Japan's ageing 'Hidden Christians' fear they may be their religion's last generation

IKITSUKI ISLAND/NAGASAKI CITY, Japan - His face weathered from years at sea, kimono-clad Japanese fisherman Masaichi Kawasaki kneels before an altar adorned with images of the Virgin Mary, crossing himself as he softly intones chants handed down through centuries.

The Hidden Christians have garnered fresh attention ahead of Pope Francis’s visit to Japan on Nov. 23-26, with domestic media and a French broadcaster heading to Nagasaki to report on them. Last year, 12 Hidden Christian-related locations were designated UNESCO World Heritage sites. Many joined Buddhist temples or Shinto shrines to disguise their beliefs, and some rites such as confession and communion, which require a priest, disappeared.

“They didn’t want to destroy the faith they had preserved all along despite suppression,” said Shigenori Murakami, the seventh-generation head of a group of Hidden Christians in Nagasaki City’s Sotome district, the setting for Martin Scorcese’s 2016 movie “Silence” about persecuted Christians. At the time, his father’s group had about 100 people. Now there are only about half that number, Murakami said.

At that time, it was an era when Asia was colonized by Western countries. It was said in Asia. ❶Missionary comes ❷Merchant comes ❸Troop comes Christianity was the vanguard of Western colonization In fact, missionary tried to divide Japan using Japanese Christians.

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Good.

Reuters never reported why Christianity was banned in Japan. It is because Christian missionaries were trading Japanese. The Shogun who found it expelled missionaries and banned Christianity.

What are the benefits of preaching belief in any 1 of approx 4000 competing religions that nobody can prove and against all the evidence?

Awww...Christianity is slowly dying out. How wonderful.

Pretty on brand

Oh don't worry to much, one can never rule out the virulent insideousness of religion.

Good.

Good. Religion needs to be consigned to history 👍

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