Story

Me – Eri: Born in Tokyo, Japan, I came to the US at age 15 and grew up in both countries thereafter. I realized I became a third-culture person early on.

In 1993, I inherited missions work from a missionary sent to Torrance, CA, by Rengo, a Converge-affiliated church association in Japan. Since then, I have tutored Japanese expatriates’ children with ESL while sharing the good news of Christ with them and their moms. Along with Jeff, we will be able to reach out to the whole family, including dad and male youths.

Strategic Location: Torrance is jokingly called the 24^th ward of Tokyo as it has the highest number of Japanese nationals living in the continental US, yielding only to Honolulu, HI. These folks are primarily businesspersons, university students, and their families on short-term visas. I realized a while ago how God equipped me to live between the two cultures and placed me in the most strategic location for Japanese expatriates’ ministry.

Problem with Japan: On the one hand, Japan is a beautiful country with the nicest people you can meet in the world; on the other hand, their permeated culture of building public façade against their honest will and its social pressure is keeping people away from opening up to the Christian faith, which is still considered as foreign. Thus, the Christian population in Japan is a mere 0.5%, making Japan, the 12th most populous country in the world, the second least-reached people group.

Great Opportunity: When the Japanese come to live in a foreign land, their hearts become open to various ideas and concepts. The Japanese expat parents trust us enough to send their children to our ministry events, and a youth group is stemming out of the effort. They will even come to accept the good news of Christ, too.

But “how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard, and how can they hear without some preaching to them?” (Rom 10:14)

Will you join me and my husband Jeff in reaching out to these Japanese nationals who reside among us for a limited time and sending them back home to Japan with the love of Christ in their hearts to share with others?