History UsefulNotes / JapaneseChristian

The surviving underground religion became greatly influenced by Buddhism, Taoism, and Shinto. In modern days, with the advent of globalization and the reopening of Japan, it's no surprise that most major Christian sects have a presence (if small) in Japan, although in times of political turmoil they are still often subjected to distrust and persecution, especially churches like the Anglicans with ties to foreign countries. This was particularly the case during late UsefulNotes/ImperialJapan, when the Japanese government tried to nationalize the country's Christian sects into a government-run church, the United Church of Japan. Those priests and their followers who refused to cooperate were imprisoned by the government, especially during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII. Wartime bombings further devastated the community, destroying much of the country's churches and cathedrals.

The surviving underground religion became greatly influenced by Buddhism, Taoism, and Shinto. In modern days, with the advent of globalization and the reopening of Japan, it's no surprise that most major Christian sects have a presence (if small) in Japan. Nowadays, if a Japanese Christian does appear in anime and manga or even Western media they will typically be from Kyushu especially Nagasaki which has a historically significant Catholic population or occasionally another area like Tokyo.

* In ''Series/TheNakedDirector'', Megumi is from an ultra-conservative Catholic family and she defies her mother's wishes by becoming a porn star under Toru Muranishi.

* In ''Series/TheNakedDirector'', Megumi is from an ultra-conservative Catholic family and she defies her parents' wishes by becoming a porn star under Toru Muranishi.

* In ''VideoGame/TotalWarShogun2'', Christianity might play a serious role in the game, especially if you're playing as the Otomo clan (which historically was the first Japanese feudal clan to embrace this faith). Being a Japanese Christian clan means you can access European/Portuguese guns and cannons, plus your Christian citizens will put up serious resistance against non-Christian clans who occupy their cities. Of course, since embracing Christianity means the rest of Japan will hate you, it's best taken by clans which are not based on the main island.

* The Makimuras from ''Manga/{{Devilman}}'' and ''Anime/DevilmanCrybaby'' are portrayed as Christians, given the abundance of Biblical imagery in the franchise.

* A RealLife example is Creator/ToshiroMifune, who was a famous Japanese actor and professed the Methodist faith.
* Singers KOKIA and Chihiro Onitsuka are two of the more well known RealLife Japanese Christians.

Christianity, however, was increasingly seen as a threat to the existing social order. Christians were harshly persecuted during the Tokugawa era (the early 1600s) and driven underground out of fear that Japanese peasants and samurai would feel more loyal to a foreign Pope than their own lord. This was exacerbated by the Protestant Dutch, who hoped to undermine their trade rivals by spreading rumors of Portugal's previous conquests. The fact that the King of Portugal actually asked the priests about the feasibility of an invasion of Japan probably didn't help. Neither did their numerous military activities and the destruction of Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples. What followed was a bloodbath, with all priests (Portuguese or otherwise) being expelled or crucified (and yes, they did do that on purpose). Converts were hunted (one practice being that soldiers would go to villages and demand they stomp on a fumi-e, a picture of Jesus or Mary -- any which showed hesitation were branded Christians) and sent to Nagasaki to be tortured. If they refused to recant, they were also crucified.

Christianity, however, was increasingly seen as a threat to the existing social order. Christians were harshly persecuted during the Tokugawa era (early 1600s) and driven underground out of fear that Japanese peasants and samurai would feel more loyal to a foreign Pope than their own lord. This was exacerbated by the Protestant Dutch, who hoped to undermine their trade rivals by spreading rumors of Portugal's previous conquests. The fact that the King of Portugal actually asked the priests about the feasibility of an invasion of Japan probably didn't help. Neither did their numerous military activities and destruction of Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples. What followed was a bloodbath, with all priests (Portuguese or otherwise) being expelled or crucified (and yes, they did do that on purpose). Converts were hunted (one practice being that soldiers would go to villages and demand they stomp on a fumi-e, a picture of Jesus or Mary -- any which showed hesitation were branded Christians) and sent to Nagasaki to be tortured. If they refused to recant, they were also crucified.

The surviving underground religion became greatly influenced by Buddhism, Taoism, and Shinto. In modern days, with the advent of globalization and the reopening of Japan, it's no surprise that most major Christian sects have a presence (if small) in Japan.

UsefulNotes/{{Christianity}} is rare enough in UsefulNotes/{{Japan}} that a character being explicitly labeled as such is rather unusual[[note]]How unusual? There are only 1-2 million Christians in Japan, comprising a ''very'' small fraction of the population (1 percent)[[/note]]. This was not always the case. During the first decades of the Kingdom of UsefulNotes/{{Portugal}}'s trade with the Japanese islands, there was a fairly substantial Christian base. The first Jesuit mission to Japan started evangelizing the region in 1548, and by 1589 there were about 200,000 Japanese Christians (amongst a total population of no more than twenty-four million). This was probably the largest overseas Christian community (yes, even more than China or Latin America, despite the substantially higher monetary investment and slight head-start in the latter region) and was unique in that it was mostly staffed and run by ethnic Japanese.

UsefulNotes/{{Christianity}} is rare enough in UsefulNotes/{{Japan}} that a character being explicitly labeled as such is rather unusual[[note]]How unusual? There are only 1 to 2 million Christians in Japan, comprising a ''very'' small fraction of the population (1 percent)[[/note]]. This was not always the case. During the first decades of the Kingdom of UsefulNotes/{{Portugal}}'s trade with the Japanese islands, there was a fairly substantial Christian base. The first Jesuit mission to Japan started evangelizing the region in 1548, and by 1589 there were about 200,000 Japanese Christians (amongst a total population of no more than twenty-four million). This was probably the largest overseas Christian community (yes, even more than China or Latin America, despite the substantially higher monetary investment and slight head-start in the latter region) and was unique in that it was mostly staffed and run by ethnic Japanese.

UsefulNotes/{{Christianity}} is rare enough in UsefulNotes/{{Japan}} that a character being explicitly labeled as such is rather unusual[[/note]]How unusual? There are only 1 to 2 million Christians in Japan, comprising a ''very'' small fraction of the population (1 percent)[[/note]]. This was not always the case. During the first decades of the Kingdom of UsefulNotes/{{Portugal}}'s trade with the Japanese islands, there was a fairly substantial Christian base. The first Jesuit mission to Japan started evangelizing the region in 1548, and by 1589 there were about 200,000 Japanese Christians (amongst a total population of no more than twenty-four million). This was probably the largest overseas Christian community (yes, even more than China or Latin America, despite the substantially higher monetary investment and slight head-start in the latter region) and was unique in that it was mostly staffed and run by ethnic Japanese.

UsefulNotes/{{Christianity}} is rare enough in UsefulNotes/{{Japan}} that a character being explicitly labeled as such is rather unusual. This was not always the case. During the first decades of the Kingdom of UsefulNotes/{{Portugal}}'s trade with the Japanese islands, there developed a fairly substantial Christian base. The first Jesuit mission to Japan started evangelizing the region in 1548, and by 1589 there were about 200,000 Japanese Christians (amongst a total population of no more than twenty-four million). This was probably the largest overseas Christian community (yes, even more than China or Latin America, despite the substantially higher monetary investment and slight head-start in the latter region) and was unique in that it was mostly staffed and run by ethnic Japanese.

* ''Manga/SailorMoon'':
** Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune might be examples. They're searching for the Messiah, and Uranus even sports a cross at times. There is certainly a lot of Catholic imagery in the S season. Michiru telling the story of Adam and Eve and referring to them as the first man and woman drives the point home.
** Rei (Sailor Mars) is another candidate. She can be seen wearing a cross, she attends a Catholic school (modeled after a very high-class RealLife Catholic school), and in the live-action adaptation her mother Risa is buried in a Catholic cemetery. She's also a {{Miko}} at a Shinto shrine, which could just be an example of how the Japanese don't mind mixing religions.

Christianity is rare enough in Japan that a character being explicitly labeled as such is rather unusual. This was not always the case. During the first decades of the Kingdom of UsefulNotes/{{Portugal}}'s trade with the Japanese islands, there developed a fairly substantial Christian base. The first Jesuit mission to Japan started evangelizing the region in 1548, and by 1589 there were about 200,000 Japanese Christians (amongst a total population of no more than twenty-four million). This was probably the largest overseas Christian community (yes, even more than China or Latin America, despite the substantially higher monetary investment and slight head-start in the latter region) and was unique in that it was mostly staffed and run by ethnic Japanese.

This was partly because of pre-Tridentine Catholic practice, which was lax and didn't care much for orthodoxy (the priority was on conversion), and Japan's cultural-religious tradition. Like Daoism or Hinduism, Shinto is a polytheistic system of belief without set doctrines or leadership, and is home to several different schools of both. Buddhism, for instance, was almost seamlessly integrated into Shinto within just a century or two of its arrival in the Japanese Islands (at least partly because Orthodox [Chinese-style] Buddhism was regarded with suspicion and semi-exterminated). Today, many Buddhist temples coexist with Shinto shrines, and many Japanese people practice both Shinto and Buddhist rituals. The phenomenon of Japanese [[UsefulNotes/KatanasOfTheRisingSun "martial" Shinto-Buddhism ]] is quite notable in comparison to the pacifistic Indo-Chinese strains of Buddhism. The former arguably -- fused with a twisted form of neo-Bushido doctrine -- saw something of an apotheosis in the Tokubetsu Kogeki/"[[SuicideAttack Special Attack]]" units of the [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarTwo final, desperate months]] [[UsefulNotes/ImperialJapan of the military's period in power]].

* In ''VideoGame/TotalWarShogun2'', Christianity might play a serious role in the game. Being a Japanese Christian clan means you can access European guns and cannons, plus your Christian citizens will put up serious resistance against non-Christian clans who occupy their cities. Of course, since embracing Christianity means the rest of Japan will hate you, it's best taken by clans which are not based on the main island.

* ''Film/{{Silence}}'', adapted from a novel by Shūsaku Endō, about the repression of Japanese Christians by the Shogunate at the beginning of the Edo period.

Christianity is rare enough in Japan that a character being explicitly labeled as such is rather unusual. This was not always the case. During the first decades of the Kingdom of UsefulNotes/{{Portugal}}'s trade with the Japanese islands, there developed a fairly substantial Christian base. The first Jesuit mission to Japan started evangelising the region in 1548, and by 1589 there were about 200,000 Japanese Christians (amongst a total population of no more than twenty-four million). This was probably the largest overseas Christian community (yes, even more than China or the Castilian Americas, despite the substantially higher monetary investment and slight head-start in the latter region) and was unique in that it was mostly staffed and run by ethnic Japanese.

* ''Film/FatalFrame'' takes place at a conservative Catholic all-girls school in Japan.

* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' has an interesting example in Knight of the Cross Shiro, who was born and raised in Japan, and was accidentally baptized while attending an Elvis Presley concert (some Baptists in the audience asked if he wanted to meet "The King," and Shiro's faulty-at-the-time grasp of English made him think they meant Elvis). Even though his conversion was by accident, he made an effort to be as good a Christian as he could. Considering he was good enough (both in the moral/ethical sense and the skill sense of the word) to become a Knight of the Cross and stay one long enough to grow old, it's safe to say he succeeded.

* ''Anime/MaiHime'': Fuka Academy has its own small church, staffed by a priest with a Western name and a Japanese nun. Like just about everything about the school, both are not what they seem.

** There's some implication that Shirou might be Christian, himself (though non-practicing) or at very least familiar with the Christian faith, since he muses to himself on his first visit to the Kotomine church that it's his first visit to a House of God in many years.

* ''LightNovel/MariaSamaGaMiteru'': It appears that most of the cast are Catholic. The subject of the actual faith of the characters is only brought up a few times, surprisingly. One character ([[spoiler:Shiori]]) wants to become a nun, and another is revealed to be both Christian and belongs to a Buddhist family (Shimako). Also, many of the characters can be seen praying before the Virgin Mary statue. There's also the school trip to Rome, where the characters visit the Vatican. Finally, most of the students are seen in Church, praying and singing. Although, it's mentioned outright at one point that one does not have to be a Christian to attend Lillian. There's only one character so far that is mentioned to not be Christian.

* WeddingsInJapan -- Conspicuous by being done in the Christian style. Whatever religion they follow, most Japanese aren't strict enough to mind doing another faith's tradition, and Christian weddings are comparably inexpensive and pretty. The usual adage about the Japanese's tendency to mash up religious practices is: "Born Shinto, marry Christian, die Buddhist".

* The Christian samurai UsefulNotes/DomJustoTakayamaUkon, once a respected Samurai in the UsefulNotes/SengokuPeriod, but when his lord decreed that Christianity is to be banned, he preferred to be stripped of everything from fiefs to his status, until eventually he's exiled to Manila.

* ''Film/BigTitsZombie': The main character (played by Japanese AV model Sora Aoi) ' is heavily implied to be a Christian. She prays to "the Lord" a few times, crosses herself while standing over the body of one of her friends, and when it comes time to make a grave for said friend, she places a cross over it. She lived in Mexico for a number of years, which could be the explanation.