Persecution Invisible In Japan: A watching Baby

Hi! It's Shellil Linn. (^O^)

I was on the way to tell you how I became a Catholic since my childhood.

In my age five, the old lady Sayo took me to Presbyterian Church not too far away from my house.
I was satisfied with the kindergarten and Sunday school worship and class. 

There was no harassment, no abuse, and kids were so kind to each others even I have mutism and autism. I was so comfortable  attending the Sunday school. 

The old lady Sayo was a stereo type Japanese Christian in the Presbyterian Church.
She was the member of the Church Council, prayer meeting group leader, and very faithful.

I still remember when she taught me about the Lent. She said that faithful Christians attend the special early morning prayer gathering, for 40 days to meditate the suffering and crucifixion of the Christ. She had never missed a day when I was 1st grade.

She was so faithful, kind, nice but isolated from rest of her family. Since she was widowed in her age late 40th, she had worked so hard to raise her only son. Her son became an elementary school teacher, had a wife, and a son and a daughter. 

The Old lady Sayo's daughter in law was a mean woman. She had a nursery school teacher license, although she wasn't "a child-loving" type while her husband was typically "good teacher" type. 

Mrs. Sayo was trying to act like a "good teacher's wife" even she had trouble handling and caring 
her son Toshi and  her daughter Miyo.  Mrs. Sayo was always upset and mad and discouraged whenever she fail the toilet training of three years old Miyo.

The house was always filled with stinky piss smell. 

The old lady Sayo had remorse of herself that it was her responsibility raised her son a good man, but  she believed that she made a kind of mistake raising her son by he made wrong judge on selecting his wife. 

Mrs. Sayo was maybe feeling so isolated to be in a family with a faithful old lady Sayo and good teacher Mr. Sayo, her husband.

I saw Mrs. Sayo set on Toshi and Miyo to make fun of the old lady Sayo. I was just a six years old child, but the scene was so shocking and became life-long trauma.

Since my parents were both having job, I visited two houses when I feel like to do so. 

One was the former rent-house owner widowed lady and the old lady Sayo. I've always stayed beside the old lady Sayo when Mrs. Sayo insist her kids to tease the old lady Sayo. 

Just sitting beside the old lady Sayo was all I could do at that time.

I played with Toshi and Miyo when other children  were around us, but never played with them when Mrs. Sayo and the old lady Sayo were present. 

Since I had mutism and autism at that time, it was very easy to stay quiet and soundless, so Mrs. Sayo never cared if I visited her house or not. Maybe Mrs. Sayo was afraid if her neighbor make a gossip if she send me out of her house without  any identical reason. 

It was still a good time in Japan, that all the housewives and old people were looking after all the children in the community because the community was functioning like a big family until early 1970th.

The old lady Sayo tried her best to take care of me. She taught me about the Bible when Mrs. Sayo and her grand children were gone somewhere. 

Catholic Ohtsu Church in Kyoto

It was a quiet comfortable memory of me hearing the old lady Sayo's  Bible story beside the sick old pilar. The old lady Sayo was so worried about me, cause I've been all alone until my mama come home around six o'clock. 

I was so worried about the old lady Sayo for she seemed too isolated, mentally cornered by bully of two kids to their grandmother. For me, it was literally "abuse" not a childish mistake.

Mrs. Sayo join kids' bully when their was a church member meeting was held in the same morning. For Mrs. Sayo, gathered good Christians were talking and praying "fantastic good" was so boring and unrealistic. 

I was just a kid, but a kind of an observer in Sayo family at that time.

Mrs. Sayo sometimes invited me to have dinner together when Mr. Sayo come home earlier than usual. Mrs. Sayo maybe wanted to show-off how good teacher's wife she is. 

More Mrs. Sayo do her show-off event, more her kids act rude and out-of-control. 

Mrs. Sayo might have thought that all the causes for her stress is the old lady Sayo's Christian faith. 

So, Mrs. Sayo and her kids always bully the old lady Sayo how stupid to be a Christian. 

I'd felt if I was asked to choose whether I join the abuser's side or abused but being honest to myself. I'd choose not to take the abusers' side no matter what will happen in my life in my age seven.

This little story in a small community will give you some idea on the persecution invisible toward Catholic and Christians in Japan. 

Isolated, divided bully in the closed community without someone outrageous  relationship.
Every situation and personal sufferings are different, and cannot be confident if there's someone to talk or hear. 

No one would admit the existence of persecution invisible. 

And the unexpected case happens after this....
 

Persecution Invisible In Japan: By Birth, Be Accepted And To Be

Hi! It's Shellie Linn(^_^)

Everybody in the world born to be "someone". 

Suppose you have born as an American, for an example.

Unless you're in the overseas  you don't really think you're born as an American. Maybe you realize yourself as a NewYorker, or a school teachers' son, or maybe a descendent of Irish, Germany, Mexican, African-American or else.

Being an American by born or by birth certificate never guarantee that a baby American by born become "American adult".

I've heard of an American born child who raised in China by his American  pastor and his wife until he become 12. His parents were killed through Mao's revolution, and raised by faithful Chinese step parents after that. 

He got a chance to come home, New York on his thirty's. He'd try to settle in Big Apple, but, finally he realized that he had become fully Chinese, not an American, although his outfits is typical "anglo-American white man".

This man "came home to China" where his heart really belong to.

So, being accepted by a community is very important both for parents and a baby American. 

A baby become an American by education at home, school, community, church, synagog, and other authorities. 

Also day to day personal experience with other people enforce or discourage "to be or not to be" an American.

Once you become an adult American never guarantee that you'll live as an American until your death. 

If an American man marry to Japanese woman, he might prefer to live in Japan. His children will maybe become Japanese who don't like to speak English with you. 

Then he will probably feel very strange feeling. He's  feeling himself like a father of Japanese child, but Japanese society never accept him as "Japanese" no matter how hard he try to 
be a settled-Japanese until he will see his grandchildren.

In Japan, the most important factor to be a Japanese is "born from Japanese parents". 

Catholic Karuizawa Church

If one belong to special clan family, whose ancestor is famous Samurai or Noble family will receive more respect than a child of a shop owner or an ordinary farmer.

For some family, born as the first son of their family decide a baby's vocation. From Japanese emperor to Kabuki actor, born to that family means inherit their vocation or duty automatically. 

Actually, there are only less than several percent of Japanese born to inherit some job, wellness, and wealth. 

Unfortunately, there's no common system to inherit the traditional culture and religion in Japan for 99% of common people.

In other sense, it is unbelievably free to choose the vocation, evaluation, culture and religion in Japan. 

I've heard of a famous Jesuit priest whose father was a Buddhist monk. His home is the temple, and doing the management and support to Buddhists in his area as a Jesuit.

Neighbors and even the Buddhists do admit to have a Holy Mass in the corner of Buddhist temple without such doubt.

In the other hand, there's social "mood" to enforce "not to use the freedom and liberty to suit into the given situation".

To be a Catholic or Christian had been thought as "taboo" in Japanese society. 

Especially, women are encouraged not to have any self-esteem, belief and confidence in Japan, for she should always be ready to change her self-esteem depends on the "peer pressure" from her parents, husband, and other people around her. 

The peer pressure  reject those who intend or select to be a Catholic or Christian. Some people even justify abuses to Catholic or Christian, just because there is "do it as it had been or don't do it" system.

When we rebuilt a new house ten years ago, a house builder's sales man asked me "not to have a Catholic blessing on OUR land before we start building OUR house". 

According to him, his company do have a system for the land blessing ritual in Shintoism, but not in other religion. 

I told him that we do reject Shintoism, then he strongly not to do any religious ritual for land blessing.  

He could never understand that the religious value and faith belong to each person or family, not his company or "his social understanding according to his personal common senses".

It's a very small part of day to day persecution invisible to Catholics and Christians in Japan.

In Japan, Catholics and Christians are always asked "to be with Christ or not to be".

If you are in the society, area or nation where Catholic and Christianity is settled as a tradition, you'll never think about " to be or not to be". 

But, to inherit any tradition, everybody in the world must face the truth of your culture, faith, and tradition and always need to stand-by to be renewed and reformed. 

If your culture, religion, tradition, language, poem, songs, music, or whatever you have now is becoming "boring event with less joy and more abuses", it is time to think about renew and refresh with the new wind.  

Persecution Invisible in Japan: My memory with Presbyterian Sunday School

Hi! It's Shellie Linn.  (^o^)

It is so sad to confess that my previous blog page was partly not-readable by some reason. Seems like someone had re-written the HTML tag to white out the back ground of the font.

I've been away from this page since there was some trouble with my dear old friend PC. I'm on the way to built a good relationship with my new PC, but it took me some time. And above inccident happened during my PC was down last week.

I'd like to believe in the security system of google blogger system,  and hope it was just an accident.

My father was once belonged to Holiness Church near by US army base and took me to the Holiness
Church just one time.

He had sung me "What a friend we have in Jesus" during my toddlerhood. And the Hymnal had given me a great impression.

After he stopped going the Holiness Church, I was kind of away from Christianity.

But, my kindergarten principle was a Christian, and let some children do the Nativity Play. So, the impression of Nativity play had kept me something like "Christianity".

When I became 5 years old, my mother decided to buy a new house, and moved to a new home.
At the new home, there's a R&B discotheque next to us, plane moor, and no neighbors around us. No child was living around new home.

I was kind of bored being alone, but the old rent house I once was lived was more than ten minutes walk for a little one. I didn't know the way back to old friends anyway.
My both parents have been working, so off days are so busy with cleaning, washing and do all the household works. Since I was crying baby even in age five, my parents were put off looking after me on Sunday.

One day, an old lady living near by the old rent house we once lived visited us on early Sunday morning if she can take me to the Presbyterian Church Sunday school if my father would bring me back after the Sunday school worship and the Sunday school class followed by the worship.
For my parents, it was a kind of "Gospel" that they can devote into the household work without nursing a troublesome child.

The Church was the new world for me. I enjoyed singing the child hymnals and hearing the classical phrases of the Holy Bible I could never understand what was really said. And the reading time at the Sunday school was so fascinating to me hence I love to hear the readings.
It was early 1970th, and both kindergarten and the Presbyterian Church were out of my public school area. So, Until I enter the public elementary school, I've never felt the "mood of fascism" in the area around the new home.

Catholic Yamato Church

The mood of the society was still much liberal than 21st century Japan in one sense from 1947 to early 1970th.

But the conservatism kick back from the post-war period was still their. People were naturally co-independent, and seeking the way to reach out to independent self-esteem.

I've read some books on philosophy, psychology, psychiatry and anthropology books translated into Japanese language on about 1960-1980, and understand what was so difficult to find the matching feeling between English, French, Germany or other European languages and Japanese languages after I become an adult.

And there was their reason why even those top scholars of liberal arts had big trouble accepting the non-Japanese or I may name "out-of-Galapagos-Japanese culture" as the same human matter.

Anyway, I was just a little child at that time with autism. So, I never really aware of what will be really going of after that time.(To be continued)

Persecution Invisible In Japan: Fantastic Image to "join a religious body in person"

Hi! It's Shellile Linn.(^O^)

Most of you who have born in a society or area where some kind of religious culture have already settled to both with your community, family and  connected with you personally.

For example, if you born in Siena Italy or Dublin, Ireland, your community, society, cultural background and your family belong to Catholic church no matter if you like it or not. You don't have any other choice in such area where Catholic tradition is so strong and deeply rooted in her history. 

So, one born in such area receive baptism and other sacraments without having any other chance to select "something else" than Catholic church until you become an independent enough.

Most of Japanese people don't understand why a baby born in Siena Italy receive baptism in
Catholic church. 

I know most of you receive baptism to join your community you belong and accepted,  get married, have funeral and burial with your family. And many of you except some never aware why you live the way you've been.

Christianity require every one of us to have personal relationship with our Lord Christ through baptism.

The situation is similar in Jewish and Muslim. Jewish require to celebrate Bar Mitzvah for all boys and Bat Mitzah for girls if they allow like protestant Christian receive baptism. Muslims have also their initiation ritual to become a Muslim or Musulima.

I'm not sure if a Jewish can covert from the born sect to the other sect(ex: Modern Orthodox →Super Orthodox) after one become an adult by one's personal intention.

However, Muslims can convert from Shiaha to Sunni or Sunni to Shiaha in the country like Iran or Iraq without having such trouble with their family. So, there could be a Sunni father and a Shiaha son in one family hold. 

For Catholics and Christians, it might become a big big trouble if one family member whose family members are all Presbyterian convert to Catholic! It could be a scandalous matter in a small community or in a traditional family.

It is surely better to see a conversion in-Christianity than a Jewish person convert to other religion such as Christianity.

99.9% of Japanese people don't understand the point of above problem, because Japanese Buddhism and Shintoism never require to belong these religion personally nor any initial ritual to enter the religious body. Temples and Shrines just count all the family member belong to them without asking the personal will to each members. There's no such education exist on Japanese Buddhism and Shintoism, too.

 If you ask an ordinary Japanese person a common question; what is your religion?. Then this person may  get upset, and start talking about "what is religion?" or you might hear "I'm atheist!" by very sad misunderstanding of this word in Japan!

Both consequences will make you regreted and confused.

It means most of Japanese are just being safe & easy being "not religious personally". 

So, if you're a nice businessman, you better not ask any Japanese business person who claim oneself as "Buddhist" or "Shintoist" about their holidays to celebrate, initial rituals and other basic teaching of their religion. 99% of ordinary Japanese people have not much chance to learn about these professional terms in the religious studies anyway.

In other word, majority of Japanese have very grand and fantastic image to "have religious belief  in person".

Famous Catholic nun, Sister Kazuko Watanabe, the Principle of Notre Dame Seishin Women's University was condemned by her mother "you haven't become a perfect girl nor change anything even you become a Catholic! I see no improvement after you baptized in Catholic church!".

So, she had done her very best to be near-perfect Catholic. She'd been originally all A+ student, became a teacher, a novice, a nun and a famous writer although she's a daughter of a famous politician killed in 2.26 military rebel in 1935.

Holy Mother exposed by Atomic Bomb in Urakami Cathedral.

Most of Japanese people have never had a doubt if their fantastic image to be connected with a religious body personally is right or wrong, as if a man in Siena never doubt why he was baptized in Catholic church.

And the fantastic imagination on joining a religious body in person causes the persecution invisible in Japan.

I was a child who was mystically lead to Christianity. And I was in a public elementary school which was fully under control of a vice principle and a typical "Japan Conference" type.

So, there was always invisible pressure "why your school performance is so poor even you go to Christian church on Sunday? " Ijime over me was justified because I wasn't a perfect Christian type in my age about ten..

This logic is a tricky cheating one. 

I mean, have you ever seen any Catholic or Christian born as a perfect person after receiving a baptism? If there's a really faithful child or an adolescent who is seriously faithful and deeply devoted, it is especially evaluable in Catholic or Christian society or culture. 

In Japan, all Catholic and Christian or "just interested in Christianity" need to be very patient for the social pressure which is given only for very few with grace & blessed.

The social pressure in Japan is worth to scare 99% of people to stay away from anything related with Christianity except from famous mission schools and nursing home.

The persecution invisible for Christianity surely have been a critical body blow to the Japanese traditional society.

As in the old saying, when you curse someone, you dig your own grave.

Since the Japan Conference have been pooh-poohing the serious devotion and voluntary action done based on Christianity, 99% of people feel pesimistic on being voluntary or pay donation with good will.

For example, Abe cabinet had spent over two hundred thousand USD to set up a homepage to gather donation for poor children in Japan hence one out of every six children are in very poor condition.

But, since no one really trusted this crazy attempt done by Japan Conference cabinet, the donation Abe cabinet gathered was less than 1/3 of the budget spent for the homepage!

We Japanese Catholics and Christians are also being very careful for every action we take include doing volunteer or giving a small donation.

In one hand we need to stick with our Lord Christ as if each one of us are on the way to Saint, but be very careful not to get a damage or burden originated by the fantastic image for Christianity.

We also hear a good news everywhere. 

It is very common to hear about the mystical relief, healing, good death, and else on Sunday Mass every week.

The persecution invisible in Japan letting us urge to aware belonging to a religious body and seeking the religious belief is something different.

Our condition also suggest a good advice to the whole world. One maybe born to a community, society or culture, and have historical inheritance inside. But, to update the culture suitable to changing conditions and people, every one of us need to know and become a Catholic, Christian American, French, Berliner, or Irish by each of our endless effort and hand down to those who will live after us. 

May Lord bless all the people who are suffering by not knowing who one really are, Amen.. 

 

　

Prologue; My way to be a Catholic

Hi! It's Shellile Linn.(^O^)

There are about 1% of Catholics and 4% of Christians are there in Myanmar where  where "Al-Qaeda in Buddhism" rule the religious culture over the nation.

Catholics and Christians in Myanmar have still been in very difficult situations according to their letters and faxes which have sent to fellow missionaries in Japan.

In Nepal, there are about 1.5% to 3% Catholics and Christians, although Nepali government recently banned to encourage the religious conversion by law.

By above law had put in force, many missionaries and priests had to leave Nepal. All missionaries had lost their valid visa to stay in Nepal.

In Vietnam, there are about 7% of very faithful Catholics, although the Vietnamese government has been strictly limiting the number of novices to enter the Seminary, have an ordination and to be a nun or a monk novice in convents  and monasteries.

Yokohama Diocese in Japan have been accepting the Vietnamese Seminary students to support the Catholics in both Vietnam and Vietnamese living in Japan.

Compare to these Asian nations which are offensive to Catholicism and Christianity, you see no strict persecution in Japan. Japanese people seem to be enjoying the freedom of religion under Japanese constitution article No. 20th.

Catholic Miyatsu Church in Kyoto. Second oldest Church in Japan with Tatami mat.

However, why Catholics in Japan are still 0.2% of total population?

Many Japanese people believe that Catholics and Christians are clannish and "unsuitable to Japanese society".

I know this belief of anti-Christianity have been a political myth with malicious intention.

Let me tell my family case. My case seemed to be rare and stormy, but it surely tells you the worst situation Japanese Catholics and Christians have been.

My blood-related grandma was an accountant and had baptism in some protestant church by her faith. The time she had lived was just before the Kanto Great Earthquake and died on about 1925.

According to my father, she was a kind of friend with Yobun Kaneko, the famous socialist before the WWII.

Her baptism had made whether her family or people around her so mad. She seemed as she had strong faith.

By the social conform pressure, she was forced to live with an old mountain ascetic layman who is my grandfather in blood.

Maybe she was forced to laps from Christianity by him, suffered, and raped.

Finally she left a picture, an ebony calculator, a set of old and new testament
Bible, and a baby. She died by postpartal heavy bleed on the day she gave my father a birth.

My father often tells me that he remember the Italian pastor and his wife, whose denomination is not sure visited him time to time when he was a little boy.

So as the socialist Kaneko visited him just like some relative or family member.

After my grandfather died, he was adopted to his uncles' couple.

After his death, my father started to visit Sunday school of Holiness church near by his little house, which is surely different denomination from the one my grandmother had believed in.

During WWII, her Bibles had turn to ash by the great air strike in Tokyo on 1945.

My father is kind of easy going and float-scared type man whose characteristics is exactly opposite to me.

My father left that Holiness church when I was about three years old. And the church disappeared, Since he had been looking for something to belong, not something to believe in, he had never try to find any other church to visit.

For him, the disappearance of church meant the extinction with the relationship with Christianity.

My family might had loose all the relationship with the Christianity in general if there is not a hand from Holy Spirit work on me.(To be continued)

Persecution Invisible In Japan: Cult Sects Privileged?

Hi! It's Shellile Linn.(^O^)

The Catholic parish I belong is about a middle size community in urban area Japan. And there are a lot of Philippine-originated or descended members in our church.

Somehow, we see the dirty hands in our small community.

At the today's homily, our Salesian pastor warned two things.

One is those movements which have brought by not-so-concerned priests, which might cause the division and confrontation in the Japanese community, such as the movement of the Holy Spirit, St. Pius X community, and other mystically faked practices pretended as the traditional Catholic catechisms.

So, they have to start from the very beginning of "How I be a Christian".. Since there's no such deep Christian tradition in this country, all the first generation Catholics and Christians need to catch the Christianity by each of oneself.


And the situation cause many trouble in the Catholic church in Japan.

Catholic Egami Church in Nagasaki

Many Japanese Catholics and Christians are the first generation Christian converted from "not-so-much-religious" who's family, religion have been the ambiguous mixture of Buddhism, Shintoisms, and ancestral worships.

I know many non-Japanese imagine Japanese people are Buddhists. However, over 90% of "self-styled Buｄdhists" in Japan don't know what is Buddha.

Except the elder generation over 60-70th, ancentor worships in Japan is considered as the love to the family members who had passed away, not the ancestral spirits in general. We can see this tendency through recent tolls, too.

Shintoism is in chaos for most of Japanese. Like any other people in all the nations, many Japanese are living in scaring free-floating anxiety in this period of confusion and destruction.

Many prefer to talk to fortune tellers, counselors in some sect religion instead of seeking truth in person.

Since Shintoists, Shinto priests and the Shrines have their quota to sell the amulets and talismans to gather the donations for endless Grand Shrine(Daijingu) construction, they do the consignment sales through fortune tellers and sect members.

Many Japanese people who convert to Catholicism and Christianity never really aware how they had been brainwashed is this society.

So, those converted Catholics and Christians are very easy to be cheated by evil-minded "Christian group".

Somehow, the sect leaders such as the Apostolic Catholic Church, movement of the Holy Spirit and the Blocks of Rosary can easily get the missionary visa with the counterfeit missionary ID in Japan.

Many monasteries, convents and priors are cheated by faked missionaries everywhere.

As far as I aware, the immigration office in Japan is making this situation with some intention.

I remember some cases happened about a decade ago.

Once a police came to the Catholic Kindergarten to arrest a three year old little girl whose mother was arrested on the same day due to illegal overstay.

Our brave nun resisted to the police not to arrest and jail a little child who cannot go to the restroom without nursery assistance.

A similar case happened in a public elementary school nearby. But the principle allowed the police to arrest a ten year old boy with the epilepsy in front of his classmates in the middle of class time.

This boy spent a night in the detention center with adult suspects without necessary care stated by the Convention on the Rights of the Child. He had no idea to know why he was treated as a criminal.

Although the immigration and policies have been so strict to the illegal overstay, they are so kind to sect missionaries.

I think the Japanese immigration office and the government have been well-aware that those "faked" sect missionaries belong to suspicious sects

Since "divide, split, isolate and enslave" is the traditional bureaucratic policy in Japan, these sect leaders seemed profitable for extreme right wing
Abe cabinet and Japan conference.

Our pastor warned all of us, especially Filipinos not to be cheated by those who are against our Credo and Roman Catholic Church.

In other hands, there are so many blogs in the internet which slander the truly faithful as "narrow minded" or "monomania".

We Catholics in Japan are trying our best to our community as one, and turn their mind who have got involved with the temptation from Japan conference members.

This series of persecution made me aware what the Japanese Christian culture really is.

Please pray for those who are in trouble by invisible persecution toward Catholics and Christians in Japan.