After the opening greetings of our President, Archbishop Paglia, who referred to the speech that the Pope addressed to the Japanese Bishops a few days ago, the situation of family ministry in Japan was briefly presented. In this country, the Christians form a small minority, and among the Catholics, marriages—few in number—are to a great extent mixed. The population is aging, there is much cohabitation and relationships are short. The presence of some family associations is significant. They are able to arouse interest and elicit the participation of some Japanese couples (Marriage Encounter and Couples for Christ). The history of Christianity, which has endured persecution for centuries, has left the memory of "hidden Christians": families in which the seed of faith has survived for over one hundred and fifty years.