Just had a JW ring my door. She seemed quite surprised to see a gaijin but quickly switched to passable English. Explained she was going around spreading the Good News, and handed me a small flyer. I politely mentioned that I was a Christian and had a church that I attended. She seemed surprised (why? Gaijin are far more likely to be Christian than Japanese lol) but thanked me and wished me good day. Maybe 30-45 second interaction.
Slightly disappointed that nothing epic came of it. Well, there’s always the NHK guys, and I hear they’re far less polite.
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I honestly wonder where they find people who have never had an interaction with a JW/bill collector/police officer before, and whey they dump them in Japan.
I also wonder if female leprechauns wear bikinis or full-body bathing suits when swimming, so best to stay away from my thoughts.
I think the trouble comes from when they return every week for a few months, bringing steadily more cohorts to assist them. This may not happen to you, as you may be considered a lost cause in their eyes, but for many it’s an ongoing campaign that borders on harassment. After 4 visits, I finally told them off (whilst standing in the doorway in only my underwear, having been woken up from a nice sleep) and informed them to never bother me again.
they’re not that bad, right? after i saw the recent NHK special on aum shinrikyo and realized just how much shit they were into, and that they still exist as aleph and hikari no wa…. perspective
Yeah most people love to exaggerate their encounters.
One or two encounters is… eh. But when they’ve knocked on your door every week for a couple of months, it gets old. There’s always the possibility of getting a super annoying one, too.
She’ll be back with an English speaking person
I had a somewhat cute JW knock on my door. I told her if she had sex with me I would become JW. She gave me a disgusted look and never bothered me again
I answer dressed as the Pope and tell them I’m on my way to donate blood.
I had a woman come by every few weeks. Invited her in and spoke about our religions. It was very cordial. Snacks, tea and all that. Sadly covid happened and we couldn’t continue our meetings but she did drop letters a few times after but she was older so maybe walking about took it’s toll. Haven’t heard from her since but no one else has dropped by either. Guess trying to convert your members gets you on their list.
Friendly Christian who answers the door with a smile? You’re on their radar now for weekly visits.
> Gaijin are far more likely to be Christian than Japanese lol
Around 1.5% of Japanese are Christian. That’s more than all the non-Asian gaijin in Japan combined. Not all that far off from all the non-Japanese in Japan in total.
I’ve also met a *lot* of atheist gaijin here so being a non-Asian gaijin definitely does not automatically equate to being Christian.
Um. Well, I’ll tell you a story.
One of my friends who is also a Christian instead befriended the JW who rang her doorbell. Her friend once told her it was really nice to be able to actually talk with another Christian. Her friend brought her healthy food when she was sick.
Tell them you want to be their friend and just hang out without joining. You can talk religion or life. I guarantee they won’t. In reality you are a waste of their time. For me you either care about me or you don’t and the fact that as soon as I’m not joing but still want to be friendly isn’t enough for you I’m wasting your time. What kind of religion is that.
If the doorbell rings and I see two older ladies with a clipboard, you can guarantee I’m going to ignore them.
If they ever hit on the tactic of sending single non-elderly uniformed people in a kei van bearing cardboard boxes, I may have problems.
I can vouch for the NHK guys. I was at an airbnb and they didn’t understand that I wasn’t the owner
do jw have good news? i thought it was good and bad news with the bad news first lol
Somewhere I read that a trick was to tell them you where a disfellowshipped and they would run away from you 😅
i mean if you wanted a more eventful visit you could have just told them that their religion is heretical and try to convert her to christianity. that would have made things um…spicier, i guess.