Guide to the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. Commission on Ecumenical Mission and Relations Secretaries' Files: Japan Mission

The Board of Foreign Missions (PCUSA) began plans for work in Japan shortly after the conclusion of a Japanese-American treaty in 1854. In 1855, the Board instructed the Reverend D.B. McCartee of the China mission to travel to Japan and ascertain where it would be practical to open a station. His repeated efforts to secure passage from Shanghai were a failure. Three years later, the Board appointed Dr. James C. Hepburn and his wife Clara as the first Presbyterian missionaries to Japan. They arrived in Yokohama in October of 1859.

Early mission endeavors in Japan were beset by considerable difficulties. The missionaries were regarded with suspicion and dislike; their motives were misunderstood and their purpose misrepresented. Conversions were especially difficult, given the overwhelmingly Buddhist population, and social ostracism and persecution awaited those who became Christians. This xenophobia subsided after 1896, and by the beginning of the twentieth century its force had been spent.

Despite the hostility experienced by the missionaries throughout the closing decades of the 19th century, expansion of mission activities did continue, albeit at a slow pace. In 1869, Tokyo station was opened, followed by Osaka in 1877. Work in Kanazawa, the largest city on the west coast and a stronghold of conservative Buddhism, was established in 1879. Although a church had been established in Hiroshima in 1883, the station was not formally constituted until 1887. Hokkaido station was established the same year. In 1890, Kyoto was occupied, followed by Yamaguchi (which merged in 1935 with Hiroshima into the Sanyo station), Otaru in 1894, Matsuyama and Asanigawa in 1900 and Nokkeushi in 1914. Fukui was constituted in 1891 but closed by the Board in 1923. In 1907, work commenced at Port Arthur and continued until 1923. Following the reunion of the Presbyterian and Cumberland Presbyterian Churches in 1907, the work at Osaka, Wakayama, Yamada and Tsu was transferred to the Board of Foreign Missions.

The mission's work in Japan was primarily educational and evangelistic. Because of the extensive Japanese system of hospitals and primary schools, no effort was made by the Board to compete. The lack of adequate secondary and higher education facilities for girls and young women resulted in the establishment of several Christian institutions, including Joshi Gakuin (1873), Wilmina Jo Gakuin (1907) and the Woman's Christian College (1918). In addition, the mission conducted ten kindergartens, a boys' middle school and college (Meiji Gakuin), and an Oral School for the Deaf. The mission also cooperated in the operation of two theological seminaries.

The beginnings of an indigenous national church in Japan date from 1872, when the first local church was organized in Yokohama. In 1877, representatives of the PCUSA, the Reformed Church in America and the United Presbyterian Church of Scotland established the United Church of Christ in Japan and were later joined by the Presbyterian Church in the U.S. and the Reformed Church in the United States.