Foreign Missionaries, 1900–1945: Japan

This chapter covers the expansion of Catholic foreign missions in Japan from 1900 to the conclusion of the Second World War in 1945. After the resumption of Catholic missions under the Paris Society of Foreign Missions and the decision of the Meiji oligarchs to issue an edict of toleration toward Christianity in the late nineteenth century, the twentieth century experienced a steady expansion of new Catholic missions sending agents drawn from across Europe and North America. But, the twentieth century also saw Catholic missionaries encounter a rapidly changing modern society and the emergence of a vast Japanese empire with colonies sprawling into East Asia and across the Pacific Ocean. The chapter covers the geographic expanse and growing diversity of Catholic missions, the controversy surrounding Sophia University and “Shrine Question” of the 1930s, and the contributions of missionaries to Japan’s modernization in areas such as education, social reform, and modern medicine. It also covers the relations of Catholic missionaries to notable Japanese Catholic intellectuals and the aim of the Vatican to make the faith a more indigenous religion. Lastly, the chapter analyzes how Japan’s empire initially benefited from the spread of Catholic missions into new areas such as Okinawa and Hokkaido, but later led to a sharp contraction of mission work during the Second World War. The conflict forced many missionaries to abandon fields across East Asia and the islands of the Pacific Ocean and ravaged the work of Catholic institutions inside Japan, destroying many of the accomplishments and infrastructure that had been built in the first half of the twentieth century to project Catholic influence.