Japan Harvest · est. 1952
1,169 articles by 382 missionary writers, and every back issue to Spring 1952.
Seventy years apart, the pages answer each other.
Spring 1952 · the first issue
“Rural Japan needs the Gospel!”
Churches stood in 93% of cities — and 2.3% of villages.
Autumn 2025 · seventy-three years later
“This is my home. When God calls you somewhere, that place becomes your home.”
Pastor Ester Wahrer, fifty years in Toyama — in the issue that mapped 1,640 still-unchurched municipalities and called the community back to rural Japan.
Autumn 1956
“This proposed mission board should be made up only of Japanese, with perhaps foreign advisors.”
Weldon Culver, as Japan began sending its own missionaries.
Summer 2002 · forty-six years later
“Missionaries are essential to Japan… I would consider it a privilege to carry their bags.”
Dr. Koji Honda — the handoff completed, the partnership mutual.
Every era counted itself in these pages — snapshots, not a continuous series (the archive summarized so far doesn't cover every year between them).
998
evangelical missionaries in Japan, 1952 survey
2,710
Protestant missionaries assigned to Japan, 1957
1,221
JEMA members across 46 agencies, end of 2024
Figures as reported in Japan Harvest issues (1952, 1957, 2025).