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Freak_Out_Bazaar t1_j54peb1 wrote

It’s an interesting part of Japanese and Christian history. If it weren’t for the strict outlawing of foreign religions maybe Japan would have been a stronghold for Catholicism like South Korea and The Philippines

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ShalmaneserIII t1_j57qkr5 wrote

It would have required a lot of political upheaval, though- when the legitimacy of the government is based on the Emperor being divine, Christianity throws a wrench into things.

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jeanleonino OP t1_j57sq5k wrote

And... Christianity wasn't being brought in just for the religion sake. It was a way to open up the country for possible colonizers. Maybe there wouldn't be a Japan, but a British or Portuguese colony that would lose all its cultural roots.

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Freak_Out_Bazaar t1_j57w0te wrote

Japan would still exist. After all, South Korea, The Philippines and Mexico, exist. Beyond Europe I think it would be difficult to wipe out entire cultures

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jeanleonino OP t1_j580scd wrote

Not wipe, but completely change them yes - look at south east Asia, basically only Thailand survived intact.

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Shotgun_Sentinel t1_j586lmh wrote

Mexico and the Philippines are very much a Spanish colony in culture. Korea isn’t however.

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AngusLynch09 t1_j58cs7b wrote

Why would Japan have wanted to be a "stronghold for Catholicism" though?

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Kryptonthenoblegas t1_j58xkr1 wrote

I'm not sure how true it is but apparently prior to the ban catholicism was growing at a very rapid rate in japan, to the point every province had a catholic population of some kind. So I guess if you assume this would continue for some time, Japan would end up having a sizeable catholic population.

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