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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Northern Amami-Oshima of Japan

The Northern Amami-Oshima of Japan, numbering approximately 73,500 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are an ethnolinguistic community of Japan. They are an Indigenous people in the Japanese people cluster of the East Asian Peoples affinity bloc. Their primary language is Amami-Oshima, Northern and their primary religion is Shinbutsu-Shugo.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 3.1 Flash: Northern Amami-Oshima

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: East Asian Peoples
Country: Japan
People Cluster: Japanese
Primary Language(s): Amami-Oshima, Northern (ryn)
Primary Religion(s): Shinbutsu-Shugo
Population: 73,500
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG007574
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Pray for the Northern Amami-Oshima of Japan

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Shinbutsu-Shugo
Religious Affiliation: Ethnoreligion

95%
%
Shinbutsu-Shugo Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Amami-Oshima, Northern
Language Family: Japonic

85%
%
Amami-Oshima, Northern Speakers

Media Resources in Amami-Oshima, Northern:

Films:

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Bible Resources in Amami-Oshima, Northern:

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Or check out the Amami-Oshima, Northern bible at Bible.com

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Explore Lostness and Next Steps

Unengaged and Unreached

Strategic Priority Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached (SPI: 1), 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.
Lostness Priority Index (LPI): Frontier Unreached People Group, (LPI: 0), < 0.1% Evangelical.
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity (GSEC: 1), this people group is less than 2% evangelical, some evangelical resources are available, but there has been no active church planting among them within the past two years

Next steps for the Northern Amami-Oshima:
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

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Northern Amami-Oshima 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.

Next steps for the Northern Amami-Oshima:
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

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Northern Amami-Oshima 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.

Next steps for the Northern Amami-Oshima:
Empower local believers to begin praying for their own people
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting
Encourage local leaders to being leading church planting strategy and looking for Unreached and Unengaged groups nearby

Pray specifically for the Northern Amami-Oshima of Japan

For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols, but the LORD made the heavens.
read1 Chronicles 16:26

Pray that those among them who are lost and seeking after worthless idols will have the opportunity to hear and respond to the good news, seeing that Jesus is better than any idol.

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
readJohn 3:14-15

Pray that the lost will look to Jesus lifted up on the cross and believe in Him, gaining eternal life with God.

All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.
read2 Corinthians 5:18

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will serve as God's ambassadors, sharing the message of reconciliation with others.

"Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water."
readJohn 7:38

Ask God to raise up believers and sustain them as they cross cultures to share hope with those who need it. Pray that many might come to know Christ and that streams of living water will flow from their hearts so they will never thirst again.

Amami-Oshima, Northern Across Countries (ROP3 - 107434) 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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