About Japan
One of the great nations of the world, Japan is home to nearly 130 million people who run the world’s second most powerful economy. It is also one of the greatest mission challenges of the world as only 0.2% of the population attend church. According to the Joshua Project, the Japanese are the second largest unreached people group in the world.
Japan is famous for its astounding post-World War II economic development. The Japanese have developed and perfected some of the most important technologies in use today. At the same time, Japan has its share of infamies that highlight the incredible need for the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Japanese Imperialism radically altered the landscape of Asia before its eventual defeat. As many as 30 million Asians died at the hands of the Japanese military. Many died horrific deaths as subjects of medical experiments that included testing the effects of dismembering various body parts, the effects of extreme cold and heat, and the effects of chemical and biological weapons. The test subjects included newborn babies that were born as the result of rape. Japanese scientists killed as many as 200,000 people while researching the effects of bubonic plague, cholera, anthrax and other diseases.
In addition, as many as 200,000 Korean, Chinese, and other Asian women were forced to work as sex slaves for the Japanese Imperial Army. These women were silenced and their stories unheard until the 1980s.
Today Japan represents the very best and worst of humanity. The Japanese are an incredibly industrious and unified people. There is relatively little crime, and the cleanliness of the nation is evident to visitors.
The people are incredibly polite and helpful, but there is a very dark underside to this society that reminds us that sin is a matter of the heart and cannot be completely hidden by societal constraints. There is a growing and alarming sense of hopelessness in Japan. About 30,000 people each year commit suicide. Where trains are rarely even one minute late, a late train often means someone attempted suicide by jumping in front of a fast-moving train. People are beginning to turn away from empty Buddhist and Shinto religious traditionalism for answers to life’s questions. According to Time Magazine (Asia edition), there are 183,000 cult groups registered with the Japanese government.
One fascinating and incredibly sad phenomenon is “hikikomori”, which is reclusive retreat from social life. There may be as many as 1 million young men who, being overwhelmed by modern Japanese society and its pressures, withdraw from the workforce and from the education system and spend their days sleeping and their nights playing video games, reading comics, and watching movies. Their rare ventures outside of their homes tend to be convenience store runs to purchase food and pornography.
Young people in Japan are especially in need of hope. Many feel alienated and hurt by society and families where fathers invest the bulk of their time and their attention in work. Some young girls seek fatherly affection in the form of teenage prostitution called “enjo kosai”. As many as 9% of high school girls and 4% of junior high school girls have reported participation in enjo kosai. Sexual dysfunctionality is further seen in high numbers of sexual assault of women and girls on trains and abuse of children. In 1999, Interpol reported that 80% of child pornography on the Internet originated in Japan.
