Many Japanese people have a strong sense of belonging towards their country and their ethnic group. They are proud of their land of the rising sun and are glad to be Japanese. This is why Shintoism, Japan’s original religion, has such a strong national component. For Japanese people, Shinto (the way of the gods) is part of being Japanese, and even for those who are not very religious, Japan is the land of the kami, the Shinto gods. These are nature spirits that inhabit rivers, trees, and even the land as a whole and have different responsibilities.

As a Japanese person, you feel obligated to the kami and try to live in harmony with them. When you have a wish or need a blessing, you go to a Shinto shrine and make your petition. When things are going well, you are grateful to the kami. When you build a new house, you must appease the kami who live on the property with a lengthy ceremony. And every year, festivals are held for the kami responsible for fertility and growth so that there will be another good harvest.

But in all their worship of the kami, the Japanese do not understand that there is only one true God and Creator who made Japan and all its inhabitants, and that all their blessings come from this Creator God alone. Japan is the land of God, and there is nothing more Japanese than living in gratitude and harmony with its Creator God.

Therefore, pray that the Japanese people as a nation will return to their God and Creator, walk in the way of their God, and bring their innate gratitude and reverence to where it belongs. Pray that they will understand that there is more to God than just getting along with one another, but that there is genuine love and acceptance.

Pray that the Japanese people will understand that they do not have to choose between the Christian God and their identity as Japanese, but that God himself has given them this character, and that he values and blesses them as a people.

Pray for healing of the soul of Japan. Pray that everything that has been broken and distorted by the worship of the creature instead of the Creator will be restored, and that Japanese culture will be freed from everything that deviates from the culture of the Kingdom of God.

The following song by the Christian musician Takafumi Nagasawa has moved us deeply in recent times. It is titled “Land of the Rising Sun” and sums up the above prayers well. It shows how important it is that Japanese Christians do not isolate themselves from their country, but humbly bow before their Creator and ask for healing as forerunners and representatives of their fellow countrymen.

English translation:

We long to see your face. / We humble ourselves and return to you. / Except in your name / there is no salvation for this land.
We will not let the light of prayer go out / and wait for the glory of the Lord.
Over this land so wounded / the sun of righteousness is rising. / It is the love and healing of the cross. / Arise and recover, land of the rising sun.
Your tears are wiped away. / In the light of a new dawn / let us bless the other nations / for the glory of the Lord.
Sing, land of the rising sun.