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Local Outreach
Border to Border
Hope for Hopeless
Give Ye Them To Eat
Agua Prieta
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Tim and Yuko "Juji" Boyle
5-29-301 Yasui-cho
Nishinomiya-shi, Hyogo-ken, Japan 662-0045
Tel/fax (011) 81-798-78-5069
E-mail: za3t-byl@asahi-net.or.jp
website: www.konkyo.org
April 2008 Newsbrief
It is with a mixture of grief and joy that we send this newsbrief. Tim's 96 year-old mother, Faye Boyle, passed away on April 15. Needless to say, it was not exactly unexpected, given her age. She, however, "knew where she was going" and "whose she was," and so we can rejoice that she is in a glorious existence now.
Tim is scheduled to be attend the Make-A-Wish International conference this week in Orlando, Florida, and since he had scheduled a 3-day stopover in Minneapolis to see Lisa (who recently began work there as an acupuncturist and herbal medicine doctor), the plan is to take a quick side trip separate from his "fixed ticket" route back to Japan, and fly to Phoenix for a memorial service on April 28 at 2 pm at Central United Methodist Church (her home church). Tim will preside at the service and give a memorial tribute to his mother. Lisa will also be present in Phoenix to represent the family. Juji and Jennifer will remain here in Japan, as the expense and difficulty of journeying separately make that the best option.
Juji is doing okay medically since her last treatment session in Feb./March. There are, however, still some issues with medication levels that are taking some time to sort out, and so this is another reason not to risk a quick trip to the US. As always, your prayers in her behalf (and for the rest of the family) are appreciated.
Another bit of family news is that Jennifer has been accepted to a one-year study program in art at the "Studio Art Centers International" in Florence, Italy. She has been working hard for the last couple of years to save her money for this program and will attend the 2008-2009 school year there, earning a graduate degree in art. Needless to say, she is excited about her upcoming adventure (as are we). She plans to gain experience and hone her considerable art skill, which she hopes to be able to use in some form of ministry here in Japan in the future.
Love,
Tim and Juji Boyle |
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Tim and Yuko "Juji" Boyle
5-29-301 Yasui-cho
Nishinomiya-shi, Hyogo-ken, Japan
662-0045
Tel/fax (011) 81-798-78-5069
E-mail: za3t-byl@asahi-net.or.jp
Website: www.konkyo.org
April 2008
To Our Friends and Supporters:
Belated Easter Greetings from Japan! Usually, at this time of year in early April, we would be preparing for Passion Week and a glorious Easter among the cherry blossoms. This year, however, Easter came just about as early as the lunar calendar allows it to, and so it came and went long before the cherry blossoms. When considering the power of tradition in our lives, one thought that occurred to me was how nice it would be if the World Council of Churches
could discuss the issue of the timing of Easter and choose a particular Sunday (for instance, the second Sunday of April) as the day we celebrate it every year. Here in Japan, the beginning of both the school year and the fiscal year is April 1, and so the end of March and beginning of April is an especially busy time for most people. This often makes if difficult for Japanese Christians to fully participate in the Passion Week/Easter events. So, having a set time after
that would certainly be much more pragmatic than having the timing of Easter so different from year to year.
When it comes to the tradition of the timing of Easter, that is only a relatively minor inconvenience, and so breaking the power of that tradition (which in itself is deeply meaningful, from the standpoint of its association with the Jewish Passover and "Salvation History" as demonstrated in the Exodus) in order to simplify our modern lives is not something we intend to invest our time and energy in. As we say here in Japan, "Rots of Ruck" on that one! When it comes to the traditions that are the basis for various forms of discrimination,
however, it is a very different story. The kind of class discrimination experienced by people of buraku descent in Japan is based on such an evil tradition ? namely that of religiously sanctioned concepts of "defilement" and "purity."
Jesus taught that it is what comes out of a Shukugawa River, just a short walk from our apartment, person's mouth and not what goes in that defiles someone in God's eyes. In other words, what is important in God's sight is inward purity of thought (which translates into our words and deeds) and not the outward "purity" many believe can be achieved by avoiding anything considered "defiling" and then focusing on outward rituals of purification when such contact is unavoidable.
Within the context of Japan, Buddhist and Shinto concepts of defilement and purity were the seedbed in which class discrimination developed. People who were marginalized for one reason or another and lived in squalor along riverbanks and other undesirable places were pressed into the role of "purifying" whatever was deemed defiling in the society. For instance, when a body (animal or human) had to be disposed of, it was these marginalized people that were called upon to remove this defilement from society. When a plague struck Kyoto in the middle ages and many people died, there was tremendous "defilement" that had to be purified. But the act of doing that made the stigma of the defilement on these people just that much stronger, and thus a vicious cycle was set up that further strengthened this caste-like system.
During the feudal era, the "shogun" rulers of Japan further strengthened these sanctions as a means of social control, even going so far as to criminalize any form of non-compliance, including not discriminating against the Eta (literally "Great Filth"), as the Burakumin were referred to at that time. There were many subtleties to this complex system that can't be spelled out in a short newsletter, but this is sufficient to give western readers an idea of how these evil traditions developed and how important it is to replace them in society with good traditions of human rights based in the valuing of all human beings.
What is it that truly has the power to replace evil traditions with good ones? The power of the Risen Christ! That was a central feature of Jesus' ministry. "You have heard that it was said ... But I tell you ...", which was followed by an exposé of what the true spirit of the Law really is ? namely the inner heart and not the outward appearance. Christ has given this same ministry to his followers, and our ministry here at the Buraku Liberation Center focuses on the societal aspects of that transforming power. Christ is risen indeed! May his resurrection power fill you and guide you in his footsteps.
Love, Tim and "Juji" Boyle |
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Tim and Yuko "Juji" Boyle
5-29-301 Yasui-cho
Nishinomiya-shi, Hyogo-ken, Japan 662-0045
Tel/fax (011) 81-798-78-5069
E-mail: za3t-byl@asahi-net.or.jp
Website: www.konkyo.org
March 2008
Greetings from Japan! It's been 5 months since we relocated in the Osaka-Kobe area and began our new ministries. There is much to report on, but in this "newsbrief" (which we send electronically only), we will focus on an aspect of Tim's work that has continued from before. For the last several years, Tim has served as the representative for the "Southern Presbyterian Mission in Japan", which includes serving on the board of the Yodogawa Christian Hospital. On March 11, the anniversary of the founding of YCH, Tim preached a short message at the morning chapel to over 300 doctors and nurses, and as the message relates to the focus of Tim's work at the Buraku Liberation Center, we thought we would share the English translation with our supporters. We will also be sending out a new "Crowned With Thorns" newsletter from the BLC later this month.
What Are "Human Rights?
I have here a 1000-yen bill. Physically speaking, it is nothing but a piece of paper, but because the Japanese government puts its guarantee behind it, this piece of paper has a value of 1000 yen. As this bill is used in circulation, it will over time get dirty and perhaps even a bit torn. In fact, I can purposely crumple it up, throw it on the floor and grind my foot on it. (Well, I won't injure this bill any further, but I think you get the point.) So, how has this mistreatment affected the worth of this bill? Does the degree of wear and tear decrease its value to, for instance, 800 yen? Or if it really gets dirty, is it now only worth 500 yen? No, of course not. It is still worth the same 1000 yen.
Now, what if we apply that same principle to human beings? What is it that determines our worth as human individuals? Just as it was the guarantee of the creator of this 1000-yen bill that gave it its inherent value, so it is the guarantee of the Creator of each of us human beings that determines our inherent value. Unfortunately, however, this principle is not often realized in the world we live in.
Since last October, I have been working on the issues of "human rights" and "discrimination" through the ministry of the Buraku Liberation Center of the United Church of Christ in Japan. In our brief time together this morning, I would like to look at this issue of what "human rights" really are and what they are based in.
So first of all, we need to ask the question of what the basis for "human rights" is. How is it that the "human rights" we normally think of came into being? Did they simply evolve on their own in various cultures? Or is there something from outside of the human experience that they are based in? The biblical answer to this question is that our value as human beings comes from each of us having been created in the "image of God." It is this inherent value that is present in each human being that forms the basis for human rights.
If, however, this biblical view of human beings and the resultant human rights they possess is wrong and if we have simply evolved from lower life forms by random-chance mutations and natural selection alone as Darwinian evolution proposes, then the "natural" social order should indeed be "the survival of the fittest." Following this to its logical conclusion would mean that society should simply follow the "law of the jungle" and let the weak die off.
We rightly cringe at such a thought, but why should this be the case? It is because we truly are "created in the image of God," and this is what the very notion of "human rights" is grounded in. If this were not so, then our present concepts of human rights would merely be a construct of each culture and we would have no valid basis for criticizing the abuse of "human rights" (as we perceive them) by anyone else. But intuitively, we know that there really are universal human rights.
Discrimination that is based in who a person is (as opposed to what he or she has done) is in direct violation of these universal human rights. Discrimination of people based on who they are as opposed to what they have done, such as is the case with buraku discrimination, is one form of such sinful behavior. It is based on the misperception that certain people are inferior because of their family heritage. The same can be said of racial, ethnic, gender and socioeconomic discrimination, along with discrimination due to a variety of handicapping conditions. No one can choose such factors in his or her own life. They are a given, and so making value judgments based on such factors is what leads to the injustice of discrimination.
Who you are is God's gift to you. What you do with what you've been given is your gift to God. It is true that God judges us based on what we've done, but he values us based on who we are ? namely as creatures created in God's own image. As a result of how much he values human beings, he became one of us and then gave his life for us on the cross to provide the basis for the forgiveness of our sins. Because every human being is created in God's image, he wants all of his children to likewise value other human beings based on that and not on any contingencies such as one's family tree or social status.
So, let us remember that we truly are created in the image of God, and this is what our value as human beings is based on. There is nothing else that can really serve as the basis for human rights.
Let us pray: O God, as people who live in a society filled with various forms of discrimination, we often forget what our value as human beings is really based in, and we end up devaluing other people and causing them pain. Help us to pause and think deeply about what it means to be human and who we really are as your unique creations. Lead us into a proper understanding of that and help us to work together towards a society in which all humans are valued and given dignity. For it's in Christ's name that we pray.
Blessings, Tim and Juji |
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Tim and Yuko "Juji" Boyle
5-29-301 Yasui-cho
Nishinomiya-shi, Hyogo-ken, Japan
662-0045
Tel/fax (011) 81-798-78-5069
E-mail: za3t-byl@asahi-net.or.jp
Website: www.konkyo.org
December 2007
To Our Friends and Supporters:
Christmas greetings from Japan! Things are perking right along in our new location, and we're getting used to life here in the Kansai area. There is so much to see and do nearby, with lots of cultural sites, such as Kyoto and Nara, close by
Those of you on the email list have already received a pdf file of the first issue of "Crowned With Thorns" as an email attachment. For those of you who didn't receive the email attachment and who would like to view it, I'm putting in on my website (see above) for the time being. We plan to have a Buraku Liberation Center website up and running in a month or two, and so it will be on there then. If you would like to begin receiving a hard copy of CWT (which we will publish three or four times per year), please send us a note and we'll add you to the list.
Juji's work at the Shin'ai Home officially began in November. At present, she goes in only 2 days a week to counsel with elderly residents. The need for this kind of counseling is apparent and clearly welcomed. As the most appropriate schedule is worked out, keeping in mind her physical limitations and medical needs, we expect that she will be involved similarly in other institutions as well.
On Sundays, we have been visiting different churches in the area and will continue to do this for the foreseeable future. As we are each assigned to different ministries located in adjacent districts (equivalent to "conferences" in the UMC and "presbyteries" in the PCUSA systems), we are being installed as district missionaries separately. Tim was officially installed as "cooperating missionary" for the Osaka District on December 9, and Juji will be installed at the next Hyogo District assembly in May.
The various ministries each of us will be involved in within each district (and beyond) will be worked out over time, but Tim will no doubt be helping out churches, as he did in Ibaraki, when the pastor has to be away or becomes ill and is unable to preach. There are also several "mission schools" (universities begun by missionaries and still closely affiliated with the Japanese church) in the area, and so we expect ministry opportunities
to be available there as well.
This Christmas will be a bit different from what we've been used to for the past 21 years in Tsukuba, as we will not be so busy putting up Christmas lights, preparing a grand international Christmas dinner, "Open House", etc. We are glad to hear, however, that these traditions we began in Tsukuba are being continued, as those involved over the years have said that they enjoyed these traditions so much that they have pledged themselves to continue them.
We pray that you too will be blessed by your Christmas traditions.
With Love, Tim and Juji Boyle |
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Tim and Yuko "Juji" Boyle
5-29-301 Yasui-cho
Nishinomiya-shi, Hyogo-ken, Japan 662-0045
Tel/fax (011) 81-798-78-5069
E-mail: za3t-byl@asahi-net.or.jp
Website: www.konkyo.org
Newsbrief November 2007
Greetings from Japan in the name of Jesus! It has been about 6 weeks now since we moved to our new location. Trying to fit everything in to our smaller apartment (without the benefit of a separate storeroom like we had in Tsukuba), buy a car and do all of the other things necessary to get settled into our new situation has proved to be quite a challenge, but we are getting there. Our apartment is in a nice area of the city, conveniently located between two train stations, either of which is only a 5-minute walk. Nishinomiya is a large city of almost half a million people, located between Kobe and Osaka. The whole area is basically just one big metropolis of about 12 million people.
Tim's commute to the Buraku Liberation Center on the other side of Osaka takes about 70 minutes door to door, and so that definitely eats up a significant portion of his day (which is used for keeping up on reading). Juji's commute the other direction to the Shin'ai Home in Kobe is much shorter, only taking about 35 minutes. Our apartment is a two-level affair with the entrance on the third floor of the building, with stairs leading up to the fourth floor. There are 2 bedrooms downstairs (one of which is Tim's office) and a living-room/kitchen and one bedroom (our guest room and utility room) upstairs. Even our parking space is a dual-level arrangement. Our spot is, unfortunately, on the second level. There is one blank space on the ground level that an upper level car can be lowered down to. A fancy (and expensive) system slides the ground-level cars one way or the other to open up the space below the car you want to get out, and then the lift lowers that car down so that you can drive it out. That's one way they get around the lack of space here in Japan! The area is very quiet for something located in a big city, and we get very little street noise. So, we are quite pleased with that.
The first major project for Tim to get off the ground is the reviving of the "Crowned With Thorns" English newsletter that has been in limbo for over 8 years, since the untimely death of the previous missionary assigned to the BLC. There are numerous logistical issues (like computer program compatibility issues, etc.) that are slowing things down, but hopefully by the end of the month, we'll be able to send out the first issue. The plan is for it to be both in digital format so that more people can get it easily and cheaply, as well as the traditional hard copy to mail out for those who need that. Needless to say, the old mailing list is woefully out-of-date, and so Tim has been doing web searches to try to make connections with the individuals and institutions on the old list. Our own mailing list, which you are all on, will also serve as a starting point.
Well, we plan to have a regular Christmas newsletter out
soon as well, and so we'll make this "newsbrief" brief. We thank you for your prayers in our behalf. Things are coming together well, and we are both excited about the new work that we are involved in.
Grace and Peace,
Tim and Juji Boyle |
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Tim and Yuko "Juji" Boyle
24-7 Higashi Arai
Tsukuba-Shi, Ibaraki-Ken Japan 305-0033
Tel/fax (011) 81-29-855-1907
E-mail: za3t-byl@asahi-net.or.jp
Website: www.konkyo.org
Newsbrief August 2007
Greetings from Japan in the name of Jesus! We are busy packing up our worldly goods for our upcoming move to Nishinomiya (which is located between Osaka and Kobe). As our move is scheduled for September 28, this is likely the last newsletter we'll be sending from this address. We will keep our same email and website addresses, but our new mailing address will be 5-29-301 Yasui-cho, Nishinomiya-shi, Hyogo-ken, Japan 662-0045. What our phone number will be, of course, we don't yet know. This is a nice apartment being rented for missionary housing, and is presently occupied by Wendy Chun and her family. Wendy, a United Methodist missionary, will be moving to Tokyo in mid-Sept. and so we will move in after she leaves.
It will be a very different environment than our semi-rural, suburban location here in Tsukuba, as the Kobe-Osaka area is pretty much one big metropolis not much different from being in Tokyo. The apartment is located in a nice neighborhood just a short distance from a cherry-tree lined river and is close to 3 train stations. The main rail line is only about 100 meters from our apartment (almost too close!) and the station is only a 2 or 3-minute walk. Another station on a separate train line is only about a 5-minute walk in the opposite direction, with a third station being about 12 minutes away. So the public transportation available will really be convenient.
It is about 30 km (18 miles) to where the office of the Buraku Liberation Center is on the opposite side of Osaka, and so that will take about an hour to commute to. That in itself will be quite a change, as I've only had to do commuting 3 or 4 times a month to go to meetings in Tokyo or Osaka. How many days a week I'll be going into the office is still something to be decided on, as some of my work can be done from home.
Juji's counseling work at the Shin'ai Home in Kobe is a good bit closer and should only take about 20 or 30 minutes on the train. Her schedule will be fairly flexible, and of course will be interrupted during her hospital stays. She is, by the way, just finishing up a rather lengthy hospital stay now. Instead of the usual 3 to 4 weeks, this time turned into 2 months, due to some issues that needed to be dealt with prior to the plasma exchange treatments. Those went well, and she is scheduled to be home in a few days. The issue of where she will be treated once we move to the "Kansai" (the name given to that region of Japan) is still be to determined, but we should have several months to work that out once we get there. There are, of course, several options to choose from.
Our "sayonara parties" are already beginning, with 8 that we know of. This past Sunday was my last sermon at the Tsuchiura Church. At the farewell gathering after church, I was informed that since Pastor Yoshioka had his stroke last December, I had given 27 sermons there. (He is, by the way, making a slow recovery and is able to walk slowly. But his speech is still quite limited. It's taking a long time to recover.) The remaining Sundays will be at different churches in the area, each with their own farewell gathering, and a district-sponsored celebration of our 21 years here is planned on Sept. 9th. The local international community is having one for us as well. So, there are going to be a lot of goodbyes.
Needless to say, we are sad to have to leave our friends here, but at the same time, we look forward to the ministry God has prepared for us in the Osaka area and from there to the world. We ask for your prayers as we move on to the next stage of our lives, and also ask that you lift up in prayer both the churches we'll be leaving and those we'll be working together with from this fall.
Blessings in Christ - Tim and Juji Boyle
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Tim and Yuko (Juji) Boyle24-7 Higashi Arai
Tsukuba-Shi, Ibaraki-Ken Japan 305-0033
Tel/fax (011) 81-29-855-1907
E-mail: za3t-byl@asahi-net.or.jp
Website: www.konkyo.org/english/index.html
June 2007
To Our Friends and Supporters:
Greetings from the "Land of the Rising Sun" and the Risen Son! With our upcoming move to Nishinomiya (near Osaka) at the beginning of October, we are already sorting through 21 years of accumulation and packing things we want to keep in boxes so that we don't have all of that to do in September. There is much that we could report on in this newsletter, but we want to uplift the recent speaking tour of Reasons To Believe founder, astronomer Hugh Ross, that Tim put together. This was the 6th time Dr. Ross has been in Japan, but this was the longest stretch of time and most successful of these trips. We (I'll put it in the "first person" from here) spoke at 16 venues to a total of over 1500 people, using "PowerPoint" presentations to help with communication. With the help of Rev. Matsuzaki, a pastor in Fukuoka, I prepared Japanese and bilingual versions of the various PowerPoint presentations Dr. Ross had sent ahead. This greatly improved our ability to get concepts across clearly and quickly, and it certainly made my job of translating the presentations into Japanese much easier and more efficient.
The tour began in Osaka on May 19, where fellow missionary Paul Clark and I picked Dr. Ross up at the airport. The Clark's residence in Osaka served as our base of operations for western Japan. After speaking at the Osaka International Church on Sunday morning, Hugh and I went to Fukuoka, the largest city on Kyushu, the western most of the 4 main islands, for an evening presentation. After another seminar the next morning, we returned to Osaka for two more speaking engagements on Tuesday, the first being at Osaka Bible Seminary (where Paul Clark serves), and then that evening at Yodogawa Christian Hospital, where I serve on the Board of Regents. That was really a special time, and Hugh thought it was the most successful and important event of the whole tour. You can hear his report as a webcast on the "Creation Update" program of 6/5/07 by going to www.reasons.org, clicking on the "Creation Update" icon at the upper right and following the instructions. His report is 3 or 4 minutes into the program.
The chapel was filled with doctors and nurses, and even a few patients were in the lecture hall (chapel), with several others in the lobby watching on closed circuit TV. The presentation was also available in all patients' rooms and was announced over the PA system in addition to fliers being handed out beforehand. So we don't know how many actually saw the presentation from their rooms. The 75-minute presentation was followed by an open discussion time around food for interested hospital staff, and quite a few came to ask questions and to dialog with us for an hour or so. The hospital evangelism staff (three chaplains and support personnel) were thrilled with the turnout and the spirited discussion, and wrote a glowing report.
Wednesday was a travel day to Tokyo, and from Thursday, we made several presentations at the two campuses of Aoyama Gakuin University (originally founded by Methodist missionaries), a presentation at Tokyo University and also one at a student outreach facility operated by Campus Crusade for Christ. A conservative Christian newspaper (called "The Christian") sponsored an event on Friday night where the head of the Japanese "Creation Science" organization stated their case for "young earth creationism" (God created the earth in 6 literal days about 6000 years ago and Noah's Flood was global), while we presented the case for an ancient earth from both the record of nature and the Bible. The newspaper devoted 2 full pages to a review of the two presentations in their June 24 issue.
The final Sunday (May 27) featured 3 presentations at 2 churches, with the final Sunday evening affair being an English only presentation for the missionary community on the campus of the Christian Academy in Japan, where our daughters went to school.
Speaking of daughters, Lisa just finished her licensing process for acupuncture, and is now actively looking for a position to start her career. She is looking into several possibilities and hopes to choose within the next couple of months where to go. Jennifer is still teaching English in Tokyo, saving up money to fund a program in art that she wants to pursue. She is particularly interested in a one-year program in Florence, Italy, and she hopes to develop her art skills to use them in mission work here in Japan.
Juji will be entering the hospital in late June for her scheduled treatment and expects to be hospitalized much of July. There has been no significant change in her condition, and this is simply a repeat of the specialized treatment she periodically needs to keep her symptoms under control. As always, of course, we appreciate your prayers in her behalf, and also as we prepare to move to our new assignment and location, we ask you to remember us in prayer that our move will go smoothly and we'll be able to quickly enter our new roles and be able to effectively serve the cause of Christ in our new location.
Grace and Peace,
Tim and Yuko (Juji) Boyle
Tim and Yuko (Juji) Boyle
24-7 Higashi Arai
Tsukuba-Shi, Ibaraki-Ken Japan 305-0033
Tel/fax (011) 81-29-855-1907
E-mail: za3t-byl@asahi-net.or.jp
Website: www.konkyo.org/english/index.html
March 2007
To Our Friends and Supporters:
Greetings from Japan in the name of our Risen Lord! The glory of Easter is just around the corner, but while we enjoy the promise of new life as the colors of spring begin to sprout around us, we must also remind ourselves there was a crown of thorns and a cruel cross prior to the joy of resurrection. The symbol of the crown of thorns was, in fact, adopted by the Buraku Liberation League as its official mark. Begun in 1922 as the "National Levelers Association" (a literal translation of "Suiheisha," roughly equivalent to having a "level playing field"), the Buraku Liberation League is the main, secular organization fighting to end discrimination against the people of "buraku" descent. Its Christian roots, however, are evident in its official logo. To this symbol of the crown of thorns, then, the Buraku Liberation Center, where Tim will be serving from this fall, added a cross.
As explained in previous letters, about 3 million Japanese are descended from those who were considered outcasts because they were involved with occupations considered "unclean" (those having to do with the death of animals, such as tanners). Of course, the issue becomes somewhat of a "chicken and egg problem," as one can ask, "Which came first? The "unclean" occupations or the discriminatory attitudes that forced such people into those occupations?" That, of course, is a mute question for today's descendants of the "buraku," and from an American egalitarian mindset, it seems incredible that such blatant discrimination based on who your ancestors were is still happening. Of course, even in America, if your ancestors are of a minority race, you may still face such discrimination, but buraku discrimination is not based on any outward difference whatsoever. The only way one would know if someone were buraku is to do a search through the family register system to see if the family originally came from one of the approximately 6000 neighborhoods that had designated buraku from ancient times.
While much progress has been accomplished in eliminating the great disparities in infrastructure that once existed between buraku neighborhoods and other areas, more subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) forms of discrimination still remain. Since families and companies can easily check to see if someone's family register lists them as having been descended from people living in a buraku area, the net result is that families may put great pressure on their children to break marriage engagement to someone of buraku background, and companies often want to "play it safe" by rejecting someone who's background check reveals such "tainted" origins.
Last week, Tim attended a seminar for representatives of an ecumenical Christian group working on the "Sayama Case," which we reported on in our last full newsletter (last Nov.). We met in a church in Sayama, and Kazuo Ishikawa (the buraku youth who was falsely accused of the murder in 1963) and his wife, Sachiko, met with us for several hours. The next day, we walked the course according to his "confession" to see for ourselves how full of inconsistencies it really was. A group of us then went to both the offices of the Japanese Supreme Court and the National Police Headquarters to present appeals for a reopening of the case so that he can clear his name. Hopefully, that will happen later this year, and outside pressure and media attention is an important part of this effort. A petition with over 900,000 signatures was recently presented, and by late April, we hope to have many more to surpass our goal of 1 million. These can be done on-line at http://www.imadr.org/sayama/story.html (click button on right to "Sign the petition"). Only a few of our readers appeared on the list as a result of our last newsletter, and so we appeal to you to add your name.
(Kazuo Ishikawa and his wife Sachiko meeting with us around the dinner table)
On other fronts, many of you are wondering how Rev. Yoshioka is doing. He is slowly recovering from his stroke, but he is still mostly paralyzed on his right side and has only recovered limited speech so far. Tim continues to preach every Sunday at his church and will continue from April to preach 2 or 3 times per month until our move to the Osaka area in October.
Tim will be leading Dr. Hugh Ross around much of Japan from May 20-27, with speaking engagements in many locations. We ask your prayers for that. Much preparation is involved, including preparing Japanese versions of power point presentations, etc. He will be speaking on several campuses as well as in churches and even at a hospital in Osaka.
Grace and Peace,
Tim and Yuko (Juji) Boyle
Tim and Yuko "Juji" Boyle
24-7 Higashi Arai
Tsukuba-Shi, Ibaraki-Ken Japan 305-0033
Tel/fax (011) 81-29-855-1907
E-mail: za3t-byl@asahi-net.or.jp
Website: www.konkyo.org
February 2007
Greetings from Japan in the name of Jesus! We last wrote you in December, asking you to pray for the pastor of the Tsuchiura Church in the city adjacent to Tsukuba. Pastor Yoshioka, who heads up the committee Juji and I work under here in Tsukuba, had a major stroke on Dec. 4. Even though the blockage occurred while he was at the hospital for a checkup (thus allowing treatment to begin immediately), there was considerable brain damage and his recovery is going to take quite a bit of time. In the meantime, Tim has been pinch-hitting for him every Sunday and this is scheduled to continue through the end of March. After that, Tim will likely preach 2 or 3 times per month at that church until we move to the Osaka area in early October.
We are hopeful that Rev. Yoshioka's recovery will continue to proceed to a near-full recovery, but even in the best-case scenario (short of an outright miracle, which we continue to pray for, of course), there will likely be significant disability remaining. We take hope from the experience of another pastor we will be working with closely when we move down to begin working with the Buraku Liberation Center. Rev. Tanimoto has been the "spark-plug" for the BLC for many years, and in the summer of 2005, he also experienced a very similar stroke that left his right side paralyzed and made him unable to speak. He was told that
he would likely be confined to a wheelchair at best, but he has proved the pessimistic outlook wrong and has recovered to the extent he is able to walk with a cane and is able to speak almost completely normally. He has even been able to return to active ministry, and has been an inspiration to many, to say the least. We are hoping that Rev. Yoshioka's recovery will be equally inspiring.
Over the next few months, we will be preparing for another series of lectures to be given by Dr. Hugh Ross of "Reasons To Believe." For many years, Tim has headed up the Japan branch of RTB, and we have had Hugh over 5 times previously, the last being in 1999. So, it has been quite some time. This time, he will be here a total of 9 days, from May 19 to
28, and we are planning a full set of events beginning in Osaka, including an excursion down to Fukuoka, and then ending in the Tokyo area. An important part of this aspect of our ministry is the development of a Japanese website that includes an English page with
either the English version or the link to the English original on the RTB or other web site. You may be interested in looking at the latest addition, which has just been posted. It is about some very interesting theories concerning the Exodus and the events surrounding that pivotal event. Go to: http://www.konkyo.org/English/SolvingTheMysteriesOfTheExodus
Love,
Tim and Juji
Tim and Yuko (Juji) Boyle
24-7 Higashi Arai
Tsukuba-Shi, Ibaraki-Ken Japan 305-0033
Tel/fax (011) 81-29-855-1907
E-mail: za3t-byl@asahi-net.or.jp
Website: www.konkyo.org/english/index.html
December 2006
Christmas Greetings from Japan
We thought we'd include a brief "family news" newsletter with our Christmas cards this year. This will be our last Christmas in Tsukuba, as next year we are moving to the Osaka-Kobe area, and in fact will be living between those two large cities in a city called Nishinomiya. Details are not yet finalized concerning the exact timing, but at least by this time next year, we should be settled down in our new location. Juji's specific assignment is not yet finalized either, but it will involve counseling patients and family members in church-run medical facilities in Kobe. Tim's assignment will be with the "Buraku Liberation Center," a Christian institution dedicated to working with the former "outcast" class, who still face various forms of discrimination.
Juji recently completed another round of "plasma exchange" treatments for her neuromuscular disorder, and that went well. She'll be in pretty good shape for a few months before needing a new round, probably next summer some time. We don't yet know how our move to western Japan will affect future treatment, but we're confident she can get the care she needs in a hospital there as well.
Our two children, Lisa and Jennifer, have or soon will reach milestones in their lives. Jennifer (23) graduated from Biola University in May and is now working in an English school in Tokyo saving up some money for graduate school, though she is as yet undecided as to where she will go and what she wants to study. Her long-term goal is still to do mission work here in Japan.
Lisa (27) will be finishing up her graduate degree in oriental medicine this month and will take the California licensing test in January. We're confident she'll do well with that, as she has done so well in school. She has been looking into several possibilities as to where to practice, including other states such as Washington and Colorado.
We certainly do appreciate your prayers, and we wish you a good year in 2007.
Love -- Tim and Juji Boyle
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Tim and Yuko (Juji) Boyle