Signs of the Times, Japan’s longest running Christian magazine, celebrated its 100th anniversary June 30, bringing Seventh-day Adventist Church leaders from around the region together at Tachikawa Church, Tokyo, to reflect on the history and impact of the monthly magazine.

“There is no Christian magazine in Japan, besides the Signs of the Times, which has continued to publish more than 100 years and has printed more than 30,000 copies monthly,” says Kenyu Kinjo, president of the Adventist Church in Japan.

Signs of the Times was first published on July 1, 1899 by William C. Grainger, an Adventist missionary to Japan from the United States.  The magazine was forced to stop printing in October 1943 by Japan’s military regime, which found the magazine’s Christian teachings at odds with the political rhetoric of the time. While the Japanese government was proclaiming the deity of the emperor and the eternity of the country, the Adventist Church was preaching that Jesus Christ is God and all nations, including Japan, would end at the time of His second coming.

Forty-two Adventist leaders were jailed, and four died while in prison. The Adventist Church in Japan was not able to resume its activities, including publishing Signs of the Times, until October 1946.

An All Japan Literature Evangelists’ Convention was held in conjunction with the Signs of the Times centennial anniversary. There were some 120 participants including publishing leaders from Hokkaido in the north to Okinawa in the south. There are 270 full and part time literature evangelists among 14,000 Adventist church members in Japan.