Pray for Japan's Political Leadership

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party, headed by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe swept the polls in Japan earlier this week--meaning that they now have a solid majority in both the upper and lower houses of the National Diet. Abe's surge in popularity has been in part due to his drastic economic measures, meant to help Japan recover from decades of stagnation--however, a significant part of his support comes from those on the right side of the political spectrum who are hoping that Abe will make significant changes to Japan's post-war constitution.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe

It is without any hesitation that I urge you to pray for Prime Minister Abe and the leaders of the LDP. We are at a cross-roads for the future of East Asia, any changes to the current constitution would cause great friction with both of Japan's neighbors, Korea and China. Tension has been rising in East Asia over the past decade corresponding to China and South Korea's economic rise, and the destabilization of North Korea. Many in these countries have malignant feelings towards the Japanese for their wartime atrocities and failure to sufficiently apologize make acquitted reparations.

The Christian church has been growing in both China and South Korea--both of these countries have significant, but young Christian churches. Less than 1% of Japanese know Jesus as their Lord and savior. In order for the Japanese to be reached with the Gospel, it will take a alliance of Chinese, Korean and International Christians praying for and extending grace to the Japanese. However, with the political situation, many Chinese and Korean Christians treat Japanese as an unlovable enemy.

Jesus commanded his disciples to love their enemies, and those that persecute them. Please join me in praying for wisdom on behalf of the Japanese leaders, but also for a spirit of grace and mercy to extend from Chinese and Koreans Christians to the Japanese. Especially in this period of heightened tension, there is an opportunity for Christians in these nations to be a prophetic voice of brotherhood and peace, rather than continuing in silence while others rattle their sabers.

The Korean Missionary Mandate to the Japanese

Oftentimes I have been asked why Christianity has grown significantly in China and Korea while in Japan, their close neighbor, less than one percent of the population has a Christian faith. To answer this question requires a great deal of background in the history of East Asia, culture, politics, economics and spiritual matters--however, in this blog post I would like to add one more factor towards the numerous list of reasons why Japanese haven't responded to the Gospel message yet.

If I pretend like he isn't here, maybe he'll leave.

One significant reason why Japan has yet to be reached with the Gospel is because the Korean church has yet to make it a top priority. 

I hope to outline some of the reasons why Koreans and Korean Americans might be the key to reaching the Japanese with the Gospel, as well as some of the ways in which the Enemy is preventing this from happening.

Big Brother (Prepare to be Offended)

Korea and Japan have a long and storied history--before Korea was a 'dagger pointed at the heart of Japan,' the Japanese and Koreans shared over a thousand years of friendly and prosperous friendship as closely related peoples. With the exception of the attempted Mongol Invasions of Japan (launched from Korea), the Imjin Wars (1590's) and the Colonization of Korea by the Japanese in the late 19th and early 20th century, Koreans and Japanese have for the better part of their history been on friendly terms. In total, these three conflicts are an aberration in the overall peaceful and fruitful relationship between Japan and Korea that has existed as long as the Yamato (Yamatai) people have lived on the Japanese archipelago.

Confucius says, honor your parents!

In Confucianism (an ideology consciously or subconsciously affirmed by virtually all Koreans), one of the five key relationships is older brother and younger brother. From a historical perspective, one can say that the Koreans are the older brother of the Japanese. Chinese language, art, culture, science, agriculture and religion reached Japan via Korea. It was the Koreans who brought the Japanese Chinese writing, it was the Koreans that brought Buddhism and Confucianism, it was the Koreans that brought agricultural developments including tea cultivation.

There is some evidence: historical, linguistic, genetic, and archeological to suggest that the Koreans and Japanese are even more closely interrelated than most people groups in East Asia. Korean and Japanese are the lone Altaic languages in East Asia, Paekche and Kaya peoples freely traveled and lived in both Korea and Japan, members of the Paekche royal family even married into the Yamato royal family, meaning that the Emperor of Japan is partially Korean.

It is unpopular to suggest such a close relationship between the Japanese and Korean peoples--especially considering the icy relationship these two peoples have had for the past century. However it ignores the broader historical precedent of cooperation, peace and close ties the peoples once had.  Korea has a responsibility to the Japanese as the older brother (hyung), which they gladly embodied earlier when it suited them better.

Romulans and Vulcans

Evil Spock isn't Romulan, but you get the point right?

It is a dangerous mistake to play up the historic closeness of these two peoples without making it clear that they are also distinct from each other. Despite a shared genetic, linguistic and cultural history, the Japanese are not Koreans and the Koreans are not Japanese--they may have had common ancestors, but years of isolation from each other (Korea was known as the Hermit Kingdom for a reason, and Japan isolated itself from the rest of East Asia during the Tokugawa Period) have only exacerbated the differences between them. Korea's unique relationship with China and Japan's trade with SE Asia have also added to the differences.

One significant difference between the Japanese and Koreans is the idea of Han. Han is something like a cultural disposition of anger towards perceived injustices mixed with a victim complex. The flip-side of Han is a pride, arrogance and boldness that are unique to the Koreans among the people of East Asia. Koreans are passionate--and they tend to get passionate and serious about anything they engage in, whether that is business, religion or politics.

There is no doubt that among the younger Christian churches in the world--the Korean church is by far the most active in evangelism and missions. This is not unique to Christianity among Koreans though--the same zeal can be seen among the Communists in the North and among other religious and political groups in the South. Koreans are extremely proud of their history, while at the same time acknowledging that they have not always been a historically significant people--instead of being stuck in a state of dejection though, they have leveraged that national feeling of being slighted to achieve some great things over the past half century--the South went from being among the poorest nations in the world to being one of the top economies in the world in just under forty years.

Where Koreans are passionate and bold, Japanese have tended to be passive, pragmatic and indirect, with the supreme value of preserving harmony. One of the significant reasons that many Japanese will never seriously consider the claims of Christ is because of the culture of homogeneity in Japan--"if the nail sticks up, hammer it down." In this way, Japanese and Koreans are fundamentally different--while Koreans value harmony within community, the pursuit of truth trumps it. Japanese on the other hand are more likely to avoid conflict, choosing compromise instead of insisting on one way or another. Professor Kenneth Pyle once said something to the effect that to understand the Japanese, one must understand that they are a people living on an archipelago--living on an island with others means that finding compromise to work out conflicts is of utmost importance.

Why Koreans?

With that background established, I will list a few reasons why I think that Koreans, and particularly Korean Americans have the most potential towards reaching the Japanese with the Gospel.

Forgiveness

DeShazer and Fuchida

One of the most powerful testimonies is of grace and forgiveness--the missionary and WW2 veteran Jacob DeShazer was used powerfully of the Lord in post-war Japan because he had every reason to hate the Japanese, but because of Jesus' love, he himself renounced any grudge he had against them and extended the grace of God instead. God blessed Jacob's ministry and he became one of the most beloved missionaries of the post-war period. God providentially used a tract that he had written, entitled "I was a Prisoner of Japan" in the conversion of Mitsuo Fuchida, the pilot that had led the attack on Pearl Harbor--he later became a Christian Evangelist! The two became friends and worked together to advance the Gospel among the Japanese.

Fuchida and Billy Graham

Not every American has such a powerful story of grace and forgiveness--both of my grandfathers fought the Japanese in WW2, but that has had little impact on my views towards them. However, most modern South Koreans have grown up being taught about the atrocities committed against them during the Japanese occupation of Korea. The animosity between Korea and Japan today runs hot, and frequently boils to the surface. A single mention of the word Dokdo is usually enough to bring about some anti-Japanese sentiment.

The average Korean today has a very negative view of the Japanese--I was astonished to find that this was true even among Christians! It was shocking to me to hear the things said about Japanese among professing Christians when I lived in South Korea. It was then that I realized how successful the Enemy had been in building animosity between these two peoples.

How incredible would it be, if every Christian in Korea were to commit to pray for the Japanese--and to renounce their unforgiveness and bitterness towards their Japanese neighbors! What an incredible witness that would be to the Japanese. It is clear that God extended forgiveness to us before we repented or sought His grace, "but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8)

The reason that many Koreans have yet to forgive the Japanese for their occupation and wartime atrocities is because they have yet to receive a sufficiently contrite apology--however many times Japanese leaders apologize, it never seems to be enough. However, Jesus teaches that we are to love our enemies! "You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven." (Matthew 5:43-45)

My earnest desire and prayer to the Lord would be that the Korean church would extend unconditional forgiveness and mercy towards the Japanese! This I believe more than anything else would have a powerful impact on both the Japanese and Koreans for the legitimacy and power of the Gospel! 

However--while I was in Korea, I witnessed the reverse. A group of Japanese seminary students came to Korea, and in church after church they were confronted with the grievances of the Korean people--and in tears repented for the role that their ancestors played in the mistreatment of the Koreans. While these public repentance sessions seemed to be good--they only served to reinforce the divisions between the Japanese and Koreans. The Korean Christians were more than happy to watch a hand full of young men and women tearfully repent for their people, but it reminded me more of a scene from the Chinese Cultural Revolution than one from the early church. 

It would have been more powerful, if say, these young Japanese Christians had come to Korea and been received warmly by the Korean church and, while being told about the wartime atrocities (something many Japanese are blissfully unaware of) also being told that there was no ill-will or bitterness towards them--because they were made brothers and sisters through the blood of Jesus Christ!

For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility...  that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace (Ephesians 2:14-15)

Language and Culture

The Korean and Japanese languages are both Altaic languages, meaning that they have a subject-object-verb (SOV) structure as opposed to the subject-verb-object (SVO) structure used in languages like Chinese and English.  In order for a native English speaker to learn Japanese fluently, it takes between three and five years of intensive study. For a Korean, this time is more than halved--for many Koreans it only takes about a year to learn Japanese to fluency! 

There is already a large minority of Koreans in Japan--and for a Korean fluent in Japanese it is possible to live in a much more incarnational way than for a Western missionary. The Japanese are a very xenophobic people--especially towards Koreans and Chinese. However, a Korean with perfect Japanese can in many cases pass as a Japanese. 

Korean and Japanese cultures are different--and so are the ways in which they perceive the world around them. However, different they are though, there is still much commonality between the two. Even though a Korean person may personally clash with many aspects of Japanese culture, they will be able to understand the motivations and thinking of the Japanese better than the average Westerner, because they are often working with the same cultural building blocks, even if assembled differently. 

Korean Wave

South Korea and Japan are close trading partners--for the first time in centuries the Koreans and Japanese are on mutually beneficial grounds economically. Beyond that, they are just close in proximity! Korea is a major sender of short-term missionaries; however many of these missionaries are going to far-flung places like India, Central-Asia, Africa and SE Asia. Very few of them perceive the strategically important mission field in their own back yard! 

Yon-Sama! Winter Sonata Video Game?! Only in Japan.

With the growing economic ties between South Korea and Japan though, more opportunities will open for missions minded young professionals to go to Japan. Unfortunately, missionary visas are only available to Koreans in limited quantities, and are restricted to ordained seminary graduates and limited to a one-year length. For this reason, many Korean missionaries tend to go to Japan with tourist visas, and are only able to stay in country for a few months at a time. 

I was surprised to find out how differently missionaries from Korea were treated than those from the West by the Japanese government! An American can get a missionary visa without ordination, and these visas are often given for periods of three to five years. There is definitely an element of discrimination towards Koreans--possibly because of the large illegal Korean immigrant population in Japan.

But the winds favor Korea--Korean popular culture and cuisine are becoming increasingly popular in Japan, especially among women. With the changing demographics in Japan (an aging society, low birth rate etc.) young Korean professionals will find an increasing number of open doors in Japan in the business world and beyond. Korea missionaries already have a strong Business As Missions (BAM) segment--and it would behoove them to concentrate on this further.

Michael Oh at the Desiring God Conference

Korean-American missionaries to Japan on the other hand can get the longer missionary visas--and their experiences as a minority in America may help to prepare them for service in Japan. Korean missionaries tend to use cookie-cutter approaches to missions (one-size-fits-all), however this is less the case for second-generation Korean American missionaries. They are much more likely to use contextualization and to appreciate the unique culture and context of the place in which they are ministering than their parents would. I am painting with a broad brush here, I hope you will forgive my generalizations.

One of the most influential missionaries alive today is Michael Oh, the current Executive Director of the Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization. This 42-year-old Korean American missionary to Japan has served as a church planter and helped to start the Christ Bible Institute in Nagoya Japan in 2004, sensing the need for a strong evangelical seminary in Japan. My hope would be to see many Korean American Christians follow in Michael's footsteps and invest in reaching the Japanese with the Gospel!

Some Possible Hindrances
  
Hate, Bitterness and Pride

The ongoing animosity between the Korea and Japan only serves to keep the Japanese from encountering Jesus. Hate, bitterness and pride on behalf of Koreans is a wall that keeps them from extending the grace of Jesus in a significant way to the Japanese. While a small segment of the Korean church has made a conscious yet inconsistent effort to reach out to the Japanese, this token effort will not turn into a tidal wave unless the broader church begins to imbibe the mercy and grace of Jesus and extend it to the Japanese!

Forgiveness is not easy--the offenses against the Koreans on behalf of the Japanese are real. The colonial history, war crimes, comfort women and forced conscription are not easy to forgive--Jesus never promised that forgiveness was easy, but he commanded it! He says to love our enemies, and in 1 Cor 13 it says that love keeps no records of wrongs. The Korean church needs to stop resurrecting the injustices of the past and start extending grace and love for today! We cannot expect non-Christian Koreans to extend forgiveness, but the Korean Church can show them another way than bitterness. 

A major hindrance to this happening is the Korean 'Han.' While it serves to promote zeal and boldness among Koreans, it also continually returns to the injustices of the past to prompt action in the present. Instead, a grace filled Christian response on the behalf of Koreans would look past the injustices of the colonial period and the Imjin Wars, and to the historic friendship held between the peoples of Korea and Japan--as the older brother, Korea has the opportunity to love Japan in a new way! 

The Gospel will prevail against this island of animosity!

Korean Methodology

Conformity--we know you're good at it!

Another hindrance to a successful missionary outreach on behalf of Koreans and Korean-Americans to Japan is the tendency to fall back on Korean methods of evangelism, discipleship and church planting. (Something which is a tendency of all peoples--what is familiar tends to be what we do). Japanese are not Koreans, and what works in Korea doesn't necessarily work in Japan.  New missionaries to Japan must be flexible and adaptable. 

Japanese culture, even with its foibles, is beautiful and worth affirming. In the same way that it was an injustice when the Japanese tried to erradicate Korea's culture during the colonial period, it is unjust for a Korean missionary to Japan to insist on doing everything in a Korean way. A Japanese church will look distinctly Japanese, and a Japanese believer will be distinctly Japanese--even if they have been discipled by a Korean missionary. 

Korean seminaries and missionary training schools need to strongly emphasize contextualization and incarnational ministry. Because of the numerous similarities between Japanese and Korean cultures, there is a tendency to play down the differences--but the differences are important, and beautiful to God. Because of that, all missionaries, not just Koreans, need to be sensitive to affirm what is good in Japanese culture.

Ease and Apathy 

Missions in Japan is hard! What has tended to happen when a Korean missionary goes to Japan is to gather together members of the Korean diaspora rather than making inroads among the Japanese. While there is a need for missionaries to the Korean diaspora in Japan (percentage wise, Koreans in Japan are some of the least evangelized and churched Koreans in the world--they tend to mirror the Japanese they live among in this way), missionaries from Korea must be willing to draw a line and prioritize the Japanese even if they do not see as much bang for their buck as they would reaching out to Koreans or internationals. 

Prayer

Lord, I pray that the Korean Church would sense their responsibility to the Japanese people as their older brother. Koreans have been responsible for bringing false religions to the Japanese, would you use them to bring your Gospel to their neighbors.

I pray that you would help the Korean Church to repent of their bitterness towards the Japanese--help them to see that it is not Christlike to insist upon Japan's repentence, but that they are commanded to love their enemies (even the Japanese)! Lord, I pray that you would raise up within the Korea and Korean American churches men and women with a heart for reaching the Japanese--open the doors for fruitful culturally-affirming Gospel ministry among the Japanese on behalf of the Korean church.

I pray that you would raise up more missionary leaders and roll models among the Korean American church, so that young Korean American Christians would pursue your calling among the nations rather than settling for worldly, materialistic pursuits! I pray that a great harvest would be brought in among the Japanese by the Korean church.

Help us to repent of withholding your forgiveness from others like the unmerciful servant! Lord, we have been forgiven a far greater debt than anyone owes to us. Let us live with unhindered grace towards others since we have received so much more than we can every comprehend from you! In the name of Jesus I pray.

The Economics of Human Trafficking and its Implications for Missions in East Asia

The battle against modern day slavery is being waged around the world--many of those engaged in this struggle are motivated by their faith in Jesus and desire for justice. The fight against human trafficking is one of the most significant social causes of our generation, and has been promoted heavily among young evangelical Christians. Organizations like International Justice Mission and the End It Movement are the at the forefront of this trend. The 60,000 young people at this year's Passion Conference raised over three million dollars towards this cause.

flickr, killerturnip

While this is a significant and important movement, I do have some concerns about its future trajectory and its impact on churches and young Christians. My hope in posting this is not to diminish the importance of confronting injustice, but to offer a healthy corrective to what I see as potentially dangerous influences that the wholesale unquestioned adoption of this cause could have upon the church.

Last year I had the chance to share about my future ministry in Japan with the missions pastor of a church that I was courting for support. Initially I had e-mailed this pastor about my appointment with Converge Worldwide and received a reply that my future ministry in Japan was not within the missions focus of the church. Therefore I would not be considered for funding. He shared that his church had several strategic focuses and they had a policy as a church of only putting funding towards those focuses. Japan and the Japanese people were not one of these focuses.

I was encouraged to see that the church had adopted an unreached people group in Central Asia and had several other healthy ministry focuses--but one thing stood out to me. One of their major focuses as a church was to combat Sex Trafficking in South East Asia. They had partnered with an organization in order to pursue this goal, and it had a lot of traction with the congregation. This particular organization worked to prosecute criminal gangs responsible for trafficking these young women and men and provided job training and HIV/Aids treatment for those rescued from this industry. I must clarify, I think that this is an excellent ministry, and as the church we need to pursue justice and care for those who have experienced systemic injustice.

But something struck me about this--with this focus, the ministry only addressed the supply side of the economic equation of Human Trafficking, but not the demand side. One of the most basic principles in economics is Supply and Demand. A ministry like the one discussed above is only dealing with symptoms, but doesn't deal with the root causes--mainly human depravity and sin which results in this kind of injustice. As long as there are men and women who desire to exploit others sexually, there will be a need for this kind of ministry. Jesus even spoke about this to His disciples when He said that there would always be a ministry to the poor--poverty, a result of human sin, was going to be an ongoing reality throughout the end times.

In order to deal more effectively and holistically with Human Trafficking we must not only deal with the supply side of the economics but also the demand. It is not enough to minister to those being trafficked and prosecute the criminals responsible for their exploitation, we must also discourage the demand--this is only possible with a focused ministry and outreach to those most likely to spend money on sex.

This is where the rub comes--the Japanese, as one of the wealthiest peoples in East Asia represent one of the most significant markets for trafficked women, both in Japan and throughout South East Asia (Vietnam, the Philippines, Cambodia, Thailand etc.). The large supply of trafficked women throughout South East Asia is in part due to the high demand among well-to-do expats, many of which are Japanese and Korean. In fact South Korean men for the first time last year became the greatest users of prostitutes in SE Asia.

About a quarter of South Koreans identify themselves as Christians--but in January the Chosun Ilbo, one of South Korea's largest newspapers ran a story entitled, "Koreans 'Biggest Clients of Prostitutes in Southeast Asia'" Too many people associate Sex Trafficking in Asia with European and American expats, when the most significant customer for trafficked women in Asia are East Asian.  It was my experience in South Korea that the church is mostly silent on this issue. Despite large numbers of Christians in South Korea, there has yet to be the kind of social transformation that would discourage this kind of activity.

A strategy that focuses only on curbing the supply of trafficked peoples cannot be effective in winning this war--that is why it must be paired with comprehensive church planting and evangelistic work done in countries where the greatest demand for trafficked women is. Christian social causes like the one mentioned here cannot be effective without significant and transformative evangelistic missions.

There are several potential dangers I see with the current preoccupation with combating slavery among young Western Christians. The first danger is that they substitute the Great Commission with a social cause. Frankly, many young Christians are ashamed of the Gospel and of the church, and gravitate towards a social mission because it is socially acceptable and comfortable. They neglect the call that God has given to make disciples of all nations. It cannot be overemphasized that the center of our mission needs to be the Gospel and its proclamation. The Gospel, better than any strategy or organization formulated by men has the power to transform individuals and societies.

Missions is primarily about making disciples and planting the church amidst new ethno-linguistic groups and geographic locations. Social causes like human trafficking have a way of sapping the strength of the central mission of the church, when in fact they should be pointed to as an example of why this central mission of the church is so important. If we want to see human trafficking end in South East Asia, a comprehensive strategy which includes a focus on both supply and demand is needed. Western Christians have experienced the failure of Prohibition and other top-down moral agendas, and should understand better that real and substantive change can only occur where the Gospel genuinely takes root and bears fruit in a community.

The second danger is that resources best used for advancing the Kingdom of God would be redirected into building a network of Christian NGOs. One of the greatest tragedies of the parachurch movement is that much of the work of the Gospel has been divorced from the life of the church. Missions needs to be rooted in the church, and ministry to those affected by trafficking (both on the supply and demand) is best done through and by the church. We need a strategy that combats human trafficking that strengthens and multiplies churches--this is true of all of missions.

The Civil Rights movement was by and large a Christian movement--its leaders were pastors and preachers. However, the history of the Civil Rights movement has been revised, and the Christian themes removed or secularized. The same was true of the Abolition movement before that. The culture that we live in has a way of co-opting Christian causes and removing the men and women of faith and their voices from the equation. Currently a significant number of voices within the Anti-Trafficking movement are Christian--but if the movement itself is not thoroughly tied into the church, if it doesn't have the Gospel as its center and motivation, we are just building someone else's monuments. 

Finally, there is no greater injustice than our rebellion against God. All other injustice flows out of this rebellion and is the product of human sin, both individually and corporately. In order to truly confront injustice, we must heed and preach the Gospel. We all have sinned against a perfect and good God, who because of his holiness and justice is bound to punish our sins by permanently removing us from His presence--however because of His love towards us, He sent his own son to take our punishment, the death that we deserve as rebels and the wrath that we deserve against our sins. He poured out this wrath on His own son on the cross. His son Jesus died in our place and rose again, conquering death and purchasing our salvation. We are reconciled to God through Jesus' blood shed on the cross and His righteousness is imputed to us. There can be no greater message of justice than this! He didn't stop there though, He adopts us, who were once His enemies as His sons and daughters--co-heirs with Christ to the riches and glory of heaven. There is no greater way to confront injustice than by proclaiming the Gospel of reconciliation.

If we want to win the war against Human Trafficking in South East Asia, we must win the hearts of the men and women of East Asia to Jesus! 

Busan, Fukuoka and Miyazaki.

I know my Happy Birthday Buddha series ended abruptly, and it was not for lack of material--but because I was on the road and decided to travel without my computer.

Beautiful Miyazaki Japan.

The Sunday before last, I left a church picnic early to get on a bus bound for Busan. The trip from Chuncheon to Busan takes about five hours by express bus. As evidence of my superior planning abilities I arrived in Busan just as all of the mass transportation was suspending service for the night... throwing caution to the wind I got on the last city bus of the evening, hoping and praying it was going towards where I needed to go--unfortunately it was headed back the direction that I had come.

When I realized my mistake (ten minutes into the countryside outside of Busan) I got off the bus and found a taxi to take me to the nearest jjimjilbang (spa/sauna) where I was able to stay the night for 8000 won; about $ 7 US. Thankfully the bus fare and the taxi ride only cost me about 10$.

I had slept in a jjimjilbang once before--sleep isn't the right word--I had laid on the floor of a jjimjilbang fitfully attempting to sleep once before, and my second night in a jjimjilbang turned out to be a encore. There were a couple of young women chatting loudly on their cell phones, a few ajumma watching TV nearby, and entirely too much light. The one upside was being able to take a shower after the long bus ride, which was almost worth the sleepless night. The next morning I took a 30 minute long subway ride down to the International Ferry Terminal.

The security procedures for boarding the ferry, while almost exactly the same as for boarding an airplane, seemed much less hurried and stressful. I had booked a round-trip ticket to Fukuoka for a little less than 100$, however port and fuel fees added another 50$ by the time the trip was done. I had an image of an old-timey boat putting across the East Sea/Sea of Japan at a leisurely pace--I had even hoped to be able to go out on the deck and enjoy the sea air. However, most of the ferries in between Japan and Korea are modern hydrofoils so my romantic notions were dashed as I found my assigned seat. Thankfully I had lots of room to stretch out, and there were large windows an an in-flight(boat?) movie. The movie was a Japanese movie, 'Be with You,' subtitled in Korea which I understood a surprising amount of.

View from the bus. Kyushu is beautiful!

Things proceeded fairly uneventfully as I arrived in Fukuoka Japan. It was a beautiful day and I took the bus to Hakata Station where I would be taking a bus to Fukuoka. Hakata Station is a mammoth cross between a shopping mall and a mass transportation hub. I walked around for hours and barely saw a tenth of it. There are thousands of shops and restaurants--every kind of food you could want. It was all a little overwhelming, so for my first meal in Japan I got gyudon at Yoshinoya. Anyone who knows me probably wouldn't find that very surprising considering my well known love of the beef bowl.

The express bus to Miyazaki set me back about 50$ round-trip. It was smaller than the express bus from Chuncheon to Busan, but it was cleaner and had a bathroom. The trip from Fukuoka to Miyazaki took about four hours and the scenery through Kyushu was beautiful! The crowd at the back of the bus was an eclectic group--there was a woman with a crying baby, a couple with a feisty little dog, a woman who looked like the ghost from the movie 'Ring,' a girl who was dressed more appropriately for Harajuku than Kyushu, and me the big Gaijin. I was surprised at what an motley crew was assembled in the last two rows of the bus.  I really enjoyed the trip!

The beach in Miyazaki.

As I arrived in Miyazaki I was greeted by Nonaka-sensei, the pastor of Life Water Christian Church of Miyazaki. I had been introduced to Nonaka-sensi by Pastor Lee in Chuncheon, but this was our first time meeting. Him and his family graciously hosted me for my short stay in Miyazaki--and they were very wonderful hosts. I arrived late in the evening and we went to his home where his wife Shiho had made delicious curry. Both Nonaka-sensei and his wife's English was much better than I had been led to believe--and we had a wonderful time of conversation over dinner.

The next morning I borrowed Nonaka-sensei's bicycle and rode out to the beach a few miles away. It took a while to get used to riding on the left side of the road. The beach was absolutely beautiful and I was sad that I had failed to pack a pair of swim-trunks when I moved to South Korea. Instead I waded out in the water to my knees and enjoyed the beautiful vista. There were old men fishing on my right. Professional equestrians exercising their thoroughbred horses on the beach to my left, and surfers waiting for the perfect wave a few hundred feet out in front of me. It was an incredibly beautiful morning in Miyazaki.

Chicken nanban.

After returning to the house, Nonaka-sensei and I went out for lunch and had the local specialty, Chicken Nanban. For those familiar with Japanese cuisine, Chicken Nanban is essentially Karage (Japanese fried chicken) that has been dipped in a sweet vinegar sauce and served with egg salad used for dipping the chicken. It was delicious. Afterwards we went to a nearby riverside park and sat with our feet in the water and prayed for each other.

Nonaka-sensei then took me to Aoshima--where there is a beautiful botanical garden and one of the oldest shinto (and most important) shrines in Japan. Aoshima is a small island that rests on top of a beautiful geological anomaly locally known as the 'Devil's Washboard.' These are naturally occurring rock formations have the appearance of being man-made--they are beautifully mysterious.

'The Devil's Washboard'

Miyazaki boasts of being the birthplace of Jimmu, the mythical first Japanese emperor--and for this purpose many places in and around Miyazaki have special significance to Shinto, the Japanese monarchy and Japanese nationalism past and present.

After eating some mango ice-cream at the botanical garden we went for a ride along the coast and into the mountains. We returned to his home for dinner with his wife and daughters. Shiho prepared some delicious okinomiyaki!

Having misunderstood a part of my itinerary I believed that I was going to be taking the ferry back to Busan on Thursday morning--when in fact I was scheduled to leave on Thursday afternoon.  For this reason I believed that I needed to travel back to Fukuoka on Wednesday.

Hakko ichiu monument

On Wednesday morning Nonaka-sensei, Shiho and I visited the Hakko ichiu monument that was constructed at the hight of Japanese militarism in 1940. This monument purports to be upon the ground where the mythical first Japanese emperor Jimmu established his kingdom. The foundation of the monument was built with stones collected and donated from around East Asia--including stones from China, Korea, South East Asia and even Canada.

Despite the imperialistic overtones this tower continues to have a powerful place in the Japanese psyche. It was the starting point of the 1964 Olympic Torch relay to Tokyo. Nonaka-sensei, Shiho and I prayed for the nation of Japan at this base of this monument.

Afterwards we went to have sushi together for lunch--kaiten sushi in Japan is better than high-end sushi in the States. For some reason Koreans don't understand sushi either--and insist in dipping it in red pepper sauce! I was so thankful for my time together with the Nonakas. They then took me shopping for gifts for people at the church back home and I found out that one of my favorite stores in Korea, Daiso, is actually owned by the Soka Gakkai, shocking!

Stone taken from China for the monument.

I took the bus back to Fukuoka and arrived around 7pm. I checked into a hotel (originally I was planning on staying at a mangakissa, but the opportunity to sleep in a bed for the first time in three months trumped my desire to rough it at a sketchy manga cafe). I then went out and explored a little and got some tonkotsu ramen! After checking my schedule and realizing that I could have probably stayed in Miyazaki another night I spent most of the evening moping around and feeling stupid for wasting money on a hotel room (about $55 US).

The following day I explored Fukuoka some more, and had gyudon at Sukiya and another bowl of tonkotsu ramen (I ordered it with too much pepper though and it wasn't nearly as appetizing as the bowl I had the night earlier). In retrospect I probably shouldn't have eaten so much before getting on a boat to another country. Familiar with the the ferry terminal things went smoothly. I met a pair of recent WSU grads who were backpacking through East Asia, and one of them happened to be from Lacey Washington--it was a small world. The water was very choppy this time, and I felt myself getting a little sea sick, thankfully the trip was only three hours long.

After getting to Fukuoka I helped the two travelers find a map of Busan and purchase rechargeable bus/train cards and then accompanied them on the train as far as our paths stayed together. Unfortunately I had forgotten about my tight schedule, and by the time I reached the bus station they had sold all the tickets for the last bus of the night to Chuncheon. Stuck in Busan another night I returned to the jjimjilbang--but not before stopping at several stores in a fruitless search for earplugs.

There were less people at the jjimjilbang this time, and I found a place to sleep that I thought would allow me to actually get rest--but after I had nodded off a few ajoshi (male counterpart to ajumma--although there is some debate as to whether ajumma should be considered a third gender) camped out nearby and I was woken up and kept awake by their snoring most of the rest of the night.

The following morning I got a bus back to Chuncheon and arrived around one in the afternoon. I slept most of the rest of Friday afternoon. Despite my few idyllic days in Miyazaki, the entire trip proved to be very exhausting. I did manage to get a new tourist visa though--which was the ultimate purpose for the trip. The trip with lodgings and food probably rounded out to be around 500$, the cost of a round trip ticket to Tokyo from Seoul.

Happy Birthday Buddha. Part Three.

In my last post I attempted to make the case that we need to develop specialized training for Christian missionaries in East Asia working among Buddhists. After writing and publishing my post I read an article by Dr. David J. Hesselgrave for the International Journal of Frontier Missions entitled 'Reaching Japanese Buddhists, Where do we start if we want to do better?' (PDF) which affirmed what I had written, but also made the case much better than I had done (while also taking a shot at the field of studies I pursued as a graduate student).

A pretty challenging quote from the article: "What are the prospects for more specialized training? Currently, missionary education is in flux. In addition to those changes referred to previously there is a trend toward re-naming the discipline itself. Mission studies are now becoming “intercultural studies” in various schools. Valid reasons can be adduced for the change. But if we have learned anything about words it is that they are not just labels, just “sound and smoke,” as some would have us believe. They have their own power. It will prove difficult to re-name the discipline without reforming the offerings. In all likelihood the tendency will be to shortchange biblical/theological/religious studies while strengthening the study of culture and culture-related subjects. If so, intensive study of mission theology (which has been fairly important in the past) will be neglected. And specialized study of the various religions (which seldom has been available in recent years) will still be overlooked." (emphasis mine)

Following this Dr. Hesselgrave makes his case boldly, "The growth and success of programs designed to provide classroom instruction and hands-on experience in reaching various Jewish and Muslim groups should serve to heighten awareness of the need for specialized training. If there is a need for special preparation for missionaries to Jews and Muslims who share so much of our own religious tradition, how much greater the need for enhanced training when targeting those with whom we share little more than a commitment to transcendence?"(emphasis mine)

This article was published nearly two decades ago and I can attest to the prophetic nature of his assessment of missionary education. While I received a great understanding of cultural dynamics in my grad studies, there was little treatment of the development of the theology of missions nor specialized study of various religions.

While in grad school I was fortunate to take a class offered to the community through the Billy Graham Center titled 'Encountering the World of Islam,' which greatly improved my understanding of missions to Muslims. I also spent extensive time in the South Asian community in Chicago and spent nearly two years in a church planting internship among a predominantly Hindu people-group. I was fortunate to have a team-leader who is one of the leaders in specialized Hindu mission strategy and I learned a lot from him.

Now that I am in Korea, and hoping to go to Japan in the future, I feel that I have not invested my time and my studies as wisely as I could have. I still do not know about Buddhism nearly as well as I should considering I plan on investing my life in this field.

Happy Birthday Buddha. Part Two.

A few years ago I met with a few friends to watch the Japanese movie ‘Tokyo Sonata.’ One of these friends was a half-Japanese graduate student at a Christian college, another a missionary candidate to Japan, and the third a Japanese gentleman who had been attending a church faithfully for many years. After finishing we went out to dinner and had a lively discussion about the movie.

We considered many of the problematic issues facing contemporary Japanese society—one being broken families, the theme of the film. We all agreed that the solution was the Gospel—or so it seemed. I shared with them my desire to go to Japan as a missionary and preach the Gospel. Then I received a question I wasn’t prepared for.

The Japanese gentleman asked me, “You will only share the Gospel with people who don’t have a religion, right?” I asked him what he meant and he replied, “Well, I think we should only share the Gospel with people who don’t have a religion. Buddhist people already have something they believe in, and if that makes them happy, we shouldn’t tell them about Jesus.” I was shocked, especially since this man was a faithful member of the church I was serving in at the time. Reading about religious pluralism in a textbook and then encountering it first-hand are two very different experiences. Thankfully a swift and knowing glance from the half-Japanese graduate student told me not to try to remedy the situation immediately—it is good to have a cultural insider around to keep one from putting their foot in their mouth. The exclusivity of Jesus Christ is a sticky issue in many Japanese churches.

Recently, I finished reading John Piper’s book ‘Jesus the Only Way to God.’ I recommend that every Christian take the opportunity to avail themselves of this little book. I was encouraged once again to consider the call to witness to all nations and call them to put their faith in Jesus Christ. In today’s reflections we will consider the scope of the task of evangelism among Buddhists in East Asia.

Buddha's Birth in central Chuncheon

One common misconception about Buddhism found among many Christians is that it is benign and losing its influence globally. I believe this misunderstanding stems from the success of Christian missions in traditionally Buddhist countries like China and Korea. While the phenomenal growth of Christianity in these nations is a cause for celebration, the Buddhist religion has likewise seen impressive growth over the past century. Buddhism like Christianity is a missionary religion. In the past century Buddhism has seen a revival in traditionally Buddhist nations and has found new adherents globally through its missionary efforts.

For the sake of my reflections I am going to narrow my focus to the Buddhism most widely found East Asia. A century ago saying East Asian was Buddhist would have been comparable to saying that Modern Europe is Christian. It could be said that it was even post-Buddhist. While Buddhism strongly influenced the history and culture of East Asia, and many people might have called themselves Buddhist, Buddhism as a whole suffered from malaise and was weakened by the pluralism prominent in East Asian philosophy and culture. Buddhism in China competed and was often intermingled with traditional Chinese religions, Taoism and Confucianism—very few purely Buddhist believer might be found outside of a Buddhist monastery. Korea during the Joseon period was strongly Confucian and anti-Buddhist; Buddhism being a minority religion throughout Korea’s modern history. The crackdown on Buddhism in Japan that occurred during the early Tokugawa period severely weakened Buddhism there for hundreds of years. Japanese religious pluralism and emphasis on State Shinto in the early 20th century likewise weakened its influence in the land of the Rising Sun.

A quick look at Operation World for either China or South Korea will show that over the past century Buddhism has grown significantly. Conversions from Buddhism to Christianity while not uncommon have often been from nominal adherents. All too often Buddhism and Christianity have been competing for those without a strong religious affiliation. This accounts for the growth of Christianity and Buddhism in modern China and Korea, where the path into the modern period left a religious vacuum. Confucianism was primary system of belief in the Joseon period and many who were devoted to Neo-Confucianism were antagonistic against Buddhism. When the Joseon period ended Buddhism started to made significant gains among in Korea and continues to grow at a rate similar to Christianity in Korea. China prior to Communist rule was nominally Buddhist. With the founding of the People’s Republic of China both Buddhists and Christians were heavily persecuted. Buddhists have continued to be persecuted in modern China. One significant Buddhist revival movement in Mainland China, Falun Gong, has grown in spite of continuous pressure by the Chinese government.

In addition to the significant quantitative gains that Buddhism has made in East Asia over the past century, they have also made qualitative gains as well.  David J. Hesselgrave, emeritus professor mission at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and former missionary to Japan wrote his doctoral thesis on the development of Soka Gakkai in Japan (Tom Cruise is to Scientology as Orlando Bloom is to…?). This was reworked and included in a book that he edited entitled ‘Dynamic Religious Movements’ of which I was fortunate to own a copy before my move to Korea. In the chapter on the Soka Gakkai, Dr. Hesselgrave makes a compelling case for the qualitative growth of Buddhism in Japan. Not only did Buddhism grow in numbers, but also in depth of commitment and knowledge of their faith. Because of the polemical nature of Soka Gakkai prosylization it compelled members to understand their faith more deeply and to shun pluralism. The result of this Buddhist ‘fundamentalism’ in Japan has been that Japanese Buddhism on a whole has become qualitatively stronger.  This is true of Buddhism throughout East Asia. So far, I attempted to avoid the word fundamentalism as much as possible, but in this case it does fit the original textbook definition: a commitment to a core set of beliefs. If we take this as the definition of fundamentalism, then it is accurate to say that Buddhist fundamentalism has been the cause and result of much of the growth of Buddhism in East Asia in the past century.

What does all of this mean? Buddhism is growing. It is growing in numbers of adherents and in the depth of their commitment. Buddhist religious orders are increasingly sending missionaries to the West and other parts of the world where they are finding itching ears. With regard to the future of Christian missions in East Asia, much of the low hanging fruit has already been picked, and there is competition for whatever is left. This means that the missionary task in East Asia is no longer one of reaching nominal or religiously uncommitted people, but is increasingly going to need to be focused on reaching out to those who already have a strong religious commitment. The twenty-first century task of sharing the Gospel with Buddhists in East Asia is comparable to that of missionary efforts among Muslims and Hindus in other parts of the world. As a church, we need to take seriously the work that is before us and train up men and women to share the Gospel boldly among those who are committed Buddhists.

A missionary preparing for service in East Asia should be trained to share their faith with serious Buddhists. We need to equip local churches to articulately and winsomely witness to their Buddhist neighbors. We need to be aware of the missionary nature of Buddhism within the Western church and equip our congregations to recognize and understand Buddhism in order to reach those who these missionaries are hoping to reach. Recently their has been a renaissance in discussion of how best to witness to Muslims and Hindus—likewise we need  to begin such a conversation on how to contextualize the Gospel for those in East Asia.