From Yasukuni to Nuclear Power: Where will the source of hope come for Japan?

August 15, 2011 – Vancouver, Canada

After another memorable trip to Japan (and to Korea this time), I am back to Vancouver. Taking a distance from both nations helps me to think more clearly on a couple of issues, especially on such a memorable day like today: 66th anniversary of the end of the World War II. Germany has been a country that I have been watching with much interest since 1989 when the Berlin Wall finally came down. Korea was divided between north and south on the very same day when Germany was divided between east and west at the end of WW II. I still wonder sometimes why they divided Korea, not Japan (but instead bombed Japan), when they divided Germany.... As a Korean I have seen the historical moment of the Wall falling and subsequent changes in Germany with a degree of envy. This year, it was Germany again that caught my attention after the tsunami and nuclear disaster happened in Fukushima because of people's changed attitude towards the nuclear energy issue in and outside Germany.

Fukushima is now further left behind with no clear direction for recovery after the nuclear disaster while the other two Prefectures, Miyagi and Iwate, which were hit by the earthquake and tsunami much worse, are now recovering faster. Because of the nuclear crisis, the challenge of recovery is much greater in Fukushima and most Japanese understand that this Fukushima crisis is not only for Fukushima, but for the whole nation. (I think it affects the whole world.)

Rebuilding the Nation after a Crisis.

That is one thing Japan is known to be an expert at for they have demonstrated their economic growth after the WW II. The spirit of nation-building in Japan is something to understand carefully as I am discovering this multi-layered complex political and spiritual matter in Japan. Many intellectuals and media from all corners of Japan are now asking one same question: How shall Japan recover the humanity and rebuild the post-disaster Japan? Should the nation go back to traditional values to overcome the cultural failure of greedy capitalism and materialism?

Koza Community Church in Yamato began by some young intellectuals in 1946 with hopes to rebuild the nation with a Christian vision. In their view, the Bible had a secret power for nation-building as they saw how the USA defeated their nation of ‘the rising sun’ at the end of WW II. (see my blog piece on April 17). That ideology of “(re)building a powerful nation by economic and military power through science and technology” has been a strong drive for modern Japanese, so adding a foreign god of ‘the American secret power to that national drive might have seemed like a magical solution. As the nation grew more prosperous with no apparent growth of Christian population, having faith in Christianity became more obsolete and less meaningful for the life “here and now.” Japan is the only country in Asia that does not fit in the argument of “Christianity = Modernization = Prosperity,” so-called Prosperity Gospel. I will write about this ‘prosperity and gospel’ issue another day.

I felt the need to go back to a turning point in Japanese modern history to understand that desire for recovery and zeal for ‘back to the tradition.’ So I went to Yasukuni Shrine, the controversial face of Japanese modern spirituality for the past 150 years. I accidentally learned about Yasukuni in my first trip to Fukushima and had never even heard before (that should tell you how ignorant I was, the post-war generation in Korea). Yasukuni Shrine became a national shrine after the WW II. Before the WW II, there was a more important shrine dedicated to the emperor; a shrine that had been designated to worship a living king, not deceased military personnel. The political significance of Yasukuni Shrine needs careful reinterpretation through the lens of spirituality as I heard from Rev. Sumiyoshi in Nakoso.


Yasukuni Shrine is located in the central part of Tokyo and it faces a well known university in Japan: Tokyo University of Science and Technology. Is it a coincidence?

Understanding the Japanese modern culture from the existence of a national shrine to the pursuit of nuclear power and economic advancement does not fit in a linear framework of mind. Largely because the oriental culture is fundamentally a pluralist one: To put it simply, we are comfortable with realities of life and feel no conflict with compartmentalized life: Confucius values fit perfectly with the socio-political agenda. Buddhism on one end(there is no god who saves you and life is full of suffering. You can never overcome all the pain in life, so you need to get out of the wheel of fortune) and Shintoism on the other end (there are 8 million gods who fight and create troubles in human life if they are not appeased properly. All you can do is to fear them and avoid anything to make them angry) of the spiritual realm allow multiple choices of religious practices. In this kind of traditional context, secularism was a source of hope as it sanitizes all spiritual junks and creates a space for humanity to strive for ‘our’ own autonomy and control. In this cultural soil, the gospel was planted in Yamato through the work of Koza community church. This local church has been offering education to children in community for the future of the nation as they beleive the local church should not be “a waiting room for heaven” (listen to the interview by Rev. Matsumoto below).

Fukushima opened up a challenge for this church as well as an opportunity to serve with practical means (financially and sending people over to help). That is how to be a church that gives meaning for living to persons and to communities both for present and for future wherever it is located. This local church in Yamato, again, seeks to understand the connection between serving a local community and building nation and how the times of disasters like this could turn to be a God-given opportunity for mutual growth both by those who receive help and offer help. Rev. Matsumoto, the fourth Pastor of the sixty-five year old church understands this call to nation-(re)building well as he pointed to one important destiny of a local church: It must continue to be a learning community while serving others and seeking the Shalom for those around them including those who persecute them. I met with Rev. Matsumoto in Yamato before going to Fukushima to learn about the church's efforts in partnering with churches in Fukushima.



Church as Servant for the Community
(After the disaster,) we thought what we could do as church. First thing we needed to do was to pray together specially [for the situation]. Second thing was to establish a task force team under the leadership of an elder. This team’s main task would include searching how best the church could utilize donation from the church members. Yanagisawa-san, a staff member of FVI (Friends with the Voiceless International) introduced a few churches which were affected by the disaster in Fukushima. Then a couple weeks later Shibata-san, a staff member of our church, and I decided to visit a church and its disaster-stricken neighborhood in Iwaki City, so we could understand the real situation [to take an appropriate action].

Church as a Learning Community
We learned a few of things through this opportunity. We thought that we as church were first called to serve this Yamato city area. Tohoku region is quite far from us. Koza church is quite a big church among Japanese churches and we have focused on evangelizing in this area. However, we have learned this time that having more members at church is not its ultimate goal. I often use a statement, “A church is not a waiting room for heaven.” God has given a church a mission. Through the disaster this time, we have been challenged by God-led encounters that the mission from God for us is not just for Yamato city and its surrounding areas, but it can be expanded to far broader areas.

Every Sunday we share our worship facilities with two congregations: Portuguese-speaking and Spanish-speaking Japanese immigrants. They have dedicated for volunteer visits so diligently since the disaster happened. Initially I explained to our church members that our congregation needs to operate systematically, even our activities during weekdays [instead of starting ad-hoc volunteer work]. Later I have realized that it was my excuse that everybody had busy schedule [and adding one more activity to their busy schedule would not be a good idea]. The issue boiled down to this: What priority do we give in organizing our schedule for meeting others’ needs? From the immigrant congregations, we have learned the true meaning of serving others. Our church had already made in our annual plan that we would invite FVI to come and give us a seminar on building a habit of loving our neighbors. It was scheduled for this year [even before knowing the disasters]. Through this seminar, we were reminded of the simple truth that loving others is like sowing mustard seeds that will not go in vain.

Daily Choice as a Path to Transformation
This is one story I heard about a person who was chosen to be a model for Leonardo Da Vinci. This man was first chosen to be a model as Jesus because of his good appearance. Then two years later this same person was chosen by Da Vinci again as he was looking for a model as Judas Iscariot, an embodiment of evil in human appearance. [In two years, this model had changed form the best human appearance to the worst human appearance.]
This teaches us that we are changed by the choice we make each day. This story is also related to Jesus’ transfiguration celebrated on Aug. 6 in the Church calendar, and this date coincides with the atomic bombing in Hiroshima. History reveals all events which happened according to our choices [in each moment]. Therefore, we need to seek God’s will for our daily choice on how to use time or money; all are given by God. I strongly sense that this choice [making] is deeply connected with how we might rebuild our society that is so struck by this disaster and with peace-building in the world.

The source of Hope for (re)Buildnig a Nation.
The hope of nation building is not about bricks and mortar. It comes from a common story people choose to remember together. Japanese understand this very well because Yasukuni Shrine is one such story and has power to hold people together. Today, I think of Germany again for a different reason. Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe (aka the Holocaust Memorial), which began as a dream of a German Journalist in 1989, the year when the Berlin Wall came down, was inaugurated sixty years after the end of the World War II. Remembering a story as offenders is a whole new story. There are many similarities between Japan and Germany, but one difference is this: Japan has Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo, and Germany has the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin. This also makes me think of my own nation, Korea, the divided one.

A Korean Tribute to Dr. Takashi Nagai of Nagasaki

August 9, 2011 - Seoul, Korea


Fukushima looks very different from outside Fukushima and outside Japan. Mostly it is quiet and invisible. In Korea, it is buried under mixed emotions of Korean sentiment toward Japan.

Today is 66th anniversary of the atomic bombing in Nagasaki, Japan. Because of the timing (3 days later than Hiroshima) and the lesser degree of devastation than Hiroshima, Nagasaki does not make it to news very much. (But more importantly, it is because the people of Nagasaki responded to such devastating disaster much differently than Hiroshima as you read one of the quotes below.)In Korea, whether Hiroshima or Nagasaki, Japan does not make a good news in August. It is because by the defeat and surrender of Japan the independence was brought to Korea just 6 days after the devastation in Nagasaki in 1945.

I am not going to comment on the socio-political impact on both nations by what happened between August 6 and 15 in 1945, but I want to honor a Christian radiologist who sacrificially served the afflicted in Nagasaki after the bombing. Dr. Takasi Nagai (1908-1951) is very little known to most people (including Japanese) today, but he inspired thousands of people to rebuild post-war Nagasaki with a gospel-led vision for life. For the past few weeks, I have been enthusiastically sharing about his dedicated life in Nagasaki to Japanese friends. Today, as my humble tribute to him, I post two quotes of his insights and wisdom from A Song for Nagasaki by Paul Glynn (Eerdmans Publishing, 1988)

“And just then, at 11.02 a.m., an atom bomb exploded over our suburb. In an instant, 8,000 Christians were called to God and in a few hours flames turned to ash this venerable Far Eastern holy place.
“At midnight that night our cathedral suddenly burst into flames and was consumed. At exactly that same time in the Imperial Palace, His Majesty the Emperor made known his sacred decision to end the war. On August 15, the Imperial Rescript which put an end to the fighting was formally promulgated and the whole world saw the light of peace. August 15 is also the great feast of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. It is significant, I believe, that Irakami Cathedral was dedicated to her. We must ask: Was this convergence of events, the end of the war and the celebration of her feast-day, merely coincidental or was it the mysterious Providence of God?
“I have heard that the atom bomb… was destined for another city. Heavy clouds rendered that target impossible and the American crew headed for the secondary target, Nagasaki. Then a mechanical problem arose and the bomb was dropped further north than planned and burst right above the cathedral… It was not the American crew, I believe, who chose our suburb. God’s providence chose Urakami and carried the bomb right above our homes. Is there not a profound relationship between the annihilation of Nagasaki and the end of the war? Was not Nagasaki the chosen victim, the lamb without blemish, slain as a whole-burnt offering on an altar of sacrifice, atoning for the sins of all the nations during World War II?”

(ch. 24, Not from Chance our Comfort Springs, p. 188)

He expressed grave suspicions about “angry people” in peace movements. There is a great need for peace movements, he wrote, but only if made up of people with hearts that are at peace. He warned of any peace movement that was “merely political” or ideological and not dedicated to justice, love and patient hard work. Angry shouting in the streets about peace often cloaked very unpeaceful hearts, he commented…. In one place Nagai says all of us are called to “contemplation, which is not difficult. You see children praying this way, for instance, before the crib at Christmas time.” He quotes the Gospel: “I thank you Father for hiding these things from the clever and revealing them to little ones.”… Looking out at the nuclear wasteland Nagai said with the faith of Isaiah, “God will turn (Jerusalem’s) desolation into Eden, and the wasteland into a garden of Yahweh.”

(ch. 26, The Little Girl who Couldn’t Cry, pp. 213-214)

My prayer for Fukushima today is that it may also turn to a garden of Yahweh, a garden of Easter Hope.

Loving Neighbors Beyond Duty

Hokushin Calvary Church - Fukushima City, Fukushima

Some wandered in desert wastelands,
Finding no way to a city where they could settle.
They were hungry and thirsty,
and their lives ebbed away.
Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble,
and he delivered them from their distress.
He led them by a straight way
to a city where they could settle.
Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love
and his wonderful deeds for mankind,
for he satisfies the thirsty
and fills the hungry with good things.

(Psalm 107:4-9)


Healing as a Reciprocal Process of a Community



“What I learned from this in verses 4-9 is that I needed to keep crying out to God and ask him what I should do. And then I cried out and listened to God. I felt that God was speaking to me that I should live together with others. And it was not about doing anything special, but spending time together with the lonely and the distressed; eating together, reading the word of God together and praying together. [now at the forum four months later] Reflecting that experience of living together, I realized what healed us was because of the fact that we were also affected by the disaster as our house was shaken by the earthquake and it was in a total chaos and in an unlivable condition. We realized that we were the same as the disaster affected. God showed us that we were not alone. We had fellow evacuees [also believers] among us to overcome this problem together.

We also realized we were all in God’s family and we sensed God’s presence here [by living with others] together. That reminded me of those who started living in the temporary housing as their relationships have been cut off from others, so we must remember those who are made lonely. Loneliness and isolation is the most difficult issue for people. Living and spending time together gave us much consolation. It began the healing process.

A month after the disaster when the situation became a bit more stable, these families returned to their places. In the meanwhile, some church members started feeling that we as a congregation needed to do something to respond to this disaster. We started praying after Sunday service. After praying, our church members felt we should serve by what we have in our hands.”


Reverend Kuba and his family encountered God’s grace of building His family through their own experience of being affected by the earthquake. They didn’t have much time to plan anything but moved into the church building with two families who were desperately seeking a refuge after having to move out of the 20 KM zone. During that month of living together, Rev. Kuba reflected deeply on the word of God wherever it speaks about building communities as he continued to ‘cry out’ to God.

One experience led to another situation which deepened further Rev. Kuba’s perspectives on God’s community building and his salvation. The first two families left after staying with Kuba’s family for a month in the church building together, a church member introduced a family who desperately needed help of a community to surround them with love. This time, it was a non Christian family whose one and only son has a serious condition called “hikikomori.”

Hikikomori, translated as social withdrawal, is a psychosocial condition of a person that withdraws from society and spends most of his or her life in a small space (in the house) doing self-destructive activities, often too violent for other family members to live together. Currently in Japan there are more than 500,000 hikikomoris. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hikikomori )

This family with a hikikomori teenage boy moved into the church and they started joining prayer meetings and bible studies voluntarily (nothing was imposed on them). Gradually the parents started feeling more peace as they knew they had support they needed in the church, and the son’s violent behaviors gradually started decreasing. Rev. Kuba and the church members quietly witnessed these changes in emotional and mental conditions of the boy and also of the parents. Rev. Kuba started sensing that God might have a greater purpose of using his church for building a new kind of community in Fukushima City especially after they found out one of the largest temporary housing complex would be located near the church building.

When Midori and I visited last Tuesday, Rev. Kuba told us the progress of the family. Just that morning, the boy requested that he would like to apologize to his parents for his destructive behavior and wanted to reconcile with them. And they were going to start a formal reconciliation process in the church with help of the Pastor and church members.

Fukushima city alone has about 16 blocks of temporary housing units of various sizes: some are less than 20 housing units and others are over 200 housing units as you can see on the photo.

The Kubas and Hokushin Calvary Church is now carefully listening to God and discerning how God wants them to move to a next level of building community with evacuees moving into the temporary housing complex near their church. They feel this is a great opportunity from God for them to live out the call on their church as a small mustard seed to build a new community. Rev. Kuba elaborates his reflection on the triune God’s love as the most vital foundation for building a loving community.

Trinity as the Foundation of Community Building



After the evacuates left our church [after spending one month together as evacuees], another new families were sent to us by God. They were not directly affected by this disaster. I had an idea that spending time together in prayer and reading the word of God will reveal the love of God. That will be a critical healing process I thought but I had never practiced before. Because of this disaster, we have experienced what it means to live together. I realized it is possible to live together with others here in the church; worshiping and spending the time together, sharing life together, then people have been healed. Things started happening spontaneously.

Our church volunteers [who were busy serving at the shelters] started interacting with the parents [of the boy] who were staying in the church building. These parents were cooking food for the church volunteers and they started sharing life naturally that way.
This was not our intentional plan, but God led us in each moment, through our prayers. God sent people. In the end we realized that God’s bigger story is going on [beyond what we were experiencing.] We have seen God in action.

The most important learning for this time is that not making an event, but sharing time together. Sharing the life together with prayer and God’s word, then a process of healing naturally begins. In this fellowship, God is in the center and we who believe in Jesus are invited to this [the circle of love]. As the triune God is in fellowship, there is a fellowship of love, starting from the trinity. Into that fellowship of love, I am invited to participate, and [for me] that is the meaning of salvation. Now I am part of God’s family. In this God’s family, other people are sent to this fellowship and those persons will be healed in this fellowship of triune love. In the perfect fellowship of love between Father, Son and the Spirit, I am now part of God’s family with fellow believers, then others, who don’t know Jesus yet, are also invited to join this family. The fellowship of love grows and that’s the [true] healing process.


This deep theological reflection by Rev. Kuba has significant implication for Japanese context, and the wider Confucian culture – China and Korea included. In the Confucian culture, an ideal man is a moral man who fulfills all his duties in his various relationships, set by the social hierarchy. Most importantly this relationship is defined in a family, education and political systems (The prime Confucian concept is “King, Teacher and Father is one” – the most important three positions in the social hierarchy). Loving neighbors in this context is a moral duty for a good man, and the highest honor in society is to seek the interest of society (community and family) over one’s self-interest. This is where Japanese cultural value of group-oriented mindset comes from and the root of ‘serving the nation by giving up one’s personal gain’ (i.e. honorable suicide, kamikaje soldiers, and so on). This traditional Confucian values are what the secularized modern Japanese society is trying to go back to as this devastating triple disaster has shaken the foundations of modern life and economy in Japan.

However, loving neighbors and loving God is inseparable in Christianity, not because it is moral checklist of salvation, but because the triune God is in loving community and loves the fallen humanity deeply enough to give up the Son’s life. That love creates freedom and choice. Everyone is invited, but the choice is on the individual.

In a culture where loving neighbor is embedded in the traditional values of moral duties, it is easy to slip into a checklist of doing good work and marry that checklist to belief systems that are not compatible to God of the Bible. And more importantly for Christians who are trying to expand the horizon of their faith by practical application, it is not simply about “evangelism and social actions” as most contemporary evangelical leaders may preach what the holistic ministry is about and how to go about doing it. The danger for us in creating holistic relief work by local churches is this: Simply adding “Another checklist of doing activities with Bible verses to support.”

Rev. Kuba is on to something that goes much deeper than doing activities or merely ‘recovering Japanese traditional values.’ The love of triune God and the invitation open to all humanity is the fundamental building blocks of society and new humanity.

Declaration of Fukushima Future Forum

Bandai Atami, Fukushima
July 28, 2011


We believe that God providentially allowed the triple disaster in Fukushima brought on by East Japan Great Earthquake (Ps.18:6-7).
We especially believe that God has a specific and unique plan for Fukushima, where we have experienced not only the earthquake and tsunami, but in addition, extensive radiation contamination caused by the explosion at the Fukushima First nuclear power plant.
We, who have prayed that His Kingdom may come (Mt. 6:10), believe that the Kingdom of God will be fulfilled in Fukushima and this prefecture will become a model of His Kingdom.
We believe that the Lord will use local churches to restore the destroyed and contaminated land of Fukushima through serving the local communities (Is. 54:3), Then Fukushima will be filled with beautiful nature, fruitful agricultural plants, and new communities of restored relationships among people.
We firmly believe that at that time Fukushima prefecture will live up to the meaning of its name (“Fuku” means both good news and blessing and “Shima” means land) and God’s glory will be revealed.

As we read His word of II Chron.7:14, we will concentrate on listening to the Lord (Ps.37:7), humbling ourselves before Him, repenting, seeking His face, turning from our wicked ways, and asking for His wisdom. We will serve those who are in positions of weakness (Mt.25:40). We will walk alongside with them, and love them with small actions of love (mustard seed). By obeying the words of Jesus, we will engage ourselves in restoring warm and trusting family relationships; as a result all the members can rejoice together. We will contribute to building a society where all persons may be able to live with God-given dignity. We will bring up people of the next generation with the fragrance of Christ, and send them out to all spheres of the society, such as education, politics, economy, media, agriculture, science, and the arts. We will endeavor to liberate ourselves and others from the lifestyle of greed. We also will promote the utilization of sustainable energy.
In order to accomplish these above, as the Body of Christ, we will offer our God-given gifts and labor together to expand a network of learning and serving one another (Ep.4:16).

32 participants at Fukushima Future Forum

We, who shared the same experience of the triple disaster of March 11, 2011, gathered together from July 25 through 28 in Bandai Atami, Koriyama city to pray and seek God’s guidance for the future of Fukushima. Fukushima Future Forum was sponsored by Friends with the Voiceless International (FVI) and endorsed by the Lausanne Movement in Japan.
After much prayer and discussion, 32 participants wrote the above declaration.

For the original declaration in Japanese and for more information about the Forum, please click http://karashi.net/fukushima/index.html

Jeremiah 29 for Relief Strategy

Grace Garden Chapel - Koriyama City, Fukushima

“From today we will stop being victims, but we will become helpers!”

Two Sundays after the disaster in March, Pastor Sanga announced to the congregation. Koriyama, one of the major cities in Fukushima Prefecture, is located 50 KM west to Fukushima Daiichi. It was affected by the earthquake but damage was not as devastating as other cities on the coast. A few members of the church were affected by the earthquake and expatriates were concerned whether they should return to their home countries or not due to the rising fear of radiation. The co-pastor couple knew the only way to get rid of fear and uncertainty was turn the congregation from passive by-passers to active workers.

Many evacuation shelters were set up in Koriyama and one of the largest ones in Fukushima was opened in 10 minutes distance from the church. Toyomi and several members of the church started visiting shelters and delivering supplies to victims. Toyomi, a mother of two children, teamed up with a few other women went to the shelters, especially looking for mothers and children whose needs were not being met by the services in the shelters. Toyomi explains the background of how their Life Support Program came about.





Build houses and Plant Gardens: a Vision for Life Support Program

Toyomi and her team surveyed 100 families from thousands of evacuees they met. Most relief programs focus on meeting the needs of evacuees while they were at the shelters, but the Grace Garden Church team had a very clear vision. The vision came from Jeremiah 29, the text Toyomi’s father gave her and her husband at their wedding before moving to Fukushima. Instead of trying to serve many people at the shelters, the ‘Grace team’ had a clear strategy: to provide meaningful support to the few they could actually minister with quality of relationship. The most important criterion they screened during their survey was, “Do you desire to get back on your feet, and do you wish to get well?”

The Grace Team knew keeping the evacuees too long in the shelters would only further the damange than help. They started planting the vision of a new life among evacuees and this is how the Life Support Program was birthed.

The three phased program looks like this:

1. Home Start-up and basic living support kit: This includes basic appliance sand electronics that evacuees could set up their homes upon arriving at the temporary housing.


2. Living and hygiene Kit: this includes basic items like toiletries, hygienic items and cleaning supplies.


3. Food supply kit: This is only provided to the household with problems of mobility or access to groceries and markets. At this stage, the Grace team includes a nurse who checks on health and emotional conditions of the evacuees.

For a church of 50 some members, this is a huge task but it is carried by their huge faith in Jesus, as I heard the testimony of one member who has been actively running the survey and building relationship with evacuees. Midori and I went to visit the team for an interview on Wednesday and met with Rie Matsumoto, one of the staff members. Though it was in front of a recorder and camera, Rie could not stop sharing the stories she’s heard from many evacuees. Midori was actively listening while I was looking at Rie over the camera viewfinder and I could tell how deeply moving those stories were as Rie’s eyes were soon filled with tears. (After trying a few times, Midori suggested that we should keep the story short. We apologize for the short summary, rather than the detail translation).


Relief Worker's Testimony



"My name is Rie Matsumoto and I am a staff member at Grace Garden Chapel. When the disaster happened, I felt depressed whenever I was watching news or hearing stories of the disaster victims who died because most people faced their death without knowing their destiny. A week later, our church began the relief work, and I wondered about my own ability to deliver such work with my own weakness. But as the work went on, [by serving the victims] I recovered from the depressing feelings I was under in the first few days.

I collected many stories of victims while doing the survey as the baseline of our Life Support Program. Many people had their family members washed away and lost everything they had. I want to meet each one’s needs. I feel helpless but I am hopeful in Jesus. Everyone I met said, “we never expected this level of disaster would happen in our life time.’ I pray that the light of Jesus will illuminate the darkness, and Fukushima will be healed.

God's Purpose for the Church in Disaster Affected Communities
I want to be closer to each family we met and am trying to focus on building relationship with them, not simply delivering the supplies. I believe this must be God’s providence for our church that we are not located too close to the plant that might have affected us much worse, but close enough to be able to serve the victims. Mission of the church is not too far, it is very close to us."


Disaster relief work is always reciprocal. It blesses both ways: to victims and to workers. When it does not create this reciprocal blessing, it creates patronage and dependency, or becomes dehumanizing transactions. I have seen many situations of disaster relief work and some end up in worse than the disaster itself when relationships are not carefully fostered. Rie never worked in disaster relief work before, nor did she get professional training in humanitarian aid work. Her faith in Jesus is bringing light to the evacuees and the service has brought her out of despair and feelings of depression.

After our visit to Grace Garden Chapel, Midori was filled with heavy emotions from the stories Rie shared, but more with joy from the strong faith Rie shared with us.

Radiation: From Fear to Action

When I wrote my reflection on the issues around radiation on this blog after my first visit to Fukushima back in April, I had a whole new world opened to my eyes. That was not about energy or technology. But a question for myself: What if human beings had never assumed that we were to become autonomous. By autonomy, I mean two things. First, having control over one's own life and second, knowing everything there is to know in order to act.

How would education for children be shaped if we were to teach them to live in harmony with one another as we all are vulnerable (and even more vulnerable as we get older), and how to gain good understanding and wisdom if access to knowledge is narrow and information not available all the time? Simply, how shall we live in a world with so many sources of information but lack of wisdom, with so many means (and reasons) of mobility but lack of stability, and with so much money and resources poured into communication technologies but lack of relationships? Fukushima, perhaps, is probably ahead of the rest of us to find that answer for us.

From Narita Airport to daily newspaper, I have witnessed that radiation fills the whole nation right now, not simply Fukushima (though, we who live outside Japan hear very little about or from Fukushima now). The issue boils down to finding wisdom of living or an art of living as some gurus might say. More than enough amount of fact has been released through all kinds of media, and still many people find they do not have sufficient information to manage another day of living. Making choice for action is more than a matter of collecting information and making a rational conclusion, or gather people and make democratic consensus.

During my visit this time, two important questions were given to me. One of them was "To whose voice shall I listen?" With that profound question, I also had a privilege of capturing three different voices on radiation from their experience and I won't make judgement on these voices, but offer them as a window to understand many other voices on what's happening here in Fukushima.

I met Mr. Naoyuki Suzuki at Koza Community Church in Yamato back in April and he’s been volunteering with FVI by giving seminars on radiation in Fukushima and other parts of Japan now. I asked him to speak about his personal experience and faith journey having worked in so many nuclear plants, including the one in Chernobyl.





I’m Naoyuki Suzuki. I studied nuclear engineering at Tokai University almost 50 years ago. At that time the young generation expected with a great hope that an age of nuclear power would come soon in Japan. At the same time I started going to church and accepted Jesus as my Lord. I’m grateful that I knew Jesus when I started my career life. I have worked in radiation control field at nuclear power plants and visited almost all power plants in Japan. I have been exposed by radiation at 950 mSv in my work life. It was not one time, but gradually over a long time. I went to Chernobyl nuclear power plant in 1999, 13 years after its accident. It was a consortium among British, French, and Japanese governments to provide workable solutions for another safety measure. Our main suggestion was to cover the plants with a bigger canopy again so that when the plant would be broken further, there would be no leakage of radiation. However, due to financial problems, it has not been done, yet. After I returned from Chernobyl, we had a critical accident at Tokai nuclear power plants. Then I got an assignment to become one of technical advisors of administrative office of Nuclear Safety Commission of the Cabinet office for 5 years. Through this work,I visited nuclear power plants all over the world. As for the area of Chernobyl, fields and forests have been covered with Cs-137. When I was there,Cs-137 entered into my body at the level of 370 Becquerel through foods like milk, mushrooms, and so on. Though physical half-life of Cs-137 is 30 years, its biological half-life, which means metabolism after intake to the body, is about 100 days. So it has gone completely from my body.


I met Kyoko Uwamori at the Fukushima Future Forum last week. She, a mother of a teenage daughter, had been so worried about potential problems of radiation, so she attended one of the seminars Mr. Suzuki offered in Fukushima.



My name is Kyoko Uwamori and I have a daughter in grade 8. When hydrogen explosion happened, we lived in Aizunokamatsu [a mountain area], and I was very worried about my daughter’s health. Unfortunately our national government did not disclose the information about radiation, so I began searching for myself. I started being very careful about food for my daughter and always try to make sure that my daughter wear a mask and so on. I came to Mr. Suzuki’s radiation seminar and learned many things. One thing was that he accumulated radiation throughout his adult life [because of his job], even though he did not stay in a highly radiated area for a long time. I’ve learned that now I will take my daughter to different places of low radiation risk during summer vacation time.


Pastor Toyomi Sanga lives in Koriyama, about 60 KM west of the plant. Not everyone can make up their minds so clearly as Toyomi does as you listen to her story. She helps us by clearly portraying what choices are laid before us. It’s up to each of us to decide how to live: living with freedom or living with fear. And it is not an easy choice.

Global-San's Love Revolution

From Pachinko to Warehouse, and to Café

2 years before the March 11 disasters, there was a fire in the church building and the building burnt down. The small church of 30-40 members moved to the central part of the City of Iwaki, to a building which became vacant after a pachinko and a business inn went bankrupt. They did not have enough money to renovate the old pachinko facilities to church facilities, so they started gathering on the second floor and left the first floor empty, hoping that God would give them a chance to use the whole building one day.

Such a time as this, God opened a door for this church to live up to its name: Global mission Center (GMC). Immediately after the disaster happened on March 11, Pastor Ikarashi, who had some experience in disaster relief work, went to the City government to seek ways to collaborate. Then GMC started working closely with and giving advice to the Iwaki city government as a major relief operation center. The first floor of the building was quickly turned to a warehouse where relief goods were stored and distributed to Iwaki and other parts of Fukushima and the church started organizing volunteers among its members first, then volunteers from all over Japan and all over the world.

In the first three months after the disaster, they reached out to over 15,000 evacuees in 150 shelters in Iwaki city, and others affected by the disasters but remained in their homes. During this time, they coordinated 20 to 100 volunteers every day.

Midori and I went to visit the church on Monday (Aug 1) to meet with Pastor Ikarashi and see the progress of the work so far since my last visit in late April. The warehouse on the first floor has been transferred to a café for the community, and it is now named, “Life Support Café.” Volunteers were serving visitors; young children playing and the elderly coming for tea and companionship, and parents coming to pick up small supplies that GMC still distributes from the storage after phasing out the major relief operation at evacuation shelters.

After his staff meeting was over, Pastor Ikarakshi came to meet us at the café and he gave us a tour of the building and explained the vision of GMC.



Behind me, you are looking at the central part of Iwaki City, called Taira. The white building is Iwaki City Hall. On the right side, the white building with an antenna is the branch office of Fukushima Prefecture government. Our original church building got burnt down [2 years ago], so God sent us to the central part of Iwaki city. After March 11 disaster, I went to the city hall immediately. I tried to connect with Emergency Disaster Response Department. So I went there to get some information about what’s going on. Iwaki as a city had never experienced natural disaster before. The city government staff were confused themselves, did not know what to do. Since 40 years ago, quite a few towns merged into one City of Iwaki, there are so many small communities and towns scattered all over the city. Since all the telephone lines were cut off, the government couldn’t collect any information about the disaster situation. The city government did not have any alternative means to collect information either. In the end, the city couldn’t function well. Then as a local church, we tried to relate with the city as effective as we could, we tried to visit the places where the city couldn’t reach out. Because we believed that it was what Jesus had done to search for one lost sheep. As a church, we responded by visiting each shelter and did what the city couldn’t meet the needs of evacuees. We distributed goods which the city could not supply. We visited the affected areas and developed relationships with people in the areas personally, and we helped them there.

I gave a couple of suggestions to the City Disaster Relief Department because I had worked for disaster relief work for 3 years in the past. I tried to help that department to function effectively. Especially when so many supplies came to Iwaki, it was an overwhelming situation for the city government to handle. People outside the shelters did not have any opportunities to receive necessary goods. Some people got angry at the City because they could not receive any stuffs. We were visiting places and listened to people’s needs. We knew what we should do. We suggested to the city that they should make each community center a distribution centre for those staying at home but still needed supplies to survive. Now, there are huge left-over relief supplies, we now distribute some of those goods to people in the café we run here [in the church building]. From now on, our main focus is on rebuilding the community. When we visited all affected areas and communities [in Iwaki] we met many suffering people and we listened to them. We are ready to move forward with them to build a community together with their ideas in the process.

Like Daniel’s three friends in the fire: No safe place without Jesus

“Global San.”
(This means “people of GMC church” - Japanese people love to create short nicknames out of long foreign words.)

That’s how the GMC is now known in the city of Iwaki. People remember Global san came to help them before the government came, and these Global San came as their friends in the time of hardship and suffering. Many people have left permanently soon after the disaster because of the fear of radiation as the city is located only 40 KM south of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi. But GMC decided to stay and actively mobilized thousands of volunteers to serve not only the people of Iwaki but also to collaborate with the City’s effort effectively.

“We want to create a revolution of love in the city of Iwaki,” says the Pastor. During the Fukushima Future Forum, he shared his passion for the church to ‘act quickly’ in times of disaster and how Daniel’s three friends in the Old Testament gave him strength to stay in Iwaki when many people were moving away.

DANIEL 3:25–27

He said, “Look! I see four men walking around in the
fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods.”

Nebuchadnezzar then approached the opening of the blazing furnace and
shouted “Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come
out! Come here!”

So Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego came out of the fire,
and the satraps, perfects, governors and royal advisors crowded around them.
They saw that the fire had not harmed their bodies, nor was a hair of their
heads signed; their robes were not scorched, and there was no smell of fire on
them.

From [March] 12th to 15th, hydrogen explosion happened [in Fukushima Daiichi], more and more people escaped. From my past experience of relief work, I sensed this is a tremendous opportunity to testify [our faith]. Usually cult groups or yakuza would come to the affected area first and the church was always the last one to come. Because this time God allowed the nuclear power plant accidents, nobody came in – no NPO, no NGO, no religious groups came. So I was convinced that this was a God given opportunity. This is a time the church would make a testimony. Then my Christian friends came [to Iwaki]. The bible verse that encouraged me during this time was Daniel Chapter 3, Daniel’s three friends, Shadrach, Meshac and Abednego. They were protected even after entering the burning fire. I was ready to die, but because of this word, I thought I could be protected even after being exposed by radiation.

I would like to share this story from a friend of mine who recently moved to Iwaki as a pastor. We did the relief work together. His wife’s father, who was also a Christian, lived in Shizuoka. He called my friend and shouted at him, “Immediately bring my daughter and my grandkids back here!” Even my friend was yelled, “you are a killer!” We, together, tried to make him understand that we do not have any desire to be killed. We are observing [monitoring] the situation closely, we are ready to evacuate our families whenever the situation would become too dangerous to stay. We have no plan to become a prey of the enemy. Then, God has done amazing things. The next day after my friend’s father-in-law called, there was a level 6 earthquake in Shizuoka. We told him that “It’s too dangerous to stay even in Shizuoka.” As they discussed that maybe Nagano might be better because Nagano is a mountain area. The next day [after the earthquake in Shizuoka], another level 6 earthquake happened in Nagano. So what do you think God was telling us at that time?

It’s not the place where we need to look for our own safety. The safest place to be is where we are with Jesus.

A Voice of the Voiceless; A Lament of Fukushima

I will never forget the trouble, the utter lostness,
The taste of ashes, the poison I’ve swallowed.
I remember it all – oh, how well I remember –
the feeling of hitting the bottom.
But there’s one other thing I remember,
and remembering, I keep a grip on hope:

God’s loyal love couldn’t have run out,
His merciful love couldn’t have dried up.
They’re created new every morning.
How great your faithfulness!

(Lamentations 3:19-23, The Message)

During the Fukushima Future Forum, each participant was asked to pray and listen to God for wisdom and words to write from their own hearts’ conviction and commitment for the future of Fukushima while they were resting and reflecting on the past four months since March 11. This active waiting of listening to God at the Forum became the most crucial foundation for drafting a declaration, first from personal commitments, then to a communal commitment. Reliance on the Holy Spirit and the work of communal wisdom was one thing my colleagues felt as their non-negotiable in the process of moving to action. This listening to God and responding to him in prayers was something that resembled laments by prophets and psalmists in the Old Testament. With the words of Jeremiah and the permission of the Form organizers, I have copied the prayers of all participants - one or few sentences per person -, a lament of Fukushima people. (Thanks to Midori for translating these beautiful prayers!)

Wednesday, July 27, 2011 – Fukushima Future Forum

Father, we realize that you have chosen, called and located us here for the sake of Fukushima. May your will be done in this land through us. May your glory be revealed in Fukushima.

May your name be praised.

Father in heaven, through this great triple-disaster of Fukushima I thank you from the bottom of my heart for making this time a blessed opportunity to know you more and for teaching us to understand your will so we know what we should do.

Oh God, thank you for giving me a chance to hear that your work has been done through loving actions done by your church in each area of Fukushima.

Have mercy on those who fear radiation and those who cry with sorrow of losing their loved ones. Restore Fukushima where children can be healthy and feel safe about their future.

Father, may your name be praised. May your loving care be felt by pastors who are here at the Forum and those who are busy at work elsewhere. Help all who labor [in Fukushima] to lay down their heavy burden to you and take away their exhaustion completely. Anoint them with your special oil so that they may take up your easy yoke. Provide them with your power so that they may move forward.

Father in heaven, forgive us our lack of prayers. You said, “Call on me, then I will answer from heaven. I will tell you things beyond your understanding.” Please grant us your mercy, blessing, and gracious work on Fukushima, which is beyond our understanding.

Oh God, lead us in your Holy Spirit and we may take actions from the things we shared at this Forum and what you showed us here. Help us not to make this effort in vain and your work will be advanced in Fukushima.

God, help us to see your sovereignty and reign, and your hands in this Great Disaster. As for this accident of nuclear power plant, I pray for your wisdom and for our ability to understand so that we will make it clear the meaning of this disaster from a biblical perspective.

Lord, our Savior and Helper, You are also our Healer. “My grace is sufficient for you and my power, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weakness, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.” After three months of the disaster, I have fallen in sickness. I did not know whether I could come here or not. By participating in this forum, I experienced that you are the Healer, so I thank you. I believe that you also heal and restore all creation. Please heal and restore the land of Fukushima from radiation and give your peace to all people in Fukushima quickly. Provide all people with your true salvation by using us who have been saved first. I thank you for leading me to this Forum.

Father, have mercy on Fukushima. Show us your will and use us.

Thank you for choosing us and placing us in Fukushima at such a time as this.

We heard what you told us to do. Anoint us with your power so we may continue doing your will. Strengthen us as you have chosen us in our weakness. Encourage, help and lead us in doing what you have entrusted to us.

Make Fukushima be a cornerstone of transformation for the entire Japan. Make people of Fukushima be a living testimony as you love them so deeply.

Thank you for leading us to this special time of meeting fellow workers in you here in Fukushima where so many people are suffering from the accidents of the nuclear power plant. Give me a heart to love you more and follow you with my whole being. Make us reveal who you are, Lord, by showing our love among brothers and sisters in Christ first so that people will know your presence among us.

Make a new bond of love in Christ among people in Fukushima where so many communities were destroyed. Heal and restore the land of Fukushima from contamination by radiation.

Lord, create a future of Fukushima where people cannot see at the moment because of their fear caused by the great disaster and radiation. Make local churches, the body of Christ be a future of Fukushima.

I ask you to reveal your grace and glory in your work of restoration in Fukushima where people have experienced deep pain.

Lord, keep speaking to us what you want us to do. We will follow your instruction.

Lord, you promised us that you will cast the darkness away. Come, Jesus, the light of the world.

Strengthen each local church, Lord. Use them as the light of the world. Reveal your wisdom for each church to act on the specific problems they encounter. Bless each church so they may be a community of love and encouragement and your instrument.

Lord, forgive our sins that Fukushima has committed. Forgive our friends in this region who have been stubborn and worshiped idols. They do not know. Help them to realize who you are. Holy Spirit, open their hearts to understand you.

Lord, you said to us, “If my people, who are called by my name will humble themselves,” Forgive our sins. We confess we believe in Jesus Christ. Forgive the sins of churches.

Unite your church and fulfill the prophecies by Joel.

Forgive my disobedience. I did not listen to you, unlike little Samuel who listened and answered to you. I repent. Give me your words again, I will listen to you.

Help churches in Fukushima to be united through a strong network in order to stand firmly against the problems of the nuclear power plant. Speak to each of us according to your will so that we may participate in your work.

Lord, you accept the broken and humble hearts. Crush my pride and sanctify me as an instrument that can be used by you.

[Closing]
We learned from the Old Testament that Israel was chose and loved by the Lord like an apple of eyes. They sinned and they were weak. They lived as slaves in Egypt for 400 years. They wandered in the wilderness for 40 years. They were captured by the Babylonians. However, you continuously gave them prophesies of blessings and restoration. Now, by facing this Great Disaster, people from all over Japan and all over the world have paid attention to your prophesy and knelt down before you. We confess our sins and repent. Hear our prayers. At this time we witness together and we pray together. We have fellowship together. Here we have found hope from darkness. This hope will never end in despair. Help us move to action and show us what you will do so that we may see the hope you promised to fulfill. Make what we have discussed at the Forum become our daily ministry. You are the faithful Lord forever to answer all our prayers. In our Lord Jesus’ name, we pray, Amen.