Originally Posted by Johanus
What if there was no sakoku policy? Would Japan end up like the Phillipines or South America in terms of its Christianization/colonization. How would this impact upon Spainsh and Portuguese influence in Asia?
You seem to confuse Christianization with colonization. After the Roman Empire became Christian, European tribes outside of the Roman Empire (or the Byzantine Empire, or successors such as the Frankish and Holy Roman Empires) were Christianized without conquest or colonialization. Is Japan actually colonized by Spain and/or Portugal, or are the Japanese merely Christianized? Of course, colonization would make Christianization a lot easier, essentially guaranteeing a Christian majority, but it would have been difficult for Spain or Portugal to conquer Japanese territory. (Maybe Okinawa, but the main islands? Seems ASB.)
In this AH could Japan feasibly fall into the possession of the US during Spanish-American War?
As AE stated below, BUTTERFLY EFFECT! This would take place long before the USA exists. Would there even be a Spanish-American War? William Jennings Bryan might have defeated William McKinley without, or perhaps despite, the backing of the latter from the banking aristocracy. Perhaps the USS Maine false flag incident would not have transpired.
Originally Posted by I, Guangxu
The problem that Christianity always had in Japan was that, unlike other imported religions/philosophies like Buddhism and Confucianism, which were able to integrate themselves with the established order, Christianity (read Catholicism in particular) explicitly rejected integration. The fact that it more or less demanded completely abandoning the long-established and firmly-entrenched Shinto/Buddhist/Confucian Japanese culture made it a hard sell, especially with the precedent of other religions integrating themselves.
Obviously, Shintoism would be incompatible with Christianity, and so would Buddhism even if there is no reason why someone would not try to reconcile Buddhism and Christianity. But I do not think that is the case with Confucianism, because Confucianism is not so much a religion as a way-of-life and ideology. One can think of a Christian-Confucian country. In fact, S. Korea seems to be taking such a path (except in that case, Korean Christians are predominantly Protestant, in this case we're talking about a Roman Catholic Japan).
Originally Posted by Derek Jackson
Have not Christians, including Catholics, found ways to incorporating and maniplulating aspects of local cultures to their own greatler Glory
True. Christmas? A pagan holiday with pagan customs (mistletoe, Yule log, gift-giving) dating to the Romans (Saturnalia), Celts, and Germanic peoples (Yule) repackaged for the Christians. (December 25 corresponds to the birth of Mithra.) Dia de los Muertos? A holiday with roots in Mesoamerican paganism that was Christianized and celebrated by Mexican Catholics. Mermaids? A creature from pagan mythology used to symbolize the dual nature of Christ.
Originally Posted by BrotherToAll
I just had a silly idea, fuse Catholicism with Bushido taking the most radical elements of both and forge it into a warrior mentality. What do you get? Imagine hordes of well armed and well trained radical Catholic Japanese soldiers infused with a religious warrior concept, so zelous and devoted to their religious beliefs and their beliefs of honor and duty that it borders on the psychotic.
So would you then get Shogun Bishops, Daimyo Priests, Samurai Monks, and Nun Ninjas (nunjas)?
Actually, I see a lot of comments about Pearl Harbor and whatnot. Aside from the problems with assuming that history transpires exactly the same or close enough, inspite of TREMENDOUS butterfly effects, and direct causal changes. (No Meiji period, no Imperial Japan as we know it, no fascist Japan.) Many assume that Japanese history would be internally similar enough, albeit with a different theology.
For one thing, Christianity looks down on suicide. It is considered a major sin, but this also means no hara-kiri or seppuku, and no kamikazi. Even if things transpire similarly enough that you get a Pearl Harbor, kamikazi tactics would not be used. (Then again, unlike Christianity, where suicide is forbidden by Church teaching or an interpretation of scripture, Islam has an explicit scriptural prohibition of suicide but even that does not stop suicide bombers. Maybe my take is off?)
Also, a Christian Japan would not permit worship of the Emperor, but under a shogunate, "Render unto Caesar" could be interpreted as "render unto the Shogun" so you still get the loyalty, with a samurai's loyalty to his daimyo second to loyal to to God.
