Why is christian population in Japan very low? What are the reasons behind it? -

It is said that Christian population in Japan is about 500000, which is less than 1% of the whole population of Japan. However, there are many Christians in Korea and China, which are all adjacent countries to Japan. Why is christian population in Japan is extremely low compared to other Asian countries? What are the reasons behind it? Is it because Japanese doesn t want to convert from Buddhism or Shintoism to Christianity or because of its distinct culture? Or is it just they think Christianity as a western foreign religion ? Thank You Very Much

Sorry to answer with a question, but why would it be important for people in Japan to be Christian? Does it matter? Just as long as you yourself believe in your religion. That s all that counts is it not?

The Japanese way of thinking is very different from the Western way of thinking, and not very compatible with Christianity. If you watch Japanese movies and TV shows and read Japanese stories, the plots, characters, motivations, and actions are all very different from standard Western fare, which is why so many Westerners find them so fascinating. If you have seen any Japanese entertainment, particularly anime, you ll realize that depictions of Christianity are slightly quot;offquot;. The facts are there, but they don t quite align in the right way. The way Christianity organizes the world is very foreign to the Japanese mindset. They also don t like that you can t practice Christianity with other religions. Shinto and Buddhism are both practiced by Japanese people at different times for different reasons, but Christianity forbids participating in other religious practices. I ve known quite a few Japanese people, but only one who converted to Christianity. Her parents were very upset, because she wouldn t be able to participate in the family religious events.

Only about a quarter of the Koreans in Korea are Christian. How do I know this? Because I m Korean. Surprising statistic considering how many Korean Christians you see, but it s true. China is a communist nation and I don t believe Christianity is very strongly embraced there. A lot of the Chinese-Christians in China are kept secret. Japan, because of their policy of isolation in the past which stood for a very long time. Another reason is the atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki during World War II. The largest population of Japanese Christians were in Nagasaki. I believe that may have been a huge contributing factor.

japan wasn t as affected by european colonialism as the rest of asia. the british were especially hateful in china, fostering the opium industry to undermine chinese society. i imagine world war 2 also had an impact, since japan was strongly culturally united in the war effort. i doubt there was much tolerance for foreign religion there until after the war, whereas mainand asia was under the control of the european powers.

Ah, well i am a Christian in Japan. The reason is the same reason America has so many Christians, its hard to go against the crowd. It s just as if i went to america amp; said quot;Hey everyone, i love the devil.quot; Which i don t, but if i did say a thing like that i would be looked down by everyone else (besides the people who are like me.) thats the way i look at it.

The Japanese are entirely too smart, rational and well educated to go falling for such voodoo and nonsense

The japanese are very intelligent people.

They already had a religion that worked fine.

Have you noticed how smart the Japanese are?? enough said.