of questions." Torres also wrote of his success in converting the Japanese in Yamaguchi: "When they [the Japanese Christian converts] once accepted the faith, there are, from what I have seen and heard, and from what I have experienced with them, no people in the world so tenacious. It seems to me that the majority of those who have become Christians, and of those there are many, are ready to endure any calamity for the love of God." Reportedly, Torres baptized more than two thousand people and built a church in the city. Here, he worked selflessly to help townspeople whose lives were devastated by the constant warfare of the Sengoku period in Japan, even giving up his life savings to buy food for starving people regardless of whether they were Christians or Buddhists. Torres as mission superior (1551–1570) After Xavier departed from Japan in 1551 to begin a Jesuit mission in China, Torrès succeeded him as the superior of the Japanese mission. Under his leadership, the number of Christians in Japan grew steadily, despite antagonism from Buddhist sects. During his time as mission superior, his success in converting large numbers of Japanese people aroused much animosity on the part of the Buddhist monks. Torres had several debates with learned members of the Buddhist community, which were recorded by Brother Fernandez. Torres based his arguments in these debates on reason, believing that it would be highly effective against the Japanese who were, as he said, "led by reason just as well as and even more willingly than Spaniards." He especially attacked the Buddhist belief that the foundation and origin of the world was pure nonbeing. Torres stayed in Yamaguchi until the city was taken over by the Mori clan in 1556, which was hostile towards Christianity. At this time, Torres was forced to move to Bungo Province, where he was offered protection by the young daimyō, Ōtomo Yoshishige. The destruction of the mission in Yamaguchi by the Mori clan was especially heart-breaking for Torres, who wrote to Núñez that his life in Yamaguchi had been filled with joy and satisfaction. In 1562, Torrès moved to Yokoseura, a port city that was recently opened to Portuguese traders by local daimyo Ōmura Sumitada. Torres directed the negotiations with Ōmura Sumitada concerning the establishment of a port in Nagasaki for the foreign trade, as the Jesuit historian Luis de Guzmán specially remarks. Ōmura