When did Japan first become a Christian nation?

Question

Japan must be a Christian nation, because Christians tell us that our laws are based on Christian morals, and Japan has essentially all the same laws (and had them long before America ever existed), so they must be a Christian nation just like America, correct?

Christians say our laws are based on the 10 commandments. Looking at our laws, I see stealing and murder as coming from the 10 Commandments, and have not and stealing and murder been illegal in Japa for all of recorded history?

Answer 1

i think it became a christian nation shortly following the attack on pearl harbor

Answer 2

Not at all correct. Japan adopted a lot of western laws during the occupation after it lost in World War Two. General Douglas McArthur and his staff combined with Japanese liberals to write a Constitution and many laws for that country that made it a democracy with equal rights for women and protection for workers and for consumers, while protecting traditional religion, which has mainly been Bhuddism with a smattering of Shinto. The Portugese established a Christian mission at Nagasaki, I believe in the 16th century, it had a long history. Oddly enough when the atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki it went off target and annihalated the Christian neighborhood of that city, the largest Christian community in Japan.

Answer 3

At the level of formal moral teachings, almost all religions are the same (professing core moral values of humility, obedience and compassion). Common usage usually refers the term "Christian nation" as one where the predominant religion is any one or any combinations of Christian church denominations where the basic foundation of faith is the New Testament. In this sense, Japan is not a Christian nation although many Japanese have embraced a Christian faith/church denomination.

Answer 4

You got that wrong. The laws of Japan were nothing like ours unitl very recently. Japan began to adopt a system of law similar to that of Germany (a Christian State) in the 19th century. That may explain the current similarity.

Answer 5

Christian population in Japan is LESS than 1 MILLION, well below 1% (not 10%) of total population (120 million). I cannot call Japan as a Christian country. As simple as that.

Answer 6

Huh, that's an interesting conclusion. I suppose they do have some of the same laws that are similar to Christianity.

I've been intrigued lately by the demographics of Japan, and that as a country it's population is actually declining. Falling demographics always make me wonder what direction the country is going in.

Answer 7

It became a Christian nation when Christ came to call right after he was finished visiting the Former Day Saints here in the America's. Yeah that's it. Just ask any Mormon.

Answer 8

"The first European contact with Japan was made by Portuguese sailors in 1542. A small trade with the West developed. Christianity was introduced by St. Francis Xavier, who reached Japan in 1549."

[However,]... "after the ban on Christianity in 1612 and the subsequent expulsion of Christian missionaries, the government required all citizens to register with local Buddhist temples beginning in 1640, effectively co-opting these institutions as a census bureau."

"Christianity was suppressed, and all intercourse with foreign countries was prohibited except for a Dutch trading post at Nagasaki."

"The ancient beliefs and superstitions confronted the tremendous pressures changing Japan in the decades following World War II. Although Shinto and Buddhist religions still predominate, an astonishing number of new religions, most variations of the older religions, have arisen. Many combine original Shinto and/or Buddhist beliefs with elements of Christianity. The defeat of Japan in the war was a crushing blow to national morale and weakened belief in traditional religion, especially Shintoism. Again, the post-war arrival of high technology and the intensification of industrialization created further receptivity to new directions in religious life. Many saw a need for updating and streamlining religious belief and practice. In modern times, hundreds of new religions have been registered officially, two-thirds of them developments of Shinto or Buddhism, with a combined following in the millions."

"After the Meiji Restoration (1868), Japan began to borrow heavily from European legal systems, particularly the German Civil Code. After World War II, largely as a result of the country's occupation by the U.S. military and later contacts with U.S. legal scholars, Japan incorporated aspects of the U.S. legal system, including various civil procedures and elements of labour and business law. Traditional extralegal dispute-resolution methods remain strong, and litigation plays a less pervasive role than in the U.S."

Answer 9

I did not even know that japan was a christian nation.
But i would believe it to be real close to 1895 when the Urakami Cathedral first opened.

Answer 10

our laws are often not christian first of all. second, i think what you mean to say is that christians made the laws of this country. the bible offers wisdom in the area of society and civility. That part of the bible isn't so much religious as it is common sense for the sake of a better society

Answer 11

No chrisindoem is growing to be quicker there then everywhere, even if it continues to be sluggish relitivly, and christianity as an entire is falling. earlier chrisitanity is a significant faith in china, christianity as an entire would be called supperstition.