In the United States, Japanese Americans have historically been among the three largest Asian American communities, but in recent decades, they have become the sixth largest group at roughly 1,304,286, including those of mixed-race or mixed-ethnicity.
About 800,000 are first generations Japanese (in contrast, about 90,000 American live in Japan but only about 1,000 are missionaries). In the 2000 census, the largest Japanese American communities were found in California with 394,896, Hawaii with 296,674, Washington with 56,210, New York with 45,237, and Illinois with 27,702.
There are about 180 “Japanese churches” in the United States which means there is about one church for every 5,000 Japanese. Here in Japan there is only one church for every 15,000 Japanese!
Pray for the Converge Japanese churches in the US in Boston, Detroit, Los Angeles, and Seattle. Pray too for the Japan Ministry Team (JMT) that is encouraging vision for new Japanese churches in the US. Japanese are very globalized and have their own diaspora.
(Portions courtesy of Ron Stoller)