Jesus Lived in Japan?

Shove off, Robert Langdon! Have we got a religious conspiracy theory for you. Well, maybe not conspiracy per se, but it's a pretty interesting idea.

There are a lot of theories about what happened to Jesus beyond the crucifixion...or instead of. The idea that Jesus married and had kids who carry on his bloodline, for example, appears in a lot of fiction, though it is mostly applied to a group invented in 1956 by a guy who wanted to become King of France.

But check out this one: in Aomori, Japan the story goes that a 21-year-old Jesus actually went to Japan, where he studied religion for 12 years before returning to Judea to pass on the teachings. After that the word is that Jesus let his little brother be crucified in his place and settled back down in Herai, Japan, where he married a woman named Miyu and was a rice farmer until he died at 106 (or 118?) years old.

The source for the story is a set of ancient scriptures dug up in Herai in 1935 that were written in Hebrew that told this story. There's also a grave that allegedly houses Jesus' body...and a family, the Sawaguchi clan, who claim to be able to trace their line back to him.

"Indeed, photos of them and their ancestors reveal faces obviously different that typical Japanese. They are taller, their noses longer, and their skin lighter than others in the village."

It sounds pretty wacky, but back in '04, the Japanese ambassador from Israel visited the area and donated a Hebrew plaque...and some people even think that Herai might have been derived from Hebron, or "home of the Hebrews."

On the other hand, the original documents were found by an employee of the then-mayor of the town, who was desperate to get more tourists to the area...which now sees 10,000 tourists a year. Hell, I'D consider checking it out, and I'm not religious in the least.