The Sapporo Japan Temple: Cultural Fusion and Friction in the Development of an LDS Japanese Identity

Authors

Stephen J. Moody, Brigham Young University
Dainan M. Skeem, Brigham Young University

Abstract

Although it began as a small, local organization, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints grew into an international organization in a relatively short time frame. Church membership totaled just six individuals when it was established on 6 April 1830. That number had grown to 250,000 when Utah was granted statehood on 4 January 1896, with the vast majority located within the state. In 1947, one hundred years after being expelled from Illinois, membership reached the one million mark with membership still focused primarily within North America.1 In 1974, President Spencer W. Kimball gave a sermon that became a clarion call to spread the Gospel across the globe and the Church’s motto became “Lengthen your stride.” Membership by the end of that year included 3.4 million members with 16 temples scattered around the world. Members took President Kimball’s call seriously and fifteen years later, by the end of 1989, membership had more than doubled with 7.3 million members and 43 temples. Membership doubled again by 2015 with 15.6 million members and 149 temples,2 at which point less than 14% of Church membership lived in Utah and less than 45% in the United States.3

BYU ScholarsArchive Citation

Moody, Stephen J. and Skeem, Dainan M. (2019) "The Sapporo Japan Temple: Cultural Fusion and Friction in the Development of an LDS Japanese Identity," Mormon Pacific Historical Society: Vol. 40, Article 12.
Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/mphs/vol40/iss1/12