About Japan - III
Family life is in a period of unprecedented crisis. Divorce and suicide rates are escalating at an alarming pace. About a third of married women confess to having at least one abortion. The prolonged recession has caused major fear in adult males. Approximately six hundred Japanese kill themselves each week. In the last decade, the suicide rate among men has increased nearly eighty percent. Most of these are among men in their forty’s and fifty’s. Japan has the highest suicide rate in the developed world. The number of homeless men increases as companies restructure and “retire” those who are not productive. Japan is in what missiologists call the 10/40 Window. Although many countries in this area are not free to evangelize, we are totally free in Japan to share the gospel. Many Japanese have little concept of sin except as it relates to a man centered view of right and wrong. However, there are those who are seeking to have their hearts cleansed and their needs met. Evangelism is more effective when it is done through relationship networks.
