A Japanese Christian leader is urging churches to "listen to the cries" of temporary migrant workers many of whom are now without jobs as the world's second-biggest economy's unemployment rate soars.

Mercy, not sacrifice, is the Christian keynote when dubious appeals to unity are used in religion and in society to thwart calls for social justice, says Savi Hensman. She cites recent examples in Japan and in world Anglicanism.

Spiralling food and oil prices dominated the first day of the G8 summit in Japan. The Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, arrived at the summit calling for the launch of a ‘global action plan’ to tackle rising food prices.

A Christian activist who is campaigning against his country's involvement in Iraq has welcomed a statement by a Japanese court that the operations there of his Japan's military personnel violate the country's constitution.

The Japanese government and Christians should support the rights of the Ainu indigenous people in Japan's northern island of Hokkaido, a United Church of Christ leader in Japan has said.

Japanese Christian groups are concerned about poverty among young adults in a country that once had an image of lifetime employment and a strong middle class base.

Manga Bible fever is hitting the shops this month. New Testament professor Deirdre Good explores the cultural and interpretative values involved, particularly in relation to the presentation of 'family'.

A narrator in Japanese traditional puppet theatre, a composite art form known as Bunraku, has performed a special piece called 'The Gospel in Bunraku at a church in Sapporo, on Japan's northernmost main island of Hokkaido.

Two Japanese popular associations have condemned what they say is a military-inspired "deliberate murder attempt" against a Christian minister who serves as the co-leader of the Citizens Coalition for Peace in Japan.

Christians in Japan say the government has debased the country's peace-seeking constitution after the upper chamber of parliament approved the promotion of patriotism in the classroom by changing the country's education law - writes Hisashi Yukimoto for Ecumenical News International.