Day 2

Prayer Request: That we would adapt to the local culture, while still standing firm against its negative aspects.

Today we got to participate in the “Culture Touch” seminar. TEAM gives one every month to missionaries in the area, and we got here just in time to participate. The man leading this month’s lecture is a missionary in Karuizawa (We will be visiting with him later this week), and he chose to speak on Family and Social Bonds, for this month’s topic. From this, we came to a better understanding of how deeply rooted the Japanese are in their traditions, and how it affects every part of their life.

One of the biggest reasons Christianity stopped spreading in Japan was due to the Tokugawa Shogunate between 1600-1850. During this time every Family was required to register at their local Buddhist Temple and Tonarigumi (Groups of five families that were supposed to police each other) were set up. These institutions are no longer required by law, but they still possess a sense of authority within the Japanese culture. The neighborhood councils and Buddhist Temples along with trade guilds/unions, schools, extended family obligations, and the local Shinto Shrine form a kind of social web, and make it very difficult to depart from one community without disrupting all social connections. The family, in particular, is largely affected by any kind of social friction, and this places a great deal of pressure on the Japanese to stay within societal norms.

In Japan, a family is more than parents and their children, rather it consists of all of the living members of an ancestral family. This means that great responsibility and authority are given to direct descendants (trunk family), and a level of deference is expected from non-direct descendants (branch families). The closer a person is to a trunk family, the more that person is expected to consult with the rest of their elders when they make a decision that might affect the community’s opinion of their line (i.e. declaring bankruptcy, divorce, or getting a large loan). Because each family has a role to play in the upkeep of the local Buddhist Temple, converting away from Buddhism would be one of the major issues that a trunk family would expect to be consulted about. When a Japanese person close to the trunk family becomes a Christian, they often give up their inheritance and authority in the process. This would happen anytime a person would choose to no longer perform their responsibilities at their family’s Temple, as their role in the upkeep of the Temple is directly associated with the hierarchy in the family and the security of the family burial place.

In America, we often feel free to change our social associations or religion when we feel a change of heart, but in Japan: a change of heart must be accompanied by a great deal of planning and resolve to move against the current of their culture. Looking forward, Japanese Christians and foreign missionaries have their work cut out for them. They are working to help the people they know to sift through the different layers of the culture’s social web, to retain the good, and figure out how to reject the bad without entirely breaking their relationships with their family. Moving forward they need wisdom and courage, and the Lord by their side.

…“With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Matthew 19:26

Before, during, and after the Culture Touch, we got to meet up with a variety of different people God had sent to do His work in Japan. Some people that have been leaders in the TEAM-Japan mission for a long time; a group of young men from Send International; and new missionaries getting settled in Tokyo. It was so encouraging to talk to each and every one of these people. They are all ordinary people in God’s extraordinary hands, down to earth, and they try to meet people where they are at. We had an especially long conversation with a Send missionary, from Illinois, about Bible camps, video games, and a really deep talk about how God is the only one who can give growth (1 Corinthians 3:6), we can only plant and water.

So, pray that God will encourage us (all of us, not just me and Kim) with conversations of His grace and work. Pray that we would trust Him for growth enough to humbly plant and water, by the Grace that was given us through Jesus Christ, Amen.