Religious Cult at the Door

Just out of interest, how would you handle this in your home country? Is it something the police would intervene in?
Though usually well intended, some groups try to use social etiquettes to take advantage of people. In my opinion, since they have crossed the line in terms of politeness, you are now free to be 'rude' like completely ignoring them. No need to explain yourselves or interact any further.

Many thanks for the support.

Although my home country is not as developed as Japan, but we indeed have some strict laws (up to 3 years in jail) on forcibly (physically as well as mentally) persuading, agitating, and propagating religion and cult among general public. A psychological attack and privacy/personal disturbance will get even more years. But still you can have your own religious freedom in my home country. If one can prove the mental damage, you can be fully granted by the judge to claim and receive "moral damage compensation".

@hakata14: Thank you, I absolutely agree with your comment. I imagined them as predators looking for weak prey at any given chance. Very sadly, they are using generally accepted/respected social etiquette.

Interesting; it seems your home country is much stricter about religion. As an American, I can say Japan is about the same when it comes to religious freedom and freedom of speech. Like with your Hiroshima Park example: there is nothing to stop someone from being nice to you in order to get you to take their flyer. It's annoying, but not illegal to mislead people when only a personal relationship is on the line. One day you may find yourself invited out to lunch by someone who is shaping up to be a new friend, only to find out half-way through your meal that they're trying to recruit you!

However, physically preventing you from closing your door is clearly too much. I agree with the others that if that happens, you can call the police. Or, if you want to be even more aggressive, demand that they come with you to the koban to explain themselves.

Nope, my home country cares more about its own people's comfort, morality, and quality of life. These cult groups are acting in the name of "Freedom of Speech" as "mental terrorists" for their hidden agenda. What happens here if all religious (e.g. islam, sikh, etc.) and cult (e.g. Aum Shinrikyo) groups do the same here or there? If they are all line up in front of some stations like JW does, what will happen with people's life and society order? It will be a total mess and chaos. I do not say that a cult/religion persuasion does not happen in my home country. It indeed happens but very gradually depending on the other person's interest in your talk on religion or cult if you open up slowly. Living in Europe and the US, I found here people have very much hidden and scared, not sincere. That's why even I simply and politely ask my direction on the street with "sumimasen", some totally refuse and some get very scared before understanding my question in Japanese and answering. I feel very sorry for them.

I am quite surprised to hear of this kind of overtly aggressive behaviour. I've lived in Japan for over 20 years and had LOTS of these religious zealots knocking on my door. But they have always been perfectly polite and cleared off as soon as I've politely told them I'm not interested.

I'm curious to know how often these guys come round and whether its always just one particular group.
But if being polite isn't doing the trick, then I definitely agree with adopting an aggressive and even rude tone. Just tell them in a load and angry voice to 'f...k off' (do it in your own language if you like, they'll get the message). Even better would be for you wife to be with you and pretending to make a call to the cops at the same time.

As somebody said in an earlier comment, ' As they prey on the weak that do not have the confidence to fight back against their poor behaviour. When they realize they are up against someone strong, they back peddle quite quickly like dogs with their tales between their legs.'

@Andy (guest): I absolutely agree with your suggestion and I will definitely try it next time if they show up. In my personal opinion, these kinds of cult groups are well planned and they have all the information about the reputation of area and building where we live and people. If lower reputation (lower income people residence), they visit more frequently (in our case, mostly Saturdays). They re-organize and change the visiting people in order not to be recognized on the streets in case of sudden encounter. So far in nearly 7 years of living here, we encountered with the members of JW, LDS, and Korean cult group (we do not know the exact name).

I used to have a lot of different religious people show up at my door and also put pamphlets and fliers through the mail slot. But since I put a sign on my door that says 宗教勧誘禁止 it has stopped. Even though it doesn't look very nice maybe it will help you to do something similar?