The Less-evangelized Areas and Peoples of Japan
b) Of the 2,568 towns of 15,000-30,000 people, 1,733 are without churches.
c) Numerous rural areas are scarcely touched with the gospel. The Japanese Church has little vision for reaching out to the many towns with minimal or no Christian presence.
d) The ruling elite have been little influenced. Pray for the Emperor cocooned in tradition and committed, by his position, to Shintoism. Pray for politicians, bankers and industrialists who have such global impact through their leadership – or lack of it.
e) Koreans, descendants of those forcibly brought to Japan between 1903 and 1945, are usually denied full citizenship rights, and are still classed as resident aliens even into their third and fourth generations. They are despised and poorly paid. The Korean community is sharply divided in their allegiance to either North or South Korea. Korean missionaries have planted over 300 churches in this community, but the percentage of Christians among them is lower than that of South Korea.
- Operation World |stats are from the year 2000
