From desert to oasis: the miracle of Christmas in Japan
12/29/2007
by Pino Cazzaniga

In the land of the Rising Sun, signed by secularism and commercialism, misery and suicide, Christianity offers “a trustworthy hope” of which the pope speaks in his encyclical. The tale of Christmas Eve from our correspondent, and PIME missionary.

Tokyo (AsiaNews) – The feast of Christmas is the best mirror to reflect the reality of Christianity in this nation. Virtually none of the 122 million Japanese ignore that fact that kurisumasu (from Christmas) is the principle holiday of December even if few know of its origins.

In order to understand how it is celebrated, we must divide Japan into two areas: the desert and the oasis. The desert is the image of all of Japan, its territories and people; the oasis its Christians Churched. Many of these oasis risk being overtaken by the desert sands, others instead are centres and sources of hope and attraction for the evangelisation of these people. the rest image