(or, my personal experience of the earthquake/tsunami/nuclear crisis in Japan)
First, here are two poems – both senryu- that I have created so far in response:
japan’s triple threat
samurai spirit outlasts
shake, wave, gamma rays
広がる輪
助け合いには
広がる和
hirogaru wa
tasukeai ni wa
hirogaru wa
widening circles
helping one another brings
widening peace
It’s not important that I ever receive anything in return for writing these poems, but instead I really hope these will bless somebody somewhere as soon as possible. . . that is why I share these poems here.
Before I discuss my personal experiences, I would like to list here again the three most important prayer requests for Japan. About a couple of weeks ago, there was a meeting about Revival in Japan in Osaka, and one of the speakers was Pastor Kenichi Nakagawa. I REALLY WISH some Western media reporters would interview him about his reaction to the current events in Japan, because he is surely one of the most respected Christian leaders in Japan, and for a long time led the long-running Japanese Christian TV series ‘Harvest Time.’
He gave these three prayer requests for Japan:
1) nuclear situation will be brought under control, the staff at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power plant will have divine protection, and their family members be comforted [I also would like to add that there will be a strong eastern wind to send any radiation to the sea where it can dissipate]
2) all those suffering because of the earthquake and the tsunami may receive the food, comfort, shelter and whatever else that they need as quickly as possible, and
3) for healing of the emotional scars & psychological problems of everyone involved, especially children (short-term and long-term panic, PTSD, depression, etc.)
As we all continue to pray I hope that we can remember his brief but very meaningful description of the three most important prayer requests in this international crisis. Please consider fasting too.
Well . . . so . . . I have some friends who keep asking me to share what I felt and thought of the tragedy on the ground. Currently I am in the United States for my spring break, however I was in a southern suburb of Osaka, Japan teaching English when the earthquake happened on Friday March 11, at around 2:45 PM.
We did not feel anything at the time. Osaka is about 500 km south of Tokyo, and Tokyo is about 320 km away from Sendai, which is the major city closest to the epicenter of the recent quake in the Northeast corner of the country (called Tohoku). I think some of my friends in northern Osaka said they felt something. I think I was probably in the bathroom at the time, actually.
Anyways, during a break in one of the classes, one of the mothers of the elementary school kids I teach said to my boss (in Japanese of course but I’ll give you the rough English translation): “You know what? I just heard there was some sort of an earthquake in Tohoku on the radio on my way here. I have to get home to watch TV and find out more about it. I have some relatives there.”
My boss listened and nodded, with a little vague smile. I thought maybe the faraway expression on her face meant that she was not paying much attention and thinking of something else. At any rate, I did not think the earthquake was a serious matter at all. We did not hear anything further about it at work. It was a short day anyways… we just had to teach classes from 2 – 4PM, as our normal kindergarten classes in the morning had all been cancelled.
I went home and turned on the TV. Nearly every channel had the same scenes of devastation- shaking walls, crumbling buildings, waves of water, lines of brand new cars swirled around in whirlpools like toy cars being flushed down a toilet. I was shocked for a moment.
However, my brain was too tired to break down the walls of the Japanese language for me immediately. I can speak and understand Japanese, but at the same time my second language can be draining and I can’t use it well when I am tired. I did not see many scenes of people, and my weary mind did not jump to think that there could be human beings caught in the murky devastation of the roaring tsunami. After about five minutes, I turned the TV to the only station that offered something that seemed light and entertaining- a children’s dance contest.
After about seven minutes of this, a commercial break popped up. I grew restless again, and decided to look online for more information in English about the earthquake. I was shocked to discover that already some articles were saying this was the most powerful earthquake to hit Japan in its recorded history.
Now here let me be honest and admit that day before the earthquake hit I was at a personal low, perhaps even at my most selfish point. That week I was having a lot of difficulties, and I felt very unappreciated, much unloved, and even frustrated enough to want to quit and go home. Sometimes it is difficult to live overseas and face a perfect storm of challenges without being able to admit that although you are trying to care for others, you yourself could use some extra heart care.
So I think the most immediate effect the earthquake and tsunami had on my life was that it forced me to recognize again that there are a lot more important problems in the world than those that I deal with in my everyday life. A couple of friends on Facebook asked me if I was safe. With a sigh, I quickly wrote a reply without realizing that there were other people someplace else who might not be so safe, who might be missing.
Only when the NHK news report showed a long line of people waiting to use a public phone so they could tell their friends and family that they were OK did my tired mind finally begin to grasp some of the scope of this tragedy. God finally broke through the walls of my own apathy and indifference. I turned the TV off, turned away from my laptop, and began to pray.
Saturday, the next day, I had been thinking about joining an English haiku event in Kyoto. Instead, I decided to stay at home. I spent the day in a quiet way. I cleaned my apartment and prayed for everyone affected by the earthquake and tsunami. I was thinking of the words of my grandmother Momma Nell, who taught me that during thunderstorms we should not think about rushing about here and there. “When God is doing His work, it is time for us to be still.”
On Sunday, I ended up visiting Chiyoda Gospel Church, where my mentor Rev. Ryosaku Inoue delivered a sermon on thankfulness and gratefulness as a Christian. He spoke on Acts 16, where Paul and Silas were in prison when an earthquake gave them the opportunity to escape.
He mentioned that prayer for Jewish folk means expressing gratitude, while unfortunately we Christians tend to use prayer as an opportunity to give God our Christmas list. We take too much for granted- food, home, clothing, money, a job so much more- when all of these things are not guaranteed to us.
While I listened to him, I realized that I was so focused on my challenges that I was forgetting the blessings of my life in Japan. I really had to repent for all of my selfish thoughts.
Rev. Inoue went on to say that the earthquake completely changed everything. The prisoners who were of low status and who previously could not leave the prison suddenly now had the freedom to move as they wished and even to escape the jail. However, Paul chose not to escape.
Instead, he chose to stay to help the one who was now the weakest person- the jailer. The power over the prisoners that the jailer once held was now completely gone. The jailer also did not have freedom over his own movements- his job required him to stay in the prison, where he would be sentenced to death if any of the prisoners escaped.
And what made Paul decide to stay in prison? Because before he had an encounter with the living and true son of God- Jesus- on his way to Damascus, Paul had been in the same position. He had been the one who other people had given up on, somebody who may have seemed to have a high social position and everything the world could ask for on the outside, but who was still desperately in need of a deep and abiding purpose in life that no riches or status could ever give him.
After the service, I spoke to one of my students and her family and friends. At the church, I enjoyed a simple supper of kitsune udon together with the members there. Afterwards, Rev. Inoue, his wife Haluna, and I ended up hanging out with their friend Yukari from Tokyo. We went to the Kinogawa riverside and the sunny blue sky was painfully beautiful, enough to almost make us forget about the pathos that was constantly in the background of our thoughts.
As Yukari kicked a soccer ball with Yotaro, the Inoue’s two-year old son, I walked along the river, alone with my thoughts. I made a decision: to go back to that completely impossible situation in my life in Japan once again and quietly continue to do that seemingly unappreciated work for the good.
Daisuke Yokoyama, someone who is a far better Christian than I, said this before. However, it needs to be repeated: “Maybe… just maybe. . . this is how the world will now change for the better.”
A small step forward.
But this is enough.
Onward!
2 Chronicles 7: 14: “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”
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