Why Japan?

Japan is unique and has unique needs 

Top left: Beautiful sunset by the river close to my house. Top Right: Me wearing a traditional  Kimono (actually since it is summer it is called a Yucata) Bottom far left: My class of 1st grades students being silly before a field trip to the water park.  Bottom Middle Kyoto Temple gardens entrance. Bottom Right my Kindergarten class participating in classroom centers.

 Why Japan? 

Recently I was helping out with a non-profit organization as we repackaged and passed out food to needy families. While helping, one of the people asked me "Why did you come to Japan?"

I said I came as a missionary to teach English. Other people from all over the world have asked me

 "Why Japan?"  or "Why not a different nation." 

Many people think of Japan as the land of perfection and professionals. Even the Japanese people take great pride in what I call "keeping up appearances." You can walk down the streets in my town and see perfectly manicured hedges and beautiful flowers. Japan has lots of rules and customs that many westerners find strange -like the idea of eating and drinking while walking in public, which is generally frowned upon according to old traditions. Japan is a leader in many things including technology and business. Japan has a low violent crime rate in comparison to the rest of the world. 

*So that brings up the first important questions. If Japan has everything all perfectly together, Why Does Japan need missionaries?

Recently, I have been reading various blogs and Facebook statuses from my missionary friends all over the world. I have friends in Swaziland, South Africa, Kenya and Congo. Then I have friends in parts of Central and South America -Mexico, Honduras and the Dominican Republic. I have friends who are in places where missionaries are not allowed so they are "just English teachers" in China or maybe their Husbands are working in Turkey and the family was "just moved there as family support." Friends in Israel in all the craziness going on there. I have a few other friends and connections in various places around the globe. As I read their post I sometimes wonder myself 

"What does ministry in a first world country look like?"

I can tell you most of the people are NOT starving or living in the streets without basic needs being met. The majority of the population has a strong income. The majority of students attend school -even to the point of many going to Saturday school and extra school programs until late at night. It is estimated that 99% of the population are literate. Yes, Japan has a small population of hungry people or people needing government assistance. Japan is not a nation where Christians are prosecuted or religion is not allowed. 

So Why Japan?

Let me share some statistics to help you understand the need. Then I will share what I am doing to help. 

• *Japan ranks 3rd worldwide of nations with the highest amount of suicides. About 19.4 per 100,000. --Compared to the U.S. which is number 18 with a rate of about 10.1 per 100,000. (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/world/suiciderate.html)

• It is difficult to give exact statistics on religion because many Japanese do not identify themselves religious or only choose to be so during special ceremonies like weddings and funerals.

•  "Shintoism 83.9%, Buddhism 71.4%, Christianity 2%, other 7.8% note: total adherents exceeds 100% because many people belong to both Shintoism and Buddhism (2005) (https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ja.html) 

• "Japan is a destination, source, and transit country for men, women, and children subjected to forced labor and sex trafficking. Japanese organized crime syndicates (the Yakuza) are believed to play a significant role in trafficking in Japan, both directly and indirectly." Japan is also one of the highest producers world wide of  Pornography(http://www.humantrafficking.org/countries/japan  and http://www.ilo.org/public/english/region/asro/tokyo/downloads/r-japantrafficking.pdf )

So as you can see Japan is indeed a nation in need of missionaries. Actually every nation is and I believe in no such thing as a nation, or person who doesn't need God, the Savior and Redeemer.  But how about the simplest, most honest answer I have?- That God said Japan.

I am working as a Christian missionary teacher at a private, Christian school. The majority of our students do not come from Christian homes and many have very broken family situations. I am a prayer warrior for the nations and Carry the presence of God everywhere I go. I often find myself praying for the people while on public transportation systems. I may be only able to share a smile. Recently I have had the chance to connect to a group that helps distribute food to people who are homeless, single moms, immigrants and many needing government assistance. This has been a special privilege to get to work with this non-profit group. This particular organization is not Christian, so it is a ministry opportunity to both the fellow workers as well as those we serve. 

What does it look like to be a missionary to Japan? Living among, loving on and serving God and His people. What everyone is called to do no matter where you live or what job you have. OF COURSE I am far from perfect and no where near having everything all figured out. Sometimes I forget and I'm not the best example. But I pray that God can lead me to use every opportunity to serve Him. I have many questions but the answer is always the same -TRUST GOD! It is tough to live daily for God, and NOT lean on our own understanding, but that is the challenge. *Please Join me in prayer for Japan* 

Thank you for taking time to read this. May God bless you!

Kobe Habor