Joseph Smith once stated that the Gospel would go forth, “till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear.” The establishment of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Japan is one of the fulfillments of his statement about Mormonism around the world. Today, there are 268 congregations and four temples in Japan, representing the growth of the Church in that country. This interview with Shinji Takagi discusses Latter-day Saints in Japan.
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Interview participant note. The book was written based on a survey we conducted in late 2021 of more than 500 Japanese Latter-day Saints, virtually all of whom were religiously active. The numbers I cite below were therefore current, as of late 2021. When I refer to what is written in the book, I am also speaking on behalf of Conan Grames and Meagan Rainock, but when I deviate from the book (as some questions go beyond what’s covered), the views I express are my own personal opinions. My coauthors should not be held responsible for them.
What is Unique But Not Different: Latter-day Saints in Japan?
The title of the book is meant to capture the sense of what we discovered. Japanese Latter-day Saints are obviously unique in their religious beliefs and practices, but what we also discovered is that they represent the cross-section of Japanese society in the breadth of political and social views they hold.
Socially, they lean somewhat more conservative than the general population, but the distribution of their political views is virtually the same.
Just to give an example, of the 439 survey respondents who identified their political party support, 15 individuals (that is, 3.4 percent) expressed support for the Japan Communist Party. This was nearly identical to the share of support the Communist Party received (3.3 percent) in a national poll conducted in 2021.
What led to increasing success in missionary work in Japan?
The book does not address this issue directly, but I can offer a conjecture. Culture plays a critical role in the acceptance of a foreign religion. Without a substantial degree of acculturation (that is, cultural adaptation), no foreign religion can expect to receive wide acceptance. Conversely, even with little acculturation, a foreign religion may be embraced by a small minority.
I think this explains why, when the membership base was very small, missionary work appeared to be relatively successful. Latter-day Saint membership grew by 14.1 percent per year in the 1970s, and this slowed to 4.7 percent in the 1980s and 2.9 percent in the 1990s. Thereafter, membership growth came to a virtual halt. This probably means that membership has reached a threshold of, say, 0.1 percent of the population. Once this threshold is reached, membership growth is largely driven by demographics.
Only those who are truly committed remain active.
Some years ago, Meagan Rainock and I conducted a statistical analysis of the growth dynamics of the Church in Japan to find that membership growth could be explained almost entirely by the demographic trend.1 Japan’s population peaked in 2008 and has since been declining at the annual rate of about 0.2 percent.
Church membership held up for a while because missionary work added converts to make up for the attrition in membership, but the Church has since experienced an absolute decline in membership, in line with the demographic trend.
What role did Heber J. Grant play in establishing the Church in Japan?
The book is not about church history, but I can offer my own perspective from writing a book some years ago,2 and I want to relate this to the theme of culture.
Heber J. Grant’s time in Japan was not a happy one. He saw only three converts during his term (1901–03) as mission president. Judging from the dedicatory prayer he offered at the beginning of the mission, he believed that the Japanese people (or at least some of them) were descendants of Lehi who would readily embrace the gospel. When this did not happen, he became disillusioned.
He recorded a prayer in which he expressed a desire to be released and called instead to England to complete his mission (he was sent to London to preside over the British Mission almost immediately after returning home).
My own personal view is that this unpleasant experience in Japan colored his attitude toward the work in Japan when he became church president, which may have contributed to his reluctance to add missionaries (only a handful of missionaries served at any one time in a country whose population was half the size of the U.S.) and his ultimate decision to close the mission in 1924.
The 1920s was a decade of unprecedented openness in Japan when people were willing to learn new ideas, which in part explains why, in terms of the number of converts per missionary, the Japan Mission was the eleventh highest baptizing mission outside the U.S. just before it was closed. After the Church closed down the mission, at least 29 new foreign Christian mission organizations arrived in Japan, some of which, notably Jehovah’s Witnesses, became quite successful in winning converts (for more on this, see my essay).
Unfortunately, there was nobody who could explain to Heber J. Grant that the Japan of the 1920s was not the same as the Japan he had known in 1903.
The lesson we can draw from this episode is that, while culture plays a key role in the acceptance of a foreign religion, it can also change. And when it changes for the better, we should seize the opportunity.
Why is it notable that so many active members in Japan have served missions?
In our sample of Latter-day Saints, 60 percent of all respondents stated that they had served full-time proselytizing missions. The percentage rises to 66 percent for all men and 89 percent for men under the age of 40.
To make sense of this high religiosity among active members, we must understand that the activity rate of Japanese Latter-day Saints is quite low—at most 20 percent. If the activity rate were 60 percent (as may be the case in some parts of the U.S.), the share of those who had served full-time missions could have been as low as 10–15 percent (given that not all returned missionaries remain active).
Faced with the conflict Latter-day Saints frequently encounter with the expectations of the larger society, only those who are truly committed remain active in the Church. They are the ones who have been able to negotiate the culture to find a niche for their lifestyle.
A logical consequence of the Church policy of world-wide uniformity is that foreign members must make their own acculturation to learn to practice the Latter-day Saint faith comfortably. Only a few succeed.
What does the data say about the idea that the Church attracts only social misfits in Japan?
We may sometimes think that most busy, successful, or sociable people cannot possibly have the luxury of time to take missionary discussions. Focusing on “social misfits” who may not have a lot of friends, we tested the hypothesis that such people are more drawn to an organization that offers opportunities for friendship.
Religious conversions take place at a young age.
We asked the respondents how well they had felt fit in with their secondary school peers, on a scale of 1-4 (1=poorly, 2=somewhat, 3=considerably, and 4=well). The average of 438 responses came out to be 2.7. Only 12 percent reported that they had felt they fit in poorly with their peers. More than 65 percent of those who joined the Church as converts had felt they fit in either “considerably” or “well.”
At least among the members who remained active, the Church seems to have attracted more sociable types. Part of the reason may be that the Church has mostly attracted young people who are less established and therefore have more time, compared to older people, even if they have many friends.
How do Japanese Latter-day Saints differ from their American counterparts?
The book devotes considerable space comparing the religious beliefs and practices of Japanese Latter-day Saints to those of their American counterparts. The U.S. data come from The Next Mormons Survey administered in 2016 by Jana Riess and Benjamin Knoll, who kindly gave us access to their subsample data. To ensure comparability between the two surveys, we selected only those who attend church at least weekly, and compare men to men and women to women. This ensures that any difference between the two samples does not reflect activity status or gender differences.
We find a number of differences between Japanese and American Latter-day Saints, for example:
- Leaders vs. revelation. A larger share in Japan stated that they gave precedence to priesthood leaders than personal revelation when there was a conflict between the two.
- Women in the church. A larger share in Japan supported the status quo for women in the Church. Remarkably, only less than 1 percent of Japanese women (cf. 18 percent of American women) reported that they were bothered by women not being given the priesthood, and only 6 percent (cf. 18 percent) agreed with the statement: “women do not have enough voice in the Church.”
- Word of Wisdom. Nearly 100 percent of Japanese Latter-day Saints reported full or good compliance in all areas of Word of Wisdom. For example, 93.5 percent stated that they fully abstained from consuming alcohol, while 22.6 percent of American men and 12.6 percent of American women stated that they had consumed alcohol in the last six months.
While we acknowledge that part of the seemingly greater religious devotion of active Japanese Latter-day Saints could very well reflect stereotypical national cultural traits (e.g., the Confucian sense of loyalty or respect for authority), we maintain that much of the difference reflects the difference in the composition of active membership between the two countries.
Given the much higher rate of activity in the U.S., American churchgoers include a much more diverse group of individuals with varying degrees of religious commitment. Japanese churchgoers appear religiously more committed, not because Japanese are inherently more religious, but because only those who are truly committed are left to attend church in Japan.
Why is the average age of conversion so low?
Almost 90 percent of all converts in our sample joined the Church under the age of 30, with little gender difference. The average age of conversion was 22.1.
Incidentally, in the pre-World War II Japan Mission, about 70 percent of the converts were between 16 and 25 years of age at the time of baptism, with the average age of 22.9.
These findings—that religious conversions take place at a young age—are consistent with the large empirical literature on the sociology and economics of religion.
Japan’s demographic trend is worrisome indeed.
This can be explained in terms of religious human capital in the following way: To enjoy the benefits of a particular religion requires human capital specific to that religion, making the cost of conversion to the Church lower for a younger person who possesses a smaller stock of capital (because the return from the existing stock of capital, or the cost of giving up the current religion, is smaller).
In the case of a younger person, moreover, the benefit of switching to a new religion will be enjoyed over a longer period, making its expected net present value greater.
What explains Word of Wisdom challenges when they appear in Japanese society?
Close to 15 and 35 percent, respectively, of the survey respondents reported frequent or occasional conflict involving social drinking and green tea.
What makes Word of Wisdom observance in these areas difficult is that what to drink in a given situation is sometimes not entirely a choice for individuals. A cup of green tea is served when one is seated as a guest; not to drink is to refuse a gesture of hospitality.
Likewise, social drinking has a ritualistic component. One does not choose a drink but drinks a cup as it is filled by others. Refusing an offer, especially from one’s superior (as defined by society), is a breach of social order. Even so, conflict involving social drinking is easier to manage because it is less frequent and the religious reason can be explained.
More difficult is conflict involving green tea. It can occur multiple times a day, and the reason is inexplicable. It is widely believed in Japan that green tea has medicinal benefits. The Church could minimize the social costs of membership by simply acknowledging that situations exist where it is culturally unreasonable not to accept an offer of green tea.
What do you hope people take away from Unique But Not Different: Latter-day Saints in Japan?
Different people can take different messages from the book. Religious scholars might approach the book as a case study of how Christianity spreads to a non-Christian society. Missionaries and mission presidents may find a practical guide to missionary work in Japan (a friend suggested that the book be made required reading!).
What I personally would like the reader to take away from the book is that, while culture plays a critical role in the acceptance of a foreign religion, it can also change. Japan’s demographic trend is worrisome indeed. The declining population means a smaller pool of young people from which the Church has drawn most of its converts, and a larger share of older members. We estimate that more than 40 percent of active Latter-day Saints today are over the age of 60. It will become more and more difficult to run a full church program under the organizational structure of stakes and wards, and consolidation of stakes is already happening.
Yet, on the positive side, this demographic reality is driving drastic changes in Japan’s decades-long cultural practices and institutions in favor of creating greater inclusivity and greater tolerance for diversity. For example, it is forcing the government to accept more foreigners as long-term residents and to take concrete measures to promote the social participation of women.
We suggest in the conclusion of the book that the Church, taking this as a window of opportunity, could consider tailoring how it is managed to appeal to a larger segment of Japanese society, including by lowering the costs of membership where feasible through deliberate but measured institutional acculturation.
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About the interview participant
Shinji Takagi (MTS, Mediterranean and Near Eastern Studies, Vanderbilt Divinity School; PhD, economics, University of Rochester) is a professor emeritus of economics at Osaka University, Osaka, Japan. A specialist in international economics, Professor Takagi has also held senior positions at the International Monetary Fund in Washington DC and visiting professorships at Brigham Young and Yale Universities, among other places. The author of nearly two hundred publications in economics, he has also published more than a dozen publications in Mormon history and biblical studies.
Further Reading
- Global Mormonism: Latter-day Saints Around the World
- How Did the Church Start in Micronesia and Guam?
- Who Was the First Native Mexican Missionary?
- How Has the Church Interacted with the Pacific Islands?
- Who Were Mexico’s Latter-day Saint Pioneers?
Japanese Latter-day Saints Resources
- Unique But Not Different: Latter-day Saints in Japan (Greg Kofford Books)
- Strangers in a Strange Land: Heber J. Grant and the Opening of the Japanese Mission (Journal of Mormon History) [PDF]
- Tomizo and Tokujiro: The First Japanese Mormons (BYU Studies Quarterly)
- The Closing of the Early Japan Mission (BYU Studies)
- The LDS Hymnal: Views on Foreign Editions: The Japanese Hymnal (Dialogue)
Footnotes
- See “The LDS Church in Contemporary Japan: Failure or Success?” in R. Gordon Shepherd, A. Gary Shepherd, and Ryan T. Cragun [eds.], The Palgrave Handbook of Global Mormonism, 2021, Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 635–54. ↩︎
- See The Trek East: Mormonism Meets Japan, 1901–1968 (Salt Lake City: Greg Kofford Books, 2016). ↩︎
