“Resurrection of Rice Field, Mountain, and Bay”
- Religious Ethical Society Summer Seminar Date: August 27 (Tuesday), 2013. 2:30pm ~ 3pm
Place: Asuka Institute of Kansai University Ueda Memorial Hall
Kobe International Christ Church
Pastor Yoshio Iwamura<Introduction>
From July 7, 2013, a heavy rain hit Sichuan, China for about a week. Inundation above floor level
reached more than 6 million, and huge amount of high buildings were destroyed. My wife Kayoko
said that “The damage is worse than the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami.” We prepared everythingin 3 days. We didn’t know anybody on the site. We even cannot speak Chinese. In terms of money,
we bought 124,810 yen around tickets of China Eastern Airlines via Shanghai on 10 time payments.
We put our sleeping bags in suitcases and we headed to Kansai Airport after the worship service on
July 21 (Sunday), 2013 with our determination that we will go to the disaster affected area even weshould fast for four days. Why could we go the disaster affected area without carrying a lot ofmoney? It is recorded in the New Testament that “And he left them and went out of the city to
Bethany, where he spent the night. (Matthew 21:17)”. Japanese Bible translation is not correct.
Jesus “spent the night” (Greek auvli,zomai aulizomai) means “sleep in the garden, sleep
outside”(Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament) Since he spent the night outside,
he did not eat properly. If you look into the following sentence, it is written that “Early in themorning, as Jesus was on his way back to the city, he was hungry. (Matthew 21:18)” Continuing on,
it is said “Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. Thenhe said to it, “May you never bear fruit again!” Immediately the tree withered. (Matthew 21:19)” So,
did Jesus vent his anger when he was hungry? In context, in the temple courts, it is recorded that
“Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He
overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves.” And after hesaw a fig tree, he said that “found nothing on it except leaves”. In other words, he criticized that“found nothing on it except leaves” is just like a majestic synagogue where tourists visit.
Christianity also often spends a lot of money for ○○ tournaments, events and bazaars, but it may be
a mechanism to temporarily enhance people’s emotion. In the parallel description, the Gospel ofMark, it is written that “Because it was not the season for figs. (Mark 11:13)” Therefore, we can seethat Christ did not angry by his personal feeling. He told his disciples that Jesus replied, “Truly I tellyou, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also
you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done. 22If you believe,
you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer. (Matthew 21:21)”. He told to do actual work. He
encouraged doing actual act rather than just preaching the love for neighbors. We headed to the1disaster affected area in Sichuan, China with our sleeping bags. I and my wife Kayoko was
encouraged doing our will to engage in “work” for affected victims.1 It was the same motivationthat we had when we headed to the disaster affected area in Ishinomaki City, Miyagi Prefecture withyoung people two years and five months ago.
(1) Scars of the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami
a. Impact on ecosystem
On 2:46pm, the devastation was huge. As far as I could see, there were rubbles, destroyed houses
and traces of earthquake disasters.
Nearly 4,000 people became victims even only in Ishinomaki City.
“We have suffered terror and pitfalls, ruin and destruction. Streams of tears flow from my eyes
because my people are destroyed. (Lamentations 3:47-48)”
The tsunami hit the Kasagai island, which is located on northeast of the Oshika Peninsula,
Ishinomaki City. The height (runup height) was 43 meters. It was greater than the 1896 Sanriku
earthquake. The trees in the mountains were covered by the sea, and the trees were vanished. Even
cars were skewered in the rice fields. The fishery house at Mangoku-ura bay, where has the best
oysters and seaweeds in Japan, has been flooded.
Water stream from the mountains grow rice. Piled-up leaves make a good soil. Clean waterproduces delicious crops. Waste water from pesticide-free, organic soil becomes a river and it flows
into the sea. “All streams flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full. To the place the streams comefrom, there they return again. (Ecclesiastes 1:7)” Nature is circulating. It travels from the mountainto the sea; water evaporates in the ocean, becomes rain and falls on the mountain again.
Nature life has been linked to each other since the birth of the earth. Why had herbivorous animals
not eating up by carnivorous animals? Because the grass was everywhere in the earth. Herbivorous
animals such as cows with a large stomach, sheep and rabbits birth many children. There are special
microorganisms in the stomach of the ruminant animals. They have survived with the helpful
microorganisms for digestion. Carnivorous animals attack, so number of herbivorous animals will
reduce. Then, carnivorous animals will have no animals to eat. On the other hand, the number ofsmall animals will increase since their dangerous beasts are gone. It has been repeated for centuries.
b. Stewardship
Nature is the source for humans to receive benefit. However, rice Field, mountain, and bay becamea place to make money. We use pesticides and formalin to grow crops, and use machines for
efficiency to fill our greed. We do not think about safety of food to eat. We behave like humanbeings are greater than anything in the natural world. The number of sparrows and bees inSatoyama (里山: undeveloped woodland near populated area) has decreased. We hardly see small
bug chironomidae that was used to fly a lot in the sky in the evening. Sparrows are disappearing due
to the lack of insects to eat.
1“For it is God who works in you to will and to his good purpose.” (Philippians 2:13)

2

The Tohoku region, like other regions in Japan, was losing swamps near the sea. The naturalenvironment has changed because it changed to be a flat land for housing and create large paddy
fields. Therefore, when the tsunami hit, the water reached to the 40 km deep area from the sea.
What had happened to the four-spot midget that lives in the swamps of the coast and estuary? 2 I
have been visiting from Kobe for two years since 2011, but I haven’t been able to see the four-spotmidget. Have livable habitats for dragonflies and butterflies that have moved to the north part due tothe global warming had disappeared?
There is the word of God saying that humans should rule the earth. “God blessed them and said tothem, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea
and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.’”3 “Subdue(Hebrewkabash)” kabash and “rule over ([radah)” is used (Ezekiel 34:4). As it is in
the context, “radah”is the meaning of caring, taking care of the flock by the shepherds. (Ezekiel

vb'K;

hd;r;

34:2-4)”. Therefore, it is not control down violently.4 Humans must take care of nature in a gentle
manner. However, for the sake of benefit, it has been ruined by environment disruption, pollution
and arrogant control. Let’s return to the origin of living with nature.
c. Coexistence with nature
In the year of the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, I visited the Oshika Peninsula at Ishinomaki
City, Miyagi Prefecture. The name of “Shika (literally meaning, deer)” is everywhere. Ainu people
prayed for Kamuy (“God” in Ainu language) when they could get a lot of deer.5 Houses, lives andjobs at the ria coast area are completely washed away. Mr.Shoichi Abe, the current director of
Ishinomaki branch of Kobe International Sustaining Organization and he is also a former principle
at several elementary schools, guided us. Looking at the Oshika Peninsula from the ocean, you cansee rich green mountains. There are many broad-leaf trees such as maple trees and quercus serrata.
When you enter the forest, you will be buried in fallen leaves until your waist. Under the fallen
leaves, there are many years of accumulated leaf mulch. When I put my hands in it to look if any
beetles or stag beetles are sleeping, I smelled of mushrooms.
There is Mr. Shigeatsu Hatayama who is promoting the movement of “Forest is a lover of the sea”
in Kesennuma bay, Miyagi Prefecture. I was made to notice that in order to revive the power of thediminished sea, it is important to take care of the river pouring into the sea and the upstream forest.
We plant a seedling in the forest at Mount Murone that is located at the upstream of Ookawa River2

Due to the reduction of swamps, habitats of Damselfly are narrowed and they are acknowledged as endangered
species.
3 Genesis 1:28
4 2011. S, Higuchi. Seiten to gendaishyakai no shyomondai. The Kirisuto Shimbun. 76-77.
“Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lordsays: Woe to you shepherds of Israel who only take care of yourselves! Should not shepherds take care of the flock? 3
You eat the curds, clothe yourselves with the wool and slaughter the choice animals, but you do not take care of theflock. 4 You have not strengthened the weak or healed the sick or bound up the injured. You have not brought backthe strays or searched for the lost. You have ruled (radah)them harshly and brutally. Ezekiel 34:2-4 NIV.
5 2011. “Research in Oshika Hanto (4)”. Kobe International Sustaining Organization. July 2.

3that flow into the bay. Since 1989, we started planning 250,000 trees of 50 species of broad-leaf
trees with children. The movement was born from a poem of Miss. Ryuko Kumatani, who lives atmountain village, “Eternal love is spinning while the forest loves the sea and the sea love theforest.”6 When I listen to trees, I can hear the sound. They are alive. The poem takes trees as their
original words, and it has the sound that has been flowing through the history.
We have destroyed nature by our selfish way of life. We are the prodigal children who forgot own
hometown. For the son who admires the nature of the hometown as “I will set out and go back to
my father”7, the place to return is the forest. In the Garden of Eden, which is the forest, there were“the tree of life” and “the tree of knowledge of good and evil.”8 Humans have repeatedly strayed
whether to protect forests, or to build sediment control dam, flood-control dam, and landslide dam.
In Tohoku region, they are in trouble with the increase of deer. “The tree of life” takes care of theseedlings of the forest and considers the natural “ecosystem”. On the other hand, “the tree ofknowledge of good and evil” think the “life” of people who dominant the nature, so people has no
choice but reducing the number of deer.
Which one should we think first, natural “ecosystem” or human “life”?
“Resurrection of Rice Field, Mountain, and Bay” thinks about both side and opens a path thateveryone can agree. We live with nature by having a connection with other creatures.
(2) Taking care of the nature rather than dominating it.
a. Let the earth to obey.
“All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by
mankind.( James 3:7)” Subdue the earth, which is to say the word of “rule over (dominiu terrae)”,appears in the beginning of the Bible, Genesis 1:28 that is the creation of mankind. The early
Fathers and successive theologians have also been interpreted that humans have the power tocontrol nature.9 We have saw nature as a creation, and it became the proof for humans to doaggressive domination as the master. It leads to the conquest of the new continent, the exploitationof resources and the destruction of the natural world. In other words, whether it will able to utilize
the nature and creation, which is not god, as the production base became the point of the successand failure. It is said that “In the past, humans were part of nature. However now, humans havebecome exploiters.”10 René Descartes [1596-1650] divides human and nature by modern
philosophical thinking that human is “mental substance (res cogitans)”. He established thefoundation of the development of science and technology that began in the 17th century.
Emphasizing on numerical values and efficiency is prioritized. Under the Cartesianism that humans
stand on nature, science developed and an industrial revolution took place. However, it became the6

1996. R, Kumatani. Kashyu / Mori ha umi no koibito. Hokutosha.
1985. Luke 15:18. The New Testament. Translated by Naoyuki Yagyu. Shinkyo Publishing.
8 Genesis 2:9. The Bible, The New Interconfessional Translation.
9 1972. L, White. Machina ex deo : essays in the dynamism of western culture. Misuzu Shobo. 87-92.
10 ibid.
7

4

beginning of environmental destruction. Prominent theologian Paul Tillich [1886-1965] of the 20th
century also inherits the leading track.11
b. Faults in the Japanese new of nature
Saigyō Hōshi [1118-1190] read a song about ten years before his death. “Negawakuwa hana noshita nite haru shinan sono kisaragi no mochizuki no koro. (I hope to die under the cherry blossoms
in spring, around the time of full moon in February of the old calendar).” Saigyō departure to thenext life on 16th of the next day of “kisaragi no Mochizuki (the anniversary day of Buddha on
February 15th)”. We are able to have peace of mind only in the nature. Living together with thenatural world is more appealing to Japanese mentality than having things from it.
There are some people who collect stamps at their young age. Some elementary school students
may be more interested in collecting insects. It seems that there is a motivation for children to“have”. About the butterfly that exists in the nature, their quantity, quality and maintenance as“things” become the center of children’s interest.
Japan is also a country that “has” rich natural resources such as forests, water and soil. The
definition of “resources” is that “An element that contributes to production that can be obtained
from the nature. Widely, it refers to what will be the basis of industry and support it.”12 Coming
into the 21st century, natural disasters such as concentrated heavy rain, water flood and earthquake
have been repeatedly happening on the Pacific Ring of Fire area. In the forest, there are roles asenvironment to prevent natural disasters and as an industry to provide wood materials forreconstruction housing.13 In Japan, “things (materials and raw materials)” in the natural world havebeen turned into industries. By adding labor work, we have manufactured and sold it. Before thewar, as a country without resources, Japan made her way into Northeast Asia because of territorial
narrowness, overpopulation and justifying of colonialism. When the lifeline of resource supply fromother countries was cut off, there was no way but start the great war. Before importing cheap
foreign wooden materials from Canada, cedars and cypress trees, which can make good money as
construction materials, were strenuously planted throughout in Japan. But did Japan have noresources? For example, thinking about the Japan’s self-sufficiency ratio of woods, it was proudly
nearly 100% until the early 1950s. However, it dropped to 45 % in 1970 and 28% in 1990, andcurrently shifted to around 20%.14 Both forestry and agriculture in Japan is exposed to cheap
external materials. There are other concerns besides having no resources.
In addition to problems such as air pollution, dioxins and drug dispersion, it has become aconviction line for natural disasters due to environmental destruction that people will be notconcerning about Satoyama, local sea and local agricultural fields. Tragedy that would cause theextinction of humans, wildlife and plants which are living on the space craft Earth, shouldn't be
111927. P, Tillich. Logos und Mythos der Technik GW.IX. 305-306.
Daijirin (2nd edition)
13 2008. K, Tajima. R, Kanda. Mori to nigen. Asahi Shimbun Publications. 57.
14 2011. J, Sato. A Theory on Resources Claimed by a Resource Impoverished Country: Towards Integration withEnvironmental Theory. University of Tokyo Press. 166.
125

happened.
Mankind cannot survive in Western philosophy. An idea of coexistence with nature that has existed
since ancient times in Japan, is introduced by Mr. Takeshi Umehara, whose mother was from
Ishinomaki city, as a new principle of new civilization. It is symbolized by the Buddhist words of“Sou-moku-koku-do-shi-kkai-jou-butsu (草木国土悉皆成仏. All things have the Buddha's nature)”.
It is the idea that every things on earth, from grass, trees, soil and wind, have the Buddha’s natureand they have the same souls as human beings. Humans are not only special existence, andeverything is only part of the earth. Mr. Takeshi Umehara says that this thoughts is inherited theJapanese ideology since the Jomon Era. The view of the nature of “Eshō-funi (依正不二. Onenessof life and its environment. It is also described as Eshō [依正 : the enrionment] and Shōhō [正報:human life] that it exist together as one. Undividable things)”, may have been hurt miserably by the
Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. Mass consumption of neon lighting at sleepless town Tokyo. A
house without wooden appearance. The water supply that is not suitable for drinking without water
purifier. It seems that the security to protect individual life has been secured. However, the otherside reality of the affected areas, marginal villages, depopulations, aging society and declining
birthrates have not been getting attention.
c. Circulation among personality = human and impersonality = the nature
The identity of Ainu is introduced that “Ainu, it means human, and there are kamuy in the worldthat far beyond human power. Kamuy of the fire, kamuy of the mountain, kamuy of the river andkamuy of the wind. Humans respect kamuy, and appreciate the grace from it. And also, kamuy
appears in the human world in the form of creatures such as bears and owls. Kamuy is an entity thatraises lives that humans cannot create.”15
I don’t know whether the sensitivities that Japanese people values became the origin of the wordof “God”, but there is the Ainu word, “kamuy”. In the Ainu mosir (the quiet earth of human beings),
god, humans and the nature are coexisting. It is not “to have” things, but “to be”. In other words, avalue of existence is putted importantly on the center, not for possession.16 Occasionally, butterflies
come to lay eggs in the fields of the Sanriku road that leads to Ishinomaki City, Miyagi Prefecture.
Drivers may naturally smile when they see those beautiful visitors. I think that there are many
people have memories of chasing butterflies with insect nets at their elementary school days.
Sometimes, they must have experience for being spirited off by butterflies and confused from it.
People call the Japanese luehdorfia as the spring goddess. Extinction of butterflies is prevented bybutterfly lovers through their effort to plant butterfly’s favorite grass and plants at gardens andneighboring places.
The Ainu people thought, “The trees and grass are god, and in the kingdom of God, they live inhuman figure.”17 Ainu talks about Amur adonis. They find the light of the god in the shining yellow
15
16

2008. A, Satouchi. Ainushiki ecologe seikatsu. Shogakukan. 8.
1977. E, Fromm. To Have or to Be? Books Kinokuniya. 39, 46.

171993. I, Fukuoka. Ainu to shyokubutsu. Asahikawa Development and Promotion Corporation. 74.

6flower in gold as “When I took out my treasured sword, the yellow flower Amur Adonis shined ingolden color and went out as a light of god from the tip of sword - Yukar (Ainu sagas that form along rich tradition of oral literature).”18 However, god died due to the nuclear meltdown ((coremeltdown) of Fukushima in 2011. The nature is also dead.
How was it before the war? The Ashio Copper Mine Incident occurred because of putting too
much priority on corporate interests in resources.
The house of representatives, Mr. Shōzō Tanaka insisted. “Plants are not human made. All of things
are the part of results of the work of the divinity. Bird, animal, insect, fish, shellfish, mountain, river,grass and tree. All of things exist between the heaven and the earth teaches me. All of them are mygood teacher. Amen.”19 He takes grass, trees and nature not a subject of control, but as a teacher.
(3) Release of the creationa. Groaning of the creation“We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to thepresent time. (Romans 8:22)”
Hiroshima, Nagasaki and Fukushima are groaning. At the year of the 66th year after the atomic
bombing and the 40th year after the starting operation of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power
Plant, the nuclear meltdown (core meltdown) occurred at the level 7 of the International Nuclear
and Radiological Event Scale. By the accident, 630,000 TBq of radioactivity were released. About
152,000 people were forced to evacuate due to soil contamination. Currently, polluted mud isflowing out from the plastic bag that contains the decontaminated soil.
The village chief of Iidate in Fukushima Prefecture said that “70% of the area in Iidate is themountain. Even we decontaminate around our house and farming land, we are not able todecontaminate the mountain. So, the radioactivity is flowing from the mountain. Children are
victims. They must carry a sticker of an Iidate villager for the rest of their lives.”
Safety is considered to be the most important more than ever. However, extreme anxiety and stressare spreading more and more. According to the statistical point of view, that is, the philosopher
Descartes' rule of signs, it can be said as safe. However, in essence, the modern society has
continuously postponed the threat of Eschaton, bringing together the wisdom of humanity, and it try
to invent versatile science, mass consumption and convenience. This time, the endless continuing ofgreat fear of decontamination, atomic bomb survivor, and impossible of reactor decommissioning is
nothing like but same the fear that the future image that has been postponed to uncertain horizon, isfinally found in the last scene of the movie “Planet of the Apes”. Roar of the Auschwitz
concentration camp, Hiroshima, Nagasaki and Fukushima was a shadow of preoccupation for the
future attacking, but we could not stop the fear of darkness of heaven and earth that was creeping up
on. Nevertheless, enthusiasm of scientists, engineers and politicians, officials, economic leaders,and scholars who aim to be a military state are filled absolutely without repenting. A male worker,
18
19

ibid. 82-83.
1979. Tanaka Shōzō zenshyu dai 11kan. Tanaka Shōzō zenshyu hensaikai. Iwanami Shoten. 330, 341.

7

who was engaging in public work for removing the rubble at the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake,
was exposed to asbestos and developed mesothelioma in his 40s.20 The period of exposure, themedian is 17.4 years. The median period to death is 15 months after onset. We must not forget theonset of time bombs of the exposure from the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant Incident.
Radioactivity is already circulation around the earth.
Nuclear power and Christianity never encounter. Nuclear power plant in Japan is a deep root
problem of Christianity. The United States theologian Reinhold Niebuhr accused the atomic
bombing to Hiroshima. However, he deliberately ignores a development of a nuclear power plant.21
It is because that he did not identify the atomic bomb and the nuclear power plant as the same
monster. Therefore we “changed it, though we should not change it.” Nuclear power generation is
not an exclusive feature of Kyoto University and Kindai University only. The largest Anglican
Christian affiliated university, Rikkyo University became the first soldier for nuclear power researchof the United States. Christianity itself brought the nuclear power plant for a peaceful use as the fireof Prometheus. Even Christianity is the cause of the roar of the creation, they have not apologizedonce.
Not only all mankind on the earth is facing to the food shortage, ratio of food self-sufficiency ofJapan has dropped below 40% and we are standing on the edge of whether we can survive or not.
Consumers are also tending to prefer bread than rice, meat than fish, so we are becoming to bedifficult to do self-sufficiency more and more. The system structure that young people can take partin agriculture, fishery and forestry of the primary sector of the economy in order to produce, process
and sell it, isn’t established. Collapse of the village society by the depopulation, aging society anddeclining birthrate due to the gap from Tokyo centralization, is a red signal. In exchange fordevelopment of the mass consumption, the gap structure of depopulation, aging society anddeclining birthdate can be said to be “exploitation (Ausbeutung) against the natural world. Youngpeople are not interested in agriculture, forestry and fishery work even in the time of more turnoverpropensity, hollowing out of industry, and shortage of skilled workers. Because young people do notwant to be exploited, dominated, or controlled. Due to the rice acreage reduction policy, only
2,600,000 hectares of farmland are left. Fallow fields and abandoned fields are just left behind.
Mangokuura, Ishinomaki City, is the world’s largest oyster bed. Today, nori growers are also
crying. Human sewage, concrete construction methods and seawall are damaging the ecology
system of the sea. Norovirus is a cause of clippers syndrome and red rot.
The land is sick. Water strikes the land where people live in by becoming heavy rain, tsunami andflood. Fire is symbolized by volcanic explosions. The air has become a natural catastrophe element20

2012. Mainichi Shimbun. July 7.

21

Reinhold Niebuhr [1892-1971]
Niebuhr preached the Serenity Prayer that, “O God and Heavenly Father, Grant to us the serenity of mind to accept
that which cannot be changed; courage to change that which can be changed, and wisdom to know the one from theother, through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.” 1950. The New York Times Book Review. July 2. 23.

8such as tornadoes.
The earth is groaning. When the people were groaning in Egypt, God sent Moses. Even in Japan,
Gyōki [668-749] did not teach, and talk about the fundamental doctrine, but served the people andthe nature that were groaning.
b. Share sufferings
In the disaster affected area, disaster-related deaths such as “lonely death”, “unattended death”,“hunger death”, “freezing death”, “suicide”, “caregiving-suicide / murder” and “too late death” arespreading. In Article 25 of the Constitution of Japan, which came into effect in 1947, it defines theright to live, but it is a dead culture now. While we have been engaging in listening volunteer in
Ishinomaki City since 2016, we have encountered serious problems of lack of doctors, nurses, caremanagers and caretakers. The number of people engaged in welfare work was significantly short for
the required number even before the 3.11 event. However, the disaster affected area has been faced
to a serious medical crisis since the earthquake. Ishinomaki City, Miyagi Prefecture had the highest
number of casualties in the three prefectures in Tohoku region, and Watanoha area had the most
severely damage and victims by tsunami per area. The people who involve in medical care for thehome-victims in Watanoha were zero after the earthquake and it had continued for a while. The
more you blame, consider about the mental health, the more you feel unhappy. It is written in thewill of a 93-year-old lady from Minami-soma who committed suicide. “I feel more dead than alive
because of the nuclear power every day. I have no other way. Good-bye. I will escape to thegrave.”22 Isn't the death of her an act of forsaking? “The right to housing” in “the International Billof Human Rights”, which Japan ratified in 1979, includes not only “the right to remain the place
where you live now” but also “the right that not allow creating pollution source at near yourresidence”. In order to live continuously, we should not make something like nuclear power plants,
and it is the role of the government to protect individuals from the big companies that are trying tocreate it. However, politicians, officials, economic leaders, scholars, and mass media have been
mutilated by rich contributions from electric power companies so they don't talk about abandoning
nuclear power generations. When I think that it was unnecessary for 93-year-old old lady tosacrifice herself, I feel deep pain from bottom of my heart.
Lonely death and people who do pachinko parlors are in in direct proportion rate in Tohoku area.
Almost 70 ~ 80% of customers are old people. It is because that they lost their community, job andfamily. The relationship between the society and the mind are separated. People have no otherchoice, but forget everything in a loud music. When they leave pachinko parlor, there is nothing.
Even they want to live, but they cannot do agriculture because of radioactive contamination. Thereis no life security. It is like that the administration of the country, prefecture and city are saying“die” in starvation to certain people who are engaging in farmers and fishery in Fukushima, Forlonely elderly people, who lost their families by the earthquake and feel like a living hell andtossing oneself about in great pain with their very limited national pension support, there is no hope22

2011. Mainichi Shimbun. July 9.

9for a day that will come, when they can say “I am so glad to live”.
It is the job inside the nuclear power plant that “the grading of life” goes through even thoughpeople’s life should be equal. Those who live on the streets without residence certificate, theycannot sue even if they are occupationally irradiated. Even today, people are forced to work insidethe dangerous area where employees of Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings don’t enter, undersurveillance.
The number of people who chose to finish their own life will never stop, because they don’t wantto suffer in living hell. Can we cynical about their choice as weak, ephemerality and unmanly?
There is full of unhappiness while they are living. Among the earthquake-related deaths, the rate ofsuicide stands out.
c. From sincerity to self to “circle of justice”.
We must tie again the relationship with a society. We might need another “support” for relationship.
We need to put together a variety of yam to make a strong but kind relationship.
The number of foreigners in the disaster affected area is 75,000. There are 513 people in
Ishinomaki City. There are wives and children who lost their Japanese husbands and father in theearthquake. They cannot even go back to Philippines because their children are already seniors inelementary school. Widows feel alone because there is no foreign married woman in theneighborhood. Their life insurance is about to run out. It is also difficult to find a job, but children
need to go to school. Their hardships are continuing. In order to confirm the safety of foreign
victims and rebuild their lives, it is necessary to have 75,000 volunteers of one-on-one collaborators.
It would be desirable to have more ethnic communities. At the same time, whole Japan must aim for
multiethnic and multicultural coexistence. The tragedy of international marriage is serious. Japanesehusbands, who have only three words of “furo, food, sleep” at home, treat their spouse very badly.
If their food and furo had not ready, their domestic violent is a daily thing. They took the passport oftheir wives and they are just like a king who has a right to give foreign resident status in Japan.
Their wives cannot escape. Before marring, their husband treated them kindly, but they become
violent in less than a year.
The disaster unemployment drives up. Even they want to divorce, there is no resident status, nomoney and it is difficult for foreign wives to find a job. Even if they are employed, employer treats
foreign workers as disposable labor, and there is no punishment regulation against sexual
harassment or power harassment. When they consult with immigration bureau of the Ministry ofJustice, they are just said, “Why you got married?” Office people just say, “Why don’t you go backto Philippines?”, “If you don’t have certificate of DV proof, we cannot accept your appeal”, “Please
consult with others. Immigration bureau office is not the place for life counselling”, “Your bullies
might be caused because you just fall down. We cannot listen to you if you don’t have doctor’scertificate”, or “You just need to bear it”. Listening volunteer in Tohoku region have become an
opportunity to learn about sociopathological phenomena in Japan that lost justice. The air tomanage foreigners by severe eyes of whole Japanese people, media and police is the root of the
10

problem more than immigration control by close monitoring of immigration bureau through“residence card”.
The Japanese have no absolute norms for the emotional proposition, “must be honest”. After all,only “honest to oneself” is the most important virtue point. We will be required to reflect on the factthat we have not criticized toward “honesty”. The most easy-to-understand concept of Japanesebasic religion is “honesty”. However, we need the ability to examine whet here we can extend ourawareness of “human dignity” to other people. Traditionally in Japan, “honesty” for others, forgroups, and for all things is completed in “honesty in oneself”.
As we are wishing for the circulation of nature in “Resurrection of Rice Field, Mountain, and Bay”,
it is the Kairos (time) that each one of us stands out by noticing the “work” that each religious
people hold hands together to pray for “circle of justice” and share it and exercise it. We must not
make our activities as a work or labor of groups, movements and organizations.
<Conclusion>
God has not die in this era. Nature has also not died. But humans have died. If you have a woundon your body, after seven years, your scars will be hardly to see it due to cell metabolism. At the hotspring where injured animals come to heal, a bear does not attack a rabbit. In general, “The wolf
attacks the lambs, the leopard attacks the young goats, and the young lion attacks the calf.”
However, a new heaven and earth is awaited, “The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie
down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will leadthem.”23 Keep in mind the words of Mahatma Gandhi, that “to be bright full, enjoyable, andpersistent”. It is important to keep walking like snail and keep it insist. Someday, like shogi(Japanese chess), a pawn will be a gold general. We hear that “love your neighbors”, but we,
religious people, should be with the oppressed nature and people that in need to have theirneighbors. And as well as we need to be with the vulnerable people by means of cimugurusii(Okinawa dialect. “Sufferings from deep inside”). Not only simply expressing a feeling of sadness,
let’s find out your pain in other’s pain and sympathize with the sorrow that stays deep in mind. Let’slive with the people whose human rights are ignored. I returned from Sichuan, China on July 24.
Although it was only a short time stay, I made a good friend in Youyi County.
It became a learning trip to deepen awareness of the kindness and honesty of the Chinese people.
Let’s go as a first solider of “Ku-en (苦縁. Connection born from sharing sufferings)” to deepen
relationship with neighboring people without having prejudice.
To be connected as “Japanese people became our benefactors from enemy, and we become
friends”, cannot be achieved by the government, bureaucrats and plan on paper. There is a key instruggles that we serve, and we can open the door to a new history.

23

Isaiah 11:6

11