Dear Friends,

Thank you for your prayers for the disaster in Japan. There are areas where we see improvements, but more work is needed for people in the affected areas, and for the nuclear power plant.

I guess you have heard on the news that a boy and his grandma were rescued after 9 days. They were in the kitchen upstairs in their home, and survived on what was in the fridge, wrapped in blankets. Tsunami hit the house, so ground floor was gone, but they were kept from being wet. The boy lost contact with her mom, who probably came back and looked for them, but couldn’t find the house because it was moved by tsunami waves. Stories like this drive us to pray further.

<In 1960, earthquake of M7.5 in Chile hit Japan with tsunami, killing 142 people.>

They say that this earthquake that we had was one that happens once in 1000 years. In terms of tsunami, there were devastations not that long ago. I heard a story on the radio, contributed by a lady in Mie-prefecture, whose mother told her of tsunami in 1960. The affected area was well known for producing high quality cultured pearl. Some of you may know Mikimoto pearl. They have their pearl farm in this area. The story goes that the mother told her that trays of pearls (where they grow them) were found on top of the houses as the result of tsunami. It took many years until the industry recovered.
After I heard this story, I googled it, and found that it took 22.5 hours after the earthquake in Chine to hit the shores of Mie. The waves were as high as 6m.
The mother told her that every day she wakes up and find she was alive, she felt fortunate.

One of my colleges at OMF asked me if I get asked the question, “Why does God allow this?” or “Where is God when this happens?” I would like to share with you what I wrote to her. The world media seems to admire how people are coping in Japan. This might give you an insight into why this is so.

I don’t get asked those questions. We Japanese have known that big earthquakes would happen sooner or later. The scale is beyond what anyone expected. When earthquake happens, there is almost always Tsunami. We know that too. Every earthquake warning has tsunami warning. This was enforced after the one at Indian Ocean a few years ago. It’s the scale of the tsunami, and also how wide the affected area was, that is troubling. We are all aware of the risks of nuclear power plants. There have been accidents at other plants in the past. There were casualties. On the web, people are asking whether they think it’s a good idea having new nuclear power plants. Majority say that we need them, although they might be necessary evil. If we want to continue our life as it is, with electricity and convenience, unless we have viable alternatives, we can’t avoid having more nuclear power plants. Most of us have these reasoning. It’s a now a matter of fixing the damages, for that we need patience and sacrifice, which everyone is ready to contribute their own parts.

Why don’t I get asked those questions? It’s because they don’t know the God of the Bible. In the world of eight million gods, things are arbitrary. Gods might punish us, but when things happen, it’s up to us to clear the mess. Those of us who are Christian tend to ask these kinds of theological questions.

I haven’t spoken to people first hand, but this is the sense I get from reading what’s on the web, and on the wave (radio and tv). If I have a chance to speak to a non-Christian Japanese, who doesn’t know God, I will say that no man can understand what God does, but He is the one who brings good out of a very dark and sad situations, like so many stories in the Bible. The ultimate is Jesus Himself; coming to earth to die on the cross, so that all man will be saved for eternity. Jesus knows what it is to suffer pain, injustice, bereavement, being abandoned , and completely being cut from the One he loved, He submitted Himself to all that, in order to save us. Man cannot grasp the plans or purposes of God, but He only wants what is good for us.
What I am sharing is something that doesn’t normally surface in daily life, but only in crisis like this. This kind of situation unveils a deeper psyche of Japanese to those who want to keep digging. One of the reasons why 99% of the population is not Christian is that Christianity is still seen as something from the west, not Japanese. If people think in this way, for them, becoming a Christians is becoming un-Japanese, which is very problematic. Man is known to live on this land for millions of years. Indigenous religions grew which influenced even Buddhism which arrived in Japan in 6th century. Protestant Christianity has only been here for a little over 150 years. Our Creator and Redeemer can use this crisis so that Christianity become something more than a superficial veneer. It is up to us, His labourers, to make Jesus meaningful for those who desperately need Him.

Steven Metcalf’s book “In Japan the Crickets Cry” is published in English, after the one in Japanese. The Japanese one sold quite well, and Steven himself was surprised by the response he got. Over 50 years after the war, people can really see things for what it is, evaluate it, and appreciate it. His book was reprinted in Japan. Popularity of his book shows that there definitely is a way to bring Jesus to people’s life in a meaningful way.

Thank you again for your continued prayers, and for standing with us, being united in our Saviour.