Day 298 { Persecution of a Different Kind, For Christians in Japan / Seven Pounds } - Sunday, January 11, 2009

Day 298 { Persecution of a Different Kind, For Christians in Japan / Seven Pounds}

I went to Church this morning and my translator was telling me firstly that many Japanese Christian tend to hide the fact that they are Christians because they fear being cut off from their family, friends and/or Community. But if you are a foreigner and a Christian, then thats fine...Well as you may have known though, just being a foreigner alone can cut you off. Again, luckily the people in my town are more friendly than not.

So most Japanese follow one of 2 religions and/or both...

1) is the Shinto and this is supposedly found only in Japan
2) is Buddhism and is the prefered of the 2 by most Japanese and constitutes about 85-90% of all Japanese persons.

However again, most Japanese I gather tend to mix the 2 together and visit shrines, Buddhist temples and what not. Even though, some follow these practices to the T, I dont think their is a national religion of Japan. And most Japanese just follow the traditions "Just because" like new years day some visit some sort of shrine to pray or do some sort of cleansing ritual. And there is also this ceremony thing that they do for dead relatives that is kept at intervals at the anniversary of the person's death... So you can imagine the amount of ceremonies a person has to attend if they have a bunch of dead family and relatives. I am not sure if this is where they pray to their dead relatives but that also happens here as well... Yes I know it sounds weird to most westerners but anything else would sound weird in Japan. Some persons will tell you that they belong to no religion or religious group but they still practise the buddhist and shinto stuff. Weddings are mostly shinto related I heard, but funerals are mostly buddhist related...And get this... Many weddings are performed in CHURCH building yes church buildings, but guess what?? Thay are not real churches, they are used ONLY for the weddings, so it has a membership of 0. They simply copy the western style because it looks cool, but they don't actually keep any form of church service or anything like that in them...

So yes, as you may know or not know from reading my blog, most Japanese men love to drink and have a good time and hangout with friends etc etc...Well just like most normal men but drinking alcohol and most times getting drunk is a favourite hobby among Japanese men. Young and old alike. So if a Japanese guy says he is a Christian, his freinds etc don't care, they are expecting him to behave the same way. If he doesn't, then he is seen as unfriendly and he is then silently ostracised from his family and people in the community and friends. Family because the Christian guy is expected to do the dead relative ritual stuff which he will probably not want to do. From the community because some communities have a buddhist temple and they collect money from the neighbours to maintain the temple... and if you don't pay, then you are a bad person... from your friends, because you decide not to get drunk ever so often.

So 2 Christian men in the church that I attend, actually keep it a secret that they are Christians. This is out of fear that their families and friends will reject them.
A foreign lady in the church I attend, has a Japanese Husband who help his Family (as in his sisters, brothers, mother and father etc) out and see to it that everyone is Ok fianancially and otherwise. But they don't like him very much and are still saying that he doesn't help out why?? Because he choose not to do the dead relative business and participate in whatever other ceremony they have... So no matter how much money he spends and help in other ways, he is still seen almost like an enemy of the family... but some other sister who is there not doing a thing but attends the stuff is seen as very faithful to the family... hmm strange... So you grow up in a family, you are expected to follow everything you see and everything you are told to do... yep and thats just how it is here...

Anyway, so later in the day I watched the movie 7 pounds with Will Smith... Well to me, at least it was better than I am Legend as well as Hancock (still wondering why they chose such a name). It was a little sad but it was a good watch.