Japan and Korea.—Portuguese traders first brought the Christian faith to Japan in 1542, followed by Xavier in By 1581 there were 200 churches and 150,00o Christians. In 1594 there were one and a half million Christians. There fol lowed a time of great persecution under Iyeyasu who in his second edict in 1614 forbade the entry of foreigners and ex tinguished Christianity by fire and sword.
The reopening of the country came in 1859, largely through American pressure, and in that year the Protestant Episcopal Church began work in Nagasaki. In 1868 the seclusion of Japan ended; financiers and engineers poured in from western Europe, and teachers, mainly missionaries, from America. In 1872 the first Japanese church was formed. In 1875 Joseph Neesima, con verted by a Russian missionary and educated in America, founded the Christian Japanese College, the Doshisha, in Kyoto.
The war with China in 1894 initiated a time of intense national activity. Education and work for women made rapid advance and the work of missionaries, and especially that of Japanese ministers, prospered greatly. Christians more and more became prominent in public life.
In 1912 was held a conference of religions, when the govern ment invited representatives of Shintoism, Buddhism and Chris tianity to meet and discuss the moral education of Japan. This recognition of Christianity as a religion tolerable in Japan marked in a way the beginning of a new epoch.
The Protestant community of Japan is about 165,00o (the Roman Catholics 8o,000 and Orthodox 30,000) with 3,500 Jap anese workers. It would be fair to say that Christians exercise an influence far greater than their numbers.
In Korea, early Roman Catholic Christianity introduced at the end of the 18th century was exterminated in 1864, but mission aries entered again in the 'eighties and the Methodist Episcopal Church, the Presbyterians of America, of Canada, and of Aus tralia, and the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel have all developed work in the country. A Korean National Christian Council has been formed, and the Korean Christian leaders are pressing for some attention to be given to the bearing of Chris tianity on economic and social issues.
Burma is that of the American Baptists, founded by Adoniram Judson in 1813. The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel has a mission in Burma, and both societies have had much success with the Karens, a non-Burmese people of whom a con siderable portion have now become Christian.
In Tongking and Annam, French colonies, Roman Catholic missions are extensive and strong.
In the Malay States practically no work is done among the Moslems, but a good deal among the Indians and other immigrant people, largely by the Methodist Episcopal Church. In the Straits Settlements, the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, the Methodist Episcopal Church, the English Presby terians and the Church of England Zenana Missionary Society are all at work. In the Dutch Indies naturally the work has fallen to the Netherlands Missionary Society (1812) and other Dutch agencies, which have been highly successful. There is an important German Mission, the Rhenish, working among the Bataks of Sumatra. In Dutch Borneo, the Rhenish Society is making headway among the Dyaks, and in British Borneo and Sarawak the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel and the Methodist Episcopal Church. The total number of Christians in British Malaysia and the Dutch East Indies is about 857,800, including 6o,000 Roman Catholics.
The chief missions working in this area are the Church Mis sionary Society in Persia, Palestine and Egypt, the American Board in Turkey, the American Presbyterians in Persia and Syria and the American United Presbyterians in Egypt. There is also a mission of the American Reformed Church in Arabia in the Koweit region, and a mission of the United Free Church of Scotland near Aden. The establishment of well equipped colleges at Constantinople, Beirut, Smyrna, Cairo and other centres has been the distinguishing feature of the American mission policy in this area.