A Japanese-language version of "The Evidence," a half-hour television broadcast presenting life issues with a secular audience in mind, began airing on three commercial television stations in the country early this month.
A Japanese-language version of “The Evidence,” a half-hour television broadcast presenting life issues with a secular audience in mind, began airing on three commercial television stations in the country early this month.
TV Kanagawa began on Oct. 2, and TV Saitama and Chiba TV on Oct. 3. The programs will air every week until the end of December this year.
According to Pastor Masumi Shimada, communication director for the Adventist Church in Japan, the broadcast is the first for the church in Japan since the 1980s.
“It will bring attention to millions [of] people in Japan,” he said.
“The Evidence” Japanese broadcast is a preamble to an evangelistic seminar by series presenter Dwight Nelson at the Amanuma Adventist Church in November. “We expect many [from the] TV audience will come to this these meetings,” said Shimada.
Dr. Tadaomi Shinmyo, senior pastor of the Amanuma Seventh-day Adventist Church in Tokyo, said he “had a phone call from a viewer in Tokyo who said the second program, discussing evolution, was very impressive and [they] would attend the evangelistic meetings.”
In the Kansai region, which is west of Tokyo and includes the cities of Osaka, Kyoto, and Nara, the programs will air from April to June of 2005.
Followers of Shinto and Buddhism make up make up approximately 84 percent of Japan’s population. Others religions—including Christianity, which comprises only 0.7 percent—make up the balance.
