Japanese Americans Renew Gospel Hope For Ancestral Nation

25 March 2011

By Raymond Billy
ResonateNews.com

Americans of Japanese descent are hoping their country of ancestry isn't driven deeper into a decades-long epidemic of despair after this month's massive earthquake and tsunami. Instead, some are hoping to redeem the tragedy by sparking a Christian revolution they say has the power to reinvigorate the nation.

“It's the first place where I experienced the sense that 'Oh my goodness, the world needs Jesus.' I'd feel that way about anyplace in Japan's spiritual condition, but my ties to the country certainly heighten my sympathy,” said Honolulu resident Joy-Gen Nakamura, 24, who said the calamity caused by the earthquake has made him more eager to share with Japan what he called the hope of the Gospel.                                     Courtesy Photo
Joy-Gen Nakamura, 24, who plans to visit Japan in May with Campus Crusade for Christ, said the recent earthquake and tsunami there has made him more anxious to share the Gospel in his country of ancestry.

After his family moved to the United States in 1994, the Nakamuras made frequent visits to Japan. Still, Nakamura said he didn't realize the alarming fact that suicide is common in Japan until his missionary trip there four years ago as a University of Southern California undergraduate.

Indeed, Japan has the second highest suicide rate among the world's leading economies, an analysis last year by the World Health Organization showed. More than 30,000 people committed suicide in Japan for the 12th consecutive year in 2010.

“I was stunned by how often a train line was shut down because a dead body had to be cleared off the track,” said Nakamura, describing a popular means of suicide in Japan. “A lot of young people we met there said they don't see themselves committing suicide, but they think it's a rational thing to do.”

Tolerance for suicide might be explained by what Sharon Mondragon, of San Diego, says is a belief by many Japanese that each person's level of well-being is arbitrarily determined.

“A lot of Japanese people don't see the need for a god; everything is about luck,” said Mondragon, 47, the daughter of a Japanese mother and an Irish-American father. “People don't look to a Heavenly Father for direction.”

Mondragon said she is praying that God will use the events of the previous two weeks to draw the nation of Japan to Christ. Her deep concern for the country is a relatively recent disposition, she said.

Although she grew up in California, her mother surrounded her with so much Japanese culture at home that she didn't develop much interest in the country itself. But, she said after becoming a Christian as an adult “God put a burden in my heart for Japan.”

Mondragon heeded that burden and went to Japan on an evangelical mission in 1997. She said she is encouraged that during her 10-day visit “God softened people's hearts” for the Gospel.

Rick Chuman, executive director of the Los Angeles-based Japanese Evangelical Missionary Society, or JEMS, said it's missionaries such as Mondragon who could really help the Gospel proliferate in Japan.

Chuman credited what he called the “returning movement” with a growing receptiveness to the Gospel in Japan. That movement encourages people of Japanese ancestry to promote Christianity in Japan— where Chuman estimates only 1 percent of the population adheres to the faith.

“When I realized what God was doing in Japan through the returning movement, I began to focus on that and ask missionaries and their supporters whether they could be a part of it,” said Chuman, 47, the son of Japanese immigrants.

Mondragon aided the movement when she visited Japan last year with her now 16-year-old daughter, Mercedes, as part of a team with JEMS. Mondragon wants to tour the country again with Mercedes for the JEMS outreach in December, but believes she won't be able to schedule time off from her employer. She said she wants to go to Japan no later than next year “to mourn with those who mourn,” because of the toll inflicted by the earthquake.

Nakamura plans to visit Japan again in May as a missionary with Campus Crusade for Christ, where he is employed. He lived in Japan until he was 7 years old and remembers playing in the rice fields of Otaki.

Chuman, who plans to visit Japan in November for a church-planting conference, said the Gospel can help people in Japan endure their time of mourning.

“Knowing Christ will give them inner strength and peace from God that can help them through this turmoil,” he said.