@Kenjiro M. Yoshimori I saw the movie Silence last year, about two Jesuit priests sent to Japan in the 1500's to investigate the disappearance of a Jesuit priest. The movie was not intended to be pro-Catholic but to me it really highlighted the heroism and nobility of the Japanese martyrs who chose death rather than capitulate to the Shoguns demands to spit on the cross and renounce their faith. I came away with a great respect for my brother Japanese Catholics who were so strong in their faith despite all the obstacles they faced historically.

@philosopher -THank you very much!! Merry Christmas. Yes, beginning under Tokugawa Ieyasu (the Shogun) in around 1614 or so he issued an edict and, Catholics were forced to renounce the Church and return to the tradition of their ancestors. They were forced to burn bibles, spit on the Crucifix, step on the Rosary and destroy any statues they had (if any). Many went "underground" and practiced their Faith in secret, while many thousands were rounded up, thrown into prisons, tortured, and executed...many by crucifixion. I won't describe some other means of execution they had....too horrible.
Saint Paul Miki, S.J. and 26 companions are probably the best known Japanese Saints (martyrs), but there were many hundreds of others.
Saint Francis Xavier had begun magnificent work in Japan, and by about 1600, there were over 300,000 Japanese Catholics! Needless to say, if the Tokugawa Shogunate had not persecuted Catholics, Japan might (probably not, but might), have had perhaps 25-40 million Catholics today. Today it has about 700,000 ( around 1.2 million before Vatican II).
Many Catholics believe (especially traditionalist Catholics) not so much in Japan but in general, believe that it was the new influence of PROTESTANT Dutch merchants newly arrived in the area of Japan about 1605-10 who poisoned the reputation of Catholics in the eyes of the Tokugawa Shogunate. They did this because the Spanish and Portuguese had been in Japan for about 60+ years, and had monopolized trade with Japan. The Protestant Dutch and English wanted a part of the pie so to speak, so they accused the Catholics of being spies for Spain and Portugal monarchies, and that the Spanish or Portuguese would come and invade Japan and take it over. It's probably true. Personally, I believe its something they would do. In Netherlands and England they fabricated lies about the Inquisition, so I am sure they would lie to the Tokugawa Shogunate about Catholics in general.
The ironic, and very humerous end result of the Protestant plotting is that although they got new trade agreements with the Shogunate for Netherlands and England, they were not permitted to live in Japan itself, but had to live on a very tiny island right on the coast by themselves (room for only a thousand or so), They were not permitted to socialize with Japanese society, and they were not permitted to preach Protestantism to the Japanese people......something which was one of their big goals. Protestantism never took off in Japan at all really. Even today, there's only about 300,000 of them.

@Kenjiro M. Yoshimori Happy Merry Christmas again!!!! thanks for your kind message.... I have so many sins..so many faults...but, but even though I am sinner..huge sinner...but I want protect to our Orthodox teachings...Bergoglio destroying to our orthodox teachings..make me so angry....so saying about this situation....Kenjiro...and deeply emotion to your stories..I know..even though Japan have very small Catholic People...but a lot of great Japanese Martyrs Saints died for Our Lord Jesus Christ!!! it's so emotion story too.....and Our Mother of Akita....it's really important too...so I respect Japanese church...but, but I heard....these days Japanese Church going to wrong way....Great Japanese Martyrs Crying...I am sure....in fact..my Country Korea..korea similar...so much sad....I told you...my Archbishop...Archbishop of Seoul...Peter Chung will made for LGBT Communities Ministry...and he said..we must hear about LGBT Communities voice...so horrible...My former Archbishop...Cardinal Andrew Yeom...I told you..he against to LGBT Ideologies..and he worried about this wrong Ideologies....so I huge miss him...I think Bergoglio destroying to so many orthodox dioceses...much pray...we will get to Orthodox Pope..so all Wrong area will be fixing....I hope Japanese Church will be clear too...Kenjiro....many talking sorry.....our Lord Sacred Heart of Jesus...specially Baby Jesus blessed always you and all your family..lovely people...Holy Mary, our Mother of Fatima and Akita..All Angels and Saints..great Japanese, Korean Martyrs Saints....pray for us..Amen....and Happy Merry Christmas, Happy New Year Again!! Kenjiro!! really happy see your great opinions..I told you....it's Lord's huge gift...

@Kenjiro M. Yoshimori Merry Christmas and thank you for the historical insights. In the movie Silence they don't examine the motives of the Shoguns in suppressing Catholics, but I agree it does make sense that the Protestants who invented the Black Legends (lies about Catholics) would not have passed this along to the Shoguns poisoning their minds against them and creating hostility and fear for political advantage.

Pax et bonum

@Clement Jaeho Chung -I think your stories are great too. The stories you tell of Korean Catholics is very sad, because I know there are alot more Catholics there than in Japan. I don't know much about Our Lady of Akita, because I read that many think it is not true. So I never read much about it. I think Sister Agnes Katsuko Sasagawa is a wonderful person--not sure if she is still living, I think she is. But not sure about Akita because it sounds too much in some ways like Medjugorie, which even the Vatican thinks is fake. But in the end, perhaps both are true.
MERRY CHRISTMAS CLEMENT, AND HAPPY NEW YEAR 2023.

@philosopher -Merry Christmas, Happy New Year!! Thank you for your comments, glad you liked my historical presentation. Actually, it's true that the Dutch and English, who came to Japan about 60+ years after the Spanish with St.Francis Xavier, and then the Portuguese, did manage to worm their way into the court of the Shogun, and did make up false statements and slander about Catholics to the Court. It was the Dutch especially, Calvinists, who spread the most lies, but also the British.
There was a TV series, which aired in 1980, six years before I was born, called "Shogun". It showed how powerful the influence of the Spanish and Portuguese had become at the Court of the Shogun, and also how the Dutch and British tried to ruin the monopoly these two countries had on trade by spewing lies about Catholics to the Japanese.
It worked for a very short while, but in 1639 the "Act of Seclusion" was passed in Japan by the Shogun, shutting Japan off from the rest of the world....in great part because they were "fed up" with the instability issues like religion, trade, politics, had caused the country since the arrival of Protestant Dutch and English. Trade was relegated to the Dutch, but only in a tiny island where they could live. The eighth Shogun, Tokugawa Yoshimume, relaxed it alittle. By the 1850's, Japan and the USA signed an agreement, initiated by Commadore Perry, which in large measure put an end to the seclusion of Japan, called "Sakoku". Basically, after that, Japan re-joined the world, the Shogunate was supressed in the 1860's under Emperor Meiji started a movement to the real modernization of Japan. So much so that a person in Japan born in 1820, would hardly recognize it as the same country in 1890!! The Samurai were supressed by then too.

@rhemes1582 -Thank you very much, Merry and Blessed Christmas to you also. Yes, Justo Takayama was a very good and devout Catholic. He was a samurai, but not only that, but also a daimyo (position like a govenor in USA terms...but also a nobleman. He tried to live a very holy life as a Catholic, and because of that he was exiled from Japan, to Manila in the Phillipines, but he died of illness only a short time after getting there. He was about 62-63...so he lead a very good and for the times he lived, long life. He was beatified in 2017, and is very popular in Japan, as are St. Paul Miki and 26 Japanese martyrs.