Monolingual clergy in a multilingual Japanese Church

 In the 1970s, a change was taking place in Japanese society that would have a significant impact on the life of the Church in the country. As the number of Japanese people available to work on farms and in factories declined in number while increasing in age, the country was forced to reluctantly open its borders to workers from overseas. A significant portion of those workers are Catholics from Brazil, Peru, the Philippines, Vietnam and other countries. In fact, most of Japan’s Catholics are not Japanese.