just wondering because i might move there so i need to know what i can say an what not to say
2006-11-30 16:00:54 · 19 answers · asked by Momo 2 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Sure, Japan has religious freedom.
2006-11-30 16:02:28 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 5⤊ 0⤋
YES!!!
I happen to have lived in the area of Japan that has the highest concentration of Christians, Nagasaki. Nagasaki has the highest concentration because it is the best deep-water port in Japan and the primary point of contact with most Western traders.
Now, I'm getting these dates from memory so they may be a tad inaccurate. Around the 1200s, Portugese and a couple other Western nationalities came to Japan to trade. They brought with them Christianity. The pre-existing Japanese religions, Buddhism and Shinto, were highly synchronimous (allowing a follower to practice other religions at the same time), and nobody minded the missionaries, who started to convert people. Then the converted Christians started to act up, getting aggressive about converting people and opposing the native traditions and threatening some of the politics. This was also part of the accumulating threat to Japan's culture that led Japan to adopt the "closed door policy." When Japan closed their doors to Western trade, they kicked out all the foreigners (except the Chinese and Dutch, who really did just want to trade and not to shove foreign culture down Japan's throat), and declared a ban on Christianity. Christians who continued to practice despite the ban were tortured and killed. There is a memorial in Nagasaki to "26 Martyrs"- 26 Christians, including children, who were demonstratively marched to Nagasaki and crucified as a message to other Christians. (Nowadays, Japan is very apologetic, and as you can see they later declared these victims martyrs.)
Japan's closed door policy persisted until about 1656, when Commodore Perry showed up in a ship and the Japanese took one look at his guns and saw how far they'd been left behind. Trade re-opened, and with it, Christian missionaries again entered Japan and resumed converting.
This time, the spread of Christianity was tolerated. It wasn't an overwhelming success, but there are definitely Christians. In fact, the atomic bomb dropped in Nagasaki was detonated almost precisely over Urakami, the largest cathedral in Japan.
Only a small percentage of Japanese are Christian, I wish I had the numbers but I don't. Everyone in Japan knows about Christmas and most of them celebrate it, but they know it as a commercialized holiday and many are unaware that it is related to Jesus Christ. However, even if they do not practice Christianity, most Japanese seem to know who Jesus Christ is, even if it's at the same level most Americans know who Buddah is.
My first host family in Japan was Christian. They paid yearly dues to a popular Christian church. They didn't go to church on Sundays, actually I don't think they went at all. They seemed to have internalized some of the Christian philosophies, such as regarding marriage. There was no reference to Christianity at Christmas time. They were married in a Christian church, and the wedding involved three dresses, one a western wedding dress and the other two kimonos- the groom wore a tuxedo and a male kimono. (Clothes get changed during the ceremony.) This is pretty traditional. Many Japanese homes have a Buddhist and/or Shinto shrine, but my host family's did not, whether because of Christian beleifs or because they just didn't happen to have one is unknown to me. I think they told me that they've been confirmed, but I may have misunderstood.
2006-12-01 00:18:44 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
Yes. Freedom of religion is 100% guaranteed.
But whether or not you can find your favorite church here is another question.
There are a large number of churches in Japan, but the total population of Christians here is less than 5%.
2006-12-03 15:21:41 · answer #3 · answered by area52 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Yes, Its China that doesn't. People get their heads chopped off for having secret church services at home. And they do it anyways. They fulfill Revelation 20:4 with their lives every day! Thats persecution, not anything in this forum.
Blessings
David
EDIT FOR RED EYES: Actually England has 4-5% religious people
And Singapore has the least crime.
2006-12-01 00:04:06 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
Yes, they allow freedom of religion there. It's China and North Korea that you'd have to worry about.
2006-12-01 00:04:06 · answer #5 · answered by chrstnwrtr 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Japan is a western democracy with freedom of religion.
and yes their are millions of Christians in Japan.
2006-12-01 00:02:59 · answer #6 · answered by Gamla Joe 7 · 3⤊ 1⤋
Yes you can. There are either Catholic or Protestant. Mormon, too.
I remember there is a church on a premises of the Sophia University in Tokyo. Probably this is Catholic, if I am right.
http://www.sophia.ac.jp/E/E_toppage.nsf/
2006-12-01 13:47:43 · answer #7 · answered by Joriental 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Hopefully
2006-12-01 00:03:59 · answer #8 · answered by A-Town 1 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Yes-they have complete religious freedom.... you'll love it there. Make sure you get out and see the country - it's beautiful, friendly and safe.
2006-12-01 00:08:06 · answer #9 · answered by SKITCHRICK 2 · 3⤊ 0⤋
80% of japan believes in evolution. it is the least religious nation and it has the least crime out of any other country
2006-12-01 00:02:13 · answer #10 · answered by Red Eye 4 · 2⤊ 1⤋