Mission partner Pam Cooper (Photo: © CMS) Japanese society is fragmenting. The image of a stable country providing employment for life is rapidly becoming a thing of the past. Many people’s lives here now lack a clear sense of purpose.
Here are just some of the striking news items I’ve read recently.
1. A 24-year-old man set out to kill a crowd of people on a station concourse. He succeeded in stabbing eight, killing one and seriously injuring another before going in search of a police box. Finding nobody there, he used the phone to ask the police to come and arrest him.
2. Three days later, an 18-year-old, who had just graduated from high school, got on a train in Osaka with a knife and travelled to another town. There he pushed a young family man in front of a train --- the impact killed him instantly. The teenager too wanted to kill someone so the police would arrest him.
A priest descending temple steps in Japan(Photo: © Okinawa Soba/Flickr)3. A Buddhist temple has had a 30 per cent increase in its attendance since the temple priest taught his dog to pray. He would like to teach him to meditate but doesn’t think he can teach him to cross his legs.
4. Yesterday, a Buddhist group was taken to court and fined for asking people for large sums of money in return for prayers said to change their fortunes for the better.
5. In Yokahama, 'etiquette police' have been appointed to patrol the public transport system because manners have declined. The team’s members are mostly over 60, but younger bodyguards will accompany many of them in case their advice isn’t well received by commuters.
Of course, life here is not all tales of alienation and pursuit of “15 minutes of transient fame” and the yen. It has its quota of small achievements, pleasant episodes, worries, fatigue and satisfactions.
Moving from societal to more personal concerns, the Japanese academic year began on 1 April. Please pray that Japanese education, in which I play a small part as Chaplain at Poole Gakuin University, Osaka, and having taught at Poole Gakuin School and Junior College, will help to provide society here with true values for life.
Pray too for Christians here — who make up only one per cent of the population — that their witness to the truth of Jesus may be strengthened.
CMS mission partner Pam Cooper works in Osaka, Japan.