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The Northern Amami-Oshima of Japan

The Northern Amami-Oshima of Japan, numbering approximately 73,500 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are a Ryukyuan community of northern Amami Oshima in Japan's Amami Islands, distinguished by a linguistically distinct Japonic dialect now spoken mainly by elders as younger generations shift to Japanese-accented regional speech. They mostly adhere to Shinbutsu-Shugo and Northern Amami-Oshima is their primary language.

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): Northern Amami-Oshima (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

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: Shinbutsu-Shugo
Religious Affiliation: Ethnoreligion

95%
%
Shinbutsu-Shugo Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Northern Amami-Oshima
Language Family: Japonic

85%
%
Amami-Oshima, Northern Speakers

Media Resources in Northern Amami-Oshima:

Films:

No film resources are listed for this language.

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

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Bible Resources in Northern Amami-Oshima:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

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

Linked from YouVersion

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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

Pray specifically for the Northern Amami-Oshima of Japan

But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.
read1 Timothy 6:9

Pray for those, rich and poor, who have put their trust in worldly things, and ask that they will be honest with themselves, acknowledge their need for God and turn to Him.

For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.
readRomans 5:10

Pray that God will remove obstacles to the gospel so that many will see the hope He offers through the death, burial, and resurrection of His Son, and be transformed from being enemies to being His friends.

So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
readRomans 6:11

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will lay down all evil desires, dying to sin and living for Him alone.

"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:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulationStrategic Progress Index ▼LanguageReligion
Northern Amami-OshimaPG007574Northern Amami-OshimaJapan73,500Engaged yet UnreachedNorthern Amami-OshimaShinbutsu-Shugo

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 Data Standards section.

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