Featured Congratulations Dr. Maurice Robinson!

That's a very complex subject, and there are various possible answers. My short answer is that it all began in the late 16th century when Catholicism was outlawed, followed up in the early 17th century when Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu viciously persecuted the Catholics, killing many tens of thousands. All foreigners and Japanese expatriates were then prohibited from being in Japan on pain of death until Commodore Perry's black ships came in the mid-1800s. This turned the entire country 180 degrees away from any form of Christianity, and that direction continues to this day.

 

The societal mores against individualism are, as you say, another barrier to the Gospel. But that situation stems from the above-mentioned 17th century rescription against Catholicism, when neighborhood associations were formed, ruled by the Buddhist temples, so that no one could get away with being a Christian. Catholics were hunted down and killed around the country when discovered by the Buddhist temples, with conformity being forced.