Who was St Nicholas of Japan?
St Nicholas of Japan was a Russian missionary who went to Japan in the 19th century, and is one of the greatest missionary saints of modern times. His baptismal name was John, and he was born on 22 August 1836, the second son of Dimitri Ivanovich Kasatkin, who was a deacon at the church of Beryoza in the Smolensk province. He studied theology at the St Petersburg theological academy He was appointed as chaplain at the Russian consulate in Hakodate. He crossed Siberia by coach in July 1860, and reached Nikolaevsk at the end of September. He stayed there for the winter, where he met the famous Siberian and Alaskan missionary, St Innocent of Alaska (Veniaminov). He continued his journey in the following year, and reached Hakodate in July 1861 At that time Japan was very xenophobic, and evangelism was very difficult. He studied Japanese language, history and culture, and also gave Russian lessons to Japanese people who were interested. A samurai landowner and Shinto priest, Takuma Sawabe,
