STEP INSIDE Japan: Language Culture Mission by Henry Ayabe 2 STEP INSIDE Japan: Language Culture Mission Japan Evangelical Missionary Association 3 4 Scripture verses marked KJ are from the King James Version of the Bible. Scrip- ture verses marked NASB are from the New American Standard Bible, copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977 by The Lockman Founda- tion, La Habra, California. Scripture verses not otherwise identified are from the New International Version of the Bible, copyright 1978 by the New York International Bible Society. Copyright 1992 by the Japan Evangelical Missionary Association (JEMA). All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, pho- tocopying, recording, or otherwise without the written permission of the publisher. JEMA is a corporate body of evangelical missionaries, which aims to provide ser- vice and fellowship and is the united voice of evangelicals in Japan. Membership includes evangelical mission organizations and individual missionaries. JEMA publishes the JEMA Directory annually, listing the addresses and telephone numbers of all Protestant missionaries and missions working in Japan. It also pub- lishes the Japan Harvest, a quarterly magazine designed to promote the cause of the evangelical church and mission in Japan as well as the ministry and activities of the association. Japan Evangelical Missionary Association 2-1 Kanda Surgadai, Chiyoda Ku, Tokyo 101 Japan Cover design: Mukaiyachi Design Offices Printed in Japan: New Life League 1-9-34 Ishigami, Niiza Shi 352 5 Contents Foreword From the Author Linguistic Conventions An Important Start 1. The Missionary as a Wise Master Builder 14 2. By What Authority 21 The Social Step—Social Relationships 3. Interpersonal Relationships and Social Status 30 4. Social Groups and Relationships 35 5. Go Muri Go Mottomo Relationship 40 6. Predestined Relationship 43 7. Marriage and the Japanese Church 46 Step Inside—The Language and Idioms 8. Idioms from the Animal Kingdom 54 9. Idioms from History 58 10. Living Japanese Idiomd 64 11. Idioms to Liven Conversation and Witness 71 12. Towards Picturesque Speech 77 6 The Gospel Step—Preaching the Word in Japan 13. The Japanese Word for God 84 14. Preaching the God of the Bible 91 15. Communicating the Word “Life” in Japanese 97 16. Buddhist, Bushido, and Biblical Views of Life 101 17. Tsumi in the Context of Preaching the Gospel 104 18. The Meaning of Gi 109 19. Aganai, the Heart of the Gospel Message 114 The Mission Step—Building His Church in Japan 20. Overcoming the Preaching Barriers 122 21. The Decision Making Process 127 22. Progressive Objectives in Evangelism 134 23. Discipling in Evangelism 140 24. Discipling the Japanese 146 25. Forming the Local Church 150 26. Organizing a Japanese Church 156 27. Church Practice and Missions 162 7 Foreword Henry Ayabe has been my close friend, colleague and fellow missionary for the past thirty years. We both began teaching at Tokyo Christian Col- lege in 1961 and for eighteen years we invariably would sit next to each other during endless faculty meetings and other activities that are part of the academic scene in Japan. For me this was an unusual opportunity to interact with Henry on such subjects as the Japanese language, cross-cul- tural barriers and pitfalls in church planting. It was a fascinating learning process in which I benefited greatly from Henry’s deep insights. Here at last was a missionary who understood the Japanese people! In addition to his rich heritage and upbringing, Henry is a scholar whose life is dedicated to meticulous research and extensive reading. Henry was generous in sharing his insights. At times I felt selfish receiving all that blessing. When I became the editor of Japan Harvest in 1976, my first effort was enlisting the support of Henry Ayabe in writing articles for the magazine. To the delight of many readers Henry for the next fourteen years became a prolific contributor; in fact he wrote more articles than any other per- son. Now at last these articles, thanks to the efforts of the JEMA Publi- cation Commission, have been compiled in book form. Generally the content of the material is as timely today as it was when it first appeared. I am convinced that this information will be invaluable to new missionaries in orienting them to Japan. Veteran missionaries, too, will find these pages extremely helpful. Seminary and Bible college students will now have available a concise source of reference that will open the door to a better understanding of Japan as a mission field. I know that the author and publisher would appreciate hearing from you. Your comments, suggestions and corrections will be taken into ac- count when compiling future editions. June 1, 1992 Siegfried A. Buss Ph.D., Litt.D. Tokyo Christian University 8 From the Author The potter shapes His vessel to fit His purpose “as it pleased the potter to make it” (Jer. 18:4). I was born in Hawaii of parents who came from Fukuoka, Japan. Father came to Hawaii as a carpenter and when he had made enough money, he returned to Japan and married mother. They left for Hawaii where I was born, a third son in a family of four brothers and two sisters. As a child, I attended three schools. I went to the public school in the morning until school let out in the early afternoon. Then I was sent to the Japanese language school. On Sundays I attended the Buddhist Sunday School. In our home there was a god-shelf, kamidana, a Buddhist altar, butsudan and a framed picture of Emperor Hirohito and the empress. From my earliest recollections, we were taught to pray at the god-shelf and the Buddhist altar, and to show reverence to the emperor. The attack on Pearl Harbor and the ensuing World War II set our generation free from our Japanese parental authority and released us to act according to our American birth-right. The emperor’s picture was first to come down. The leaders of the Japa- nese community, such as the Buddhist and Shinto priests and the principal of the Japanese language schools, were sent to re-location camps. This left me with nothing to do on Sundays, so I began at- tending a church. Unfortunately the pastor of the church had no gospel message. This made it easy to exchange my Buddhist religious practices for “Christian” ones. For me, attending Sunday School and morning worship services were just like observing the Buddhist religious rituals. So I began to think that I was now a Christian. In April 1945, I was inducted into the U.S. Army and was 9 trained as an interpreter. I was a member of a special detachment to the Marines and was sent to the Philippines in the month the war ended. Our detachment went to General Headquarters in Manila, after which I was transferred to the Far Eastern Air Force’s field intelligence unit which was sent to Japan. After concluding the mission, I was re-assigned to the 13th Air Repair Squadron at Tachikawa. There were about ten Christian soldiers in our squadron and as a group we witnessed to the Japanese, especially the youth in Toyooka City, Saitama. Saturday meetings were held at the Meth- odist church with the pastor interpreting the chaplain’s messages. I sat through those meetings hearing the gospel in English and Japa- nese, and this woke me to my unsaved condition. But, because I feared to be exposed as a counterfeit Christian, I could not confess my sins. God showed great mercy by sending me literally through the fire so that I could accept His sacrifice for sins. The midnight fire in our barracks almost took my life. I was severely burned, but God not only saved my life, He also gave me the opportunity to accept the Savior on my first-aid bed. God called me to be a missionary to the Japanese in my first year at Stout State College, Menomonie, Wisconsin. I left Stout for Moody Bible Institute and graduated from the pastor’s course in 1951. Then I graduated from BIOLA College in 1953 and was ordained the same year. While waiting to be fully supported, I pas- tored in Hawaii for a year before arriving in Japan in April 1955. After language school we were assigned to Utsunomiya, Tochigi, and learned first hand the hard labor of sowing and reaping. Dur- ing our first furlough, I earned an M.A. at Winona Lake School of Theology. I returned in 1961, and was accepted at Tokyo Chris- tian College as a full-time faculty member. I began as an assistant professor of New Testament and was full professor by the time I left the college to join the teaching staff at Japan Bible Seminary in 1979. All through the years of teaching, the Lord gave me weekend 10 ministries, helping to bridge the missionary’s church planting work with the establishing of Japanese-pastored churches. Bible teaching ministries in church retreats and Bible conferences were also opened to me. Those were years of not only teaching in the classroom but also of being discipled by the Lord in the crucible of joyful as well as difficult labor in His vineyard. In those busy years, I was invited to write an article for the Japan Harvest, which led to over twenty articles in fifteen years. The JEMA Publication Commission then recommended publishing them in book form. The past editors, especially Dr. Siegfried Buss, labored hard to put my articles into acceptable print.