Posted by:
T-Bone
(
)
Date: June 29, 2022 11:37AM
As someone who lives in Japan, walking distance to the Tokyo temple, I'll chime in.
As far as Japanese members, I do remember some converts in the 90's. They were the typical cult targets. Loners, going through a crisis, or just socially awkward. The members in Tokyo love-bombed them, invited them over for dinner, and showered them with praise.
There are some foreigners in Japan who were sent over by their companies. The company has a massive housing budget, and they want their executives to be comfortable, so they put them in huge homes that are not accessible to all but the richest of the rich in Japan.
My apartment, for example, was about 250 sq feet when I first moved to Tokyo. The kitchen was in the hallway between the front door and the bedroom. There was no living room or dining room, no dishwasher, a washer but no dryer, and the bathtub was ½ the size of an American bathtub.
Most foreign execs have at least 2500 square feet, with a living room, dining room, full American style kitchen with a dishwasher, and a laundry room with a washer and dryer. Most Japanese in Tokyo don't have a car. If you do have a car, a parking space can cost upwards of $500. Visiting execs get a car, gas allowance, and free parking in the building.
When Japanese members get invited over for dinner after church to one of these homes, they are blown away. The foreign members, who usually were usually missionaries in Japan, explain that if you follow the gospel, you'll be blessed, too. This was a huge recruiting tool for the LDS church in the 90's.
These days, there are fewer and fewer foreigners in Japan getting the royal treatment. And it has really hurt the recruiting.
As far as Japan being a fertile ground for cult recruiting, it's it and miss. There are some very charismatic cult-types who get into MLMs and have giant networks. Japanese seem to like following someone who tells them what they want to hear.
But when it comes to Mormonism, the LDS church ain't selling what Japanese want. Who wants to go to church on Sunday when you've worked all week? Many Japanese kids go to school on Saturday and have homework on Sunday. Most office workers use Sunday as a day to catch up on sleep.
Japanese LOVE LOVE LOVE to drink. In fact, if you don't drink it's hard to do business. And they don't see anything wrong with drinking. There's no shame in it. Recently, I saw a woman pick up the phone and ask the person on the other end, "Where are you drinking tonight?"
Japanese also don't see anything wrong with premarital sex. Of course, it's not good to be promiscuous, but when people are getting married at 30, they most likely didn't wait for marriage.
Japanese don't see anything wrong with p*rn, either. It's not celebrated, but it's not a career-breaker. There are some famous actresses who got their big break in the adult film industry. There are transvestites on TV. Look up Matsuko Deluxe.
In other words, there aren't many taboos in Japan. We hear that Japan is a shame-based culture, but it's quite different from the shame-based culture in the US. In the US, where Mormonism started, shame comes from personal sin. A boy at BYU visits a "dirty" web site and touches himself? He's not worthy to go to the temple. A girl and her boyfriend go all the way? They'd better get married or nobody is going to want them. They're damaged goods, according to Mormonism.
In Japan, you don't do anything that will bring shame to your family or your company. You don't fail your team. If you don't hit your target at work, you'll hear about it. If the teacher tells your parents you aren't doing your homework, you've brought shame on your parents. Don't embarrass them. Speaking of embarrassment, some Japanese women say they don't care if their husband cheats as long as he doesn't fall in love and he doesn't embarrass her by getting caught. And he'd better not spend money that the kids need for school on "that woman".
So Mormonism ain't selling what Japanese want or need.
Recently, I told my wife, who is Japanese, that she'd be the perfect Mormon wife. She is loyal, faithful, thrifty, supportive, and she wants to have children. She retorted, "I don't need a religion to tell me that." I think I've seen her drink once a year since we met. I don't even think she drank at our wedding reception.
I don't have any hard numbers, but I don't expect the Mormon church to grow any time soon. They're too uptight. They have too many taboos. And who wants to get up on Sunday, give up drinking alcohol and coffee, give up premarital sex, and pay 10% of their income for the privilege of being told they're sinful. F*** that.