Warm greetings from Tokyo in the name of our Lord Jesus!

Since Japanese letters traditionally begin with some poetic reference to the season, I will begin with a few words about cherry blossom season. With the cherry trees ready to burst into their annual display of magnificent cloud-like billows of soft pink flowers, everyone knows that spring is just up around the next bend. Cherry blossom season marks the real New Year in Japan with new school, business and government years commencing from the first week of April. Having experienced cherry blossom season first hand for 13 years, our internal clocks have been reset to eagerly expect their arrival and to lean, along with all of the Japanese people, with joyful anticipation into this sure sign of nature's total renewal.

Youth Meeting: A Communal Bath and New Life in Christ

Tom just returned from a three-day weekend in Hiroshima, which began with a meeting of ten young people and four pastors from churches in the western district of the Kyodan Church. It was a meaningful and fun time of worship, Bible study, and sharing. The purpose of the meeting was to encourage these young Christians to consider how they might participate more fully in the service of Christ and his church, whether as lay people or clergy.

Rev. Iwata, a recent graduate of our seminary pastoring a small church in Kyushu, brought a severely disabled young man named Sato San to the meeting. On Friday night, I was taking a Japanese bath ("ofuro") along with some of the other men when Sato San entered in his wheelchair, accompanied by some of the other young men. First they removed his clothing and then thoughtfully arranged rubber mats on the floor of the bath. After lying Sato San's paralyzed body on the mats, they took turns washing their friend's body from head to toe, attentively following his instructions. Sato San in turn entertained his friends with his natural ease and great sense of humor. After rinsing him off, they carried him along with the others into the soaking tub where the lively conversation continued.

In the group discussion later that evening, Sato San shared with laughter how he had originally been led to the church by a friend who had told him about all the pretty young women he could meet there. Then he became serious and said, "As I heard the word of God proclaimed, I gradually began to get a sense of the depth of my own sin. Realizing that Christ also died for me and completely accepts me, I have discovered a whole new meaning for my life in the church." When he told about being baptized about a year ago, I couldn't help but recall the simple act of kindness I had witnessed in the bath earlier that evening. I imagined how the world might really be transformed if the baptized community of we who have been washed by Christ dared to follow his example of self-giving love like Sato San and his friends.

Mission Conference in Nagasaki

Carol and Sarah (15) attended the annual Kyodan missionary conference held in Nagasaki this year from March 28–31. They are the first of our family to visit this historical city in the southern island of Kyushu. Nagasaki is especially important in the Christian history of Japan. This is where the very first missionary, Francis Xavier, arrived in 1549. Christianity spread rapidly throughout Kyushu. The Japanese warlord, Hideyoshi, felt his power was threatened by the great numbers of Christians and so banned missionaries from Japan in 1587. Nagasaki became a sort of haven for Christian believers facing persecution in other parts of Japan, but ten years later Hideyoshi cracked down on Christians in Nagasaki in earnest. The first site that our Kyodan mission group visited was the hillside where 26 Christians (Japanese and Portugese) were martyred by crucifixion in 1597. These were believers (two as young as 12 and 13) who refused to renounce their faith. This marked the beginning of a fierce and tragic persecution and killing of Christians. When Japan once again opened its ports to the Western world in 1865, returning missionaries were shocked to find that there were many "hidden" Christians in the small towns in and around Nagasaki. During the conference, we drove up the coast to visit one of these communities. Even now, 50 percent of the town is Christian, and there are several beautiful, old churches.

Besides the terrible persecution of Christians, Nagasaki is also one of the two cities of the world to experience the atomic bomb. Three days after the U.S. bombed Hiroshima, another atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki that totally destroyed most of the city. As Americans, it was very sobering to walk through the museum commemorating the bombing and to see the unthinkable destruction and suffering it caused. Sarah and I and all the conference participants were deeply moved, and also amazed at the tenacity of the human spirit to not give up. Today, Nagasaki is a beautiful and modern city, reminiscent of San Francisco with its harbor and hills.

Translation of PC (USA)'s Study Catechism Near Completion

Tom has been working with the Reverend Kaoru Tanaka on a translation of the second of the two catechisms approved by the General Assembly in June 1998. His translation of Belonging to God: A First Catechism has met with enthusiastic approval here and is being used by many churches in the training of church school teachers. One of the likely reasons for this unexpected result is that somewhere between 30 and 40 percent of the members of the Kyodan churches are first-generation Christians who came to faith as youth or adults. They do not have the biblical or doctrinal background of someone who grew up in a Christian family. Similarly, since 40 percent of our seminarians are first generation Christians, we are hoping that The Study Catechism might be used as a text in an introductory theology class to give them a basis for deeper dialogue and exploration.

We hope to leave for a two-year study leave at Princeton Theological Seminary in July and look forward to seeing many of you during our time in the States. Thanks so much for your continued support of our work and your prayers for the witness of the Japanese churches.

Gratefully Yours,

Tom and Carol Hastings