritual warfare.
3. A part of being ‘Japanese’ is to conform. Japan is a collectivist society in many aspects. The highest value is to do your duty in society and not be a burden. This is why it is so hard for Japanese people to become a Christian – it means that they have to stand out. A lot of times when Japanese people hear the good news, they respond that they can’t receive faith because they’re Japanese. To be a Christian in Japan, you are deciding to surrender your national identity.
4. Temples and shrines are not the only source of idols in Japan. The entertainment industry and shopping centers are other huge idols. As Christians, we struggle with these same idols, and must work on surrendering them before telling others to do so. Mission is constantly being in repentance and realizing we are also sinful people surrounded with idols of our own.
5. The last place we went to was Nagoya station. We looked towards the gold clock, which is a popular meeting place, and counted as many people as we could for 1 minute. I counted 112 people in one minute and Brett’s point with the activity was that there are thousands of people that walk through this station everyday. As Christians, being physically present, we exponentially increase the potential of God’s light in this place. This points out the extreme need in Japan and the immense amount of opportunity as well.

Prayer Requests:

1. Pray for Japan! For the idols present in Japan and that the Lord will soften hearts and bring more Japanese people to faith.
2. Pray for Christians in Japan, that the Lord will give them strength and boldness in this collectivist country and get rid of any shame they may have of being Christian.
3. Pray that God uses me and the other two summer interns mightily through our relationships that we make and in our own hearts during the short time we have here.