Hikikomori Answers

Five years ago I wrote a blog on the psychological scourge affecting a large number of young people, hikikomori. I have not heard much good news from five years ago until now. Last week Elaine and I had lunch with Pastor Koichi Hirano and Pastor Nobuo Watanabe at their Setagaya church’s new café. We had not talked with Pastor Hirano for several months and he shared some amazing stories. The Hikikomori are the Japanese most…

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John with Makoto Fujimura in Ishinomaki

On 04/18 John Mehn talked briefly with famous Japanese artist Makoto Fujimura during his visit to this work site in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture. John and volunteer team member Roger Olson were removing the flooring to be able to clean out the mud that entered this house. There were other volunteers helping as well. John mentions to Makoto there were more deaths in Ishinomaki than in the Great Hanshin Earthquake in Kobe in 1995. Also that…

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Crisis in Japan

In Japan, abuse at home, bullying at school, unemployment problems, drug addiction, and impulsive indiscriminate killings show the increasingly serious problems of society. Moreover, the political right is gaining strength, as can be seen in schools where the national anthem and the national flag are enforced, as well as in the movement to revise the pacifist Constitution. Therefore, mission in Japan is in the midst of severe circumstances. Church members are aging and the number…

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