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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Japanese of Japan

The Japanese of Japan, numbering approximately 119,920,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are an East Asian ethnic group native to the Japanese archipelago. They are an Indigenous people, in the Japanese people cluster of the East Asian Peoples affinity bloc. Their primary religion is Ethnoreligion - Shinbutso-shugo. They primarily speak Japanese.

Japanese in Hong Kong photo
Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 3 Flash: Japanese

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Asian Pacific Rim Peoples
Country: Japan
People Cluster: Japanese
Primary Language(s): Japanese (jpn)
Primary Religion(s): Ethnoreligion - Shinbutso-shugo
Population: 119,920,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Active CP Activity
People Group ID: PG007559
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Pray for the Japanese of Japan

Join others around the world in praying for the lost to be saved, the gospel to advance, the global Church to grow, and for laborers to be sent out and sustained in the harvest.

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Ethnoreligion - Shinbutso-shugo
Religious Affiliation: Ethnoreligion

%
Ethnoreligion - Shinbutso… Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Japanese
Language Family: Japonic

%
Japanese Speakers

Media Resources in Japanese:

Films:

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Japanese:

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Japanese bible resources at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

Next steps for the Japanese

The Japanese are Unengaged and Unreached, which means there are less than 2% evangelical Christian populations among which there are no known efforts focused on establishing self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice.

Begin signifcant prayer and fasting for this group
Send cross-cultural teams to discover and research this people group
Begin gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group

Next steps for the Japanese

The Japanese are Engaged yet Unreached, which means there are less than 2% evangelical Christian populations but there are sustained efforts at establishing self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice.

Continue prayer and fasting for this group
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group
Begin training up local leaders to lead and develop strategies to reach their own people

Next steps for the Japanese

The Japanese are No Longer Unreached, which means there are more than 2% evangelical Christian populations and there are churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice. There is still more to be done among them.

Empower local believers to begin praying for their own people
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group
Encourage local leaders to being leading church planting strategy and looking for Unreached and Unengaged groups nearby

Pray specifically for the Japanese of Japan

"And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
readJohn 8:32

Pray for those who live enslaved to sin to hear and receive the truth of the gospel and be set free.

After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth. And he said to him, “Follow me.” And leaving everything, he rose and followed him.
readLuke 5:27-28

Prat that God will prepare many hearts to meet Him when He says, “Follow Me!” and that they will respond in faith, leaving everything behind to follow Him.

Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.
readColossians 2:6-7

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will be rooted and built up in Him, abounding in thanksgiving for the grace and mercy He has shown them.

And thus I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else's foundation, but as it is written, "Those who have never been told of him will see, and those who have never heard will understand."
readRomans 15:20-21

Pray that God will send believers to cross cultures and proclaim the gospel where Christ has not been named, so that the nations might glorify God for His mercy.

Japanese (ROP3 - 104189) reported in the following countries:

To download a comprehensive people group list in spreadsheet form, visit our Research Data page.

Peoplegroups.org relies on updates from the field and other organizations for much of our data, so if you have any updates, please contact us. We use various international naming standards. For a list of these standards and fields, visit our Definitions page.

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