JESUS IN JAPAN??

So, Dan Brown thinks that Jesus and Mary had kids in France? Well, there are a bunch of Japanese people who think Jesus married Miyuko had a family and lived to the ripe old age of 106 as a rice farmer in Japan. As proof, there's even a tomb in Shingo, a small village in northern Japan. Here's a clip from [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,25689-2201183,00.html|a May 29, 2006 article] from http://TimesOnline.Co.UK with more:

For two millennia the farming village of Shingo claims to have protected a tradition that Jesus spent most of his life in Japan. The village is the home of Sajiro Sawaguchi, a man in his eighties who claims to be a direct descendant of Jesus and whose family has always owned the land in which it is said that Christ is buried.

Mr Sawaguchi emerged as Jesus’s heir only in 1935, when a priest in Ibaraki discovered a document in ancient Japanese purporting to be Christ’s will. This document supposedly identifies Shingo as the location of the tombs of Jesus and Isukiri. The claim is widely believed. About 40,000 Japanese visit the site every year. Two years ago it was presented with a plaque by Jerusalem, and next Sunday it will host the annual Christ festival of traditional Japanese dance.

According to the account in the Christ Museum next to the tombs, Christ arrived in Japan at the age of 21 and learnt Japanese before returning to Judaea 12 years later to engage in his mission and preach about the “holy land of Japan”.

...

Norihide Nagano, the straight-faced curator of the tombs, says that the theory that the grave does contain the remains of Jesus is supported by several pieces of evidence. There is the local tradition, dating back hundreds of years, of drawing a charcoal cross on babies’ heads; and ancient kimonos made in the area incorporated a Star of David.

The upkeep of the site is paid for out of the profits of a local yoghurt factory, and Mr Nagano agrees that The Da Vinci Code will probably boost Shingo’s coffers. The village shop is already doing a roaring trade in Christ-branded saké. “Did you enjoy the museum?” asks Mr Nagano. “If you did, I recommend you go to Ishikawa district. They have the tomb of Moses there.”

Ah, gotta love the sense of humor!

It's probably BS, but as a fan of alternative thinking, I enjoy entertaining such theories about where Jesus ended up. I remember reading something about how certain Native American oral histories claim a Jesus-like figure visited them and preached peace and love two thousand years ago.

This Jesus guy really got around! Of course, if he lived to be 106 and made sure to take his vitamins, he just might have been able to pull off a trip to the Americas and then back around to Japan.

See? It is fun to think about, isn't it?