Vol.XV #4December, 2001

NSKK NEWSLETTERNIPPON SEI KO KAI Provincial Office
65 Yarai-cho, Shinjuku-ku,
Tokyo 162-0805 JAPANEditor : E. Hajime Suzuki
Tel. +81-3-5228-3171

Fax +81-3-5228-3175

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ
Christmas 2001 is near, and we will soon enter upon the Year of 2002! At this time of theyear we specially pray , more than ever, for true peace.
In the Peace of Christ let us pray for:Those who were killed or injured by the indiscriminate terrorism inthe U.S.A. in September 2001, and their families and relatives;
All the leaders in the world to make efforts in finding a way to solve
this tragic event, not by revenge with armed force but byreconciliation through peaceful means;Those criminals who died with a false conception of justice;Those Afghans who are in terror of war, in particular for refugees,
children, and women who are suffering from the continuous conflict.
These are part of our daily prayers which we, all the members of NSKK, are saying after
the abominable simultaneous multiple terrorism in the U.S. on 11th September 2001 andthe subsequent combat in the Central and West Asia.
Everyone in the world sincerely hoped that the year of 2001 should have been a first step
towards a hopeful new century, but regretfully it was contrary to our expectations. Theyear 2001 has been a year in which a number of tragic events occurred one after another,
for which we all have to pray.

Turning our eyes to the present Japanese situation, we have encountered various social
issues and problems which could devastate current Japanese society, such as successive
bankruptcy failures of companies attributed to the economic depression, or the increasing
number of lay-offs office workers, resulting in the rapid increase in suicide by males
between 45-59 years old. Domestic devastation may increase juvenile delinquency andcrime. We are now seriously asked to consider what the roles of Christian churches are,and how the Christian churches should act in such circumstances.
The boss of my neighbour across the hedge used to work at a Japanese property insurancecompany that claimed bankruptcy just a week ago, because the company cannot afford
the indemnity for the loss of airplanes caused by the simultaneous multiple terrorism inthe U.S.. Thus terrorism has influenced the daily life of the citizens.
Let all of us continuously pray for Christ ﾕ s Peace, giving to the leaders of internationalsociety the true wisdom and power to abolish destruction and murder; and giving us, thepublic, peace and order in society, so that we will greet a peaceful New Year.
E. Hajime Suzuki
How NSKK deals with human rights issues
Japanese society is confronting human rights issues and problems in many forms, forexample both natural and social. The natural form of human rights means issues
concerning gender, children, elderly people and the family, which present human rights
problems as a social phenomenon. It includes discrimination against women, negligenceof children ﾕ s rights, indifference towards welfare for the ageing, and the disabling or
destruction of families caused by physical or psychological disorders, mental diseases,
self-confinement indoors or domestic violence.
The social form in reality involves political, economical and social discrimination
relating to race, belief, gender, or social/family status. Each form interrelates with eachother and becomes complex; thus there has been no distinction between natural and social

forms, which cannot be separated, resulting in the existence of natural-social problems.
Social-form human rights issues include discrimination against a specific community
which is unique to Japanese society, discrimination against the Ainu people,
discrimination against Okinawans, against Korean residents in Japan (including thosefrom North Korea), alien laborers, the homeless, people with mental or physicalhandicaps, patients with Hansen ﾕ s disease, those living with AIDS/HIV, sexual
minorities, or those forced into work assignments by sex.
Japan has long adopted the Tenno (or Emperor) System, in which a rank system peculiar
to Japan has been firmly established, leading to a problematic and discriminatory social
structure.
As advocated in the 1998 Lambeth Conference, if human rights means the protection ofeach individual ﾕ s dignity, it is our responsibility to acknowledge the significance of eachindividual existence, to secure and protect the ﾒ fullness of humanity ﾓ, and the whole
Christian church should consider how to solve these human rights and discrimination
problems, which completely deny these essential claims.
In NSKK there are various committees actively working on human rights problems, suchas problems relating to the discrimination against a specific community in Japan,
Japan-Korea co-operation, the Emperor System, the Yasukuni Shrine (regarded as
National Shinto Shrine until the end of World War II), and ﾒ Justice and Peace ﾓ (mainly
dealing with issues on Okinawa).
It was a great regret for NSKK that serious infringements of human rights anddiscrimination occurred within the NSKK community. Consequently, there are NSKK
members in each Diocese who are specifically assigned to deal with humanrights/discrimination problems. They are collaborating withcivil movements,ultimately aiming at political and social solutions of the infringement of human rights as awhole. They are, in particular, actively participating in activities in the national
movement for establishing a National Action Programme relating to ﾒ The Decade of

U.N. Human Rights Education ﾓ, and ﾒ A Basic Law for the Liberation of SpecificCommunities ﾓ, which requires us to reconsider the fundamental concept of Japanesehuman rights policy. They are positively involved in the activities for ﾒ Struggling
against the Sayama (the name of a city near Tokyo where a school girl was raped andmurdered) discriminatory trial ﾓ, which is a false accusation that has required retrial over
40 years, and ﾒ Dowa (literarily means ﾒ same Japanese ﾓ) issues ﾓ (discrimination
against a specific community), in collaboration with partners from other religions. It
needs no saying that these activities cannot fully solve the human rights problems inJapan.
It is an immediate necessity for NSKK to teach the importance of getting over ourtendency towards discrimination and prejudice, to promote enlightening or interrelating
activities, and to establish a comprehensive system by which all dioceses and churches
will be involved in problems which have more or less been ignored or which may happen
in the future. It is important for all members of NSKK to fully understand the present
human rights issues existing in Japanese society.
Rev. Nobuyuki Tamitsu(Charge of Human Right Issues)

Living together with street people
In Nagoya city, a group of volunteers estimates that 1500 to 2000 people who can find noother way to live are living on the streets. In the big parks of the central city and under theelevated highways, we see a range of huts made of plastic blue sheets, but under the eavesof buildings around train stations, they are seen sleeping merely on sheets of cardboard or,in some parks, sleeping on benches shivering with cold. As a result, thirty to fifty people
lose their precious lives on the streets or in similar situations in a year.
For the past twenty years, the administration office of the local government had not madeany fundamental policy, but merely taken perfunctory measures. This year, because of theinstruction of the national government, the administration has reluctantly started to takeaction.
To support the street people, there are various kinds of activities, such as food service,night watch, labor /medical/ life consultation, and literacy classes. These activities aredone not only by volunteers, but the street people themselves also participate.
Food is served on every Monday and Thursday from 7pm under the elevated highway,
with the cooperation of ecumenical Christians (Anglican, Roman-Catholic, UCCJ,Lutheran). Around 500 meals are served each time; the materials and the funds are
donated from all over the country. Because the purpose of serving meals is not justproviding food, but to create a society in which these kinds of activities become needless,
we offer space and time, which is called “YORIAI” (meaning getting together), so thatpeople can exchange information and make friends while they prepare the food. Also
entertainment such as video shows and a game corner, and medical service by volunteers
are always provided. Barber service is enjoyed by the people, who rarely have chance toget a haircut.
When Tokai region was attacked by a flood last year, diocesan office of Chubu, took therole of a distribution base to provide clothes and food for the victimized street people.
St. Mark’s Church in Nagoya provides a bath, rest place, barber, and clothing service oncea week. In St. Stephen’s Church to which I belong, on Christmas, Easter, and at the bazaar,
we welcome the street people for our prayer service and after the service we have funtogether. Some of them have become our real sisters and brothers, being baptized andconfirmed. The encounter with them has been really an abundant gift for us all.
It is not so clear what our church should do to create a society in which nobody has to liveon the streets. I pray and hope to live together with them as human beings from now on.
Mary Eiko Takagi / St. Stephen’s Church, Nagoya

Japan-Korea Youth Exchange Program —-We did a big job!
The Japan-Korea Youth Exchange Program was started in Osaka as a relief work-camp
for victims of the earthquakes in 1995. Since then, Anglican youths of both Japan andKorea have been visiting each other for the exchange program every year. Up to the fifthmeeting, the program had been mainly arranged by the grownups and the youths had justparticipated in what had already been arranged. However, from the sixth meeting, adifferent phase was begun; we ourselves, the youths, joined in to make the initial plan,
and at the last step, we made a statement to express our own desire and policy for thefurther activities. This year, we made and carried out the plan based on the statement
which we made last year.
The theme of the meeting this year was, ﾒ Let us walk along together ﾐ the people of
Kotobuki-cho (Yokohama city) and the Korean residents in Japan ﾓ. While many otherexchange programs between two countries were canceled because of the ﾒ distorted
Japanese history textbook ﾓ issues, we decided to carry out the plan. The reason why wechose the theme as above was that we thought we should never forget the Korean
residents (who have always been discriminated against in our society) when we had
exchange programs with Korean youths. We have experienced and learned a lot about theKorean residents and the people who live as daily wage workers in Kotobuki-cho andKawasaki city.
On 18th and 19th Aug., we had an over-night visit to several churches in Tokyo Diocese,
in separate groups, where each group had good fellowship with the congregation, meetingpeople of various generations, and some had a meaningful discussion on the textbook
issues, which we could not take up in the main program. We also had a chance to make afield trip to Yasukuni Shrine.
The purpose of this Exchange Program of the Youths of Korea and Japan is to learn thehistory and the culture of each other, and also to find a way to walk along together for abetter future. It is our hope that this meeting will extend our encounter to a broader extent,not only for the current participants but including more people. This time we werepleased that we could accomplish our purpose to a certain degree.
Though what we do may not seem so great, is it not important that we could think of eachother ﾕ s history and future as of a dear friend ﾕ s, not as that of somebody whom we do
not know well, by making more encounters among each other?
Mari Kawasaki/ A staff member of the program