Japan Missions

Missionaries Serving:

Peter & Diane Bakelaar
Linda Wixon

Capital

Tokyo (8,021,900, 1993 est.)

System of Government

Constitutional Monarchy

Area

377,576 Sq Km (145,783 Sq Mi) (slightly smaller than California)

Estimated 2000 Population

126,994,100

Geography

Japan is an island state made up of four principal islands and several smaller ones, off the east coast of Asia. The four principal islands are Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu. The islands of Japan are extremely mountainous, with the plains accounting for 25% of the area. The dormant volcano of Mt. Fuji is the highest point and the territory has 265 known volcanoes, of which around 20 are still active.

Climate

The climate of Japan is generally of two major types. A marine climate is influenced by the Black Current and the Oyashio Current. A tropical climate is regulated by the Asian monsoons. Periods of heavy rains occur in June and September. Between these periods the country is hot, humid and rainless with typhoons from the end of summer through October. Average temperatures in Tokyo are 28 to 46 degrees Fahrenheit in January and 72 to 86 degrees Fahrenheit in August.

People

The principal ethnic majority are the Japanese who account for 99.2% of the population, and 0.8% are the Burakumin, the Ainu and Koreans.

Vital Statistics

Life Expectancy at Birth: 76.1 years male, 82.1 years female (1991). Infant Mortality Rate: 4.4 per 1,000 live births (1991). HIV/AIDS Adult Prevalence Rate: 0.02% (1999 est.).

Religions

Most Japanese have beliefs shared from Shintoism and Buddhism with 79% of the population Shinto, 81% Buddhist, and 1% Christian. Japan guarantees religions freedom to all, but nationalistic Shintoism is tarnishing that freedom and tends to be hostile to anything un-Japanese. The sincere, polite, hard-working Japanese are too busy to heed the Gospel and understand little of what is right or wrong because they do not know the Creator God.

Languages

The official language is Japanese with two chief dialects, Hondo and Nanto, It has three forms of writing: Kanji, Hiragana and Katakana.

History

The Portugese and Dutch established trade with Japan in the 1500’s, and Christian missionaries traveled to the country and made many converts. The shogun grew concerned about the effects of Christianity and the possibility of Western invasion. He expelled almost all the Europeans and banned Christianity. Japanese Christians who refused to renounce their faith were executed. For the next 250 years Japan was almost completely isolated from the Western world. In 1853 the U.S. sent warships to Japan in an effort to open diplomatic relations, and the shogun opened Japan to U.S. trade. The Japanese quickly began to modernize. They won control of Taiwan in war against China in 1894. In World War I, Japan declared war on Germany, and in 1919 the Treaty of Versailles gave Japan the former German colonies in the Pacific. After Japan’s World War II surrender, the U.S. led an allied occupation of Japan until 1952. During this time a democratic constitution was adopted and socioeconomic reforms began. Japan became the second most powerful economy in the world and a staunch ally of the United States. As communist power rose in China, the U.S. signed a self defense Security Treaty with Japan and proceeded to rearm the country. In 1990 Emperor Hirohito died and was acceded by Emperor Akihito, who is still monarch today. There are no popular elections in Japan. The monarch is hereditary and the Parliament elects the prime minister. The emperor retains his throne as a symbol of national unity, but actual power rests in networks of powerful politicians and executives.