Lausanne World Pulse – Japan's Spiritual Change Over the Past Fifty-five Years
By Kenny Joseph
We led two joint Sunday morning services aboard the ship. He led the singing and I preached. He also took the offering and dedicated it to my future work in Japan. That was the first offering I had ever received from a Japanese hand. This is how I have lived for fifty-five years—by faith, from “hand to mouth.” From God’s hand to my mouth. I learned many things from Mr. Togasaki, among them:
– Punctuality (jikan genshu)
– Neatness (kichin toshite)
– Frugality (setsuyaku)
– Integrity (shinyo)
– Knowing and repaying obligations (giri-ninjo and on)
– Filial piety (oyakoko)
– Respect for elders (sempai sonkei)
– Tighten your belt and go one more notch (gambare)
– Honesty (shojiki)
– Reality and phony spirituality (honne and tatemae)
These qualities were evident in all he said and did. He was a man at peace with himself and with God.
Those ten lessons have stayed with me since I first stepped on Japanese soil in 1951. They have helped me through the ups and downs of living, working, loving, suffering and surviving. This type of person is what a born-again Japanese Christian believer can become.
The Japanese Culture and Christian Ministry
Daily someone in Japan can read about and see on television the scandals of politicians, bankers, doctors, real estate agents, presidents, public servants, teachers, professors and more. This is what we see when looking at Japan with the naked eye. However, put on the “Bible’s binoculars” and we can see something different. We can see past the outward and into what the inner person can become. We can then see the miracle of six million Christians in Japan. And if there are more Mr. Togasakis around, there will be more Christians. There is a saying that to tell if a stick is crooked, put it alongside a straight one. Mr. Togasaki was a “straight stick.”
The sad truth is that what we see today in society does not mirror the characteristics of Mr. Togasaki. How could we explain to him what is happening to the 14 and 15-year-olds who are selling their bodies to dirty old men for a Gucchi bag? Their guiding ten commandments are reduced to one: “Everybody’s doing it, so what’s wrong?” To combat this trend, I frequently give a one-hour PowerPoint message on “True Love Waits,” using fifty slides. It ends with asking viewers to make a pledge to be a born-again Christian. Then, before God, parents, friends, future spouses and myself, they say, “I will keep myself pure until marriage.”
After one such presentation, one mother in the audience said, “That’s fine that you can use the computer to describe this, but you must also put something in our hands that we can use.” So with the help of artist Madoka San and the International Chapel Ministries of Nara, we produced a 32-page colored manga (cartoon) titled, “True Love Waits” in English and Japanese. These are cheap enough (¥50) to distribute in front of schools. Already 100,000 have been passed out.
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