Global Worker
Join Eri and Jeff in reaching Japanese nationals living in the U.S. temporarily or applying for residency. Their hearts are wide open in the new land!
Japanese Bible Day Camp 2025
Partnered with Japan Baptist Church Association – Rengo – (Converge Affiliated)
Video: Japanese Bible Day Camp 2025
Video: Japanese Bible Day Camp 2024
We invite you to partner with us to reach thousands of Japanese nationals in the LA area and to raise young leaders for the next generation.
About Me
I am Eri. Born in Tokyo, Japan, I moved to the United States at age 15 and have lived between both cultures ever since. I realized early on that I had become a third-culture person.
How It Began
In 1993, I inherited a mission field from a missionary sent to Torrance, California, by Rengo, a Converge-affiliated church association in Japan. Since then, I have been tutoring children of Japanese expatriates in English as a Second Language while sharing the good news of Christ with them and their mothers.
Now, with my husband Jeff joining me, we can reach entire families, including fathers and young men, more effectively.
Why Torrance?
Torrance is often jokingly called “the 24th ward of Tokyo” because it has the largest population of Japanese nationals living outside Japan. Most are business professionals, university students, and their families on short-term visas.I have come to see that God uniquely equipped me to live between two cultures and placed me in one of the most strategic locations for ministry to Japanese expatriates.
The Challenge in Japan
Japan is a beautiful country with some of the kindest people you will ever meet. Yet its culture often emphasizes maintaining a public façade over expressing true feelings. This social pressure makes it difficult for people to open up to Christianity, which is still viewed as foreign.As a result, only 0.5 percent of Japan’s population is Christian, making it the second least-reached people group in the world, even though Japan is the twelfth most populous nation.
The Opportunity and Obligation
When Japanese people live abroad, their hearts often become more open to new ideas. God has opened the way for someone to reach these expatriates. Unlike in Japan, parents are willing to send their children to Christian ministry events, and many youth are eager to participate. With this privilege comes a clear obligation to serve them faithfully. However,
“How can they hear without someone preaching to them?”
(Romans 10:14b)
Will You Join Us?
Will you partner with Jeff and me in reaching Japanese nationals living among us and sending them back to Japan with Christ’s love in their hearts? Together, we can help break down prejudice against Christianity in Japan and share the gospel with others through these returnee children.
“Through the praise of children and infants
you have established a stronghold against your enemies,
to silence the foe and the avenger.” (Psalm 8:2)
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