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About the Producers of God’s Fingerprints in Japan
God’s Fingerprints in Japan was produced by a team of people
from Japan and Hawaii. Although the main production of the video took place in Hawaii, the Japanese team was our guide throughout
this project. Without them, this DVD would not have been possible. It has taken seven years and over $100,000 (if waived salaries
by the producers are taken into account) to produce this DVD. This project was a labor of love for the Japanese people, we
ask them to please accept our humble gift.
God’s Fingerprints in Japan has won a 2005 Telly Award in the
Religious film category. For endorsements from international leaders for God’s Fingerprints in Japan, go to: www.alohakeakua.org The DVD can be played on computers and DVD players in the United States and Japan.
It contains an English version, a Japanese version, an English with Japanese subtitles version and a Japanese with English
subtitles version.
This film is culture specific for the Japanese and may seem vague or not “hard hitting” enough
to Western minded people. Our Japanese team assures us that the point of this film is very clear to the Japanese without being
too foreign (aggressive) in style.
The Executive Producer of the video is Aloha Ke Akua Ministries.
Aloha Ke Akua is a non-denominational, non-profit, educational ministry based in Hawaii. Aloha Ke Akua’s board members
are from many denominations and are from Asia, Oceania, North and South America, Africa, and the Middle East. For more information
about Aloha Ke Akua Ministries and its board, go to the section on ministry information at: www.alohakeakua.org
The Lead Producer is Rev. Daniel Kikawa BS, PhM, president of Aloha
Ke Akua Ministries. Daniel is an ordained minister with Grace Bible International. He has been researching the relationship
of culture and Christianity for over 20 years and has been a lecturer at Bible colleges and missionary schools around the
world. Daniel is the main writer of the script with input and correction from the rest of the team.
Don Mapes
is an award winning videographer/director who has worked in secular television for over 30 years. He has worked with
over 25 networks from around the world and has directed and edited award winning international marketing videos for clients
such as Sony Corporation, IBM, and GTE. Among his many awards, he has won two Telly awards for his video, The Promise, a documentary
of the 4th World Christian Gathering on Indigenous People. Don did all of the directing, filming and editing on this
video.
Our main translator and Japanese advisor is Rev. Junji Ono, STM. Junji is a Japanese national who lives
in Hawaii; however, he travels to Japan about once a month. Junji is very sought after as a translator. Corporations will
hire him to fly to New York to translate for one meeting and then fly him to Tokyo to translate for another. Junji also oversees
home churches in Hawaii and Japan for Hope Chapel (Foursquare).
Rev. Sakae Sugino is the main source of information
for this video. He has been researching the Christian history of Japan for over 30 years. He is a member of the Kyoto Christian
History Study Committee and curator of its museum in Kyoto. The Hidden Christian artifacts in the video are from the museum.
He is also the pastor of the Rakusai Baptist Church in Kyoto.
Rev. Iichi Hamasaki is the pastor of Otsu Baptist
church.
Rev. Isao Iseki is a member of the Kyoto Christian History Study Committee. He is the pastor of Wakayama
Baptist church.
Purpose of God’s Fingerprints in Japan
The main purpose of God’s Fingerprints in Japan is to let people
of Japanese ancestry everywhere know that God loves them. Christianity has been in Japan for at least 450 years, yet, only
1.6% of the Japanese people claim to be Christian. Among Japanese Americans, only 3% have accepted Christ. Many
of those who claim to be Christians feel they have accepted a foreign God and are torn between being Japanese and being a
Christian. They see the God of the Bible as a foreign God who prefers Western people and their culture to Japanese people
and their culture. In our experience, this is the largest roadblock to the acceptance of the Gospel among Japanese.
This video suggests to the Japanese people that the Creator God is not a foreign God but a Japanese God, and that being a
believer in Jesus and being Japanese are not contradictory.
“When
teaching at missionary schools, I always ask non-Western students what their main objection was to accepting Christ. The main
objection, and I am using a mild word because many times it was actually resentment and anger, was that the Christian God
was a foreign God who did not love their people. I have found this objection in nearly all non-Western peoples I meet around
the world, including most Japanese. Their thoughts are, ‘The Christian God is not our God and he doesn't love us. If
he did love us, we would see his hand of care and involvement in the long history of our people. Instead, he dwelt in the
West, only cared for them, and only accepts their culture.’
-Daniel Kikawa
Our Missiological method, therefore, is to suggest to the
Japanese people that the God of the Bible is their God, that he has displayed loving care and involvement in their history
and culture, and that he loves their culture just as much as Western culture.
In Acts 15:1-29 is recorded a problem
that occurred when the first Gentiles (non-Jewish people) became believers in Christ. At this time, there were only Jewish
Christians who were still attending the synagogue and following the laws of Moses. They were cultural Jewish Christians and
it was not only okay to be culturally Jewish, it was the norm. Some of these Jewish Christians insisted that the non-Jewish
believers in Jesus needed to be culturally Jewish too. They wanted the non-Jewish believers to be circumcised and to follow
the laws of Moses. The apostles and elders held a meeting about this important issue that threatened to divide the young church.
They decided that the non-Jewish believers in Christ did not have to become culturally Jewish to be believers in Jesus but
may remain culturally who they were. In other words, they believed that Christianity transcends all cultures and yet encompasses
all cultures.
Part One of the DVD – The Japanese Name for the Creator God
Part One of God’s Fingerprints in Japan asks the question,
“If there is only one Creator of the entire universe, could the Creator spoken of in the Bible be the same Creator of
Japan?”
Does the Bible suggest there would be a name for the Creator in Japanese history and culture?
Romans
1:20 says, “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine
nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.” (NIV)
Acts
17:26-28 “From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the
times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach
out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’
As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’ (NIV)
If these two scriptures are true,
then God has made himself clearly seen to all men from the beginning of time. Wherever he placed them around the world, even
in the deepest jungles or on an island in the middle of the sea, he was never far from any one of them. He was so close to
them that they lived, moved and had their being in him and all men everywhere are rendered without excuse to know him. If
this is so, then there should be many things in every people’s history and culture that points to this relationship
with God as God reaches out for man and man searches for his Maker. This is known as the “General Revelation”
of God to all men as opposed to the “Special Revelation” of God that is recorded in the Bible.
Part Two of the DVD – God Does Not Hate the Japanese or Their
Culture
Japanese cultural ideals are full of Godly principles: honor, humility,
service, self sacrifice, respect for elders and leaders, loyalty, unity, etc. We should honor these Biblical truths within
Japanese culture because they show that God was already working within the hearts of the Japanese people. (Romans 2:14-15).
In Japanese culture, as in all cultures, there are many things that may not be of God and there are many things
that could be of God. The things that are from God should be treasured. They are a legacy of God’s love for the Japanese
people, tokens of his affection for them. It is not a cultural issue, it is a love issue! The culture is just an outward expression
of the beautiful and unique way God created the Japanese people.
Just one of these keepsakes of God’s intimate
involvement in Japan is featured in this video, the Tea Ceremony or Chado, the Way of Tea.
Why is It so Important to allow the Japanese Christians to be Japanese?
We are not suggesting that the current Japanese church must change
its forms of organization and worship. People should worship and organize in whatever forms they feel comfortable. By the
same token, we would want to urge the church to encourage traditional cultural forms among those believers for whom Japanese
forms would be the most comfortable.
We find that God is reaching out in this way in many cultures around
the world. People who have formerly resisted the Gospel are now responding when they are allowed to “be who they are”
as a Christian. One Native American chief related why he did not attend church by saying, “I am an honest man, this
(being Native American) is who I am.” He refused to attend church because he could not be who he was
there; he had to “act” like a Westerner. He was too honest to be a “fake” person before his Creator.
Even Westernized, urban youth have responded to a Gospel presented and practiced in cultural forms. It is very effective for
Christ to be transmitted in the language and culture of a people because it is their “heart language.” It is then,
no longer a foreign Christianity transplanted from the missionaries’ culture, but “Our”
Christianity. Many missiologists who study Japan conclude that there is not yet a “Japanese form of Christianity.”
The Japanese maintain their culture and love their history. Popular samurai and historical dramas are still
shown nightly on Japanese television and many are involved in traditional Japanese arts such as the tea ceremony (chado),
flower arranging (ikebana), poem writing (haiku), and the martial arts (kendo, karate, judo, jujitsu, etc.).
It
is true that the Japanese are very resourceful and most Japanese have adopted many Western and modern ways. However, don’t
let this fool you, they are still uniquely Japanese. Japanese businesses may look very Western but if a person
goes to Japan and tries to do business American style, he will fail miserably. The business protocols, organizational, decision-making
and hierarchical structure are all uniquely Japanese. We, the church in general, have made many of the same mistakes the Western
businessmen have.
As all strong and vital cultures do, the Japanese have taken foreign influences and made them
uniquely their own. For instance, tempura is known worldwide as a Japanese dish. However, most people don’t know that
the Japanese never fried foods until the Portuguese arrived. The Japanese took the Portuguese technique of frying donuts and
turned it into the uniquely Japanese tempura! Popular Japanese comic books, movies and cartoons portray samurai heroes with
modern hairdos and in a Japanese “techno” style. Japanese “anime” style has even become popular worldwide.
If they desire, can the Japanese sit on the floor as they do in other religious situations, wear kimonos at
special events, take part in the tea ceremony, adapt the okoto, bamboo flute, taiko drum and Japanese style dancing to modern
worship music and still be good Christians? Does God only love Western style worship, dance, organizational structure, architecture,
etc.? Does the Jerusalem Council’s decision in Acts 15:28-29 prohibit Japanese style? If it doesn’t prohibit these
things, can Japanese church be Japanese in style? Again, it is not a cultural issue, it is a love issue. It shows that God
loves and accepts the Japanese people as they are.
Part Three of the DVD – The Need for Western Chrstians to
Release the Japanese
Although most Japanese Christians are too polite to tell their Western
friends, many of them have been dishonored and hurt by Christians unknowingly rejecting who they are as Japanese. It is natural
for all people to unconsciously gravitate to what they know, trust and feel comfortable with. It is also natural to feel unsure,
want to change or avoid what is strange, unfamiliar or uncomfortable; especially when it comes to “sacred” things.
Unconsciously, the church in general has rejected the culture that flows from the Japanese people. Most have done this innocently,
not realizing that they had gravitated toward doing church in Western style and not understanding the impact this has had
on the Japanese.
It is difficult for the Japanese, who as a cultural norm honor and follow their leaders, to
change and use their culture without the blessing and encouragement of their Western denominations. Therefore, we humbly ask
Western denominational church leaders and missionaries to please encourage their Japanese brothers and sisters in Christ to
appreciate and celebrate the wonderful culture God has given to them.
For more information go to the Culture
Specific Evangelism and Culture Based Evangelism section: >click here
Back to the DVD and Video page.
Copyright © October 2005 by Aloha Ke Akua Ministries
All Rights Reserved. No part of this article may be reproduced in any form without the written consent
of Aloha Ke Akua Ministries. For permission, go to the “ contact us” section on our website at: www.alohakeakua.org
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