Is G-d working through daily terrible events in Japan as well?

[Katsuobushi]

I think that can be one reason Christianity does not spread that much. I think Japanese people don’t like to express love and affection explicitly. Like people don’t see each other in eyes. If I see eyes too much, the other person will soon see somewhere else. Also, the word “love” is basically reserved between a couple. The last time I used this word outside of Christian relationship was 10 years ago when I had a girl friend. Japanese people like to use “affection”, “be nice”, “taking care well”, instead of the word “love” even within a family. So it may be that explicit love depicted by Christian culture may not be appealing, or appear very foreign. But I do think Japanese people need to be concerned more with the lives of the especially the weak ones. Annual suicide of about 30,000 people for like 20 years is reflective of this society’s problem. I hope this country gets more people converted to Christianity.

 

[Katsuobushi]

Thanks for the words. My church’s Guardian Saint is St. Francis of Assisi.

 

[Randolph]

I think that can be one reason Christianity does not spread that much. I think Japanese people don’t like to express love and affection explicitly. Like people don’t see each other in eyes. If I see eyes too much, the other person will soon see somewhere else. Also, the word “love” is basically reserved between a couple

You have just verified what I have observed from my Japanese friends throughout my life in the US—although they are more “Americanized”. Privacy, politeness, minding one’s own business, boundaries, conforming to social norms/rules, etc… (almost to a fault) seem to stand out in Japanese culture. Could you help me understand how the Japanese culture has become so? How the message/peace/love of Christ and the teachings of the Church resonate there? Japan—still being largely a missionary land—how the bishops/priests/nuns are being seen by non-Christian Japanese? And, could you comment more about the high suicide rate and the many causes for it?

 

[Athanasiy]

They are so lovely in many things.
Perfectionists, maximalists, valour, culture and manners.
Some features are so admirable, but God through the Christ Saviour wants to find the key to their hearts.
In South Korea the revival happened, may be later it will come to Japan as well.

 

[Katsuobushi]

I am not a scholar and didn’t receive history education as I spent my teen years in USA. But I have some beliefs about your questions.

Could you help me understand how the Japanese culture has become so?

I read a hypothesis about Japanese culture written by a Japanese scholar when I was a student. According to the hypothesis and my understanding of it, Japanese reserved tendency is result of hundreds of years of samurai rule. In those days, samurais were the authority and justice. There was no human right, the court system, and bringing of witness to serve justice. Samurais could kill anyone, and if the victim was a peasant there was probably not much repercussion for samurais. So people tried not to provoke samurais. I think this was the main part of the hypothesis. I like this hypothesis. When there was no court, human rights, justice, and people being a homogeneous race, I think the best way for people to live in peace with each other was to have this reserved manner toward each other.

And, could you comment more about the high suicide rate and the many causes for it?

I think the major direct reason is economic well-being. But other significant reasons may be lack of social (emotional) support for those who fall out of the main stream life of the society. Regular status job, house, family (spouse & children), good health are what I think constitute the main stream life of the society. When one loses them and gets pushed out to the life of periphery, the life can suddenly be unbearable because the social (emotional) support is not available enough. The other reason may be the useless Buddhist denominations that I believe are sending vain messages to people that most can be saved and go to their heaven after a couple of hours of a funeral service. Thus, people don’t believe they can go to hell by killing themselves, and instead can see dying as relief. The other reason may be lack of cheap pastime like visiting beautiful nature. If you visit Tokyo, you’ll notice people are crammed together in a tiny area. You need to travel long and pay lots of money to see the healing nature. I think USA has lots of such resources and healing people every day.

How the message/peace/love of Christ and the teachings of the Church resonate there?

People in general respect Christianity. But it is sort of weird. They seem to respect priests and nuns a lot. But when it comes to laity people, people do not seem to view them as special. I think the loving and Salvation messages that Evangelists are sending on the streets are basically ignored or not taken seriously as religious messages that are practically useless. Every year, I see the Evangelists taking to streets and playing these messages aloud from their recorders in New Year holiday season.
People just pass by as if it is another occasion of the religious advertisement and nothing special is played.

 

[Randolph]

I am not a scholar and didn’t receive history education as I spent my teen years in USA. But I have some beliefs about your questions.

Thank you for your powerful insights and thoughtful analyses. As I had shared with you, I was born and raised a predominantly Buddhist country in Southeast Asia. Except for the unique situation of the Samurai era in Japan, I understood your posts well. The influence of Buddhism on different peoples/nations in Asia (bad and good) can not be overstated. Buddhism is often misunderstood and mis-characterized in the West. My post is not intended to start a debate on Buddhism so I just say that, in Buddhism, it believes that “attachment is the source of all sufferings”; whereas in Catholicism, we are to attach ourselves to Christ and we are to carry His Cross. That is one of the fundamental differences between Buddhism and Catholicism. Christ created us and wants to have a loving relationship with us and us with each other.

Compassion, peace and kindness are among many good and desiring points in Buddhism and they rightly attract many faithful followers. But, it is largely an impersonal religion—a religion about the “self”. I remember growing up under the direction of the Salesian nuns in my parish. The nuns were involved in our lives instructing us about the Catholic faith—keeping us together in various activities and church events that we felt a strong sense of communion with ourselves, with our parish and with our neighbors. First Communion, Confession, Confirmation, Christmas, Lent, Holy Week, All Souls Day, All Saints Day, other Holy Days, Children day, Teachers Day, etc… were opportunities for us to get together. I remember many of my non-catholic (Buddhist) friends were envious of our opportunities to get together.

Going back to your original post, Christ is indeed needed in Japan and in Asia—which is still largely missionary land. God uses us in different and unique ways to bring light to the world. I am reminded of a saying when I was growing up: “Even a small light shines brightly in deep darkness.” Pope Benedict once told us “to do our part” in our Catholic faith—be it big or small. I believe your heart and mind are at the right place. With the help our Christ and our Holy Mother, you will be in good hands. I pray for you and wish you well.

Our Lady of Akita…
Pray for us…

 

[Neithan]

Thus, people don’t believe they can go to hell by killing themselves, and instead can see dying as relief.

A Buddhist from Thailand once told me that she does not want eternal life, because “consciousness is a burden.” It’s such a completely different (sad, nihilistic) way of looking at existence. I think that kind of frame of mind is spreading in the west, though. Even on these forums you’ll find nones/atheists/agnostics saying that the thought of annihilation at death is pleasant or makes them feel happy. This only makes sense of course is they’ve already despaired of eternal happiness, either because they lost faith or never had it.

Our Lady of Akita, pray for us!

 

[mythbuster1]

Yet, I can see in Japanese popular culture a yearning for Christianity, even if they don’t know that’s what they yearn for. The longing for the Messiah is written on the human heart every bit as much as natural law is; that is why stories of heroes are much the same the world over through every generation.

 

[blackforest]

We call it a “God-sized hole” that only God can fill.

Is your parish at all active in the community, perhaps serving the less fortunate? In the spirit of St. Francis, charity is one of the most powerful means of evangelizing without words.

 

[Katsuobushi]

My parish is somewhat not so active. However, our church hosts a bazaar a couple times a year. One big church bazaar is in November and it attracts like hundreds (thousands?) of people from the local areas in Tokyo. Otherwise, our church does not do food service or homeless support events. There are homeless near the church and at least one believer is helping them by herself. She asked more help in the church. I wonder if she got them. But there are more active churches that host lunch service to the homeless people in Tokyo. I agree. I think bazaar and lunch services are good witness opportunities.

 

[Katsuobushi]

I know that too. People saying “going back to soil” after death contently are believing there is an eternal peace in death and death means becoming part of nature again like before birth.