My Recent Trip to Japan

On Friday night last week, I returned from a quick trip to Japan to set up the Nippon Initiative student trip for later this summer. We have 22 (and a baby!) on our team this year. The plan is for us to visit a number of places, including inside the earthquake and tsunami zone, before ending up in Iwatsuki, Saitama Prefecture, to help Joe and Noney Mita with a VBS-type outreach for their church. The team will also be performing a mime, distributing tracts, teaching English lessons, and sharing their testimonies throughout the trip. Your prayers for the team's success is greatly appreciated.

Mark Lounsbrough, the Missions Professor of Faith Baptist Bible College, Ankeny, Iowa, went with me this time. His students make up a large part of the team going later in the summer. Mark and I rehearsed the various train routes we will be taking, and we firmed up reservations at the various places we will need to stay overnight.

We also had the chance to spend a day surveying damage done by the March 11th 9.0 earthquake and tsunami. The picture at the right was taken at the train station in Koriyama, which is in the affected area. Fukushima is the name of the prefecture or state where the heavily damaged nuclear plant is located. Fukushima is also the name of a city in the prefecture. I took the picture because it captures some of the sentiment among the people for the recovery of their home state. The Japanese people there are remarkably determined to restore or rebuild the homes and public buildings damaged by the quake and tsunami.

The house at the left is obviously a 2-story home. It is located within a couple hundred yards of the ocean. It would have been worth a lot of money, but as you can see it was severely damaged by the tsunami. In addition, the contents of the house were either destroyed or they are strewn all over and damaged beyond repair.

The tsunami reached heights of 44-45 feet in some places, which would have swallowed up this house. I don't believe it was quite that high here. In places where it did reach 45 feet, houses and buildings were literally washed completely away.

More tomorrow...