Only in Japan
Re: Japanese young adults wearing rosaries as fashion statements
In Japan, there are places that a Westerner might mistake for churches. The Japanese want to get married like the Westerners they see in movies, so they have created gaudy and sacreligious "wedding halls," complete with crosses and Christian imagery. The folks geeting married in these halls haven't the foggiest idea of what Christianity is all about; they just like the atmosphere. It is said that the Japanese are born as Shintoists, married as Christians, and die as Buddhists. In reality, they are perhaps the most irreligious people in the world.
Koreans have also adopted Western weddings and have created "wedding halls" as well, filled with chinsy plastic rococo decorations, but at least they have left the crosses in churches.
Japan has a Christian population of only 1%, whereas Korea's is about 35%. This probably explains the greater cultural sensitivity of Koreans in this matter.
To be fair, Japanese wearing rosaries for fashion is not unlike the young people in the West who wear the yin-yang symbol just because it "looks cool."
Re: Japanese young adults wearing rosaries as fashion statements
In Japan, there are places that a Westerner might mistake for churches. The Japanese want to get married like the Westerners they see in movies, so they have created gaudy and sacreligious "wedding halls," complete with crosses and Christian imagery. The folks geeting married in these halls haven't the foggiest idea of what Christianity is all about; they just like the atmosphere. It is said that the Japanese are born as Shintoists, married as Christians, and die as Buddhists. In reality, they are perhaps the most irreligious people in the world.
Koreans have also adopted Western weddings and have created "wedding halls" as well, filled with chinsy plastic rococo decorations, but at least they have left the crosses in churches.
Japan has a Christian population of only 1%, whereas Korea's is about 35%. This probably explains the greater cultural sensitivity of Koreans in this matter.
To be fair, Japanese wearing rosaries for fashion is not unlike the young people in the West who wear the yin-yang symbol just because it "looks cool."
Redeemed by Our Savior, I work out my salvation with fear and trembling in Pohang, South Korea, where I live with my wife, daughter, and son and teach English at a science and technology university. Baptized a Methodist and raised a Missouri Synod Lutheran in Buffalo, NY, I spent six years as a guest of the Anglican Communion before being received by the Grace of God into the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church on the Feast of Saint Andrew, my patron, anno domini 2002.
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