Living in a foreign culture like Japan is really an eye-opening, thought-provoking, and often heart-wrenching experience. It is easy at times to be deluded into thinking that “this isn’t that different from America.” Japan is a modern country. We have all of the technological conveniences that we had in America. Most people drive nice cars in Japan. We have many American based businesses in Japan like McDonald’s, Starbucks, and 7-11.
But, Things are so, so different! For one thing, when you order a medium size drink at McD’s it is a lot smaller than in America. But, more importantly the size of the church and individual churches are smaller. The church in Japan makes up somewhere between 1/4 and 1/2 of 1%. Less than 1/2 of a percent! The average church in Japan is around 30 members. The growth of the church in Japan is also very slow.
Make no mistake. Japan is indeed a pagan culture. It has deep roots in Shintoism and Buddhism. This is not to be read lightly or dismissed out of hand. It is easy to say, “yes, yes, we know. We’ve heard that countries like Japan and China worship false gods.” That is easy to say when you aren’t looking into the face of someone you have been preaching the gospel to for 2 years, when she says that she went to the Shinto shrine on Sunday to pray for a safe delivery of her new grand-son/grand-daughter. Who or what is she praying to!? I pray that God will open the eyes of the Japanese people to see that there is only one true God who can hear and answer prayer.
The temples and shrines in Japan are really beautiful. But, the longer I live here and the more I think about what they really are, the more I dislike them. The real beauty of Japan is its people.
Me and my dear friend and co-laborer in the gospel, Mr. Dedachi
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