At 01:51 PM 7/12/98 -0500, Scott Johnson wrote:

On Sun, 12 Jul 1998 NotMousse@aol.com wrote:

Actually there are many people in Japan that pratice Christianity (it is

one

of the major religions in Japan as is Buddism and possibly Shintoism)

but you

are right very few to my knowlege are Jewish.

Well, depends on your definition of 'major religion.'  According to the
web version of the _CIA World Factbook 1997_, 84% of the population of
Japan observes both Shinto and Buddhism.  0.7% (that's seven-tenths of a
percent) practices Christianity. Working from the population figures in
the same source, that amounts to about 880,000 Christians in all of Japan.
Not an insignificant number, true, but not a heck of a lot 
proportionately.  While it doesn't give a listing for how much of the
population is Jewish, I also have gotten the impression it's a smaller
proportion than Christianity.  Make of that what you will.

This whole discussion is already becoming too spammish and should be moved
off the FFML.  However, I would add two points.  First, although there are
few practicing Japanese Christians (in contrast to Korea), many Japanese
use Christian practices in certain areas.  For example, Western style
weddings, complete with a minister, are very popular.  Second, there are
indeed Japanese Jews and I even met one in New York.  Given the Ranmaverse
propensity for ignoring probabilities, there is no reason why a Japanese
Jew wouldn't show up in Nerima if a fanfic author so desired. 

You're right about why Ryoga doesn't eat pork but you have to admit that

being

jewish would clarify some of his odd tendancies (ie. very nervous around
women, how sweet he is even though he's in a Takahasi story, no sense of
direction, ect...).

<blinks>  And these are Jewish stereotypes how?  (Well, okay, I just got a
really silly flash on why it reputedly took Moses 40 years to get to the
promised land...)  

  Maybe Ryouga becomes Jewish in order to obtain an openly acceptable
reason to avoid eating pork.  Please note that being Jewish would not
prevent him and Akari from raising pigs, as long as the pigs aren't
intended for the dinner table.  Sumo pig breeding would be acceptable.  

  Actually, circumcision and not eating pork are also Moslem practices, but
I suspect that there are even fewer Japanese Moslems.  

                                                  dml