Japan’s OG, Saint Frank, is still looking great

[Taro Toporific]

Holy-moly! Japan’s OG—Original Gaijin—Saint Francis Xavier*is looking great for being almost 500 years old on his Saint’s Day, December 2.

"The mummified corpse of Francois Xavier, the first Jesuit missionary to Japan, goes on display in Old Goa, India."

saint-fail.jpg

pic.twitter.com/aoVU1Y9vEk via Mulboyne @Mulboyne 22 Nov 2014

[wagyl]

Haha I am reminded of what an old Goan lady I knew used to say about the man responsible for all those Catholics throughout the world with middle initial X: Apparently the body is "very clean, very clean, no smell!"

[Taro Toporific]

Saint Frankie X is perhaps Japan’s most venerated foreign failure.
That is, the percentage of Christians in Japan has remained at around one per cent every since 1549, when Francis Xavier arrived as a missionary* (he left by December 1551 with his tail between his legs without having mastered what he called the “Devil’s Tongue,” Japanese).

[yanpa]

He should have stuck to Eikaiwa

[wagyl]

I'm not so sure that going from "none" to "some" is a failure, especially when none of the Sisyphean efforts of the countless others who came after him managed to improve on his figures.

[kurogane]

Yeah, he was no saint to be sure but it's hard to fault him for his efforts, excepting the moral bankruptcy of any missionary. My inbred mistrust of Papists aside I have always had a fondness for Jesuits. I wonder how the Mormons fare in terms of return on investment? I know at least 5 young pretties that claim to have been Mormon for about 3 years in high school.

EDIT: Yeeks, he is a saint. What was his miracle, getting to Japan back then? I go Google..............

[Russell]

To spread Christianity in Japan in those times he must have had a pretty thick skin.

Looking at the pic, I conclude he is still blessed with the same attribute...

[kurogane]

Badabing !!!!!!!!!

Good one

[Taro Toporific]

I wonder how the Mormons fare in terms of return on investment? ...

It's a well-known "secret" in the LDS ministry that they lose more missionaries to the Dark J-Side than they recruit new Japanese to be life-long MoronsMormons.

[Russell]

I wonder how the Mormons fare in terms of return on investment? ...

It's a well-known "secret" in the LDS ministry that they lose more missionaries to the Dark J-Side than they recruit new Japanese to be life-long MoronsMormons.

Hmm, tell me more!

[Taro Toporific]

I wonder how the Mormons fare in terms of return on investment? ...

It's a well-known "secret" in the LDS ministry that they lose more missionaries to the Dark J-Side than they recruit new Japanese to be life-long MoronsMormons.

Hmm, tell me more!

As told told to me by a former LDS comptroller (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) :
-->Japanese converts to LDS seldom continue more than three years (99% attrition rate).
-->Young Mormon missionaries have a 60% failure rate in language bootcamp in preparation for Japan (the "failures" often develop life-long mental difficulties caused by the brutal training methods).
-->Most "successful" Mormon missionaries end up leaving the church by the end of their mission (the church loses their best-and-brightest to Japan).
-->"Unsuccessful" Mormon missionaries develop drinking and/or poontang problems (because they integrated well into Japanese society).
-->Those who complete a mission in Japan cannot be trusted when they return to Utah (similar attitude as large corporations in the US that automatically throw out resumes with Japan experience).
Bottom Line: The best the Mormon Church can expect from Japan is a a zero-sum game, and the reality is that the church loses every time they send a missionary here.

Also: Mormon missionaries use their mission years as a way to come out of the closet.
Gay missionaries give the church an additional headache, which the church has
not figured out how it should be handled.

[yanpa]

But does Japan gain?

[Samurai_Jerk]

Those who complete a mission in Japan cannot be trusted when they return to Utah (similar attitude as large corporations in the US that automatically throw out resumes with Japan experience).

Interesting. I remember taking an international business class back in college that spoke about this issues. My memory is a little fuzzy and I wish I could remember which book we were reading but the gist of it was that Japan is particularly alluring to (Western) expats who are a lot more likely to go native and become useless to HQ after extended stints here.

[wagyl]

-->Young Mormon missionaries have a 60% failure rate in language bootcamp in preparation for Japan (the "failures" often develop life-long mental difficulties caused by the brutal training methods).

I can't comment on the brutality or otherwise of the training methods in their language schools, but it is a surprise that more are not mentally scarred by what could be regarded as the first time these guys come up against a potentially insurmountable solid wall of challenge: after all, we are talking about 17 year old males, raised in an atmosphere of strong (some might say suffocating) family and community support, recently invested into one of the inner sanctums of their belief, who have been brought up to believe that they are God's chosen. They believe that God will show them the path to success if only they pray hard enough, so just imagine their feeling of unworthiness when God does not show his pleasure by giving them the key to keigo.

It seems curmudgeonly to mention it today on his Saint's Day, but St Francis Xavier's miracles have been controversial from the beginning.

[IparryU]

I wonder how the Mormons fare in terms of return on investment? ...

It's a well-known "secret" in the LDS ministry that they lose more missionaries to the Dark J-Side than they recruit new Japanese to be life-long MoronsMormons.

Hmm, tell me more!

As told told to me by a former LDS comptroller (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) :
-->Japanese converts to LDS seldom continue more than three years (99% attrition rate).
-->Young Mormon missionaries have a 60% failure rate in language bootcamp in preparation for Japan (the "failures" often develop life-long mental difficulties caused by the brutal training methods).
-->Most "successful" Mormon missionaries end up leaving the church by the end of their mission (the church loses their best-and-brightest to Japan).
-->"Unsuccessful" Mormon missionaries develop drinking and/or poontang problems (because they integrated well into Japanese society).
-->Those who complete a mission in Japan cannot be trusted when they return to Utah (similar attitude as large corporations in the US that automatically throw out resumes with Japan experience).
Bottom Line: The best the Mormon Church can expect from Japan is a a zero-sum game, and the reality is that the church loses every time they send a missionary here.

Also: Mormon missionaries use their mission years as a way to come out of the closet.
Gay missionaries give the church an additional headache, which the church has
not figured out how it should be handled.

super selective seeing... I was thinking, "holy shit, LSD in japan... where!?!?!?!?"

Me and choko were rudely woken up by a pair of those fucks the other day. fuck them.

[Taro Toporific]

But does Japan gain?

kent-g.jpg

Kent Gilbert
__________

3635528_orig.jpg

Kent Derricott
__________

Of "the two Kents," I used to say that the eyeglasses Kent (Derricott) was the harmless/nice one and the butt-boy lawyer Kent (Gilbert) was the slippery businessman.
However, I just learned that Kent Derricott has been a General Manager--Asia of a vile MLM* scam called Kyäni, grrr.

*MLM, Multi-Level Marketing, is a quazi-legal pyramid scheme that feeds
on the lives lower middle classes spreading misery where-ever
it touches.

[Salty]

I haven`t seen a squeaky clean set of twins in a very long time, but please don`t send any my way.

[Taro Toporific]

I haven`t seen a squeaky clean set of twins in a very long time, but please don`t send any my way.

While they do stick out like a sore thumb, Mormon missionaries are quite rare in Japan. In 2010 there were only 212.

[yanpa]

There were a pair seemingly permanently on patrol in the Mejiro area when I lived there a few years back, and there's some sort of base in Kichijoji so one sees them on the Musashino plateau from time to time. However it's the attractive young ladies from the Jehova's Witnesses who actually ring my doorbell. (If they were actually attractive young ladies I might actually answer it and ask them to inspect my Watchtower).

[matsuki]

it's the attractive young ladies from the Jehova's Witnesses who actually ring my doorbell. (If they were actually attractive young ladies I might actually answer it and ask them to inspect my Watchtower).

This is actually who woke IPU and I up the other day...12noon on a weekend, WTF are they thinking?

hehe, attractive...hahaha young....I just didn't answer but my childhood friend (who married one of these nuts at 17) has great stories of the things hurled at his wife and children when they go door to door. I asked if he ever tried to prevent the kids from being brainwashed...his reply was "I wouldn't dare...the older ones seem to have already figured it out by some of the more colorful reactions they've gotten from non-believers"

[kurogane]

It seems curmudgeonly to mention it today on his Saint's Day, but St Francis Xavier's miracles have been controversial from the beginning.

Yes, but The Truth is Out There, and reservations like yours help to highlight and emphasise the genuine miracles of all the other saints, like St. Thomas Aquinas' fresh herrings.

[wagyl]

St. Thomas Aquinas

He just keeps on coming up smelling of roses.

[kurogane]

Yeeeks. Reading just a bit of yon link doth make mine wonder if my loveable but horribly bigoted Lutheran grannies weren't at least a bit right about the Devil Worshippers, as they so diplomatically called them.

[Russell]

There were a pair seemingly permanently on patrol in the Mejiro area when I lived there a few years back, and there's some sort of base in Kichijoji so one sees them on the Musashino plateau from time to time. However it's the attractive young ladies from the Jehova's Witnesses who actually ring my doorbell. (If they were actually attractive young ladies I might actually answer it and ask them to inspect my Watchtower).

I remember when I went for a walk early in the morning in the hills behind the previous place I lived, I encountered a man and woman, dressed like Jehovas, who were emerging from the bushes.

Rather than spreading their faith, I figured they were spreading her legs.

LOL, that was the first time Jehovas didn't attempt to convert me...

[matsuki]

There were a pair seemingly permanently on patrol in the Mejiro area when I lived there a few years back, and there's some sort of base in Kichijoji so one sees them on the Musashino plateau from time to time. However it's the attractive young ladies from the Jehova's Witnesses who actually ring my doorbell. (If they were actually attractive young ladies I might actually answer it and ask them to inspect my Watchtower).

I remember when I went for a walk early in the morning in the hills behind the previous place I lived, I encountered a man and woman, dressed like Jehovas, who were emerging from the bushes.

Rather than spreading their faith, I figured they were spreading her legs.

LOL, that was the first time Jehovas didn't attempt to convert me...

Doesn't surprise me...I only know one (former) ehova in Japan. She wasn't getting any at home from the husband, nowhere near her jikka and friends, she had no life besides the cult so...