The Japanese of Germany

The Japanese of Germany, numbering approximately 25,000 people, are Unengaged and Unreached. They are an East Asian people whose culture reflects the interaction of indigenous traditions, East Asian influences, island geography, and long historical continuity. Their Japanese language serves as one of the strongest markers of national identity. They mostly adhere to Shinbutsu-Shugo and Japanese is their primary language.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite: Japanese

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: East Asian Peoples
Country: Germany
People Cluster: Japanese
Primary Language(s): Japanese (jpn)
Primary Religion(s): Shinbutsu-Shugo
Population: 25,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG042427
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Japanese of Germany

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Shinbutsu-Shugo
Religious Affiliation: Ethnoreligion

70%
%
Shinbutsu-Shugo Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Japanese
Language Family: Japonic

100%
%
Japanese Speakers

Media Resources in Japanese:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film
JESUSView Film
MagdalenaView Film

3 films

Bible Resources in Japanese:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
Japanese Contemporary Bible✓

1 entry

Or check out the Japanese bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

Explore Lostness and Next Steps

Unengaged and Unreached

Strategic Priority Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached (SPI: 0), 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): Pioneer Unreached People Group, (LPI: 1), 0.1% or Greater but Less than 0.5% 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 Japanese:
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

Pray specifically for the Japanese of Germany

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
readRom 6:23

Pray that those who haven't heard yet will hear and believe that the wages of their sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."
readJohn 8:12

Pray that many will come to know Jesus, the light of the world, and have the light of life instead of walking in darkness.

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.

For so the Lord has commanded us, saying, “‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’”
readActs 13:47

Pray that as people come to faith, they will follow the Lord's leading to go to their neighbors and share the treasure they found in Christ.

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

Strategic Progress Index
All

21 people groups

PhotoPeople Group ID ▲NameCountryPopulationStrategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
JapaneseJapaneseFrance24,500Unengaged and UnreachedJapaneseShinbutsu-Shugo
JapaneseJapanesePortugal700Unengaged and UnreachedJapaneseShinbutsu-Shugo
JapaneseJapaneseChina172,000Unengaged and UnreachedJapaneseShinbutsu-Shugo
JapaneseJapaneseTaiwan9,600Unengaged and UnreachedJapaneseShinbutsu-Shugo
JapaneseJapaneseJapan119,550,000Engaged yet UnreachedJapaneseShinbutsu-Shugo
JapaneseJapaneseAustralia57,500Engaged yet UnreachedJapaneseShinbutsu-Shugo
JapaneseJapaneseNew Zealand21,500No Longer UnreachedJapaneseShinbutsu-Shugo
JapaneseJapaneseSingapore43,000Engaged yet UnreachedJapaneseShinbutsu-Shugo
JapaneseJapaneseBrazil1,750,000Engaged yet UnreachedPortugueseShinbutsu-Shugo
JapaneseJapaneseMicronesia950Unengaged and UnreachedJapaneseShinbutsu-Shugo
JapaneseJapaneseMalaysia17,000No Longer UnreachedJapaneseShinbutsu-Shugo
JapaneseJapaneseDominican Republic2,300Unengaged and UnreachedJapaneseShinbutsu-Shugo
JapaneseJapaneseArgentina41,000Unengaged and UnreachedJapaneseShinbutsu-Shugo
JapaneseJapaneseBolivia21,000Unengaged and UnreachedSpanishShinbutsu-Shugo
JapaneseJapanesePanama2,300No Longer UnreachedJapaneseShinbutsu-Shugo
JapaneseJapanesePeru168,000Engaged yet UnreachedSpanishShinbutsu-Shugo
JapaneseJapaneseSpain2,400Engaged yet UnreachedJapaneseShinbutsu-Shugo
JapaneseJapaneseGermany25,000Unengaged and UnreachedJapaneseShinbutsu-Shugo
JapaneseJapaneseUnited States1,530,000Engaged yet UnreachedJapaneseShinbutsu-Shugo
JapaneseJapaneseCanada82,500Engaged yet UnreachedJapaneseShinbutsu-Shugo
JapaneseJapaneseHong Kong10,000Unengaged and UnreachedJapaneseMahayana Buddhism

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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