FORSUCHA TIMEAS THISIn the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami disaster, simple roads were plowed through the debris to allow people to get back to where their homes once stood. Now with the help of caring organizations and passionate young leaders, a more permanant road to recovery is forming in Japan.

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TWISTED AND TANGLED

A building in Kesennuma, Japan stands

wrapped in nets, buoys, and other debris. The

force of the tsunami carried the ocean up to

ten miles inland, and the smell of decaying sea

life permeates the air mixed with the putrid

stench of destruction.

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DISBELIEF

On the seawall in Sendai, Japan two men sat

for more than an hour looking out across the

ocean that completely destroyed this area. The

shock fades very slowly for Japanese people

as they contemplate an unknown future.

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Tokyo

Fukushima II Reactor

MinamisanrikuIshinomaki

Sendai

NasuFukushima I Reactor

Rows upon rows of people living in tiny spaces, about the size of a queen-size bed, fill any available floor space of a large convention center

in Koriyama, Japan. Families squeeze themselves and all of their belongings into the four walls of the finely sculpted cardboard cubicles, organizing their things around the outside edges of the space; their shoes neatly left outside of the makeshift entrances.

We turned a corner and started walking down a row of these boxy living spaces at the evacuee center and saw one that stands out from the rest. Where most of the other living spaces were the typi-cal brown of the cardboard, this cardboard space was colored with permanent markers, hand-drawn

windows, shrubs, flowers, and smiling cartoon faces which greeted each passerby — a small bright spot among the solemn and cold spaces. The occupant of this space at the Big Palette Fukushima facility in Koriyama-city is Endo Endo and his family. They were evacuated from Tomioka, ground zero for the nuclear disaster that ensued after a 9.0 earthquake struck Japan on March 11, 2011. Before radiation pol-lution forced him to leave his home, Endo worked as a high-end chef. But like many of the other evacuees, he lost his job because no one has been allowed to return to the affected area.

The Endo family home, which stands fully intact, is located in Tomioka, a city near the Fukushima

Earthquake Epicenter

JAPAN

WRITTEN BY ROBERT JOHNSONPHOTOGRAPHY BY RIZ CRESCINI (FOR CHURCHES HELPING CHURCHES)

AND ROBERT JOHNSON

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Daini Nuclear Reactor. The Daini Reactor site sits ap-proximately seven miles south of the Daiichi reactor that suffered major damage during the tsunami. On the day that the family was evacuated to a junior high school gymnasium, they assumed it would be for only a few hours. Those few hours turned into days and now months. This family might never be able to return home.

To Endo, the brown corrugated cardboard boxes are not ugly or filled with the stigma of homeless-ness. They are not just trash waiting to be recycled. These boxes are the canvas that he uses to spread hope and encouragement throughout the evacuee center. By folding origami paper, and using paints and colored markers, Endo’s cardboard canvases depict fish, flowers in bloom, and frogs. Each of the art pieces hang neatly on a wall diagonal from his living space. People pass by them while taking a stair-case to the second level of the building. Some pause long enough for him to offer the pieces to them, sug-gesting they take the artwork if it brought them joy. While Endo has lost nearly everything, he mentions only one need; he is running out of origami paper for his artwork, the outlet that seems to be keeping him alive and hopeful. Cheryl Ames, who accompa-nied us on our tour of the evacuee center, offers to send Endo some supplies. Cheryl, a marine biologist who first came to Japan for her Master’s Degree stud-ies at the University of the Ryukyus in Okinawa, has returned to Japan to spend some time volunteering in relief efforts. She compares the living conditions at the evacuee center to that of Ueno Park in Tokyo, an area known for its homeless population.

Like most of the residents at the facility, Endo has an uphill battle ahead of him. He has been marked as a person from a contaminated region, he has been out of work for a number of months, and he lacks a permanent address. Yet hope prevails. While Endo and Cheryl were talking, he mentioned he was wait-ing for one of his art students to arrive. When she did arrive, it was obvious that the recent events had caused her to retreat inward; she never lifted her gaze from the ground. She sat down at the table and began crafting something, taking her mind off of her present situation. While he had nothing to physically give his student, Endo was happy to pass on the hope that he

had found in his artwork. Cheryl stayed engaged in the activities around the origami art table until it was time to leave the evacuation center. Deeply moved by the actions of Endo, and the impact the artwork was having on his students, Cheryl knew that the inex-pensive origami paper that she could provide would prove priceless in the amount of hope it would bring into the lives of those in the evacuation center.

Japanese people are resilient and focused on recovery, even putting others before themselves. Lengthy conversations started by simply asking some-one “Where were you when the earthquake struck?” Within a few sentences they would bare their deep-seeded fears and concerns. Each story differs, and the journeys that lie ahead for many in the evacua-tion centers are unique, but they stand united with one thing in common: Their lives changed the day the earth shook.

THE EARTH SHAKESOn March 9, 2011 a 7.2 quake off of Japan’s northeast coast caused buildings to shake some 270 miles away in Tokyo and triggered a tsunami warning for the costal area near the quake.

No one expected a bigger earthquake to happen just two days later. David Applegate, Senior Science Advisor for Earthquake and Geologic Hazards at the United States Geological Survey (USGS) states, “Only one time in 20 do such earthquakes produce after-shocks that are larger than the initial temblor.” But on March 11, 2011, a 9.0 earthquake shook a large portion of the main island (Honshu) of Japan. The epicenter, located about 231 miles northeast of Tokyo, triggered a devastating tsunami.

Earthquakes are not uncommon in Japan. The chain of islands making up the Japanese archipela-go sits at the meeting point of a number of oceanic and continental plates, also know as the Ring of Fire. The Ring of Fire is an arc of earthquake and volcanic area around the Pacific Rim where 90 percent of the world’s earthquakes occur.

Tokyo was devastated by an intense earthquake that struck just before noon on September 1, 1923. The quake, now known as “The Great Kanto Earth-quake”, was a 7.9 on the Richter scale. It caused a tsu-

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WATER POWER

Cars, trucks and heavy equipment crumpled like paper are a stark example of the sheer power

of nature. In the city of Minamisanriku, this car lays piled among mounds of debris that will have

to be removed before any rebuilding can occur.

nami with waves up to 30 feet, a typhoon in the Tokyo Bay, a large-scale fire, and more than 100,000 deaths. More than 500,000 homes were destroyed, and close to two million people were left homeless.

In 1995, Japan experienced significant loss again when “The Great Hanshin Earthquake” struck about 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the city of Kobe, lo-cated southwest of Tokyo. This 6.8 magnitude quake caused more than $100 billion in damages, more than any other earthquake in Japan in the 20th cen-tury. The death toll was more than 6,000 people.

The March 11, 2011 earthquake, the largest in the history of Japan, now known as “The Tohoku

Earthquake and Tsunami," caused more than 15,000 deaths with thousands of people still missing. There was an unprecedented amount of damage from the earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster. In a tele-vised news conference, Japan’s Prime Minister Nao-to Kan referred to these events as the toughest and most difficult crisis for Japan since World War II.

Tokyo came to a standstill after the five-minute earthquake. Crowds of people were stranded when commuter trains stopped running, and communica-tion became almost impossible. While some were forced to spend the night in offices or hotels, others chose to walk home along the rail tracks, a journey

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COVERING

Black sludge penetrated every corner of the city of Matsushima. While the buildings were not

toppled, when the waters retreated, the black sludge was left behind, leaving a large mess that

will take crews weeks to clean.

that took them hours to complete. In those first few hours and days, many people outside of the badly affected northeast coastline area did not realize the level of destruction that would be seen in the com-ing days. The videos and news reports left not only Japan, but also the world, stunned.

DEVASTATION IN THE NORTHAs we headed east from Tome, the road curved along a hilly road lined with trees and lush greenery. It was a beautiful scene that did not reflect the destruction we were about to encounter on the coastline.

We rounded a corner and approached the val-ley floor. Suddenly, signs of debris appeared on the sides of the road, which marked the level to which the water from the tsunami had risen and then re-treated. As the valley and the small fishing village of Minamisanriku, which sits at the end of a large bay, came into view, the destruction was overwhelming. The village was completely destroyed by the power-ful tsunami waters that forced their way up into the bay and the hills. Piles of debris made it look more like a junkyard than a popular resort village.

We walked among the rubble, overwhelmed by the silence and the smell that seeped through our

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PAST LIFE

The devastated coast is littered with signs

of people's past lives and their belongings

that once filled their houses and rooms.

From toys to family heirlooms, nothing was

protected from the wrath of the violent

waves. Personal items laying in the open

for everyone to see illustrate just one of the

ways people were violated by the merciless

and indiscriminate disaster.

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facemasks. Cars were piled on each other like Hot Wheels thrown in a child’s toy closet. Steel struc-tures, the skeletons of where buildings once stood, bowed toward the ground with ribbons of metal and fishing nets blowing in the breeze. The power and the fury of the water that created this wreckage lay visible all around us. The hills around the area held the stories of the residents who were able to clamor up their steep slopes to safety, and the memory of those who were not so fortunate. The National Po-lice Agency reports that more than 9,000 people perished and close to 3,000 are still missing in this area of Miyagi Prefecture. These numbers include the city of Ishinomaki, south of Minamisanriku, the closest city to the epicenter of the earthquake.

THE FIRST RESPONSETim Cole, a TEAM Missionary working in Tokyo with a ministry called Family Focus Japan, grew up in Ishinomaki. When the earthquake hit, he was in Shinjiku, the center of Tokyo, with skyscrapers all around. It’s the place that he has always referred to as the “worst place to be during an earthquake." The

final preparations were being made for the National Prayer Dinner that was to take place on the evening of March 11th. As the building rocked and swayed, Tim and the other participants took shelter and began to pray. He realized that if it was this bad in Tokyo, it would be devastating up north. Unable to communicate with his wife, Katie, he spent the night in a hotel and returned home after the trains started running the next morning.

In the days and months since the earthquake, Tim has been encouraged by the response of the local church body to the needs of the Japanese people. Local organizations sprang into action in the directly affected areas, as did national organizations such as CRASH Japan (Christian Relief, Assistance, Support and Hope). Tim and other missionaries throughout Japan are coming alongside the Japanese people to bring hope to the devastated areas.

STEEL STRUCTURES BOWED TOWARD THE GROUND WITH RIBBONS OF

METAL AND FISHING NETS BLOWING IN THE BREEZE

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SIMPLE REMINDER

The widespread disaster can cause many of the volunteers to feel utterly overwhelmed. But a

gentle reminder, written on a white board at the CRASH Headquarters, can help volunteers to

"commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good."

Video: Japan - Devastation and Survivors

With your smartphone device scan the code to the left to view a video with interviews of survivors and a look at the devastation from the earthquake and tsunami.

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HEADQUARTERS

CRASH Japan wasn’t prepared for a

disaster of this magnitude (nobody was),

but God had put them in the right place

for the right time and then supplied all

their needs according to his riches.

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STRATEGIC MEETINGS

Paul Nethercott (standing) and his wife, Nancy (not pictured), attended the first emergency

response meeting of CRASH immediately following the earthquake and tsunami. Through

fundraising, volunteer support and hospitality, and mentoring of young leaders, they have made

known the value of being a willing vessel for God.

Jonathan Wilson, director of CRASH Japan and pastor of Grace Christian Fellowship in Tokyo, de-scribes the organization as a “very broad based consortium of people who normally have different jobs: missionaries, churches, pastors, and local de-nominations.” A six-year-old organization, CRASH has coordinated relief efforts in China, Haiti, Indo-nesia, New Zealand, and other major disaster areas around the world, all for the purpose of bringing the hope of Jesus Christ to those overwhelmed in a time of hopelessness. CRASH has also been involved in training and equipping organizations in Japan on

how to respond to disaster, and had a significant network already intact and ready to respond. The work that Jonathan has done with CRASH has en-abled him to deal with the biggest quake that he had experienced in his 20 years of living in Japan.

Addressing a room of more than one hundred people representing many different mission agen-cies and churches, Jonathan expressed his thanks for the speedy response of people who were there just two days after the earthquake. He stated, “I knew this day would come. I didn’t know when, I didn’t know where, but I knew it would come.”

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TECH DEPARTMENT

The CRASH headquarters in Tokyo is a bustling center of activity as volunteers from all over the

world work in unison for one purpose — to love on Japan in its time of need. Each position, from

the front desk receptionist to the tech department, is important in helping CRASH reach out to

those in need.

Jonathan continued by explaining that CRASH would do much of its work by ministering to the body of Christ and therefore ministering through the body of Christ. CRASH puts a heavy focus on church partnership when reaching out to an area affected by a major disaster. Through this church-focus, Jonathan said that the body of Christ in the disaster areas emerges stronger. Even churches not directly affected by the disaster gain strength and unity as they reach out and minister to needs around them.

God had already been at work, preparing many for the tragedy that struck on March 11th. CRASH Ja-

pan partners with ministries like Campus Crusade for Christ, OMF International, JEA (Japanese Evan-gelical Association), JBF (Japanese Baptist Fellow-ship), Churches Helping Churches, and Feed the Hungry, just to name a few. CRASH is also endorsed by Medical Teams International and Japan Evangeli-cal Missionary Association.

FOR SUCH A TIME AS THISNancy Nethercott, a TEAM missionary working with worship renewal in Japan, reflected briefly on the

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STRESS MANAGEMENT

Volunteers are required to perform specialized relief tasks while also meeting the emotional

needs of a traumatized population including themselves. Training meetings are a regular activity

as new volunteers are oriented to the organization and veteran volunteers learn to cope with the

stress of daily challenges.

story of Esther as she discussed the tragedy. She quoted the portion of scripture from Esther 4:14, “for such a time as this,” referring to the way that the Lord already equipped so many people to be ready to respond to the earthquake disaster.

The day before the quake, Nancy met with a friend who often provides groceries for the Nethercotts, as they frequently host guests and provide hospitality for groups. She received a car-full of groceries, took them home, and packed them into her refrigerator, pantry, and freezer. With all of those groceries stored, Nancy was excited that this was going to provide for

a long time. The morning of the earthquake, Nancy received food from another friend who was leaving the country. Looking at her pantry that was overflow-ing with food, Nancy recalls thinking, “Lord, why do I have so much food? What am I going to do with all this food?” God provided a clear answer later that af-ternoon when the earth shook. Restaurants and gro-cery stores closed, and food became an important commodity. Nancy got a call from CRASH director Jonathan Wilson asking her to prepare a meal for those gathering at the first meeting of volunteers on Sunday, March 13th. With the food that she received,

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LEADERSHIP

Matt Nishioka is one of many young Japanese leaders that answered the call to serve others

in the aftermath of the disasters. Instrumental in locating and establishing base camps in the

Tohoku region, Matt took precious time away from his family and ministry with Navigators to

volunteer with CRASH.

Nancy prepared meals for 65 people and then con-tinued to cook for volunteers for the next two weeks. She used all of the food that God had provided for the next month.

ESTABLISHING BASESWhile the volunteers worked quickly to determine a response method, CRASH workers contacted churches in the affected area to find out if they were okay, if they needed help, and if churches could help their community with the supplies from CRASH.

Since then, CRASH has established five bases of operation to help mobilize thousands of volunteers into the disaster area, which is about the size of Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island com-bined. Those bases prepare large amounts of sup-plies and offer a safe base for people to work from while reaching out to the hundreds of small coastal villages affected by this disaster.

The first base CRASH established was in Sendai. A team was on the ground within the first week of the disaster, and the first shipment of relief supplies went out about two weeks after the earthquake.

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BASE CAMP

The CRASH Nasu base located at the House of Rest retreat center is a place where volunteers

can recuperate and plan between ministry trips out to evacuation centers and devastated

communities. Volunteers Yuko Shiotsu and Jonie Seo had just met the previous evening but were

already united in their efforts to reach out and touch the lives of those affected by the disasters.

Video: Japan - Mobilizing for a Crisis

With your smartphone device scan the code to the right to view a video looking at volunteers and leaders as they mobilized in the aftermath of the earthquake crisis.

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The farthest base camp north is the Tono (Iwate Prefecture) base camp, followed by the base camp located in Ichinoseki (Iwate Prefecture), Sendai (Mi-yagi Prefecture), Nasu (Tochigi Prefecture), and Hita-chi (Ibaraki Prefecture). From these five base camps, tens of thousands of volunteer hours have been spent participating in activities such as cleaning and remov-ing debris, distributing food and supplies, emotional care, training seminars, briefing and debriefing train-ing for volunteers, cooking, and carpentry.

Each of these base camps is located in the To-hoku region. This is the northeastern portion of Hon-shu, the largest island of Japan, and is one of the least churched areas of Japan. Working through the local communities and using churches as distribution cen-ters gives credibility to the presence of the churches in their respective communities. These local churches are familiar with the needs that are present in their ar-eas, and they are well positioned to meet those needs with the support of an organization like CRASH.

As a gateway to the Tohoku region, a base camp was set up at a small family-owned boarding house called "House of Rest" located in Nasu city. The Kon-do family oversees this establishment and leads the Nasu-Kogen Bible Church situated right beside the boarding house. Initially, they considered accepting evacuees from the radiation evacua-tion zone near the nuclear plants in Fukushima, but were contacted by CRASH about the possibility of open-ing up the pension as a base camp. Wanting to aid in the relief process in any way possible, the Kondos agreed to house CRASH volunteers working in the area. Pastor Kondo already had numerous connections into the business circles of Nasu, as well as relationships from their years of service in the area.

From Nasu base camp, it is about an hour’s drive up to Koriyama city where the large multi-purpose complex turned evacuee center, Big Palette Fukushi-ma, houses nearly 2,500 evacuees. Some have been moved to other shelters or into temporary housing; but many people are still living in the complex.

WORKING THROUGH THE LOCAL COMMUNITIES AND USING CHURCHES AS DISTRIBUTION CENTERS GIVES CREDIBILITY TO THE PRESENCE OF THE CHURCHES

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EVACUATION CENTER

Big Palette evacuation site is a converted

convention center that served up to 2,500

people removed from their homes near the

Fukushima nuclear plant. Forced to create

a private space for living in a crowded and

impersonal building, life in the center has

strained an already devastated community.

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LITTLE PRIVACY

Laid out like streets in a town, the area designated for the elderly and families with children

offers a small degree of privacy; however, many prefer to live in the open spaces where they

feel a constant connection with neighbors.

THE CHURCH RESPONDS

The Big Palette is just ten minutes from Grace Garden Chapel, a local Assemblies of God church led by Pastors Yoshio and Toyomi Sanga. When Toyomi visited the evacuation center, she was struck with one question: “Where are the children?” Trying to inquire about how the children’s needs were being met, she was quickly brushed aside and ignored. Finally, she stepped outside of the center and prayed a simple prayer that God would lead her to someone who could help her. She walked back inside and approached a worker who led her to a designated children’s room called the Children’s Corner where

there were about ten young kids playing with two high school aged kids. No one was responsible for arranging activities for these children. Toyomi knew that she could take this need back to her church, and that they could do something to help.

The youth of the church responded to the need and began making daily trips to the Children’s Corner in the evacuee center. Day one began with ten chil-dren, and by the fourth day, the number had grown to more than 30 kids. A look of relief was seen on the faces of the children’s parents, who would hang out in the room or look over the balcony down onto the children, as they watched their children laughing, singing, and playing.

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IMAGES OF HOME

Hideko Sakurai points to one of the main streets of her hometown, Tomioka, commenting that

she has never seen it this empty. These photos line the walls of the Big Pallette Fukushima

evacuation center, allowing the victims to reminisce about home and their fond memories of

events before their evacuation.

Toyomi, trying to discern new ways to help the evacuees, would strike up conversations with strang-ers in an effort to see what else could be done. While walking through the complex one day, she offered to hold a baby so the mother could have a break. The mother began to cry and tell about how her arms had not had a break for two weeks, since the earth-quake. Not only was she working through the stress of raising her child in an evacuee center, but her hus-band had just received a letter notifying him that he was fired from his job. This couple was completely at the end of their rope, not knowing how they would provide for a move to any type of temporary housing outside of the center.

After that conversation, Toyomi began to inves-tigate whether people were prepared to leave the evacuation center. She found out that they were not allowed to take anything with them that was given to them while staying at the complex. She realized that people would not be able to set up a home in temporary housing without the basic appliances and supplies unless someone helped them acquire these things.

With money donated to Grace Garden Chapel from another Japanese church, Toyomi offered this family the basic supplies and appliances that they would need to get set up in a temporary home. This was the beginning of a program created through a

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partnership with CRASH and Grace Garden Chapel to supply families with home supplies as they transi-tion from the evacuation centers. This program has expanded to many families, and Grace Community Service (GCS), a service-oriented branch of Grace Garden Chapel, uses this opportunity to not only meet the needs of those in their community, but also to build a one-on-one relationship with families receiving the assistance. GCS created two types of kits to provide to families. The "Basic Life Needs" kit provides up to ¥50,000 (US $615) of everyday kitch-

enware and bathroom necessities items. The Home Starter Kit provides up to ¥200,000 (US$2,500) of major appliances, tables, and even bicycles.

Since starting this program, Toyomi has had the opportunity to speak with many city officials, in-cluding mayors, about how the Life Starter Kit pro-gram can benefit the people in the Koriyama city area who need to transition to temporary housing. She never dreamed that God would take a simple desire to help people and open such a large door to minister to those in need.

CARDBOARD ART

Decorating with cardboard, Shouzou Endo has become an inspiration to many of the Big Palette

residents. Turning the bland dividers that distinguish the makeshift homes into brightly colored

reminders of the outside world has brought life and joy into the artificial and sterile world of the

evacuation center.

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DAILY ACTIVITIES

While serving at the Big Palette Fukushima, these Japanese soldiers work together to repair a

generator providing power to the temporary showers. After serving their time at the evacuation

center they will be moved on to another location of service.

Video: Japan - Church, Children, Future, Hope

With your smartphone device scan the code to the right to view a video showing just how churches are responding to their community's needs, and are building relationships with the hurting.

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TOUCHING LIVES

Many people’s needs are discovered by simply listening to evacuees talk. In trying to discover a way to get the evacuees to open up, CRASH volunteers were trained by Dr. Andy Meeko to give hand massages to those living in the evacuation complexes. By sitting face to face and helping to relieve the stress of a disaster victim, it gave volunteers the opportunity to listen to people’s fears, doubts, struggles, hurts, and needs. The hand massages were also significant because the volunteers were physically touching the people labeled “untouchable” because of their tie to the nuclear evacuation zone. This was very meaningful to the victims and mirrored the way Jesus would physically touch people when he healed them.

YOUNG LEADERS EMERGEThree young leaders in CRASH Japan sat around the large open room at the Nasu Base camp and shared their stories since starting work with CRASH. Yuko Shiotsu, Yuji Hayashi, and Matt Nishioka in many ways represent the future of the church in Japan. Each of these young people were drawn to CRASH Japan through different circumstances, but the common thread that connects them is their heart for ministering to the hurting people and spreading hope. Together with their base camp leader, Scot Eaton, these young leaders represent a number of others who desire to break out of their comfort zones, taking a step of faith into their futures.

Yuko made plans to attend semi-nary in the fall of 2011, and planned to quit her job in finance at the end of March. She was praying that God would lead her, but she did not know how he would fill her free time with purpose and meaning. After contacting several Christian organizations involved in relief efforts, Yuko decided to serve with CRASH as a finance adminis-trator and assistant to Scot at the Nasu Base.

HAND MASSAGES BY VOLUNTEERS WERE VERY MEANINGFUL TO THE VICTIMS, AND MIRRORED THE WAY JESUS WOULD PHYSICALLY TOUCH PEOPLE WHEN HE HEALED THEM

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Yuji was about to start Bible school, but when the earthquake hit, his life took a different path. He serves at the Nasu Base in both cooking and logis-tics, putting his school plans on hold for a season and letting God direct this time in his life.

Scot teaches English in Japan and has lived there for a number of years. On the day the earthquake struck, he heard that many people were evacuating out of the nuclear power plant region, an area where he had many contacts from teaching English and at-tending church. So he spent the rest of the day on his bicycle riding around Tokyo trying to find some place or someone he could help. He checked the Facebook page for CRASH Japan and posted that he

was willing to quit his job to help these people who were affected, which included many friends. Scot is now serving as the leader of the Nasu Base camp and recently oversaw the construction of a new warehouse for supplies.

Matt, a missionary with Navigators, works with Japanese “returnees” (Japanese students who be-come Christians while studying abroad and then re-turn to their homes in Japan). He helps connect the returnees to a church and other Christians in their area. Matt first volunteered at CRASH headquarters and was put on the Fukushima assessment team with Scot. He now serves with Scot in leadership at the Nasu Base serving the Fukushima area.

DESTRUCTION ALL AROUND

Pastor Naito of Seaside Bible Chapel in Sendai surveys the destruction around the site where the

church once stood. The Japanese government estimates the disasters caused a total of $220

billion in damages.

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Beyond Nasu, there are many other young lead-ers who are volunteering their time and gifts to serve the people affected by the disaster, both in Tokyo and in other base camps around Japan.

Mayumi Matsushita worked as an interpreter, but with her previous job finished and her apart-ment contract expiring, she decided to volunteer with CRASH Japan. After one month of volunteer-ing, she realized how much she connected with the vision of CRASH, and now she serves in a position mobilizing volunteers into the field.

Ken Nishiono shared his testimony of how he was living the Japanese ideal of a successful path into adulthood, but he felt he was heading nowhere.

Through a series of events, and a major life-threat-ening accident, Ken came to know the Lord. After finishing Bible school in March, he was praying about how God would use him. Ken now serves as a vital part of the emotional and spiritual care team of CRASH Japan.

Jonie Seo’s teaching contract in a city in South-ern Japan ended on March 10th, the day before the quake. Soon after, the Lord opened the door for Jonie to serve with CRASH in the media department, sharing stories with the public of those affected and what God has done.

Urs Siegrist is the son of Swiss Missionaries in Japan and has lived there for more than 30 years. He

HOPE RISING

Left standing after the tsunami waters had washed back out to sea, this piece of Seaside Bible

Chapel rises out of the rubble as a monument of hope. Just a few hundred yards from the

seawall, the area around it was completely destroyed.

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UNIFYING PRAYER

Following a meeting of about 40 pastors from the Tohoku region, Pastor Hiroshi Minegishi

(middle) is prayed for by Thomas Kim, the Executive Director of Churches Helping Churches.

Through this difficult time, churches are seeing their unity and partnerships strengthen like

never before.

left his corporate job in Tokyo to join with CRASH Ja-pan to show the Japanese people that there is hope. Working with the communications department and with the German website for CRASH Japan, Urs sees his place within CRASH as one of showing the Japa-nese that they were created and loved by God.

Each of these stories shows the heart and pas-sion that this younger generation has for serving their people. Just a few years ago, the picture of the next generation of leaders was not so encouraging. Many described them as a group of people who were lost, afraid of making commitments, and un-certain about their future. Yet it seems that Esther 4:14 rings true when looking at how the Lord has

prepared these young people for service in his King-dom. While there still might be uncertainty about what is in store for their future, they each show that they are willing to rise up and serve in the Kingdom “for such a time as this," putting aside their personal goals and desires for a period of time and reaching out in love to their fellow countrymen.

Paul Nethercott, CRASH’s donor relations coor-dinator and TEAM missionary, says, “These young adults here in Japan, both Japanese and internation-als, are going to grow and learn a lot and become significant leaders in the next five to ten years.” He believes that the response to this disaster by these young leaders will make a big difference in their

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LAUGHTER AND LOVE

Laughter is a welcome break from the sadness that hangs over every conversation about

the disaster. Toyomi Sanga (right) leads a church based ministry to evacuees. She equally

expresses deep compassion for the victims and great joy in seeing God provide for the needs.

lives and also have a great impact on the church as a whole in Japan.

LEADERSHIP SHIFTWhile it makes sense that a new generation would step into leadership roles during a crisis, the situation for young people is more complex in Japan. Family and societal expectations dictate that young people devote themselves to their career. But getting a job right out of college is not as easy as it used to be, which is causing young people to rethink their futures. If they choose to do something outside of the norm, they face pressure from family and friends.

This represents a new paradigm of leadership for Japan. In the past, young people would have lived under their parent’s guidance and they would have followed the direction laid out for them by societal expectations. Japan has always been a country root-ed in hierarchical leadership. But now, young peo-ple are stepping into roles without paying the proper dues or completing a time of tenure. These young leaders are essentially filling the roles of entrepre-neurs and problem solvers. They are venturing out on their own, trying to follow where God is leading them. Yoshi Ehara, an employee at the TEAM Japan office who helped with many legal issues and nego-tiations in establishing many of the CRASH bases,

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SUPPORT

A sign sits on a bookshelf at the SonRise Cafe in Tokyo urging patrons to consider donating to

the relief efforts of CRASH Japan. Many people have gotten creative with how they have raised

money for earthquake/tsunami relief, including high school students going down into the busiest

streets of Tokyo and simply asking people for donations.

Video: Divine Connections

With your smartphone device scan the code to the right to view a video of a short story of an amazing connection the Lord orchestrated through the earthquake/tsunami disaster.

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we entered the area, it immediately disappeared as we left, a visible line at the point where the water stopped. Rounding the corner, it was as if the tsunami had not even happened, as if we were in a completely different Japan. Looking out of the van window, we saw a woman planting her rice crop about 100 yards from utter devastation. As she worked, she buried tiny seeds in hopes that they would transform and produce a great harvest. This is what the Japanese church and CRASH also hope for. Buried in the rubble of destroyed homes and broken dreams are tiny seeds planted by volunteers all over Japan, seeds that will transform into a harvest for the Kingdom.

Yoshi Ehara said that in the early weeks after the earthquake, many of his Christian friends from America were telling him that God was going to use this tragedy for his glory. “Immediately after the quake, I was not that ready to hear those sort of comments. I was still in the stage of mourning and grieving. The amount of people killed was over-whelming,” said Yoshi. “But as the weeks pass by, I am starting to accept it and process what I have seen myself. I have assurance that God is using this as a big opportunity to open Japan.”

A visual symbol of this stands a short distance from the seawall in Sendai, the city closest to the epicenter of the earthquake. Flattened houses and piles of rubble are all that is visible, except for a cross that reaches heavenward – the only portion of the Seaside Chapel left standing after the tsunami rushed in. Benches lined up in front of a makeshift sign suggest this is still a meeting place for followers of Christ; the cross represents the hope of Jesus for all of us.

Out of the rubble God is raising up young leaders, God is allowing seeds of the Gospel to be planted in the hearts of the hurting, and God is bringing together the church in Japan, “for such a time as this.”

"For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliver-ance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father's family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?"– Esther 4:14

says, “I think the key issue is that God is working through these young Christian people and they are establishing a new era in Japan. I’m really excited to see this!”

David Sedlacek, a TEAM missionary, says, “The young leaders, the pastors, and the church leader-ship have never had an opportunity to step up and bless their nation like this, and they are truly rising up to face this great need and this great opportu-nity.” With these roles being filled, and the church showing more unity than ever, the future is bright for the country of Japan.

David told us a story about a meeting where many missionaries and pastors were talking about opportunities presented in the aftermath of the di-sasters. One missionary stated that this might be the biggest moment for the gospel since the end of World War II, when U.S. Army General Douglas MacArthur called for missionaries to go to Japan. David said that a lot of the missionaries in the room nodded their heads as the other missionary spoke, until a Japanese pastor stood up. This Japanese pas-tor did not agree that expatriate missionaries should be the only ones helping the country and promoting the gospel. He believes it is the time for the Japanese church to step forward.

David says, “This brought a paradigm shift in many of the missionaries’ thinking, away from the western ‘savior’ mindset to the idea of support for the national church. Those working with CRASH re-ally do have hearts to see the local church step up and bless their own country.”

CRASH and the Christian volunteers are able to offer something that is not offered by the Red Cross, the Government of Japan, or other large relief agen-cies: They offer an everlasting hope! After other re-lief agencies leave Japan, these missionaries and Japanese volunteers will still be there, loving the people and sharing the message of Jesus.

MOVING FORWARD

Climbing back out of the coastal valley, we left the tsunami-ravaged city of Minamisanriku. Just as the wreckage and debris suddenly began to appear when

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TRANSLATION: WE LOVE FUKUSHIMA

Letters of encouragement and support

cover the walls of the Big Palette evacuation

center, reminding residents that they are not

forgotten.

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1,000 CRANES

A Japanese legend suggests that by folding

1000 origami cranes, a person will have his or

her wish come true. This collection of cranes

was hanging up against a wall in the Big

Palette evacuation center.

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