Being Missional: Shining the Light in the Darkness

April 11, 2018 - Minami Soma

Back to Fukushima this year, alone with Midori. I miss coming with a team of people to encourage the forgotten people of Fukushima, but I am also enjoying this opportunity for me to sit with pastors and their church members leisurely and to listen (through Midori’s careful translation, for which I am forever grateful!) to their stories unhurriedly.

After my very first visit in 2011, this is only the second time to visit Fukushima in April as my annual visits had taken place in March in the previous years. Though most cherry blossoms have already ended in most parts of Fukushima, the colorful spring blossoms seem piercingly beautiful in contrast to the bags of topsoil piled high in the fields. 

Abandoned area

Empty field after topsoil was removed.

Recently cultivated area after topsoil was removed.

A little over 100 km distance took us over three hours to arrive in Minami Soma from Nakoso by train, bus and then train due to the high level of radiation still found around the Daiichi nuclear plant. As Midori and I were walking around the town to find a place to get some simple lunch, we discovered the town still looked pretty much like a ghost town, like a couple years ago when we stayed overnight. Not a single human-being walking on the sidewalks, and only cars pass by occasionally in the midday small town traffic.

“Yanagisawa san!” The front window rolled down from a car across the street, and the familiar face smiled at us. Mrs. Ishiguro waved at us as she slowed down the car to wait for us to get in. “No one walks in this area, so I was curious when I saw two ladies walking from a distance, and then I realized I knew the familiar faces!” She took us to a recently open store where we could buy hot lunch boxes and rushed to their house, which is also their church, Haramachi Bible Church.

“What things have been happening lately since we saw you last year?” I asked as we didn’t want to waste any time during our short visit before making the long train-bus-train journey back to Nakoso in the evening.

“We started an Ayako Miura book club that meets once a month at the public library in the town centre.” They meet at the public library to make it non-Christian friendly after a failed attempt to start it in the church. 7-11 people showed up so far each month and 20 some people showed up when they held a seminar with a literature expert as a guest speaker.

“Ayako Miura (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayako_Miura) is a famous Japanese female novelist, whose works convey a biblical worldview that is well understood by ordinary Japanese people. We want to serve our neighbours by creating a social event like this because there are very few opportunities to enjoy culture or entertainment for a quality time here,” said the newly ordained Rev. Ishiguro (Rev. Ishiguro’s wife) spoke to us with her great big smile.

 The church is also trying to have an open church occasionally by holding more seeker-friendly services. They want the church to be a non-threatening, friendly place where people can come and find friends.

Minami Soma is a rapidly aging city because most young families left after the disaster. The city was under a voluntary evacuation order soon after the disaster and many who evacuated during that time have not come back. This house-church run by a husband-wife pastoral team had two lonely years right after the disaster when the Sunday service meant only the two of them to worship. But now the church has been steadily growing in the last few years and now they are trying to meet the needs of the neighbors by holding public events.

Rev. Ishiguro in front of the public library

This is a church that knows her mission to be present and shine Christ’s light in the darkness.

"What ifs" won't return the lost 2557 days (7 years and two days)

For the first time in several years, I am in Vancouver this March. Normally I would pay my yearly visit to Fukushima this time of the year, coinciding with the 3/11 Triple Disaster anniversary. I find it hard to call it an anniversary, but there it is. With a plan to visit Fukushima in April, I am home reading online news about Fukushima instead of visiting friends there.

I imagined that the echoes of the triple disaster would gradually disappear from media even on these anniversary dates now that seven years have passed. But I was surprised to see a news article (click here) which mentioned some scholarly reports saying, "The evacuation was a mistake." 

There have been countless arguments about Fukushima issues right from the day one, seven years ago. About the level of radiation risks, about how far people must evacuate, about how long they must wait, about how soon they could return and to what level of restoration and so on.

2557 days have passed since the triple disaster in Fukushima. For more than sixty thousand people from Fukushima, that's how long they have carried the stigma of evacuees. More than half of that number of people are still wandering with lost hope, not just lost homes and possessions. It is not easy to get an accurate count on how many more people left their homes in Fukushima voluntarily and unofficially. But in the first year of the disaster, the number was over a hundred thousand.

Since the very first visit I took in April 2011, I've met people who have pointed out how wrongly this triple disaster recovery was unfolding ever since the official recovery began in Fukushima almost a whole year after the disaster. Now we hear a voice of ivory tower saying that the evacuation was a mistake. Grassroots people knew it, but they had to follow the voice of authority. The people of Fukushima did not have a voice back then. Only one in two people who were forced to evacuate returned to their homes. Where are the rest? Do they have a voice now?

Questions arise if the evacuation was indeed a mistake. What if these people had all stayed home, would they have recovered better? What if there was another tsunami and earthquake, would people then have evacuated or stayed? What if, what if, what if.... We do not have answers.

We can't return to those evacuees the precious 2557 days that they have lost in evacuation even after monetary compensations have been made by TEPCO to those evacuees. But perhaps one thing we can do is to remember the big mistake and not repeat it. Now is the time to think about the present moment and future.

Six Years after the Disaster

Some facts about Fukushima after six long years passed since March 11, 2011. 

Percentage of forest area in Fukshima: 70%

No. of towns affected by the mandatory evacuation order: 11

Total no. of evacuees in 2012: 164,865 

Total no of evacuees in March 2017: 79,446

The highest radiation recorded on March 10, 2017: Okuma town at 10.444 μSv/h

Total no. of population in Fukushima prefecture in 2011: 1,988,995

Total no. of population in Fukushima prefecture in 2017: 1,895,080

Total no. of workers for decommissioning in October 2016: 5920 

"Six" doesn't seem to be as a significant number" as some other numbers, like five or ten, or even seven, that mark passage of time better in our fragile memory. But this is what happens in ordinary Japanese life. The Japanese school year and fiscal year run from April to March. So mid to late March is a season of graduation, school break, job transfers, and relocations, and any other life changes associated with these big changes and passages of life. And there is the famous season of beautiful cherry blossoms. 

In the midst of these happy anticipations of life on a cold Friday afternoon six years ago, the earthquake hit and a massive tsunami followed. Children were still in school, high school and university graduations were going on, salarymen (as Japanese call their white-collar work-force) were exchanging their news about the next posts in faraway places, mothers were busy shopping for the weekend family outings.... Then panic and chaos began. A shock and trauma scarred their memories forever. It has never ended. 

Children who were born in 2011 go to elementary school this April. Children who finished elementary school that year have spent the hardest, darkest and most unimaginable forms of youth and teenage years in their middle and high schools. University students who graduated that year spent the rest of their twenties in this broken reality of Japan's super-power as the world's leading economy as they entered the job world. 

Future from Fukushima

Fukushima's future and its people are forever marked by the triple disaster and the ongoing struggle with the unresolved nuclear crisis. Collective memory is a powerful thing when building a new future. I've seen this logo, Future from Fukushima a couple years after the disaster, as a local movement among farmers and small businesses that started promoting revitalization of local economy in Fukushima. Today our team visited Comutan Fukushima, a brand-new exhibit hall that the Fukushima prefectural government opened recently as an information and learning centre about the nuclear disaster in Fukushima and the impact of radiation in human life and environment. We learned a great deal about Fukushima through our experience. 

Last six years my purpose of visiting Fukushima has been to listen to the stories of people and churches at the grassroots level which often get buried in the big headlines of media. I found it very helpful to be able to see the whole picture of Fukushima from a bird-eye view. Indeed a new future from Fukushima is rising!  

Deepening Friendships and Deepening Engagement

The artists who did the first exhibit in Fukushima three years ago (go to the story on the exhibit) continued their engagement with Fukushima in differfent ways. The nine artists went to the restricted areas surrounding Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant in late 2013 and their experience mounted to an exhibit in Fukushima in March 2014 to commemorate the third anniversary of the triple disaster. After that, a group of friends got together in Vancouver and raised funds, prayers and other kinds of support to bring the exhibit to Vancouver (go to the story on the Vancouver ehxibit). In early 2016 some of these artists went to Fukushima again with addition of two new Japanese artists and a Canadian artist in March 2016. In their first visit to Fukushima three and a half years ago, they saw and grieved over the devastation, trauma and human tragedy of man-made disaster. Their work reflected their lament, but a sign of hope. 

This time the new exhibit in Tokyo showed their deepening experience as a group of artists: trying to understand what lies behind these man-made disasters, what is being done to recover the devastated soil and farms, how a small but resilient hope is found in various pockets of Fukushima. 

The artists visiting the areas stricken by tsunami (March 2016)

Learning from the radiation expert about the radiation clean-up work in Fukushima (March 2016)

Olive Garden: A nonprofit organization planting olive trees along the Fukushima shore line
by creating  jobs for the disabled (March 2016)

Six adults and three children from Vancouver visited the exhibit today. Last night was an opening event, which was a great success including some major media coverage (sadly, we missed it because we were just flying in to Tokyo at the same time.) Today, the exhibit began to fill steadily even during the day and got busier in the afternoon. 

Fukushima, even after six years, still continues to be a mind-boggling, immensely complex reality. It is a kind of conundrum to a nation that never took "no" for an answer. 

This exhibit, once again, is a communal art project which is honestly reflected by the people who care deeply and express boldly. As their experience grows deeper, their friendships grow richer. We are greatful for their vocation of artists. 

Here are some photos Jonathan took this afternoon. I wish many of the readers were able to come to Tokyo and experience this beautiful exhibit. 

No Greater Happiness Than a Visit with a Friend from a Faraway Place

In April 2011, I went to Fukushima, Japan, alone from Vancouver, Canada to line up at the immigration in Narita Airport where there were very few foreigners entering the country. Most foreigners had already left the country due to the safety alert coming from the uncertainty following the meltdown of the reactors in Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant.

Six years have passed and a lot has happened outside Fukushima. Most of the disaster recovery work has long been completed in Iwate and Miyagi since disaster recovery is one thing Japan has been known for her expertise and tenacity. But the situation in Fukushima is quite different. Year by year, we saw very little progress in Fukushima. Though the effect of the earthquake and tsunami was not as devastating as in the other two prefectures mentioned above, due to continued uncertainty around the nuclear plant and rising long term challenges associated with it, progress in Fukushima has been very slow.

Over the next few days six friends from Vancouver are visiting the local churches in Fukushima to learn from their stories of faithfulness, to encourage them that we stand alongside them, and to worship together in Christ. This is a huge answer to prayers. Last Sunday afternoon during the congregational worship at Church of All Nations, we were prayed for and sent out by the loving congregation. I am no longer a lone-ranger visiting Fukushima! In fact, a-dream-come-true kind of thing.

A long time ago a Chinese wise man, Confucious said in his famous writing, the Analects, that one of the three great joys in human life is friend’s visit:

有朋自遠方來、不亦樂乎

 It means, “Isn't it also great when friends visit from distant places?”

It has already been a great joy to the six of us that God chose us to send together. Six of us now all live in the Metro Vancouver, but we come from five different nations: Japan, Korea, Malaysia, USA and Canada. It is a truly global friendship. We go to offer ourselves and our prayers to friends in Fukushima.

Ministry of friendship and ministry of presence

Right from the first year of my work in Fukushima in 2011, I had a hunch that the key to sustainability in Fukushima will be relationships. The local churches which we witnessed to be effective in such a challenging context all had one common: People who are called by God to stay in Fukushima. To be present is to minister. To be friends is an end of mission, not a means to mission. This is only possible through

relationship that is bound by voluntary commitments rather than monetary, project-terms or contracts. We now offer ourselves to this voluntary commitment of being present in Fukushima from afar. It is a true joy to visit friends in a faraway place!

Ministry of Presence: A Community of Easter Hope

Christ is risen!

Easter Sun rose out of dark night in the semi-empty town of Haramachi, Minami Soma.  I started praying about visiting Haramachi Bible Church (HBC) on a Sunday to join their worship among those returned residents after evacuation. When Midori suggested that we should visit them on Easter Sunday, I exclaimed with joy with no hesitation or even thinking about logistic difficulties of our transportation choices (we are moving by public transportation, not driving a car).

Rev. Ishiguro, his wife, and the small but steadily growing congregation warmly welcomed us. I have visited this church a few times since the disaster five years ago, but it was my first time to join them for Sunday worship. Whenever we came to visit the Ishiguro's in the past, I could sense the deep peace flowing from their years of experience, wisdom and perseverance in leading a small independent church. 

From denominational dependence to independence, to inter-dependence

In Japan (and most Asian contexts), denominational hierarchy plays a big role in how the church exists or operates. Especially if a denomination is originated from foreign missionaries's work or is part of foreign denomination, then financial dependence can be significant when it comes to pastor's salary, housing, and other ministerial expenses if a congregation is not able to self-finance. For some years in the past before the disaster, Rev. Ishiguro had worked in a denomination but left his relatively 'comfortable position' to start this independent church by faith. 

To support his family and not to depend on church offering for his salary, he held various part time jobs from editing magazines, serving at town council, and so on. By having so many part time jobs, he got to know his community very well. Then the disaster struck and the city fell into the "stay-indoor" order or voluntary evacuation zone because of its proximity to Fukushima Daiichi Power Plant. The Ishuguros themselves were under significant pressure from their loved ones that to evacuate, but they decided to stay with the church at all costs. This meant for the church, as most members of the congregation one by one left their homes for their safety elsewhere, and this small church was left with the Ishiguros and only a couple of elderly member for more than a year. Without any denominational ties, they were all alone in the city of Minami Soma. 

However, because of their conviction and their obedience to the call to stay present where they were, they faithfully kept the door of the church open week after week, to the point that their health was being compromised. This is when other likeminded independent churches outside Fukushima started coming in contact with them. One of such churches was Seibou Christ Church in Ichikawa where my Vancouver friend, Shihoko, had worked for ten years before her family moved back to Canada (read the story of this church here). 

"I repented of my independence and stubbornness about how I thought I should serve God's church. A church can never be independent. We need to be connected with other parts of the body of Christ," said Rev. Ishiguro in his quiet deep voice with conviction last year when I visited together with Shihoko and her husband. Interdependence is a costly lesson that the disaster gave for this small church. 

"Now people are coming back to Minami Soma. Some of our church members returned and we are seeing new people showing up at the worship on Sundays." Christians who wanted to help Fukushima moved with jobs and started attending the church. Though HBC has been steadily growing for the last couple of years, still many responsibilities fall on the shoulders of the pastor and his wife who act as Sunday school teacher, sing in a choir, and serve meals for the fellowship. 

We sat down at a corner of the sanctuary for me to be able to take photos. The small sanctuary with only four long tables became full as the worship began. The reality of small church goes likes this.   

Church Administrator (left) and Ms. Ishiguro (right) present a picture story of Easter for the congregation. This is helpful for new believers. 

Special music for Easter

Rev. Ishiguro's preaching.  

Getting ready for Easter group photo.

Easter celebration with gourmet Japanese food prepared by the church members.

Today was a bitter sweet day as the church said good bye to two of their brothers that they got to know for the last couple years because their assignments at the recovery sites were completed.

Mr. Nishimura (left) and Mr. Muramoto (right)

Mr. Muramoto is from the Philippines and started coming to Fukushima as a clean-up worker in the restricted zone since 2012. His family is still in the Philippines and he comes to Fukushima for six months and goes back to the Phillipines for the other six months of the year. He is soon leaving Fukushima and not sure this time whether he'll come back in the fall or not.

Mr. Nishimura is an architect from Shizuoka (central part of Japan) who applied for a job with the ministry of disaster recovery because he wanted to serve in Fukushima. For the last three years he was involved in reconstruction of a local hospital in Odaka town, located 11 KM northwest of Fukushima Daiichi. His assignment is complete so he is due to return home next month.

Other than these two men, HBC has been receiving other Christians from elsewhere during their time in Fukushima. There are also new members who became Christians while in evacuation in Tokyo and then returned to Minamisoma.  Some of the HBC members are still in evacuation outside Fukushima.

This small church's demographic makeup has dramatically changed and is still changing. Perhaps this ministry of presence seems a passive posture, but it is most fitting for this rapidly changing and yet ever complex city of Minami Soma.

I do not speak Japanese and Rev. Ishiguro doesn't speak English or Korean, so our communication is very limited without Midori's help, but I can feel the presence of the Spirit working in this community. The quiet smile of Rev. Ishiguro speaks more than a thousand words.

  

Minami Soma - Dark in the Tomb on Holy Saturday

One of the most common scenes in Fukushima nowadays is this - black turf bags full of radiation contaminated top soil removed from ground. Last year when Ken Warren, a professional horticulturalist, visited Fukushima, he said to us, "It takes 250 years to recover an inch of top soil." (read the full story here). 

This is a temporary solution for agricultural land which Fukushima was best known for until the day of disaster 5 years ago - for its quality rice, juicy stone fruits, and fresh vegetables. But all of these are now wrapped in the big question in the air: "How long? How long will it take to recover all of this?"

Yet, other questions continue to rise on top of these unanswered questions.  

What about the water contamination?

How long will it take to clean all the radiation contaminated mountains and forests?

Every time I come to Fukushima I see the scars and wounds on the face of the earth, and hear this deep groaning of creation. It seems like the darkness of the tomb where Jesus was laid continues forever without any hope of Easter, just like the very first Easter when the grieving disciples hopelessly sat in the upper room without knowing what to do with their lives.

However, I come to the joy of Easter time and again, whenever I see small signs of resilience and hard labour of the people of Fukushima. People started returning and started getting their hands dirty again in whatever ways they could.

Midori and I took a bus to come to Minami Soma, the city worst affected by the disaster. This city is located within 25KM radius from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. Many people evacuated, both mandatory and voluntary, soon after the disaster. Five years after the disaster some returned but the overall population is reduced by more than 10%.

Green-house farming is the safest way of growing produce here in Minami Soma. 

Well maintained home gardens are a good sign of people returning. 

The streets are still empty due to a complex set of reasons. To name a few, the lack of functioning infrastructure, close proximity to Sendai, one of the major cities in northern part of Japan (people moved north to Sendai area instead of choosing temporary evacuation), and the higher levels of radiation found in the interior areas of Minami Soma compared to other cities in Fukushima. 

Night view of the town centre. 

Another way to tell whether people have returned or not is the lights at night. Dark streets and residential buildings show the people of this wounded city are wandering somewhere else, waiting for the signs of hope to return home.

Lord, we are waiting in the darkness.