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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

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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

"I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world."
readJohn 16:33

Pray that those who don't have peace with God will find peace in Christ, even amid the troubles of this world.

For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.
read2 Timothy 4:3-4

Pray that the lost will be open to the truth of the gospel and turn from false teachings and myths to the sound doctrine of Christ in faith.

And after she was baptized, and her household as well, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.” And she prevailed upon us.
readActs 16:15

Pray that God will bring entire families and households to faith in Him and raise up servant-leaders from among them.

And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marveled.
readMark 5:20

Pray that God will bring people who appear beyond hope to faith in Jesus and that they will then go and tell others of the marvelous things He has done.

Amami-Oshima, Northern Across Countries (ROP3 - 107434) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulationStrategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion ▼
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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