FUNABASHI, Japan -- Elaborate tattoos of a carp and mythic characters of great strength work their way from his pectoral muscles, over his shoulders, down his arms and across his upper back.
The tips of his pinkie fingers are conspicuously missing. And his teeth, capped to perfection, provide more evidence of Hiroyuki Suzuki's organized-crime credentials.But while his flesh brands him a member of the yakuza, Japan's storied underworld, he now says his allegiance is to Jesus.
Suzuki, 43, formerly a member of the Sakaume gumi, a small independent crime family best known for its role in gambling, is the founder of Mission Barabbas, an evangelical Christian church in this Tokyo suburb here, and a minister in the church.
Mission Barabbas features the brand of tongue-speaking, faith-healing, arm-waving Christianity popular in parts of America but a distinct oddity in Japan.
Historically, Christianity in Japan has prevailed only among a small number of highly educated people, never really reaching the masses the way it has taken root in other countries. There are about 1.1 million Christians, including foreigners, in Japan, according to The Christian News, a Tokyo weekly; that is less than 1 percent of the population. Christians here typically maintain a low profile, perhaps a carryover from the days of the Tokugawa shogunate, when Christians were persecuted and the religion was all but stamped out. Since then, Christianity has spread largely through private schools and universities like Sophia University.