Answers to Prayer

1 A new openness after very little real church growth for over a century — provoked by Japan’s series of disasters in the 1990s

2 A rising prayer burden for revival coupled with some efforts to bring reconciliation in the deep divide between Pentecostals/charismatics and other Evangelicals

Challenges for Prayer

1 Japan is in crisis economically and politically because of a failure of the leadership

2 Japan is a mixture of openness and unresponsiveness

a) Resurgence of a nationalistic Shintoism that is hostile to anything un-Japanese

b) Social life. The sincere, polite, hard-working Japanese are too busy to give heed to the gospel

c) New religions

d) The youth are turning away from the values and work ethic of their parents, and turning to materialistic pleasures, drugs and possessions

e) The minimal impact made by the average Japanese Christian on the centres of power in the land

Geography

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Area 377,801 sq.km. A 3,000 km arc of four large islands (Honshu, Hokkaido, Shikoku, Kyushu) and 3,000 small islands in NW Pacific.

Population (2000) 126,714,220 +0.20%AGR

Capital Tokyo 34,500,000.

Peoples

Indigenous 98.8%; Japanese 98.6%; Ainu 0.2%; Foreign 1.2%.

Literacy 100%. Official language Japanese. All languages 15 (including 11 Okinawan-Ryukyuan dialects). Languages with Scriptures 2Bi 1por.

Economy

The world’s most powerful export-oriented economy despite lack of natural resources and oil. HDI 0.924; 4^th/174. Public debt 50% of GNP. Income/person $38,160 (121% of USA).

Politics

Constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary democracy.

Religion

Freedom of religion is guaranteed to all by the constitution, but the rising power of nationalistic Shintoism partly associated with the new emperor is tarnishing that freedom.

Churches in Japan

Missionaries from Japan

397 in 52 agencies of which 218 are overseas in 45 countries

Missionaries to Japan

3,500 in 245 agencies from 33 countries

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