The most recent Gallup poll of Japanese youth and adults produced fascinating results, not the least of which is that 7% of Japanese youth consider themselves Christians. Few would have predicted that high a figure. Sadly, Japanese teens in general seem far more nihilistic than American youth.
While 22 percent of U.S. teens in previous Gallup surveys often wondered why they existed, the number for Japanese teens was 85 percent. Similarly, while 76 percent of U.S. teens always see a reason for their being on Earth, only 13 percent of Japanese teens agreed with the statement. A surprisingly high 11 percent of Japanese teens wished they had never been born, a figure that comes in at 3 percent for U.S. teens.