Editor’s note: This July, we are praying for the Chinese diaspora throughout Asia. This week Ruth, a Chinese missionary in Japan, introduces us to the many Chinese living in Japan. She and her family hope that, as they minister to Chinese, they will also be able to share the hope of the gospel with the Japanese. Today, she tells us about the struggles Chinese face as they seek to establish themselves in Japan.
Meet the Missionaries
China Partnership: Can you introduce yourself, your family, and your church?
Lily: Before I married my husband, both of us already had a fairly clear missionary calling. We studied theology, then planted a church in [a northeastern Chinese city]. We hoped we could become missionaries, sent out by our own church. God prepared everything very smoothly. We were successfully sent out by our church as missionaries, and came to Japan a few years ago.
We have already begun an international church in Japan. So far, our main group is still Mandarin-speaking Chinese, but our goal is not only to serve the Chinese community. Our church has some second-generation bilingual Chinese, and some second-generation Chinese who speak only Japanese. We are also very grateful that a Japanese auntie came to faith among us a month or two ago.
Waves of Immigration to Japan
CP: What are the needs of the Chinese community in your city? What struggles and hopes do Chinese in Japan commonly face? And what kind of challenges do they encounter as they adapt cross-culturally?
Lily: It may be clearer if we briefly review the history of Chinese in Japan. There were three waves: the 1980s, where science and engineering international students came to earn money; the 1990s and 2000s, where many came for tech-related fields and better career opportunities; and then 2015 to the present, where many people brought their families seeking a better education and better life.
The main struggle of these groups is identity. They know they are Chinese. But living in Japanese society, there is a sense of not quite fitting in.
Then there are descendants of Chinese in Japan. The children of those first migrants may now be second- or even third-generation. Some were born and raised in Japan, while others spent part of their childhood in China and then came to Japan. The cultural world of first category is basically Japanese, and mainly shaped by Japanese culture. Another group is shaped by both Chinese and Japanese cultures.
The main struggle of these groups is identity. They know they are Chinese. But living in Japanese society, there is a sense of not quite fitting in. On the surface, they appear to form a stable part of the structure of Japanese society, and would find it hard to return to China. But even so – do they truly belong to Japanese society? This struggle is a major part of their experience.
Their dreams are not mainly for themselves, but for their descendants. Many Chinese born and raised in Japan choose Japanese citizenship when they grow up, because many basically cannot even speak Chinese. Some hope to migrate again, to what they consider an even better country.
For those who have not been in Japan very long and have not yet obtained long-term, stable status, the struggle is security and stability. Japan’s immigration policies toward Chinese communities have tightened, which creates great unease. Can people settle down amid a rapidly changing Japanese society and a rapidly changing global economy?
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New immigrants here less than five years have even greater struggles. Language, finances, family, understanding culture and adapting to Japanese society all bring many challenges.
Identity: Who Am I?
For [children raised here], identity is a deep struggle: “Who am I? Japanese people look at me and think I am Chinese; Chinese people look at me and think I am Japanese.” They seem to know the gospel, but they have not truly gained a God-given identity from the gospel. They may be a confused generation.
Although Japan accepts immigrants from many countries, it is still a nation with strong ethnic homogeneity. Its culture is very strong, and is not highly open.
There are real survival challenges: basic consumption is very high. In Japan, it is even possible to go hungry, because the basic cost of living – rice, flour, cooking oil, food, housing, transportation – is high. These are struggles that would be hard to imagine facing in China.
For children of Chinese families who were born and raised in Japan, there is this issue: their families keep telling them, “You are Chinese,” but they have never understood China and cannot identify themselves as Chinese.
One feature of Japanese society that may be more pronounced than in other countries is that Japan is a collectivist society. There is a strong tendency to go along with the crowd; if everyone else is doing something, it is hard not to. Although Japan accepts immigrants from many countries, it is still a nation with strong ethnic homogeneity. Its culture is very strong, and is not highly open. There is something overwhelming about this. If someone does not have an identity rooted in the gospel, it can be very painful.
The descendants of Chinese in Japan face major challenges in their relationships with their parents. Some Chinese children are Japanese not only in language, but in their way of thinking. Their parents, however, may not even speak Japanese well. This means the generations may be unable to communicate deeply. It’s very common that children become dissatisfied with their parents’ Chinese way of doing things. Parent-child relationships are deeply entangled with language and cultural differences.
Passing the Faith to the Next Generation
For Christians, faith transmission is a major issue. Around fourth grade, Chinese children in Japan “must” attend cram school and take entrance exams for private middle schools. Not only does this consume money; more importantly, it consumes time. A lot of these children stop coming to church around this time. In their parents’ choices, the children see their parents’ values: “Oh, God is not that important; worship and commitment to the church are not that important. You tell me to believe in God, but when decisions are made, it’s cram school.” Parents subtly pass on to their children society’s values: faster, higher, stronger, and better.
This is a very, very big challenge. I met some sisters here who were deeply grieved their children no longer came to church. We reflected together on when their child’s attitude toward faith began to change, and they traced it back to those moments and choices. The important question is: what is your primary identity? Are you seeking identity from Japanese society, or are you living in the identity Christ gives you?
This becomes more visible in this Japanese social culture, but is a general issue in Christian families’ transmission of faith. If you care about your child’s faith, that concern must be embodied in every daily decision. This is the challenge facing the church: we cannot skip the first generation and directly shepherd the second generation. We can only reach children through the parents; we cannot skip one generation and directly enter the next.
What is your primary identity? Are you seeking identity from Japanese society, or are you living in the identity Christ gives you?
It is essential for the church to proclaim the gospel in a contextualized way. Children need to see God’s grace, love, and power in the gospel. They must not simply be pushed into church community or seek Chinese identity in the church community – they must truly come to know God there. In God, they receive a renewed identity. Then, as they live on earth, they can become genuine witnesses of the kingdom of heaven. That is the foundation for a stable identity in the future.
The most important thing for Chinese Christians is their faith, their relationship with God, their identity in Christ, and whether they can live out that real identity in society. This may also be the biggest challenge.
Ruth is a pseudonym for a Chinese Christian leader. She and her husband have two sons, and serve as missionaries in Japan.
Pray for Chinese Christians in Japan to root their identity in Christ and his love for them.
