Executive Summary

Why it matters

Romans is the theological backbone of the New Testament, and Japanese carries a doctrinal-translation risk profile unlike the other languages in this pipeline: rather than one dominant syncretism risk, Japan’s challenge is split between a real but comparatively mild Shinto/Buddhist conceptual overlap and a much larger problem of biblical illiteracy in a highly secularized, historically Christian-suppressed society where most core vocabulary (Kirisuto, fukkatsu, keiyaku) is either a hollow foreign brand-name or a fully secularized everyday word.

Key findings

• The registry tracks 40 doctrines across Romans 1-16; 26 require mandatory human theologian review before any translated segment ships (7 Critical, 19 High).
• 神 (kami, “God”) is Critical-risk not because a wrong word exists but because the correct word is also the ordinary term for any of Japan’s countless Shinto deities and spirits — it requires an explicit “one true God” qualifier that most languages in this pipeline don’t need for their term.
• Several High-risk terms (復活/resurrection, 契約/covenant) are risky specifically because they are fully secularized in everyday Japanese (a band’s “comeback,” a rental agreement) — dilution, not false-meaning substitution, is the mechanism of risk.
• Only 4 of 40 doctrines (Apostleship, Thanksgiving, Mutual Edification, Christian Fellowship) are Low-risk and clear for automated review alone.

Risks

• Pantheism risk: 神 without qualification reads as “a kami,” one spirit among Shinto’s countless deities, not the singular Creator.
• Historical-political resonance risk: 神の国 (kingdom of God) and 現人神 (living-god emperor) both carry unwanted associations with pre-1945 State Shinto ultranationalist ideology for readers aware of the history.
• Dilution risk: 復活 (resurrection) and 契約 (covenant) are both doctrinally correct words that have been hollowed out by everyday secular/commercial usage, requiring active weight-restoration rather than just correct word choice.

Opportunities

• Japan’s established adult-heir adoption custom (養子縁組) is a rare case where existing cultural practice actively supports, rather than undermines, the biblical picture of adoption with full inheritance rights.
• Pure Land Buddhism’s tariki (other-power) salvation-by-faith structure offers a genuine, well-documented teaching bridge for explaining grace, provided it is never presented as equivalent to the biblical doctrine.

Recommended actions

• Route every Critical and High risk segment (26 of 40 doctrines) through human theologian review before publication; do not allow automated-only review to touch these terms.
• Brief native-speaker reviewers specifically on Japan’s biblical-illiteracy baseline — many terms need first-principles explanation, not just correct translation.
• Reuse this Language Package’s translation_memory.json for every Romans lesson in Japanese rather than re-deriving terms per document, per the two-phase pipeline design.