Lowthers in Japan

Interview with Roger Lowther for Redeemereader.com

2012-01-25T10:33:00.006+09:00

Emily Whitten interviewed me for "Redeemedreader.com" a website by and for Christians to look at and discuss children's literature worldwide from a Christian standpoint. In this 22 minute interview, we talk about the earthquake in Japan, Japanese and American culture, and various works of literature such as "Little One-Inch" and "Tale of Genji." You can hear the interview by clicking on the link here and scrolling to the bottom of the page.

Emily wrote an intro to the interview which can also be found on Redeemedreader.com titled "Japan: A Literary Adventure."

Stories from Ishinomaki

2012-01-18T05:34:00.000+09:00

This is a video my team in Ishinomaki just shared with me. This is the area we have been focusing on. We know these people. We know these stories. We know these places. There is still so much sadness in Ishinomaki, and yet, there is a "light in the darkness" that the man talked about. The government may not be offering it. The rest of Japan may not be offering it. But it comes through community...and it comes through the One who makes community.....

Then and Now from Paul Johannessen on Vimeo.

Performance Party

2011-12-01T16:26:00.001+09:00

On November 20, we had our eighth performance party in our apartment. This time we had classical musicians, a writer (who read a five minute segment from one of her short stories), a manga artist (who showed us an amazing commercial he made for ANA Airlines), and a jazz ensemble of students from Senzoku Gakuen School of Music. Here is a short video clip of the jazz band. Everyone who came shared something.

(Why is there a pillow on Eastin's head?)

"Tsukuda Loves Tohoku" in the News

2011-11-27T10:26:00.005+09:00

"Supplies with nowhere to go! The public effectively grasps the need." This article came out on November 6, 2011 in the "Asahi Shinbun" (Morning Sun Newspaper), the second largest newspaper in Japan. The article on the top shows what happened in many parts of the country where the government collected supplies from people but then did not know where to send them. The article printed just below highlights "Tsukuda Loves Tohoku," the community led disaster relief effort directed by my wife Abi and her friend Miho, as a model for how to get supplies where they need to go by building personal relationships with people in disaster areas. The picture was taken at a flea market near our building, selling goods in order to raise money for tsunami survivors. You can find a pdf of the article here. (Sorry, Japanese only!)

As a follow-up to this article, Tsukuda Loves Tohoku called the location in the upper picture and are now in the process of distributing the city's supplies in tsunami hit areas.

(Additional comment: The main reason for the distribution problem was that the government focused on establishing and providing for shelters where the need was quickly filled, but most people stayed in their own broken homes or moved into temporary homes and were outside this system. The only way to find these ongoing needs is through person-to-person contact and networking, the core of Tsukuda Loves Tohoku values.)

The Healing Power of Music

2011-11-27T10:01:00.002+09:00

During the summer of 2011, I interviewed numerous people to get their take on the impact of music in disaster relief work. Less than two months after the earthquake and tsunami on March 11, my focus switched from delivering food, water, and supplies to providing music and discovered the power music had to drastically change the mood of a shelter and to begin relationships for community development. Video made by Colin Miller.

The Juilliard Journal

2011-11-17T12:58:00.004+09:00

"Current Students and Alums Reach Out To Japanese Earthquake Victims" (The Juilliard Journal, October 2011) Ten students came from The Juilliard School May 27 - June 6, just two months after the earthquake hit on March 11, 2011, to work with us in the disaster relief effort. Two of the students jointly wrote this article about their time here. You can read the whole article here.

Organ and Disaster Relief

2011-11-12T20:32:00.003+09:00

"The organ and disaster relief - An American organist in Japan" was published in October 2011 by The Diapason, an international publication devoted to issues related to the pipe organ. The article tells of how Roger began using the pipe organ in the disaster relief since March 11, 2011 and paints a picture of how survivors have responded to the organ. Read the article here.

Concert in Jakarta

2011-10-11T01:16:00.002+09:00

On Sunday, October 9, 2011, I gave a concert at the Reformed Evangelical Church in Jakarta. This was my first time to Indonesia! The hall was packed with people making it a really fun concert! This clip is from the end of the "Wedge" Prelude in E Minor by J.S. Bach.

I am wearing a batik, traditional handmade clothing, which was given me by one of the church members.

Art events this weekend

2011-09-20T09:20:00.000+09:00

Friday, September 23 – 5 p.m. Performance of the St. Matthew Passion. 3.5 hours. I’m playing organ.

Saturday, September 24 – 6:30 p.m. "Art, Life, and Faith" discussion group. Once a month we meet to talk about different subjects of art and how it relates to the Bible and our lives. Designed for everybody, Christian and non-Christian, artist and non-artist. This month we will be looking at the famous Japanese manga “Death Note” to discuss issues of justice and peace.

Sunday, September 25 – 6:30 p.m. Performance Party. Professional artists (mostly musicians) in the city gather together to a share a meal and perform for one another in our living room. Everyone who comes is strongly encouraged to share something.

St. Matthew Passion

2011-09-17T10:34:00.002+09:00

On September 24th, I'll be performing in Bach's longest and most dramatic work, the St. Matthew Passion. 3 choirs, 2 orchestras, 4 main soloists, and ME on organ! Can you find my picture on the upper right hand side?

It's going to be a fun fall. Already have 10 solo concerts planned before the end of the year.

Musical Disaster Relief Video

2011-08-24T23:55:00.002+09:00

Here is a video about the group of 10 students from The Juilliard School who traveled to Japan May 26 - June 6, 2011 to help with the tsunami relief effort here in Japan.

2011-08-09T17:16:00.002+09:00

Iori Hosokawa, the lead vocalist in Grace City Church's worship band, wrote this piece for people in tsunami hit areas. The song is about friendship, that we are here to help by coming alongside as friends. The first two pictures are of him singing up in Ishinomaki. The others are from the trip on July 30, when the Ginza Gospel Choir went to Ishinomaki. When I wasn't taking pictures, I was one of the singers!

2011-08-09T16:58:00.001+09:00

On August 6, 2011, a group stopped in front of our apartment carrying mikoshi (small portable shrines). They passed out popsicles and gave this taiko performance.

Oyumino Alive 200th Worship Service

2011-07-14T15:17:00.004+09:00

Abi and I first came to Japan to help plant the church Oyumino Alive in Chiba, Japan. On July 17, 2011 we helped celebrate their 200th worship service by making this short video.

Partnerships

2011-06-25T18:32:00.007+09:00

It has been a productive week. A team of our people including Abi's sister Virginia are up in the disaster area right now distributing bikes and holding a large cookout of hotdogs. Earlier this week, Abi got back from the 10 hour drive up north to meet with the community leaders in Koganehama, a neighborhood of Watanoha in a suburb of Ishinomaki. Above is a picture of the "Love Koganehama" sign. Through it all, we want people to know the message "We will not forget you! We will not abandon you!" We have focused on this area and coordinate with others to make sure something is happening at least every Saturday at the community center we cleaned out and gave an inaugural concert in. A great partnership was formed with Samaritan's Purse where they provide the materials and pay the salaries for professional carpenters, and we help them figure out where the need is in Koganehama. We also provide the volunteers.

I've come to realize afresh how very precious the church's role has been in the relief efforts, as we have been focusing on relationships with individuals, families, and neighborhoods who are hurting since Day 3. Most of the larger organizations took a long time to get involved, and some are still trying to get involved! Now they want to partner with us so that they can put their name to what we are doing, which we don't mind so much if it helps more people. They have the resources, but we have the relationships. Let's hope many more partnerships do happen!

Picture to the right is of house cleaning this week in Watanoha.

Connecting with people 2

2011-06-11T20:59:00.003+09:00

As I reflect back on the time with the group from Juilliard, I realize that one of the most important things they did was to connect with people even despite the language barriers. People need love, and music opened the doors for us to be in the shelters and show that love. You can see the smiles on people's faces from these interactions especially over music. I remember so clearly also a 14 year old who was orphaned in the tsunami and a 15 year old who lost his home and baby sister. For a short while, music and relationships brought comfort...

Connecting with people

2011-06-10T17:28:00.009+09:00

Got back last night from yet another trip up to tsunami hit areas. The most precious moment of the trip was connecting with Kaori-san. To the left is a picture of her with Steve Sacks, professional jazz saxophonist. This is the second time we've been to the shelter and met her. Her husband, who was lost in the tsunami, was a professional guitarist and wrote the theme song for the town of Onagawa where they live. We spent over an hour talking to her and watching video clips of her husband on youtube. She appeared to be really encouraged to have two professional musicians spending so much time with her.

We also gave a concert in Minami Sanriku and had a really good time talking afterward with a barber, a sushi maker (who kept insisting that only women can really weigh fish in the palm of their hand and cut shushi right!), a fisherman, and a fisherman's wife. We just talked and laughed about many things. This spending time with people seems to be the most important part of musical relief trips....the concerts open doors and allow those relationships to start.
Below are photos found in Onagawa. The sign says to freely take them if you know the people.

2011-06-01T22:52:00.005+09:00

The Juilliard group is keeping a blog of their time here in Japan helping with relief work. You can read it here: http://jcftojapan.tumblr.com/

Concert at Koganehama Community Center, cleaned out by Grace City Relief to provide a place for people in the neighborhood to gather. This was the opening celebration, when we passed out coffee and cake. Restoring people's humanity one cup of coffee at a time...Strong winds of a typhoon caused the lights to go out in the shelter at Watanoha Elementary School. Abi held a flashlight so the musicians could see and one lady held a flashlight from above to serve as a spotlight. The sound of the wind outside during the concert was very spooky!

Juilliard Concert Schedule

2011-05-30T13:28:00.009+09:00

Friday, May 27
6 pm Toho Gakuen School of Music
Sunday, May 29
3 pm Worship Grace City Church
5 pm Grace City Church Tokyo
Monday, May 30 - Relief Work
6 pm Watanoha Elementary School Shelter
Tuesday, May 31 - Relief Work
1 pm Koganehama Community Center Grand Opening
6 pm Onagawa First Hoikuen Shelter
Wednesday, June 1 - Relief Work
3 pm Onagawa First Elementary School
Thursday, June 2 - Relief Work
11 am Hiyoriyama Park, Ishinomaki
5:30 pm Onagawa no Umi Senkaku
Friday, June 3
6 pm Sangenjaya Hall, Tokyo
Saturday, June 4
7 pm Lowther Residence, Tokyo
Sunday, June 5
10 am Worship Immanuel Fukagawa Church
3 pm Worship Grace City Church Tokyo
6:30 pm Musician's Concert Party, Tokyo

Juilliard group arrives soon!

2011-05-20T10:52:00.005+09:00

Next Thursday ten students from The Juilliard School of Music are being sent from Redeemer Presbyterian Church through Mission to the World. Besides many activities in Tokyo, we will spend five days up north in tsunami hit areas.

Healing through musical relief

2011-05-14T11:30:00.023+09:00

Music has such power to open people's hearts to share their stories, their lives, and their tears! Stories from each event last week:

Monday, May 9 - Watanoha Elementary School Shelter, Watanoha, 6 pm

Mr. Takahashi, now 84 years old, sang Japanese songs in the traditional style when he was younger. No one in the shelter had an idea he could sing until shakuhachi Bruce arrived! So many special connections with people through this event...

Tuesday, May 10 - Hiyoriyama Park, Torii Gate, Ishinomaki, 2 pm

"Can you play the Tennessee Waltz? It was my mother's favorite song." Her mother was washed away in the tsunami along with 11,000 other people in the town of Ishinomaki. So much grief and so much loss! We performed on top of a hill in front of a shrine overlooking the whole city. Throngs of people come to write their prayers and tie flowers to the fence. It was hard to concentrate as I stared out over the destruction while playing. This video is from an organ improvisation with saxophone and shakuhachi.

Tuesday, May 10 - Minato Elementary School Shelter, Ishinomaki, 5 pm

"Wait! I'll be right back!" An older gentleman ran off to his temporary home in a third grade classroom to find something. It was a shakuhachi he had made by hand but was then buried under mud in the tsunami. Bruce played it in the concert, greatly filling the man with joy and leading him to give it to Bruce as a gift.

Wednesday, May 11 - Onagawa Nuclear Power Plant, Shelter, Onagawa, 3 pm

Two month anniversary of the earthquake and tsunami. At 2:46 pm a moment of silence was held to remember the victims, and then we started a concert for people sheltered in the gymnasium of the nuclear power plant near Onagawa.

Security was incredibly intense. Two days in advance, we had to give the names (and correct spelling!) of everyone who would be entering the plant along with license plate numbers for all vehicles. It took an hour to enter and an hour to leave the plant as each vehicle was checked three times and paperwork was examined thoroughly.

The atmosphere in the shelter seemed dark and depressed. Bruce called out a melody of healing on his shakuhachi from one side of the room, and Steve answered back from his saxophone on the other side of the room. Improvisatory calls and response of hope and healing mesmerized everyone in the room.

A junior high school girl was moved to pull out her flute and play for us as we left. Bruce and Steve quickly grabbed their instruments, and some women began to dance. I couldn't believe the change in mood from when we first arrived!

Thursday, May 12 - Onagawa Fitness Complex, Onagawa, 10:40 am

"After the earthquake, my husband told me to grab the kids, get in the car, and drive to high ground. He said he'd be right behind me in his truck right after he closed up the house. We never saw him again..."

So much grief and despair in Onagawa, where the wave went over 5 story buildings! By the end of the concert, over half the audience was in tears. It was the most emotional concert I've ever been involved in. One man was doubled over in grief on the floor. One woman who asked for my signature had lost both her husband and her father in the tsunami. There are no words...

Karuizawa Charity Concert

2011-05-08T11:56:00.004+09:00

On Saturday, May 7 Trio Ray (Abi, Yoshimi, and me) gave two charity concerts at the coffee shop of Megumi Chalet in Karuizawa, a town in the mountains about a 3 hour drive from Tokyo. Over $500 was raised for relief work in northern Japan! During the whole concert, we showed pictures from travels up north and told stories about the needs there.

After the concert, one 80-year-old gentleman played a song for me that he wrote for the survivors of the tsunami. His wife then joined in and sang. It was so touching! I wish I had it on video to show you...

Grace City Gospel Choir

2011-05-08T11:41:00.005+09:00

The trip I planned (but wasn't able to go because Abi was in the hospital) for the Grace City gospel choir to head up to Ishinomaki April 29-30 was successful! They shared music with refugees at Watanoha Elementary School shelter (above) and outside Ishinomaki Christ Church (below), which serves as a distribution center for people in the neighborhood. During the tsunami, this church was almost completely submerged under water. After the work of many volunteers, the grounds were cleared and the mud was washed away to make the building usable for worship and for the surrounding community.

The Aroma of Beauty

2011-05-02T10:03:00.012+09:00

We stepped out into the debris cleared space to set up a market and start making tonjiru (pork miso soup). The area surrounding us was overwhelming in its devastation and stench of decaying fish and squid washed in by the tsunami.

Then something magical happened! The pleasant aromas of the cooking soup began to waft through the air, a smell almost forgotten in the memories of the survivors who began to line up. They had not been able to cook for over a month. It awakened a hunger for life, an appetite for something that really existed, a soup that could satisfy that hunger...for a little while.

In the picture above, you can see Bruce Huebner (graduate of the top music school in Japan) playing his shakuhachi bamboo flute while people wait in line for the soup. His tunes wafted gently through the air telling stories of pain and of peace. It awakened in us a joy in life that had been forgotten. It was not a way to distract people from the boredom of waiting in line. It was not mere entertainment. It was the delicious odor of a soup of a different kind, but one nonetheless just as real and meaningful, perhaps more so! It pointed to a source of beauty that will always satisfy and never fade away. Our spirits heard it and remembered...

Gospel Choir Leaves Today

2011-04-29T06:46:00.012+09:00

This morning the Grace City gospel choir, a group of 20 people, leaves to give concerts in Ishinomaki. On Saturday at 10 am they are performing at Ishinomaki Christ Church, which serves as a distribution center for 200 people in the community every day. The church was completely inundated in the tsunami, but many volunteer groups have worked hard to clean out the mud and debris so it could be used for worship and to help the neighborhood. Above is a sign advertising the concert in front of the church and a picture of the choir in concert at Grace City two weeks ago.

The choir will also perform at Watanoha Elementary School, a shelter for 440 people in a suburb of Ishinomaki.

I put a lot of work into planning and leading this trip and know it's going to be a powerful experience for everyone involved. Because my wife is still in the hospital, I've decided not to go but assigned someone else to lead the trip.

To the left is gospel singer Nozomi Fujii, who came with me on the last trip. Everybody loved meeting her and hearing her perform. Here she is playing with some kids at the home below which became a distribution center for about 200 people in the nearby area. A photo of the home with our cars and truck parked outside is below.

Below is also a daytime photo of the lobby of the beautiful resort hotel we performed in last week in Minami Sanriku. Because it is one of only a handful of buildings still standing, it has become a hub for all relief activity and a place for the workers to stay. It usually costs hundreds of dollars per person per night to stay there! It was quite powerful to see the place full of muddy workers and the parking lot full of all kinds of utility and military vehicles.

Concert in Minami Sanriku

2011-04-24T00:32:00.021+09:00

These are pictures from my concert at the Hotel Kanyo in Minami Sanriku on Thursday April 21 along with gospel singer Nozomi Fujii. This hotel was one of the only buildings in the whole area not devastated by the tsunami. As such, it became the center for all government, military, and NPO activities for clean-up, rebuilding, and caring for people in shelters and communities. The hotel owner allowed us to give a concert there for all the workers.

There are many smaller communities in the mountains not getting the supplies they need. Every day at set times, about 200 people in each area visit the one house in the community that has a barn or a large structure to hold goods for distribution. We spent the day visiting 5 of these places with OGA for Aid, a non-profit group we look forward to cooperating with long into the future. One of the things distributed was milk. The girls in the picture have had almost no milk since the earthquake 6 weeks ago!

The steel structure in the middle of the picture below is the remains of a gas station, the only one in town which was able to be reopened amidst the destruction. The government has also been fast about putting up electric poles to bring electricity back to surrounding areas.

Concerts in Shelters

2011-04-16T12:51:00.005+09:00

"Please come back! And play longer next time!" people greeted us as we said goodbye. These video clips are from two concerts given for people evacuated from their homes around Fukushima nuclear power plants to shelters in Iwaki on April 14-15. On the second day, we were joined by gospel singer Daisuke Yokoyama. It was my first time to carry the digital organ to a shelter. People loved it!

After giving the concert at Taira Kyoikukan, we walked around the room and asked if anybody would like a massage. While rubbing one lady's back, she told me how her house was not inside the evacuation zone but was in danger of falling down. Two weeks after the original quake, she did go back to her house to try to live in it until the huge aftershock we had last week. She said "That's enough!" and went back to the shelter. Don't underestimate the psychological stress of hour after hour of aftershocks. We had one just a few minutes ago!

Japanese Article

2011-04-12T21:43:00.004+09:00

Here is another article telling the story of what is happening in the Tsukishima community. Abi was interviewed while I was bringing another truck of supplies collected by the mothers in our community. It appeared in the "Christian Newspaper" on April 10, 2011. You can download the article here.

"Cooking a hot meal" video

2011-04-10T23:09:00.004+09:00

GraceCityRelief from Shane Burgett on Vimeo.

Starting with the chaos of 5 generators, making dinner for two thousand people, in a tent at night, this video shows clips of our tonjiru (pork miso soup - the chicken soup of the soul for Japan) project last week. Leaving at 1:30 a.m. and not returning until 5 a.m. two days later. It was a grueling schedule but also very powerful in many ways.

Picture, Article & Story

2011-04-09T17:00:00.016+09:00

Rev. Fukuda's two boys Motoki and Satoshi along with their friend Takeshi on the Grace City youth clean-up trip to Ishinomaki March 29 - April 1.

***New article about Grace City Church on CNN's iReport! Read the article here.

Fisherman's Survival Story (as told to Abi by his daughter):

One older gentleman was driving his pickup truck in Minami Sanriku when the earthquake hit in the middle of the afternoon on March 11. Since he is responsible for the support of his daughter and grandchildren, his first thought was "Protect my livelihood!" He raced his truck to the top of the nearest hill, jumped out, and ran with all his might thru town. He then got in his boat and sped off into open water (as fast as a fishing boat will go!), hoping to be far enough out to sea to not capsize by the giant tsunami heading his way or be sucked back to shore by the current. Can you imagine what that would feel like! He made it. Broken boats littering the town were a sobering reminder that many did not.

Grace City Relief Logo

2011-04-09T16:38:00.002+09:00

Description of the logo by the designer: Geert de Boo, Grace City Church staff

The logo in the colors of emergency and rescue, darkness (black) and hope (yellow), is a variation of the Grace City logo. In this case, however, the circle refers not only to the city, but to the sun, symbol of a whole nation, Japan. The lower half is darker yellow, an image of the earth burning. Creation is in pain and in need of hope and rescue. The upper part is bright yellow, the color of hope. It is reflection of the belief in restoration of creation when God himself will be the sun (Revelation 21:23). A subtle yellow cross is added to the bolded RELIEF. This expresses that even though Grace City executes the relief work it is the Gospel of Christ that empowers the church community to do so. The cross is the only thing that can truly make sense of hope through suffering.

Cooking a hot meal

2011-04-05T21:22:00.013+09:00

The cook and owner of a restaurant near our building lost family in the tsunami and wanted to prepare a meal for the survivors...a great hot meal, the first since the earthquake hit three weeks ago.

I invitated musicians living in Tokyo to bring joy and beauty to the neighborhood while passing out the food. Here is a video of Bruce Huebner, jazz flutist and shakuhachi player, performing for everybody while the food is being prepared and while waiting in line to receive kerosene to heat their homes. A number of ladies were in tears at hearing the Japanese folk melodies.

The people in the neighborhood cleared out this area hoping that someday soon someone would come bringing supplies. They were so happy when our group showed up!

Chopping vegetables!

Mixing the ingredients...

The finished product: Tonjiru (Pork Miso) Soup!

A little girl playing nearby in front of her house...

Minami Sanriku

2011-04-05T20:59:00.016+09:00

Here are some scary pictures of the power of a tsunami. Minami Sanriku, the town Abi visited on Monday to bring supplies to a shelter, was hit so hard that almost everything was leveled. Even steel structures were stripped bare. The building in the distance is a hospital made famous in the news. 200 people made it to the roof and were stuck there in the freezing cold (it was snowing at the time) all night long. By writing "SOS" on the roof, helicopters eventually found them the next day.

The standing water was so high that a car floated right side up to the roof of this third story building.

You can tell how high the wave was by the fact that it submerged and destroyed this entire four story building. Unbelievable!

This was a very difficult place to be emotionally. Everyone was sobbing. The tsunami inundated both evacuation centers sweeping everyone away. Over half the population of the town died, around 10,000 people! The schools were on high ground protecting the children, but most are now orphaned. No one imagined that a tsunami could get this high...

Can Artists Be Involved?

2011-04-03T11:28:00.006+09:00

So many are involved! Shop owners delivered fresh vegetables and fruit for people who haven't seen that in 3 weeks now. One company donated half a truck load of kerosene (to keep homes warm). A cook, who had lost family in the tsunami, went with us to cook a great meal for 2,000 people. Hoppy Beer Co. donated a 4 ton truck and driver for one trip. A masuse gave massages to volunteers. A non-profit consultant donated her time and services. A dentist donated toothbrushes. Hundreds of housewives have collected supplies, made rice balls, made a blog, and used their networks to spread the news. Children made pictures for the boxes.

How can artists be involved? On March 31, 2011, I was part of a birthday party celebration for all survivors of the tsunami with a March birthday. The atmosphere was full of the celebration of life on this my third visit to this temple-become-shelter. Music makes all the difference between a concentration camp-like feel and a party. Over the past week I have been talking with community leaders and shelter managers about the possibility of concerts in the future. All have unanimously agreed that this a huge need over the next 3 months.

By the way, notice how my keyboard stand is a person on either side. That was a first for me! Helped make the evening fun. Everyone laughed.

The Japan Times

2011-04-03T09:30:00.004+09:00

Grace City Church Tokyo appeared in The Japan Times (page 3!) this past week, leading relief efforts up north and getting the community of Tsukishima involved. Japan Times has a readership of about 500,000 people. Read the article here. 日本語版。

Mangokuura (Suburb of Ishinomaki)

2011-03-31T23:17:00.023+09:00

Most of the supplies are now distributed to neighborhoods where food and supplies are impossible to buy. Word is spread door to door and then people line up to get what they need most. Today we set 10 points to each person to spend any way they want. For example, 3 cucumbers was 1 point, 1 apple was 1 point, etc. People appreciate this orderly way of doing things.

Aidan came for the first time on this trip to help out. Everyone loved having him as their "shopkeeper."

Look at where the water line is on the house below. Almost three times my height! That is the standing water line. Imagine how much higher the initial waves were! How did this house stand in the way of a rushing torrent that high? Very few did.

Supply Collection Continues...

2011-03-30T23:13:00.009+09:00

A photographer for The Japan Times came by and took these fabulous photos while we were collecting supplies in the community room of our building for the next trip to Tohoku. I feel bad though that the focus of the pictures is Abi and I. Hundreds are involved. Fortunately the article focuses on the moms. The article went to print on April 1.

I took this one of Sonoda-san and her two daughters drawing pictures for the boxes.

4 Ton Truck

2011-03-28T16:06:00.021+09:00

On Saturday, we received a wonderful gift from a local company. They paid for a 4 ton truck and 2 professional drivers to take supplies for us to hard hit areas. At 6 a.m., neighbors from our community of Tsukishima once again gathered at the base of our building to fill a truck with food, water, clothes, and other supplies they had gathered. These were then unloaded 6 hours north in Higashi Matsushima (pictured below), where people could freely take whatever was needed. All stores of any kind are still closed in tsunami affected areas, so people living in their houses depend on donations like this to provide for their families. The location of this "open air store" was announced by radio all day Friday by the Nippon Foundation, our first collaboration with this non-profit organization. I made contact with them in an emergency shelter on my previous trip up north.

Beauty & Brokenness in Japan

2011-03-27T08:12:00.003+09:00

Open Air Stores

2011-03-25T08:35:00.009+09:00

These are the living conditions for most people in Ishinomaki. Disease is beginning to spread through shelters, so people are doing everything they can to stay in what is left of their homes. But they have a huge problem! No running water, no electricity, no food...every store, restaurant, supermarket, gas station...everything in the city was covered with water and is now closed.

The next phase of helping people involves open air stores for these communities. I went with fellow members of Grace City Church to visit the city hall, where they provided us with a "guide" to help distribute food. We set out the boxes and let people come and get what they need: water, food, supplies, medicine, and clothes. The most at any one time was probably around 50 people. We also talked with them and just listened...stories too sad for me to even write.

We have partnered up with a local non-profit who hold meetings every evening (!) with volunteer leaders, sharing stories from the day and needs found, and strategizing for the next day while looking at a map. On Saturday, our community in Tsukishima is sending a 4 ton truck of supplies to the area to create an "open air store" which will be announced via radio all day today.

People have responded well to allowing us to help clean their homes and neighborhoods with them. We plan to set up foot washing stations next trip to meet a practical need and to show that we are there to serve.

Food Delivery In Ishinomaki

2011-03-23T20:06:00.009+09:00

21,000 people are living in emergency shelters in Ishinomaki, a city behind the others in delivering much needed supplies because all of the roads in the city were buried in sand, mud, and debris. Only in the past few days have roads been cleared, and water still remains in many parts of the city.

The water line was as high as 25 feet in some places! Boats, cars, and houses were distributed throughout the city. It will be quite some time before all the debris can be carried out of the city. Matt Chase, fellow Mission to the World missionary, and I walked the street a little and gave some food and water to people who were sweeping out their stores and homes. One man swelled up in tears in thankfulness.

Food was first delivered to a hospital and then an elementary school where 500 people were staying. The line from our truck to the inside of the school involved perhaps 100 people. The need for supplies was big. The volunteers let me take a turn with "taki dasi," stirring food in a pot as big as a bathtub!

Boats Hit By Tsunami

2011-03-23T15:04:00.002+09:00

All photos taken on March 23, 2011 in Ichinomaki, Japan.

Tsunami Live Footage

2011-03-22T20:59:00.008+09:00

This is live footage taken of the tsunami by a man I met last Thursday and today at the temple in Higashi Matsushima that was functioning as an emergency shelter. This Chinese oyster farmer named Chaweitang (spelling?) gave me this amazing video shot taken just seconds after the tsunami hit and told me his story. There was no siren or warning that the wave was coming. He saw the tsunami and just started running, making it to the stairs of the elementary school mentioned earlier (blog entry "Emergency Shelter") just 30 seconds before the wave came!

2011-03-22T09:25:00.008+09:00

Sunday night everyone who had helped load relief supplies was invited to bring their families, share stories, watch a movie of the work done so far, and talk about where we are going from here.

Monday morning two trucks were loaded in the rain for a four day trip in Sendai, communicating and coordinating with churches, organizations, and the government to decide how best to proceed.

Tuesday morning we met in the basement of Shiogama Bible Baptist Church with others to study hard hit areas, coordinate efforts, and make plans for the day.

Rice Balls Find A Home

2011-03-20T22:21:00.004+09:00

This is the receiving end of the 1,047 balls of rice made in our apartment in Tokyo (blog "Onigiri Factory" below). Everyone is living and sleeping in this gymnasium turned into an emergency shelter. This area is in Iwaki just south of the evacuation zone from the nuclear reactors.

A Church Reunited

2011-03-19T17:41:00.013+09:00

Pastor Sato leads one of the biggest churches in Japan with over 200 people. During the earthquake he was attending the graduation of his son-in-law from seminary at Tokyo Christian Institute (TCI) in Chiba. His church is north of Iwaki, in an area devastated first by earthquake, then tsunami (which wiped out the train station and half the town), and THEN the radiation from the nuclear reactors! No one is allowed to return to that area for months. The evacuation was so quick that people had nothing but the clothes on their back. He was desperately worried and arranged for an emergency shelter in a church in Western Fukushima to try to account for everybody.

Seima Aoyagi (assistant pastor Grace City Church Tokyo), Matt Chase (Mission to the World missionary), and I headed out with a truck full of supplies to TCI to meet up with the pastor and start heading toward Aizuwakamatsu. We didn't know if we had enough diesel fuel to make it that far and definitely didn't have enough to get back. Nevertheless, we left having faith that God would provide what we needed along the way.

It took 14 hours to reach the temporary emergency shelter using back roads the whole way, then we found about 25 of the evacuees. Another 25 or so were at the hospital being checked for radiation poisoning. The other 150 church members were still unaccounted for! The first thing that happened when we arrived was not unloading the truck but a worship service. People need worship!

The pastor gathered the people and started to sing a hymn "What A Friend We Have In Jesus." Everybody joined in. He then began speaking from scripture. "The last time we had worship together, I spoke from Habakkuk. God's word, God's promises, and God's love for us are just as real now as they were before the earthquake. It is written 'Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior. The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to go on the heights.'" The pastor then went on to show that God does watch over us and cares for us. There were MANY tears.

After worship, we unloaded the truck, had lunch, then most of the men headed out to bring gas to stranded cars and check on the people at the hospital. I noticed a keyboard in the corner, mentioned to the pastor's wife that I was a musician, and asked if she would like a concert. Immediately she gathered the people. I started "It's hard to have words in situations like this, but that is why God gave us music." After playing a number of pieces, I played a gospel arrangement of "Amazing Grace" and gave a short testimony. It was a pretty powerful time, and they didn't want me to stop. Maybe I should be traveling around to the emergency shelters with not just food but music? Thinking about how to care for people emotionally and spiritually from here on out...

Disaster Response in Japan

2011-03-19T13:46:00.002+09:00

Mission to the World made a video from my pictures for use in spreading the word about disaster relief efforts here in Japan.

MTW - Disaster Response in Japan from Go Global on Vimeo.

People survived the tsunami

2011-03-18T19:54:00.014+09:00

This blog entry has been the hardest to write so far because the experiences of the people I met were so vivid and real. The beautiful temple to the left is about a 15 minute walk on the other side of a hill from the town shown in the previous blogs about the emergency shelter and cars hit by the tsunami. Every square inch of floor is covered with futons and people of all ages sleeping. This unofficial emergency shelter was very low on supplies for the 350 people who were there. The head of the temple told us the biggest needs besides food and water were shoes (tsunami brought with it thick mud that ruined the shoes they had), lanterns with batteries (very dark at night with no electricity), underclothes (no way to take a shower), and clothes (all washed away.

After unloading the truck, a 3 hour line formed to fill everybody's empty soda bottles from the 300 liter and 100 liter water containers we had brought. During that time, we exchanged stories about the earthquake. The people found my experiences of feeling the earthquake from in the subway and my family's experience from the 28th floor funny and kept joking with me about it. The earthquake in their town was a A LOT stronger than in Tokyo. Everyone fell down.

The man two to the left of me in the picture below (all people I took pictures of gave me permission) was in his house when the tsunami hit. It was immediately covered with water. He ran to the second floor with the water quickly following him until it crept above his waist but thankfully stopped. He stayed on the second floor wet and shivering from the cold (it was below freezing) until the water subsided enough for him to leave his house for the shelter 15 hours later. He kept telling me how scary it was. He didn't know if the water was going to keep rising or not, or whether the house was going to be washed away. Most of the deaths in the town occurred from houses collapsing around them.

Most who survived immediately realized the danger of a tsunami. The man to the right of me ran up to high ground and from there witnessed the incoming tsunami. He kept pointing to the hill next to us "Can you imagine a wave that big? That's how big it was." It was about 35 feet high! Impossible for people to live through such a powerful surge of water. His house was completely destroyed.

Another man experienced the quake while out in the bay on a small boat. His first thought also was "Tsunami!" He rowed as fast as he could to shore, ran through the town, and climbed the large hill. The tsunami came 10 minutes later. His boat was destroyed in the wave as it smashed into buildings.

Onigiri Factory

2011-03-18T19:49:00.016+09:00

Our home became an "onigiri factory." Onigiri are balls of rice with different things mixed into the rices...salted salmon, seaweed, etc. The two trucks going up to Iwaki tonight are bringing 1,000 (actually 1,047!) handmade balls of rice for people in the emergency shelters. Iwaki is on the border of the official evacuation zone from the nuclear power plant explosions. Because of fear of radiation, truck drivers are refusing to drive to the area to restock supermarkets. People cannot leave because there is no gas. We help evacuate people with every truck we send to Iwaki. Only recently did people receive the water they need. One lady in the group has a sister living in Iwaki, who she is very worried about.

Long lines for gas

2011-03-18T19:34:00.008+09:00

Everywhere we went in Sendai there were extremely long lines for gas. The lucky ones got gas in 7 hours. Others had to wait as much as 2 days! This video shows one of the lines, and yet the gas station isn't even open! The drivers were waiting, hoping, that the gas station would be able to open with gas. There were also extremely long lines for kerosene, which people need to stay warm. It has been well below freezing since the earthquake.

There are also long lines for supermarkets. If you don't wait in line, you don't eat. Groceries are rationed strictly...one cup of ramen per person, one this, one that...

Oba-san's House

2011-03-18T02:15:00.010+09:00

While we were in the area, we went into the second floor of this house to retrieve clothes for the oba-san (older lady) who lived there. We met her and her granddaughter at a church in Sendai. Below are pictures of the living room. I didn't recognize the piano at first. Such devastation!

Fortunately she was traveling by train during the time of the tsunami and was unhurt. Her house is one of the few still standing in the area.

Cars Hit By Tsunami

2011-03-18T01:58:00.003+09:00

I took all these pictures today (March 18) on the way to the emergency shelters with supplies. Region of Matsushima, near Sendai, Japan.

Emergency Shelter

2011-03-18T01:55:00.008+09:00

The tsunami struck less than an hour after the big earthquake. Everyone who made it to the school lived. These are some video clips I took of the area around and inside that school near Matsushima, Japan. Later in the day I met some of the people who were evacuated from here to the nearby temple. So many of their friend and neighbors died less than a week ago! How to respond to such tragedy?

Second trip up north

2011-03-16T20:08:00.005+09:00

Quick update. Just a few hours sleep in the past 60 hours. Drove supplies to refugee camp in western Fukushima. People there were from towns on coast hit by tsunami and then evacuated from nuclear power plant explosions. All needed a checkup at hospital to check radiation levels. Thankfully they were okay! People evacuated so quickly they only had the clothes on their back. Needed everything. All grocery stores empty. Brought gas. Many stranded cars. Tsunami washed away so much of their towns. They don't know who of their friends are missing...evacuated to so many places.

Resting for four hours then I lead a team back up with another truck load. This time to Sendai. Twice as far as last trip. Hope to be back in 2-3 days. Large need for food, water, and fuel. Bringing satellite phone to communicate with team back in Chiba.

Our home in Tokyo became a rallying point for the relief efforts in Tohoku (the area up north). People heard I was bringing things up north. Literally hundreds of people have been bringing supplies....so far 5 trucks worth waiting to be loaded into trucks. So hard to find trucks! Businesses rented all of them. Chiba team was able to find 2 and Grace City found 1 truck. Abi realized quickly that our living room was not big enough for all the supplies and was able to get the community room downstairs. Boxes were piled head high all around. As many trucks as we can find will continually be making round trips this next week to deliver all the goods.

There is so much to tell, powerful stories, but I have to prepare for the next trip! People are really hurting. Saw many tears of gratitude this last trip. Need to provide for needs and assess how best to mobilize people as quickly as possible. After this trip, I promise I'll share more about what is going on!

Heading to hard hit areas

2011-03-14T20:13:00.010+09:00

Spent a few hours today trying to find supplies for the second wave of trucks going this evening. The shelves were completely empty! The picture on the left is from a nearby large grocery store. Fortunately, we were able to get a lot of supplies from neighbors and Grace City members once word was spread about the trucks. The picture below shows the empty shelves where water once stood. Tonight we will make boxes, fill them with trash bags, and then fill the trash bags in order to distribute water. We also will fill hundreds of doubly layered ziploc freezer bags. Not the best, but there are simply no other kinds of containers available.

All trains shut down between Tokyo and Chiba, so the roads were overwhelmingly crowded. Lines to gas stations were many many blocks long. Probably at least an hour wait. Most gas stations we saw were closed because they were out of gas.

The first truck of "scouts" to the hard hit areas came back with stories and experience. They found groups of people in different emergency shelters with no water available at all. Professional help had not arrived yet. People cried when they received the water. Our team rented a second truck, and tonight two trucks will go out at 2 am. I will be driving one of those trucks.

We will first go to Iwaki, where we are connected with a pastor. One truck will then return empty, and the second truck will go further northwest. I've been asked to be part of the second truck also. As soon as I get back, I'll share as much information as I can. We plan for it to be a 2-3 day trip. Pray for our safety and that we'll be of some assistance!

Where were you when the earthquake hit?

2011-03-14T08:23:00.006+09:00

In worship yesterday, I heard many of the stories of where everyone was when the earthquake hit. Satoshi, one of Rev. Fukuda's sons, was in a movie rental store. The movies all around him came tumbling down, and he couldn't run or move in any direction. Motoki, another of his sons, was caught in Higashi Funabashi. He walked over 6 hours (!) to arrive home past midnight. Kan, who was intending to translate the service, was caught in a train on his way from the airport. After almost 24 hours of travel, he had to spend another 24 hours waiting in a train station! He was very tired.

Rolling blackouts of 3 hour intervals are happening everywhere except central Tokyo where we live.

Our team was able to make contact with a pastor they know in Iwaki, 50 km south of the Fukushima reactor with the explosion. Dan Iverson, our team leader, and two other guys left at midnight last night with food, water, and gas supplies. They arrived at 5:30 am. Roads were relatively clear with no problems. They found a large group of people taking shelter in an elementary school who were glad to receive the supplies. The truck has enough fuel to make it back. That's all we know for now....

Helping the Community

2011-03-13T22:42:00.006+09:00

In the last entry, I mentioned how we met with the leader of the community to offer the help of Grace City Church. Just before worship we got a call for help. We were able to announce it during worship, and then nine people headed out.

I was the first one on the roof and took this picture with my phone. The roof was made of beautiful heavy clay tiles that do not color with age (I'm told). They were a mess after the earthquake. We made a line and handed down the tiles one by one so that they wouldn't fall on anyone in future aftershocks. We then tied down a blue tarp over the whole area to keep the rain out until they can be fixed.

We were so glad to be able to be of help. An older lady lived there, and we were thanked profusely. We again offered our help to the community leader who met us there. Maybe we'll get calls for other houses before it is predicted to rain tomorrow night?

Picture to right is of house next door to the one we were working on. All of these houses are just a few feet from our building, where we can see them clearly from our living room.

Earthquake Response

2011-03-13T08:55:00.005+09:00

The earthquake was big! Japanese news reporters say an earthquake like this occurs once every thousand years. They reported a village of 17,000 people is missing 10,000! (unconfirmed) The island of Honshu is reported to have moved 8 feet! Maps have to be redrawn. Fires and a big explosion at an oil refinery near Tokyo have covered Tokyo with haze this morning. Overheating at Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant 1 brought about an explosion that released radioactive particles into the air. Other power plants were shut down. We have periodic announcements in our building to conserve energy, as the whole city is running through reserve power. Millions of homes in northeastern Japan are without power in bitterly cold temperatures.

Our missionary team is sending out scouts after worship today to bring supplies collected at worship and see how best we can help the people in the hard hit areas. We are looking for churches in that area to partner with, so that they can distribute as needed. This is especially crucial since relationships are so important in Japanese culture. This will also help in long-term assistance as it will be many years before people are able to rebuild their lives in the area. It is times like this that I am glad to be part of a team that has been living here and building relationships here for almost 25 years.

From our 28th floor balcony, we saw many tile roofs of old homes that have completely fallen apart and realized the danger of rain damage. We met with our good friend Miho Watanabe, mother of a son in Aidan's class, and asked how Grace City Church could help. She and Abi met with the community leader, who knew about some of the houses but not all of them. He then passed on the information to other community leaders. (In America we could just go to each owner's house, but not so in Japan!) We have offered free tarps and people to fix roofs.

Things to pray for:

-Safety from aftershocks, which have been quite large (felt 3 more while writing this!)

-At least 1,600 people are dead or missing (rising every hour). Pray for those who are trapped or injured, as well as those who are missing friends and family.

-That weather would carry radiation out to sea rather than over populated areas and that the amount of radiation in the air would not increase

-Limited railway use has resumed. Pray for the many who are still stranded from loved ones.

-Pray for the tens of thousands who are evacuated from their homes and are staying in shelters

-Pray for the Christians of Japan, that we would be able to mobilize relief efforts and provide for people's needs, both physical and spiritual

Team has already spent $1,000 renting a large truck and buying supplies. Will drive them to the hard hit areas Sunday night. This is just the beginning of an expensive project which will last many months. If you would like to give, our mission sending agency Mission to the World has set up a special account to respond to this crisis. You may give online here (Account 93993 Japan Earthquake and Tsunami) or send a check to: Mission to the World, P.O. Box 116284, Atlanta, GA 30368-6284. Be sure to write the account number on the check.

Thank you for your prayers!

Earthquake!

2011-03-12T08:58:00.002+09:00

Dear Friends,

Thank you for your concerned emails and phone calls. We are okay! Yesterday afternoon an 8.9 magnitude earthquake hit a region of Japan, just 3 hours north of us by train. I’ve heard reports that it was the largest earthquake in Japanese history, and the fifth largest recorded earthquake in the world!

I was in a subway tunnel on my way to the dentist when it happened. The train immediately slammed on its brakes throwing me since I was standing. I thought someone was on the track, but then the announcement came…earthquake! We all experienced the jolting of the quake and realized it was big! After about 45 minutes, the train finally inched its way to the nearest subway stop to let everybody out. As soon as I got above ground, another big quake came and those who already weren’t on the street came running from the buildings. I was so amazed by the pandemonium on the streets that I almost forgot to look up and make sure nothing was going to fall on me. One group was herding people away from a particularly old building with lots of glass. They were afraid windows would pop out onto the street.

Since I was already in the location of the dentist, I walked over to the office where I met a very shaken up group. I’m in the middle of root canal treatment, but the dentist said my tooth should be okay and no work would be done that day. He may end up drilling a hole into the wrong tooth! So I started the walk home. Subways were not running. Cell phones were shut down due to the high volume. I walked past long lines to land line phone booths and buses. People crowded in the dividers in the biggest roads. Everyone outside.

Fortunately, I was only an hour walk from home. When I got there and used the building intercom to call my apartment, no one answered. I was very confused and started talking with the crowd of people gathered in the lobby. No one had seen my family. I went to the karate studio, where I knew my kids were scheduled to be but they weren’t there. So I went back to the apartment building to begin the long climb to the 28th floor via stairs. Elevators were shut down. Right there at the foot of the stairs I saw a written note from Abi (smart woman!) saying they were at Eastin’s school, which was acting as an emergency shelter.

I was happily reunited with my family, and found out their experiences. Abi was coming back home and had just pushed the elevator button when the quake hit. The power to the elevators immediately shut off (I haven’t heard if anyone got stuck in any of them), and Abi ran outside. The building swayed back and forth with a roar like lots of huge rocks scraping against each other. The roof tiles were popping off the old buildings next to her and landing in the street. It was nearly impossible to walk as the ground surged under her like a boat in a storm.

Abi’s parents (visiting from Jackson, MS) and 2 of the kids (Eastin was at karate) were up in our 28th floor apartment. When the earthquake started, Aidan reassured his grandparents that he had already been in lots of earthquakes and they weren’t a big deal. As the quake grew in grew in strength and the building swayed so much that it was impossible to stand, glasses were falling and smashing in the kitchen, all of the CDs poured out all over the floor, a large mirror felt to the ground and smashed, Aidan said, “I don’t like this one!” They evacuated to the central hallway and eventually down the 28 flights of stairs, meeting Abi halfway up. They hung around outside for a bit, helped some kids reunite with mothers, etc, and eventually made their way to the kindergarten grounds where cushions to sit on, blankets (it was cold and many didn’t have jackets), and safety hats were being handed out. When Abi went to pick up Eastin from his karate class, she found a happy kid whose sensei had just kept right on with class in spite of the quake! Leave it to the Japanese martial artists to train in all circumstances!

It was our 11th wedding anniversary when all this happened and just as I was beginning (selfishly!) to get a little discouraged at the thought of canceling the wonderful night I had planned, I got an email from one of Grace City Church’s staff, Seima Aoyagi. Phone service was still down but iPhones could send and receive email. He, his wife, and oldest two children were stranded at a train station in the western part of Tokyo. Abi and I got in the Grace City van to “rescue” them. Unfortunately 3 hours later when we had moved only a few miles, we realized it was an impossible plan. There were just too many cars on the road, the only form of transportation available besides walking. We did find out later that the trains started up again and they were able to get home past midnight. It was an anniversary to remember!

I felt three more aftershocks while writing this email! Pray for those at the epicenter where many died or were hurt.

Roger

Tokyo Marathon 2011

2011-03-04T15:52:00.005+09:00

I sent this picture to my family after running the Tokyo Marathon on February 27th. It was tough carrying the two boys the whole way but a time of 2 hours 12 minutes isn't too bad!

It was a beautiful day and what a great way to get to know the city better! There were 35,000 registered runners and perhaps 100,000 people who volunteered or at least cheered along the route. The announcer yelled just before the start..."Tokyo is yours! Go and get it!" It was a great experience.

And so, yeah, if you want to know my REAL time, I'm afraid I'm just going to leave it up to your imagination!

Senryu

2011-03-04T15:31:00.004+09:00

The other day in Japanese class I was learning about senryu, a poetry with the same form as haiku (5 syllables, 7 syllables, 5 syllables) but a lot less serious and often humorous in nature. My homework was to write one myself, so here it is for everyone to read:

日本語は
きっと簡単
子供なら

(Japanese is SO easy...if you're a child.)

My three sons Aidan, Eastin, and Coen have no trouble whatsoever conversing in Japanese, so why is it so difficult for me!?...

I actually wrote two more that aren't as good:

子の声が
目覚まし時計
ボタンない

(My child's cry may be the alarm clock in the morning, but where is the off button?)

音楽が
なければ駄目だ
生きられない

(A world without music? No way! I couldn't live in it.)

Mt. Fuji in the City

2010-12-22T10:53:00.001+09:00

Mt. Fuji finally showed his face after months of being hidden. This picture was taken from the balcony outside our bedroom.

Chelsea Chen and Lewis Wong in Concert

2010-12-06T14:34:00.012+09:00

Thanksgiving week November 25-28, Chelsea Chen and Lewis Wong came to Japan to help us with church planting. After giving a mini-concert in our home, we hit the road with the portable digital organ in tow to give concerts for three other churches. Families came into churches for the first time and others grew closer to community in the church.

We also had some fun. Below is a video clip of Chelsea playing her own arrangement of the theme song from Super Mario Brothers. Also below is a collection of segments from the their four concerts: Our place (Nov. 25), Harmony Plaza (Nov. 26), Kaihin Makuhari Grace Church (Nov. 27), and Ichihara Megumi no Mori Church (Nov. 28).

Interviews in Ginza

2010-12-06T11:34:00.002+09:00

On October 23, 2010 we walked around Ginza, the area around the worship location of Grace City Church, asking people various questions about what they value and their image of Christianity. For most, it was the first time in their lives to think about Jesus or to even say his name. Video created by Colin Miller at cmiller@vantagemarksolutions.com.

Introduction to our church by Rev. Makoto Fukuda

2010-12-06T10:44:00.010+09:00

Video created by Colin Miller at cmiller@vantagemarksolutions.com.

Performance Party in Tokyo

2010-10-08T15:51:00.005+09:00

On September 26, we had a second performance party at our house. It is a chance to serve professional musicians and conservatory students in the city by providing them with dinner and giving them a low-stress chance to play for each other and build friendships and contacts.

After the event, we had a GREAT discussion time on what it means to be an artist, how it applies to our identity, and the relationship it has with faith and Christianity.

We are looking forward to the next one in January!

Communal Dance and the Holy Spirit?

2010-07-16T17:43:00.008+09:00

On Thursday, July 15, 2010 my family witnessed this Obon Festival dance just a few blocks from our apartment building in Tsukuda Jima (on the other side of our building from the post below). Festivals like these happen all over Tokyo. By the end of the month there will be two more in different areas within walking distance.

The hypnotic singing of this older gentleman continued for 2 hours straight three nights in a row. He sings and the whole neighborhood dances around him. I'm told this same dance and song, which is particular to this small neighborhood, has been going on for hundreds of years. I had no idea before this festival how particularized each festival is to the small neighborhood where it occurs.

The dance is a friendly welcoming of the spirits...the gods, people who have lived in that area in the past, and dead ancestors. Being on an island, this particular festival also prays for blessings upon dead bodies who were found by fishermen flowing down the river and those with no relatives or friends when they die.

It really made me wonder...what would a Japanese to celebrate Pentecost look like? A dance to welcome the Holy Spirit? And what about this style of music in worship? Would it be called traditional worship or contemporary worship? Obviously, neither! It would be something new and unique. It would be Japanese. It would be a renewing of Japanese culture and not a remaking of American culture (as most Japanese Christian worship is). It seems to me that this is what we need to strive for. I pray that more and more Japanese artists will become Christians and have the skill and wisdom to reach deep down into Japanese hearts to worship God. Who knows what the result will look and feel like?

Festival in Tsukishima

2010-07-10T20:56:00.010+09:00

On July 10, 2010, there was a big matsuri (festival) in front of our apartment building in Tokyo. As we walked around trying the different foods and playing the games, we saw many of the friends we had made in the nearby buildings. During festivals like these, women traditionally wear a yukata and men wear a jinbei. In the picture below, you can see our family dressed up...even baby Coen!

The video above is a Taiko Performance (traditional Japanese art of drums) in the festival. I love their precision, the meditative constancy of the rhythm, and the sheer volume of the sound!

First Adult Baptism at Grace City Church

2010-07-10T20:38:00.003+09:00

Grace City Church celebrated for the first time the baptism of an adult during the worship service on June 27, 2010. Sayaka Yoshida was first introduced to Christianity through the community of Oyumino Church, started by my missionary team in Chiba. When Grace City started, she then became a frequent attender of the church and the worship team. We are all very excited for her.

This video was taken during the prayer for her just after she was baptized.

Belhaven University Students and Teachers in Japan!

2010-06-26T15:51:00.008+09:00

Ten students and three teachers came to Japan to help us with church planting through the arts. Here is a picture of a concert in a nice concert hall just blocks from our worship space in Ginza, the top shopp ing district in Tokyo.

They were involved in all kinds of events to meet people and have opportunities to talk about the gospel. Here is a picture of Jackie playing during a break in a black gospel choir rehearsal. Afterwards, she gave her testimony.

On a Monday morning, we went on a prayer walk around the area where most of the church members work, eat, play, and have Bible studies. Here is a picture of the group praying in the middle of the city near Tokyo station.

They had a hard schedule, so it was no wonder I sometimes caught them sleeping on the job! Composition teacher Andy Sauerwein superbly led the group both spiritually and musically.

Belhaven Rehearsing in Our Living Room

2010-05-20T11:14:00.004+09:00

A music ensemble from Belhaven University is here from Jackson, MS to help with church planting through music for a couple of weeks from May 13-26. Here is a rehearsal in our living room! They have been a huge help in making connections with the community, with the students at conservatories in Tokyo, and with churches in the area.

The Bicycle

2010-05-06T09:22:00.006+09:00

On April 25, Yu Shibuya led a discussion right after the worship service at Grace City Church on his film "Jitensha - A Bicycle Dismantled...A Life Retrieved." Mr. Shibuya is an active and successful artist in Tokyo, who also happens to be a Christian. This film, only 22 minutes in length, does a great job of presenting a story in an artistic manner while showing the power of God's ability to transform lives. The film has won many international awards outside of Christian circles. The event proved to be a great way to bring Christians and non-Christians together to talk about matters of faith.

Despite my focus on language school right now, I couldn't help giving one concert at Inage Kaigan Church on April 24 along with Abi and Yoshimi Hirota. It was good to be able to play the organ again! Twenty people came in from the community who had never been in a church before. The congregation was very excited about the opportunities to build new relationships. I also gave a 15 minute lecture on how I've seen the gospel in Japanese art. It had a very good reception, and the pastor invited me to come back and give a sermon sometime!

Musician Gathering

2010-04-20T08:41:00.003+09:00

On Sunday night April 18, we had a great party at our apartment of musicians and folks in the church. We met Iori-san, the bass player in this video, the first time at the party. We sang well-known praise songs like the one in this video, but also tried out some new ones that he had written. They sounded great!

We also met a gospel music teacher at a nearby college and talked with her about starting a gospel choir in Marunouchi (right next to Tokyo Station). She was very excited about the idea.

Part of the reason we are renting a place here in Tokyo is to give musicians a place to hang out and play for each other. This was our first such gathering. We hope to meet and build community amongst many musicians working here in the city.

Easter at Grace City Church Tokyo

2010-04-05T21:06:00.005+09:00

Grace City Church had its first-ever Easter service. Three children were baptized.

Fukuda-sensei preached a great sermon on the actual fact of the resurrection.

Over 85 people worshiped together!

Aidan's Graduation from Kindergarten

2010-03-13T16:45:00.011+09:00

In the push to get back to Japan and the set-up of arrival here, I have not written a blog in months. Sorry! Today, Aidan graduated from his yochien (kindergarten). It was wonderful for him and for our family to be able to connect with old friends and to brush up on our Japanese before fully moving to Tokyo, where everything is new.

Here is a picture from today of Aidan with his friends and in front of the big banner in front of the school. We are going to miss his friends, but maybe we'll get to see them occasionally in Tokyo?

Coen & the Boys

2009-06-05T03:54:00.010+09:00

The whole family is a little tired!

Baby Coen is born!

2009-06-03T04:03:00.008+09:00

Baby Coen Clark was born on June 1 at 3:44 p.m. in Memphis, TN. He is 8 lbs 6 oz and 21 inches tall. We call him our screech owl because he has this funny little screech that he does.

Aidan and Eastin cleaning Coen's car seat.

Mom & baby then Dad & baby.

Baby Coen is looking right at the camera. He recognizes his Daddy's voice.

Roger Speaking about Japan

2009-05-18T23:55:00.005+09:00

I gave a concert at First Baptist Church in downtown Jacksonville, Florida as part of their evening service on May 3, 2009. I am told 5,000 people were in attendance. This excerpt is what I said about Japan during the service. My wife, Abi, was just about to give birth to our third son at this time, hence the comments about babies in the beginning.

Song Writing Workshop in Ghana, Africa

2009-03-26T13:12:00.006+09:00

A video excerpt used in the class I taught at Belhaven College in Jackson, Mississippi the spring semester of 2009.

Videos for Music and Cross-Cultural Issues Class

2009-03-24T07:11:00.012+09:00

Sparking Creativity in Indigenous Hymn Writing

Role of the Arts Consultant in Ethnomusicology

These video excerpts were used in the class I taught at Belhaven College in Jackson, Mississippi the spring semester of 2009.

Radio Broadcast - Gospel & Mission

2008-12-12T22:45:00.010+09:00

Asami Odate, director of five choirs in Japan and leader of the Gospel Origins Tour, and Abi Lowther were interviewed on 94.5 FM in Helena - West Helena, Arkansas on October 14, 2008. This interview was broadcast on Thanksgiving Day as a Thanksgiving Special, to spread the word of how God is using gospel music to bring people to himself around the world. The Japanese gospel choir then sang on the radio. Click on the two movies below to hear the broadcast.

PART 1

PART 2

Pictures from the trip

2008-10-25T01:03:00.005+09:00

The group also enjoyed picking cotton, shooting guns, riding in the back of pick-up trucks, riding a huge rice picker, singing on the radio, and sitting in the cockpit of a crop duster. Here are some pictures from the trip along with music recorded at one of their events.

Gospel Voices of Japan

2008-10-22T13:12:00.015+09:00

October 10-20, 2008, a group of 10 Japanese came over to find the roots of gospel music in Mississippi and Memphis. It was an extremely powerful trip where God moved in so many ways. Here is some of the group singing at Greater Community Temple COGIC in Memphis.

Gospel Voices of Jackson Come Back

2008-08-23T09:20:00.010+09:00

The Gospel Voices of Jackson (Mississippi) came back to Japan in May 2008. Singing at schools like this one is a great way to make the church known in the community. Many of the parents also come to be part of this event.

The picture to the right shows the group singing with all of the Japanese gospel choirs that they came to help support and attract more people to join. Choir rehearsals are year round and meet twice a month. It is great chance for non-Christians to hear the gospel for the first time through explanations of the lyrics and gospel preaching in the middle of each rehearsal.

180 Degrees Philippine Choir in Japan

2008-04-27T09:56:00.008+09:00

180 Degrees, a group of 20 very talented kids ages 14-21, were brought from the Philippines April 21-28 to help support church planting in Japan through concerts and cultural presentations. Abi's aunt, Ramona Simons, directs the group as a missionary in the Philippines. Abi was responsible for planning their activities in Japan. The concert above is at Meitoku Kindergarten, where many moms heard the gospel proclaimed powerfully through music and dance and were invited to a bigger concert that coming Saturday. 180 Degrees were a big help in bringing people from the community to many of our churches. The second picture is craft time at Oyumino Alive, where they led a kind of VBS program.

Benefit and Beauty

2008-02-25T20:19:00.007+09:00

“In a world that is so obviously not as it ought to be, it is the calling of artists to be agents of a new world, [a redeemed world.] Whenever we start to believe that nothing can ever be different, that our homes, relationships, careers are basically stuck in a groove and can never change and never will change…whenever we start to believe that the horrors of the world just have to be, the emaciated child compelled to beg at a road side, or the prostitute forced to the streets to feed her drug addiction. Whenever we start to believe that there can never be anything new under the sun, it’s the artist’s calling to make us believe things can be different, that life can be new, that a new world is possible, a world that ought to be.” (Jeremy Begbie, IAM lecture, New York City, 1997)

These are the words we printed in the program for the concert given last night (February 24, 2008) in collaboration with the Austrian Ballet Company. Part of the program was live music by our trio, including an arrangement of "Sakura," which I wrote specifically for this concert. Part of the program was newly choreographed dance alone with our trio (you can see us standing in the middle of the picture to the right). Part of the program was dance along with CD, such as Swan Lake, which we ended the program with. The event took place in a really nice 300 seat hall and was a fundraiser for a school in a very poor part of Bangladesh. A lot of money was raised, and a lot of relationships were built. It was a great event and worth all the time and money put into it.

"Being Church" is Attractive

2008-01-31T21:50:00.000+09:00

In America, many people believe it is best to avoid church and follow your own beliefs. There is a general avoidance of institutions, but in Japan, "being church" is one of the most attractive elements of being a Christian. Our team leader is always very careful to make us use the words "We go to chapel, but we ARE the church. We don't GO to church." "Being church" provides a kind of open and loving community that seems to be rare in Japanese society. This is a picture of an English Bible study that Abi started among our friends at Aidan's school. New people continue to come because they are looking for the kind of community they hear this group has. It is offering something rare and wonderful in Oyumino, Japan. It really is a great thing to be part of and observe. I know that my own "accountability group" in Japan is vital to my survival in Japan and keeps me on the right track in loving my wife and my family. "Being church" is certainly an attractive thing, no matter where you are in the world.

Gospel Voices of Jackson

2008-01-27T13:46:00.000+09:00

Black gospel music is tremendously popular in Japan. Abi's sister Christel Horlings pulled together the Gospel Voices of Jackson to bring to Japan from Mississippi. They came May 17-29, 2007.

Reason for giving concerts

2007-11-26T11:36:00.001+09:00

Our Christmas Concert season has begun. This photo was taken at Suginami Church in Tokyo last weekend of Yoshimi-san, the clarinetist, my wife, and me. As a trio, we have two or three concerts every week until Christmas.

Last night, Abi took some friends from Aidan's school to a gospel concert. It was a good example of how concerts make a difference in Japan. Because of this concert, the ladies will probably join one of the 8 gospel choirs like the one to the left led by a Japanese lady on our team. Then, they will hear the gospel every week in devotionals, testimonies, and the lyrics. Through that community, they will start coming to church and eventually become Christians. We hope our concerts do a similar thing by drawing people into the church for the first time, encouraging those people to join different ministries of the church, and through that building community.

General Assembly

2007-11-26T11:32:00.001+09:00

Abi and I had the honor of helping to lead worship at this year's General Assembly for the Presbyterian Church of Japan. Over 300 pastors and elders attended from every Presbyterian church in Japan. It was also the first time ever in the history of the church to have a contemporary worship style in the meeting. Change comes slow in Japan...but it comes!

CPI Conference

2007-11-26T11:20:00.000+09:00

Every two years CPI (Church Planting Institute) holds a nationwide conference in Japan for pastors, missionaries, and other leaders of the church. It is a great time for spiritual renewal, as well as sharing ideas and networking. It is the only conference of its kind that I know about in Japan.

This is the ofuro (Japanese bath) at the hotel. It was the only place we could take showers and bathe at the conference. The water was really hot, though! I could only stay in for a few minutes and was always dizzy coming out. I went in 3 times the last day of the conference!

Music Festival

2007-11-02T19:29:00.001+09:00

Honda Chapel, other mother church, hosted a music festival. Over 160 people came! It was a great way to make connections between the church and the community, and we met many musicians we didn't know. We met a shakuhachi and a koto player who we hope to do events with in the future. In this picture, Abi is accompanying Yuu-kun on the saxophone. This February, Yuu-kun will be auditioning for "Gei Dai," the top music school in Japan.

Chiba Area Worship Seminar

2007-10-09T21:37:00.000+09:00

We spent this past Monday, October 8, with other worship musicians in the Chiba region talking about issues concerning keyboardists in Japanese churches, especially in the Presbyterian Church. I was one of the guest clinicians along with my wife. Here were some of the questions we were asked from the group we were working with: What is more appropriate for worship...traditional or contemporary? How do you decide the tempo of a hymn? How do you keep a hymn from getting slower and slower? Does the worship musician lead or accompany? In praise songs, should you play the melody on the page or make up a melody? How do you make the melody stand out on the organ? etc. I was a little surprised at how basic the questions were. The worship resources (teachers, musicians, songs, books, etc) in Japan are fewer than you would believe.

This was only the third worship seminar the Presbyterian Church of Japan had ever done. It was encouraging to see how much interest there was from musicians and that the church is trying to help support their musicians. One of the speakers said "Let's never forget how important our worship musicians are." It was the first time we had ever gone to a worship seminar in Japan, but I think we will be attending many events like this in the future.

Asia Pacific Area Retreat in Malaysia

2007-10-04T16:41:00.000+09:00

We had the opportunity to go to Malaysia September 12-19 as part of the Area Retreat for Mission to the World. They host this conference every four years to encourage relationships between families working in different parts of Asia.While there we met missionaries from India, China, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, Taiwan, and others. It's great to see how God is working all around the world. We were able to meet artists using their talents to encourage church planting in Thailand, Australia, and the U.S. We also hope some Asia to Asia trips will spring up as a result of relationships we built during the conference.

The mosque to the right could be seen out of our hotel window. It was a very beautiful building. Non-muslims are not allowed in the central prayer area below the blue dome, and everyone takes off their shoes to step on to any part of the building.