In 2006 I did apply for a position at ICU, and was interested to see that the English and Japanese documents specified different requirements. The documents in Japanese giving information about the position and how to apply stated that the applicant should provide a letter from a Christian minister verifying the applicant's religious credentials. The equivalent documents in English made no such requirement. Whether that is the case for this position too, I don't know - you would presumably have to look at the website. My possibly erroneous interpretation of this (to my mind rather peculiar) difference was that the university either assumed that non-Japanese persons were all Christians, or did not much care whether they were or not. As it happens, I am a Christian, and did enclose a letter from a minister (as I was able to read the Japanese documents), but I was not shortlisted for the position. (But happily, by the time I was informed, I had accepted my current position anyway ... )

Make of that what you wish!

Peter Cave
Lecturer in Japanese Studies
SALC, University of Manchester
Samuel Alexander Building
Oxford Road
Manchester M13 9PL
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0)161 275 3195
www.manchester.ac.uk/research/peter.cave/