LWF・WICAS Asia Meeting Report
Mayuko Yasuda (Tonan)“We are talking about justice” --- this is thephrase I often heard during the LWF/WICAS
Network Meeting in Asia held in Kuala Lumpur
on Aug. 8-13th. WICAS is the organizationthat works for the women of the world. It
focuses on helping and protecting unprivileged
women and realizing gender equality in society.
Yet, by learning such information alone, it isdifficult to understand what exactly is at issue orwhat goals are set by WICAS. As far as I am
concerned, though I am ashamed to say this, I
had little understanding about WICAS until I
attended this meeting.
Thanks to theparticipation, I gained first-hand experience ofWICAS’ function, at least to some extent.
The theme of the meeting was“Gender Justice Policy, Women on the Move.”
Every day, except Sunday, a variety of sessions
continued from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. They included
updates from Asian countries, Bible lecturesfrom a female perspective, and small group orplenary discussions. The sessions, provided
through a theological or practical perspective,
were very rich and intense.

cases are just the tip of an iceberg: there are somany unjust, unequal, and inhumane incidents.
I was lost for words.
It is against this reality that the phrase,“We are talking about justice” was emphasized
repeatedly during the conference. Participants
agreed that WICAS does not strive for ’genderequality’ in terms of social status or positions
referred to in the developed countries including
Japan, or power games played by women who
have complaints against men. Rather, WICAS
purposes to listen to the voice of people who
suffer under injustice and bring about justice.
Faced with a very challenging issue
such as justice, I now sincerely believe that wehave to start from the awareness of issues, andmaking them known.
Looking ahead to
500-year anniversary of the Reformation, theLutheran Church should remember its mission tokeep reforming itself for the sake of justice.
Personally, I want to both have a reformer’sheart, and a desire to be reformed. I express myheartfelt gratitude to the Lord for giving me thisopportunity to learn.

The reports on India, Malaysia andNepal were shockingly awful, as I could not
believe what I had heard. This made me
realize how ignorant and indifferent I had been
to those issues. In Malaysia, for example,
human trafficking is rampant, and foreign
migrant workers face harsh labor, without easymeans to return to their homeland. In India,
one woman is raped every three minutes and, tomake matters worse, law enforcement agents or
military personnel who abuse their power often
commit such crimes. Moreover, these reportedCV
At present : PhD candidate in Doctoral Programin Systematic Theology Graduate School ofTheology, Sophia University
2010 : MA in Christian Studies, Japan LutheranCollege and Seminary
Ms.Yasuda
at WICAS Asia
Conference(far left )8The Second Home Country and the Second Family
Mrs. Yumiko Tokuhiro
Evangelical Lutheran Church, Japanese Congregation in Sao Pauloadvice on their job or love-life, he and I invite
them to come for a meal or a drink.
Though my husband and I were notblessed with a child, we take care of young
people just about the age of our child if we had
one. We go out and spend time together withthe elderly of our parents’ or uncle/aunt’s age,
weeping or laughing. I feel the congregation isjust like a big family with the Lord in the center.
To explain my feeling, I need no reference toany biblical passage.
The Brazilians are
optimistic and they openly talk about their
mistakes and troubles with laughter. Theyneither pretend to be big nor hide their
weaknesses. I used to believe I had to do
everything right as a pastor’s wife, but suchaggressiveness is already gone. Instead, I feelthat we are supporting one another as anextended family.
We had a 19-year-old girl visit us
from Japan in August.
She went to thekindergarten run by Omori Church, where myhusband served as pastor and kindergarten
director while I worked as an inexperienced
kindergarten teacher. Now she came to see us
as a university student. I felt happy that thecongregation welcomed her with open arms andthe youth took care of her just like their newsister. I do have hard times but I enjoy myself.
I do my best so that the congregation will further
grow and continue to be the mainstay for eachone of them. I pray that one day, a Brazilian
pastor of Japanese ancestry will be called andthat someone nice will come from Japan tosucceed us.

Brazil --- having no idea about the country nor
its language, I did have some fear.
Accompanying Rev. Tokuhiro, I was to stay here
for three years originally, but following therelocation of church, development of mission,
membership growth, financial self-reliance andterm-extension agreement, I am now in my 6thyear in ‘the strange land as pastor’s wife.’
Though I said ‘strange,’ Brazil and Japan have
had a long and close relationship with each other.
Here in Liberdade, the Japanese town in
downtown Sao Paulo, you can buy any Japanese
food, such as miso, soy sauce, tofu and evenfried tofu; abura-age. You can use Japanesewith the owner of the near-by papa-mama shop.
Recently our church attracts a varietyof people, including migrants before and after
WWII, expatriates, exchange students, tourists,or people from favela (poor community). The
ground floor of the rectory has been reformed tohouse 15 guestrooms that accommodate students
learning Portuguese language or Brazilian music,
young Japanese tourists, doctors/dentists fromPeru and Bolivia who came to Brazil for further
study, Brazilians and young men of Japanesedescent. After worship service, lunch mainly
consisting of Japanese dishes is served. Now
we have 30 to 40 people for the lunch, and thechurch patio seems small.
After the weekly Japanese PC class, I
enjoy chatting with native- and JapaneseBrazilian ladies, who are around 60’s. We have
Church youth volunteers from Japan, and theyplay leading roles in the youth gatherings.
Monthly churrasco (Brazilian BBQ) parties, live
music events, and the World Cup viewing attract
30 to 70 people each time. We have invited athirty-year-old Brazilian pastor to join us since
this year. He is a cheerful person who used tomajor in music. As he eats too much, jokingly
we say, ”You need to be on a diet,” and we alllaugh. This is how I spend my days in thissecond homeland with this second family. I
listen to the seniors, visit the sick, go for a chat,and when young people seek my husband’s

The young people staying in the Church guestrooms threw
a surprise birthday party for me. Rev. and Mrs. Tokuhiro(front row, to the right)

9

Representatives to ACWC
Naomi Tajima, (Yukigaya)/ Keiko Renge, (Tonan)
Kansai branch: Nami Matsumoto (Kobe)/ Yasuko
Yamakawa (Toyonaka)

ACWCJACWC (Asian Church Women’s Conference)
Nineteen Asian countries have joined theconference. They are Australia, Bangladesh,
Cambodia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia,Thailand, Korea, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar,Nepal, New Zealand, Pakistan, Philippines,
Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, and Japan.
ACWC is an ecumenical fellowshipamong churchwomen. It has continued to meet
every four years. The 15th Assembly will be held
this year in the Philippines on October 3-10.

NCCJ Woman Committee
Representative: Noriko Ishitani
1. The total amount of "World Day of Prayer
2014" donation is ¥ 8,416,398.
Thanks for ¥ 300,000 outgone from it to Shuko
Gakuen (Kyoto city)
The country for next year is the Bahamas.

ACWC Japan is an ecumenical organizationconsisting of seven denominations ofchurchwomen who share our common faith toserve the Lord as well as people in society.
Our seven denominations are: the Salvation
Army Women’s Organization, the National
Federation of Kyodan (United Church of Christin Japan) Women’s societies, the National
Women’s Association Korean Christian Churchin Japan, the Episcopal Church Women of Japan,
the Japan Baptist Women’s Convention, theJapan Baptist Women’s Union, and the Japan
Evangelical Lutheran Church Women.
We have been active as an ecumenicalorganization of these seven denominations forthe last 30 years. We have a committee
meeting every month. The main activities ofACWC-Japan are convening of ACWC Day
seminar, promotion of ICFLC* and Signature
Campaign**.
ACWC Day seminar is agathering of over 800 churchwomen, which isheld every fall, with 500 participants in Tokyo
branch and 300 participants in Kansai branch.
We promote the ICFLC* Signature Campaign**
in this seminar also. The theme for this year’s
seminar is “Please make me as a Peacemaker.”
Our fellow ACWwoC members in different
countries live far apart, but we can get in touch
through e-mail and pray for each other.
ACWC-J would like to keep praying for all theparticipating countries of the ACWC.
*International Committee for Fellowship ofthe Least Coin**One coin is donated with a signature tosupport ACWC

2. The second half of plan*This autumn "Reading the Bible from a
Woman’s' Perspective" by Ms. SatokoYamaguchi.
*This December we will attend "The fourth
Global inter-Religions Conference"

LWF/WICAS
Representative: Kyoko Tawara
Asia WICAS Meeting was held in Kuala
Lumpur for four days from August 9, which
Mayuko Yasuda, a young woman theologianand Tonan Lutheran Church member
attended. Analyzing the result of 2012 genderquestionnaire, she gave a speech on Japanesepresent situation around gender issue. Next
April, Korean and Japanese Women Leadership
Training will be held in Japan.

Itsukushimi Committee Report
Representative: Hisako Ishitobi (Kanto area),
Akie Momiyama (Kansai area)
The Kanto Committee held a seminar on genderat Tokyo Ikebukuro Church on April 26 (Sat.),starting at 10:30 a.m. The theme was, “Is each of
us valued?” The guest speaker was Rev. Sayoko
Ooka, of the Anglican-Episcopal Church inJapan. The discussion of where Jesus stood andwho He walked with was particularlymemorable. The Kansai Committee is planning aworkshop for next year.
(Hisako Ishitobi)

10