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Advantages if christian? (quit church) 2017/6/30 03:17
Hello,

First some short lines about myself. I started work a few month ago and it is expected that I will move to Japan (permanently) in around 1 year. I'm katholic but not a real believer and have to pay quite a sum of "church tax" every month. Now I thought about quitting church, but before I wanted to ask if there are some advantages in Japan when you are christian. For example like Kindergarten for children or school where your kids can enter more easily. Or would you say it wouldnt be a problem at all to find a kindergarten or a good school for your kids in Japan (half japanese kids)? Or other thinngs like marriage, ... .
by NoNamedOne (guest)  

Re: Advantages if christian?(quit church) 2017/6/30 10:35
I'm not catholic myself, so maybe someone else could tell you more accurately, but my feeling is that there's not a specific advantage to being catholic in japan. this is basically an atheist country. there are a few churches here and there, and maybe those places might provide some benefits to members of their community, just like when you join any other social group or organization, but nothing that might make a big difference in your life compared to the rest.

Again, I'm not catholic and might not know much, but anyway, can't you just "quit" being a catholic in the U.S. and become again a catholic here in Japan if you feel like doing so?
by gachimuchi (guest) rate this post as useful

Re: Advantages if christian?(quit church) 2017/6/30 10:50
No advantage whatsoever.
by KSB (guest) rate this post as useful

Re: Advantages if christian?(quit church) 2017/6/30 11:58
I wanted to ask if there are some advantages in Japan when you are christian

Do you mean if there are some advantages for being catholic in a country where less than 0.5% of people are catholic? In a country with very few churches? In a country where Shintoism is still the largest religion (also the one of the emperor)? In a country where Catholicism is still regarded as something gforeignh (if you go to some churches in Tokyo you may sometimes see more Filipinos than Japanese at the mass).

In a country without any televangelist? In a country where people, friends, colleagues, television, newspapers, never bother you about religion? In a country where a lot people define themselves as atheists? Well, I can say there is absolutely no advantage, which is good a thing by the way. I don't what you were expecting...
by Gaby (guest) rate this post as useful

Re: Advantages if christian?(quit church) 2017/6/30 13:02
i`m a catholic and i go to church every sunday. even before i do go sunday masses and daily mases at cathederal in osaka.
here in japan there is no monthly tax or impose leavy on the church members.

as a church member , have wedding , maybe free but using church wedding organiser will be much money.
as for schools, i think is expensive.
by chike20 rate this post as useful

Re: Advantages if christian? (quit church) 2017/6/30 15:23
The only physical advantage of being Catholic in Japan that I can think of is that you can easily organize your own ceremonies at a Catholic church, such as weddings and funerals, and be buried at a Catholic grave by a Catholic priest.

If you're not Catholic (such as being Protestant Christian or never have been baptized at all), you need to attend the Catholic church for several days or weeks or ask a Catholic family member to work as a go-between to have ceremonies done there. But as long as you go through that procedure, you can, for example, be married to a Catholic person without being baptized yourself.

Anyone is free to attend whatever mass or ceremony organized by other people at churches. If you're not baptized, you cannot taste the bread and wine at the Holy Communion, but you are usually welcome to queue with the Christians to be blessed by the priest.

Most pupils that attend Christian kindergartens/schools and their families have nothing to do with Christianity, and have very little knowledge of the religion until they enroll. So it's not a disadvantage to be non-Christian there.

By the way, I'm not sure what you mean by "quit". You can say farewell to one Catholic church and still be Catholic. What I mean is that it's not common here in Japan to resign your baptism unless you're converting to another religion for serious reasons. And as another poster said, it's not common to pay monthly fees to churches in Japan (although, if they're taking care of your family grave, perhaps you need to pay some kind of a fee regardless of the religion).

Just for reference, here is my background. I graduated three Christian schools here in Japan and never got baptized, I have Catholic friends who are Japanese, the only school that my non-Christian mother ever attended was a Catholic school in Japan, a couple of close relatives became Christian (Anglican) after becoming an adult, all family graves I'm related to are Buddhist apart from one, and I go to church every Christmas. People like me are not uncommon in Japan.
by Uco rate this post as useful

Re: Advantages if christian? (quit church) 2017/6/30 19:46
"Church Tax"? If you're required to pay this tax, I would leave the congregation of which you are a part. You shouldn't be required to pay anything.
by John B digs Japan rate this post as useful

Re: Advantages if christian? (quit church) 2017/6/30 21:18
Why you ask if you have any advantages of being an Christian. Really can't understand why you move to Japan.
by justmyday rate this post as useful

Re: Advantages if christian? (quit church) 2017/7/1 03:23
The answer from Uco-san is spot on. You need to realise that religion in Japan works different from some countries in Europe where access to some schools, kindergarten, care homes, hospitals, etc. can depend on you having the "right" religion and where therefore this can be worth considering.
So by all means, if you're moving to Japan and you're not religious, quit the church and pocket the money. If you ever feel bad about this, consider donating to charity and work off karma :-)
by H (guest) rate this post as useful

Re: Advantages if christian? (quit church) 2017/7/1 18:37
Hello again and thanks for all the answers, it helps me quite a lot for my decision.
For some that still have questions I cite "H"
___
[...] that religion in Japan works different from some countries in Europe where access to some schools, kindergarten, care homes, hospitals, etc. can depend on you having the "right" religion and where therefore this can be worth considering. [...]

That was mainly one of my main questions, bc that is the point here for me where I do live. Thats also why I thought that it could be the same in Japan, and since I heared that Kindergartens are quite full of their capacity, it could be an advantage, but what I understand so far, it isnt - which is good to hear.

Also, here I'm born into the katholic religion, but I'm not believer myself and for taxes, you automatically pay a percentage of your salary monthly. Since I do not get much back out of church, I wanted to use the money in another way, even donating would be better. And here you can "quite/leave" your religion, means you are not katholic anymore (still baptized) and you don't pay monthly "tax" to the church. (I mean they do support institutions, Kindergartens, but still ...).
~
Thanks again for all the replys and one big thanks to Uco for the detailed insight.
by NoNamedOne (guest) rate this post as useful

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