Part 1—Through May 2nd
By God's mercy and grace, the team of 23 people arrived safely to Japan on Friday, April 23, 2010. We thank God for providing such a wonderful opportunity to be able to present the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the approximately 12 million people that live here in Japan.
The team is staying at a hotel which is centrally located in downtown Tokyo. This location provides immediate access to the extensive Metro and Train systems to take the teams to their distribution locations.
There are countless local festivals held in Japan throughout the year with some being religious in nature. Most festivals are held annually and many last for several days. One is called “Golden Week.” This much anticipated festival period begins near the end of April and lasts until about May 5th. This Golden Period gets its name because so many national holidays occur during this time.
Tokyo is the capital of Japan. With over 12 million people, the metropolis is the nation's center of politics, business, mass media and pop culture. Japan is an archipelago situated in northeastern Asia between the North Pacific and the Sea of Japan. The land area is smaller than the U.S. state of California at 377,873 square kilometers. It is comprised of four main islands: Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku.
Japan stretches over 2,360 miles from north to south. Mountains occupy over 80 percent of the landmass and many of these are volcanic. The most famous volcano is Mt. Fuji. At 12,385 ft, it's the highest point of Japan and one of the most beautiful mountains in the world. Japan has the dubious distinction of being one of the most seismically active region in the world, with more than 1,000 earthquakes occurring each year. The weather is mostly temperate, with four distinctive seasons.
As most of the team members hail from the Eastern U.S., the time difference from Tokyo is 13 hours earlier. This has made it a challenge for many to find a convenient time to contact family and loved ones.
Each day, the team starts early with a typical Japanese breakfast which consists of a small portion of fish with soup, rice, cabbage and other small dishes. As we are staying in a Japanese hotel, the customary ways of sitting on the floor at low tables is the norm. Many members have become adept at using chopsticks.
After breakfast there is a short break and the team then meets to pray and finalize destinations for the day. The six teams then spread out across Tokyo in all directions with some traveling short distances on the Metro and others traveling as much as an hour and a half by train. After handing out tracts in the morning, teams eat lunch at their destinations, hand out tracts in the afternoon and then plan to return to the hotel in time for dinner at 7 PM.
Following a short break after dinner, the team meets for Bible reading, sharing thanks for events of the day, singing of some hymns and prayer. The trip theme hymn is, “Go Tell it on the Mountain.” The team leaders then meet to plan destinations for the next day.
The team has found many challenges in distributing tracts many of which have not been encountered on other trips. For instance, Japan does not have the same concept of “Freedom of Speech” in public places as found in the U.S. One aspect of this is that in at least the city of Tokyo and some environs, a permit is needed to hand out any kind of literature. Upon learning this, applications were made and accepted for permits in many areas of the city. However, there is no way to apply for a permit for the city as a whole. Rather, the permits must be applied for at the local police station for each prefecture or district.
In areas where the team does not have a permit, the enforcement of permits varies by prefecture as some teams have been stopped and had their passports checked before being told to cease handing out tracts. Others have handed out for a few hours before being told to stop and still others have handed out right in front of the police booths and police officers without issue. In areas where a team is told to leave, the area may not visited again (depending on the nature of the request to leave).
At first, this issue with permits seemed to be a significant one but it was soon realized that God could use the police to direct the teams away from certain areas and into other areas according to His will. Recently, with events and a political rally taking place in a park, there was a large police presence which on the surface made it appear impossible to hand out tracts in the park. After asking a police officer if tracts could be distributed, he eventually said, “he couldn't say, 'no'” but wanted the team to check at the police booth. At the police booth after examining the tracts and mulling it over, the officers said a permit was needed (which would take a few days to obtain). After they discussed further, the officers finally said, “we can't say 'no'.” So they effectively gave the team unofficial approval to hand out tracts in the park. The team proceeded into the park and handed out tracts without any issues with the police. We are so thankful to our Mighty God for preparing the way that His Word can go forth.
Later it was learned that the Japanese government does not permit religious broadcasting of any kind and that most Japanese don't listen to shortwave radio broadcasts. As a result, distribution of tracts is one of the few ways of getting the Gospel into Japan.
One technique the team members have been learning is how to bow and give a greeting in Japanese as this is common in Japan to show respect. Older people are often given a bigger bow to show greater respect. Even so, many of the Japanese people are very guarded and many times will not acknowledge or barely acknowledge a team member's presence. However, reception of tracts generally improves when people are not moving and trying to get somewhere unless for recreational purposes. For instance, when people are stopped waiting for a pedestrian light to change, reception often is better. Teams visiting the beach and tourist areas have generally seen good reception and sometimes very good reception. Whereas, many of the business people and the teenagers are not as receptive.
One blessing and challenge in spreading the Gospel in Japan is that since the Christian presence is so tiny, there is very little competition with false Christian Gospels. Because the people by in large do not know much if anything about Christianity, the phrase parroted back by many in other parts of the world, “No man knows the day or the hour” is very rarely heard. Of course, there are false religions but they are completely different than Christianity.
Lord willing, details of some of the individual encounters team members had distributing tracts and more information from the trip will be forthcoming in an update to this report.
In the few remaining days left for the team in Japan, we continue pray that God would bless many in Japan with His Word and that he would strengthen the team members to complete the task of distributing tracts according to His will.
The EBible Fellowship Mission Team from Japan