Religion: Christianity in Japan

The Japanese last week sold to U.S. Protestantism the idea that their new united Japan Christian Church is much better than it has been painted by journalists and missionaries recalled or soon-to-be-recalled from Nippon.

The selling was done by nine top-ranking Japanese Christians who foregathered unofficially with 16 influential representatives of U.S. churches at Riverside, Calif. After six days, the Americans seemed satisfied that there was nothing to get excited about in the recent restrictions on missionary activity in Japan. Briefly, the story told by Bishop Yoshimune Abe and his comrades was this:

For the first time in history, last summer war became...