Roadblocks to the Gospel: Harmony

Many who go to Japan, especially during sakura season, say that Japan is peaceful. Peace is something that is promoted in Christianity. Romans 12:8 reads, "If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone."

Sakura flowers

There are several cultural things that fit into the Japanese ideal of harmony that do not follow the Bible. I will try to stay away from semantics,  but understanding the difference between Christian's harmony and Japan's harmony is key. 

Don't Rock the Boat!

We have all heard the phrase, "Don't Rock the Boat," but have you ever stopped and considered what that really means? 

The phrase means, "don't cause an argument just for the sake of the argument." Basically if you are in a group project and everyone but you agrees to do it one way, you should just go with the rest of the class. 

In Japan this phrase is taken to the extreme. Unless you are the boss or leader of the group, you are never to go against the flow. If the culture demands it, you follow. Often this is a good thing, like leaving the handicapped seats on the trains unoccupied, but is really a nice form of peer pressure. It also can have very negative affects. 

In Japan, many companies have "drinking parties." While attendance is mandatory, it is very strongly encouraged (as in you may loose your standing in the company or be fired if you don't go). At these parties you are encouraged to drink as much as the rest of the people. They have to drink how much the boss drinks. This can lead to an endless cycle of alcohol abuse.  

In Christianity, we are told to live at peace with those around us. But we are to be uncompromising on moral issues. We live at peace in the world, but we do not live as the world. Many people in Japan don't understand why we would abject to certain activities because by objecting to them we might inconvenience someone else. We rock the boat--and will not yield to doing what we believe is wrong for the sake social convince.

But that's the way it has always been done! 

In Japan, there is only one way to do anything--the Japanese way. In America we have people from all over the world that have live in America for many years. "There's more than one way to skin a cat." In my classes at ESU I know people from China, Japan, India, South Korea, Brazil, Bolivia, and various countries in Europe. Japan does not have this multicultural perspective. Almost everyone is, well, Japanese.  

Japan has been a strong nations for thousands of years. Many practices in Japan have been practiced for as long as the country has existed. In comparison, the United States is a new country with not unique cultural practice that are uniquely American. 

In the same way, Shintoism and Buddhism have been the religions in Japan for thousands of years. Christianity seems like some kind of new religion from the West that has nothing to do with them. You are either Shinto or Buddhist or Shinto-Buddhist because it as been that way for thousands of years and Japan has been peaceful (at times) under those religions. 

Honor your Family

Matthew 10: 34-39 "Not Peace, But a Sword"

Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person's enemies will be those of his own household. Whoever loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. 

To become a Christian in Japan, it often means you will lose your family. Many lose their friends as well. This is a sad truth. Japan has the freedom of religion, but Christianity is not accepted among many people in Japan. 

Becoming a Christian (there) is like saying your family doesn't matter to you. It is seen as rejecting those around you, both family and friends, and rejecting your culture and heritage (Japan), for some religion in the West. It is seen as a betrayal to what Japan holds dear.