As soon as we get a clear photo of the Chiba Memorial, we will replace the flags!
Earliest Philippine-Japanese Friendship Memorial — Antedated Plaza Dilao by 19 Years!
►The Philippines-Japan Friendship Park was inaugurated at Plaza Dilao, in Paco, Manila on Nov. 17, 1977 – after being planned since 1973.
But unknown even to the Filipino and Japanese developers of the Plaza Dilao project, there was an earlier “Monument of Filipino-Japanese Friendship” dedicated in 1958 — 19 years before Plaza Dilao — in Chiba City, across the bay from Tokyo, honoring three revered personalities from three different time-frames of Philippine-Japanese history: ♦ Lord Takayama Ukon, ♦ Gen. Artemio Ricarte and ♦ President Elpidio Quirino.
►The first is, of course, Lord Justus Takayama Ukon (1552-1615), who exemplified the Japanese immigrants who came to the Philippines and were warmly received 400 years earlier.
►The second is Gen. Artemio Ricarte (1866-1945), the unreconstructed Filipino nationalist who refused to swear allegiance to the empire-building Americans when they subverted the Filipinos’ fight for independence against Spain at the turn of the 20th century.
►The third is President Elpidio Quirino (1890-1956), who is remembered for his magnanimity in granting full pardon in 1953 to the last 106 Japanese war criminals, after they had served several years of their prison sentences at the New Bilibid National Penitentiary in Muntinglupa, Rizal. Japanese leaders remember the Christian dimension of this presidential decision, “emanating from the sublime Christian spirit as well as motivated by friendly sentiment to restore more cordial relations between the two countries” — in the words of the then Foreign Minister Katsuo Okazaki (April 1952-December 1954).
Engraved on the marble block is a poem by Tatsuo Terashita, who served with the Japanese Propaganda Corps in the Philippines during World War II:
Our two nations under different skies,
Rising nobly above the mournful past,
Firmly pledge ourselves to friendship and love.
May this bond of hearts of millions endure
Like the sacred fire devoutly kept
Burning ceaselessly from age to age! ◘
Dr. Ernesto A. de Pedro
Managing Trustee
Lord Takayama Jubilee Foundation
Fr. Toru Nishimoto Devoted His Manila Assignment (1973-2010) to Funding Scholarships for Filipino Children — and the ‘Beatification Cause of Takayama’
►In the last years of his ministry in the Archdiocese of Manila, Fr. Toru Albert Nishimoto, CSsR (Aug. 29, 1933 – Aug. 21, 2010) – the first Japanese Redemptorist priest — had to have blood transfusions from Filipino friends during his long bout with kidney disease and leukemia. As Fr. Rolando V. de la Rosa, OP (former Rector Magnificus, University of Santo Tomas) relates it: “‘Father Nishi’ considered his sickness as God’s way of turning him into a full-blooded Filipino. He once told his niece, Mako, after several dialysis sessions: “Not a single drop of Japanese blood flows in my veins now. It is the blood of my Filipino donors that keeps me alive.”
‘Father Nishi’ came to Manila in 1973 to further his studies in Missiology at the East Asian Pastoral Institute (EAPI) at the Ateneo de Manila upon the recommendation of his former professor at the Gregorian University in Rome. After his studies at the EAPI, he paid a visit to Cardinal Jaime Sin to share his findings on the missionary challenge presented by Japanese tourists. Manila was a major tourist attraction in those days and Archbishop Sin was very much aware of the influx of Japanese tourists. Cardinal Sin asked him to stay and continue taking care of the Japanese nationals in the country. Thus started Father Nishimoto’s missionary work in the Philippines.
For the Beatification Cause of the Christian Samurai Martyr, Justus Takayama Ukon, Fr. Nishimoto — as Chairman of the Lord Takayama Jubilee Foundation — supervised the translation work (from six European languages and Nihonggo) of the original ‘Positio’ — “Servus Dei, Justus Takayama Ukon: Materia Praeparata Pro Propositione Super Virtutibus Servi Dei Justi Takayama Ukon.”
UCAN posted a story on Father Nishimoto in 1999 – 11 years before he passed away in 2010. That means there are 11 years of activities not yet reported on.
First Japanese Redemptorist
►MANILA — (UCANews – Jan. 12, 1999) — A Japanese Redemptorist priest’s sabbatical in the Philippines turned into a permanent ministry here that includes evangelizing Japanese nationals through encounters with Filipino communities.
Since he arrived in Manila in 1973, Father Toru Nishimoto of Kyoto, Japan, has counseled hundreds of married Filipino-Japanese couples and facilitated visits of Japanese students to poverty-stricken areas in the Philippines.
The 65-year-old priest also established a scholarship program for Filipinos that has helped more than 26,000 students pursue various professions and vocations including the priesthood.
Beginning with teaching Sunday catechism to Japanese families in Manila between his classes at the Jesuit Ateneo de Manila, Father Nishimoto went on to visiting jails, hospitals and nightclubs frequented by Japanese tourists.
“When I reported to (Cardinal Jaime Sin of Manila) at the end of my sabbatical leave, he welcomed me to (his) house saying, ‘Father of the Night, welcome to the House of Sin,’” he told UCA News. [In fact, “Father By Night” was the title of one of five books ‘Father Nishi’ wrote.]
He said the cardinal knew of his work at nightclubs, asked him to stay and assured him that as long as he was cardinal of Manila, the Japanese priest could continue his apostolate in the archdiocese.
Father Nishimoto officially began serving Manila archdiocese in 1975. He said the Catholic Bishops´ Conference of the Philippines asked him to extend his program´s services to all of the Philippines in 1990.
Pre-Evangelization Program
According to Father Nishimoto, the Pre-Evangelization Program (PEP) office offers Japanese nationals “a Christian experience in a Christian country.”
Aside from caring for troubled Japanese in the country, the priest counsels couples before marriage and conducts a youth exposure program for Japanese students.
Figures at his office indicate that intermarriage between Japanese men and Filipino women increased from 650 couples in 1987 to 6,840 by 1997.
Father Nishimoto said that he visits such couples who settle in Japan twice a year as a way to protect the faith of the Filipino spouse.
“Most Japanese have no sense of God,” he said, adding that he has organized groups in Japan similar to the Philippine-based Couples for Christ to monitor the marriages and build a community of married couples.
Scholarship Programs
In 1982, Father Nishimoto established a scholarship program that served 40 students. By 1998 it had helped 26,297 Filipinos from elementary to college levels. He said 150-160 students in the program graduate from college yearly.
“Today we have 3,000 scholars, and 1,000 of them are in college,” Father Nishimoto added.
“The reason I started the scholarship program was to let Japanese benefactors be awakened to faith in God by encountering Catholic youth in the country (Philippines) who are materially poor,” the priest explained.
He said he also initiated exposure trips for Japanese nationals so his compatriots could experience life in the Philippines through an exchange program for teachers and students and visits to materially poor communities.
Father Nishimoto said that the trips “aim to give Japanese (participants) a chance to rediscover their hearts through an encounter with a different country.”
In 1997 he hosted 40 groups of 7-40 participants each who interacted with farmers, fisherfolk and other sectors on different islands of the archipelago. ◘
Nota Bene: Father Nishimoto’s activities during the last 11 years of his ministry in Manila are still waiting to be written. ###
Yes, in 1768. The Jesuits were able to return to Manila only in 1859.
► In 1759, Portugal issued a Royal Edict banning the Jesuits. This had a domino effect of Jesuits being exiled from various European countries — France (1764), Malta, Parma, Sicily, the Spanish Empire (1767) and Austria and Hungary (1782). Of course, their foreign colonies were affected too. The historian Ida Altman writes: “Monarchies attempting to centralize and secularize political power viewed the Jesuits as being too international, too strongly allied to the papacy, and too autonomous from the monarchs in whose territory they operated.”
In 1768, the Philippines implemented the Edict, completing the deportations by 1771.
Still later — on July 21, 1773 — Pope Clement XIV published the Papal Brief (“Dominus ac Redemptor”) for the Suppression of the Jesuit Society. At that time there were 22,589 Jesuits, 49 Provinces, 669 Colleges and over 3,000 missionaries worldwide.
Did any Jesuit defy the deportation orders from the Philippines – as they had defied the deportation orders of the Tokogawa Shogunate, by going underground? (No, that was simply unheard of. This was the Pope issuing a Papal Brief!) Alone among all religious orders in the Catholic Church, the Jesuits – as the Pope’s militia — owed special fealty and obedience to papal authority.
After their restoration by Pope Pius VII in 1814, the Jesuits returned to most of the places from which they had been expelled. In the Philippines, it took another 45 years to effect the return — in 1859. ◘
Cardinal Shirayanagi Expresses Church Apology on Takayama Anniversary in Manila
►MANILA — (UCAN, Feb. 9, 1995) — During the 1995 Memorial Mass for the Servant of God, Justus Takayama Ukon (1552-1615) at the Chapel of the University of Santo Tomas (U.S.T.) in Manila, Cardinal Peter Seiichi Shirayanagi of Tokyo — the prelate in charge of the Takayama Beatification Process — apologized for the suffering inflicted by Japan during World War II, which he described as the “darkest period” in his country´s modern history.
In his homily Feb. 1, Cardinal Shirayanagi said that Japanese Catholics, “as parties involved in the war, share in the responsibility for more than 20 million (war) victims in Asia and the Pacific.”
Japanese Bishops Ask Forgiveness ‘From God and Our Brothers’
“We, the Catholic bishops of Japan, as Japanese and members of the Catholic Church, sincerely ask forgiveness from God and from our brothers and sisters of Asia and the Pacific for the tragedy brought by Japan during World War II,” said the Cardinal, who was then president of the Catholic Bishops´ Conference of Japan.
The Memorial Mass at the University of Santo Tomas, sponsored by the Movement for the Beatification of Ukon Takayama headed by Prof. Ernesto A. Pedro, commemorated both the 380th death anniversary of Lord Justo Takayama Ukon, a Japanese Catholic nobleman who died in exile in Manila on Feb. 3, 1615, as well as the 1945 Battle of Manila (Feb. 3 – March 3, 1945).
Some 100,000 civilians were killed in the month-long battle that began Feb. 3, 1945, in which U.S. forces retook the city from occupying Japanese troops.
This February 3, Manila city officials marked the 50th anniversary of the beginning of the battle with simple ceremonies at Luneta Park including wreath-laying, photo exhibits and a Mass at which Cardinal Jaime Sin of Manila presided.
At centuries-old Santo Tomas, where the Japanese interned thousands of U.S. and other Allied civilians during the war, Cardinal Shirayanagi expressed “determination to keep Japan from committing the same crime again.”
“As the Church of Japan, we renew our commitment to work toward the realization of human liberation and genuine peace in Asia and the Pacific,” he said, adding that Japanese Catholics constantly pray for victims of the war.
“Memorare Manila 1945” commemorates the death of some 100,000 Filipinos during the Battle for the Liberation of Manila Feb. 3-March 3, 1945. February 3 is the anniversary of Lord Takayama’s death in Intramuros, Manila.
Apostolate Among Overseas Filipino Workers in Japan Needed
One way the Japanese Church seeks to mend the damage inflicted against Filipinos by the war, the cardinal said, is through its apostolate with some 500,000 Filipino contract workers in Japan.
Even though Christianity reached Japan in 1549, but Catholics represent a small minority in his country, “only half a million among 120 million Japanese,” Cardinal Shirayanagi noted. It arrived in the Philippines in 1521.
The faith of Japanese Catholics, however, “has been tempered by centuries of relentless persecution … the most notorious in the world,” he added.
Also in his homily, the cardinal expressed gratitude for the “spontaneous response of the Filipino people” after the devastating earthquake in Kobe. This has comforted the victims of the January tragedy, he said, particularly as “this solidarity is offered by people who do not enjoy superfluities.”
Call for “Serious Effort for New Evangelization of Asia”
Cardinal Shirayanagi, who was also in Manila during the visit of Pope John Paul II on Jan. 12-16, reminded Filipino Catholics that the joint task at hand is “a new and serious effort for the evangelization of Asia.”
He cited addiction to worldly goods as the greatest challenge to evangelization today, having produced a “new idolatry.”
The cardinal observed that in Japan, people’s highest aspirations are to have more money, a higher standard of living and more material goods. ◘
►“A leading and actively Christian daimyo,” Lord Takayama’s life intersected the careers of the Three Hegemons who unified Japan – from the beginning of Oda Nobunaga’s rule (1573), through Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s consolidation of the interrupted unification, to the Shogun Tokogawa Ieyasu’s death (1616) – as the three rulers effectively ended a century of turbulent civil warfare in Japan. Though he was a minor daimyo, Ukon’s fief in the castle-town of Takatsuki (which he ruled for 12 years) straddled the strategically important highway between Osaka and Kyoto. One center of power could not attack the other rival power without reckoning with Takatsuki forces first.
As Daimyo of Takatsuki, and later, of Akashi, Ukon became instrumental in the widespread Christian evangelization of Japan. He became the patron of the pioneering group of Jesuit missionaries — (by 1600, numbering 95) — who had learned to work “a sombra de Justo Minami-no-Bô” – exemplified by three formidable Jesuits with contrasting personalities and strengths:
◘ Fr. Alessandro Valignano (1539-1606, Jesuit Inspector General of Missions in the Far East), who effected a strategy of avoiding religious conflict by adapting Christian teachings to Japanese customs and cultural traditions. The Jesuits built their churches in the Japanese style with interior rooms that followed local models, such as the use of “tatami” to cover the floor or of “shoji” to divide the inner space. These compliant churches conveyed the Jesuit approach to “accommodation,” according to which special attention was paid to the European priests’ and Brothers’ integration into Japanese society.
◘ Fr. Organtino Gnecchi-Soldo (1530-1609) who, after earning the respect of Oda Nobunaga, built a Jesuit church in Kyoto in 1576, a monastery and another church in Azuchi by Lake Biwa in 1580. He also opened a seminary for the training of native Japanese clergy. In sum, he made a foundational contribution to missionary work in Japan.
◘ Fr. Gaspar Coelho (1530-1590), Superior and Vice-Provincial of the Jesuit mission in Japan who became infamous among Jesuits and Japanese Christians alike for catalyzing the disfavor of Toyotomi Hideyoshi against the Jesuit mission in Japan. As he unwisely dipped his fingers into local internecine politics, Coelho tried to incite armed resistance by the Japanese Christian lords and wrote to Goa, Macao, and Manila for armed assistance. All of those he approached had much more sense than to comply, and his ecclesiastical superiors were furious at his ineptitude. ◘
Dr. Ernie A. de Pedro
Managing Trustee
Lord Takayama Jubilee Foundation
The Philippines Ranks No. 3 Worldwide With 83.6 Million Adherents
►Half of the world’s Catholics are accounted for by only TEN COUNTRIES. According to Vatican figures (as of 2015), they are Brazil (172.2 million), Mexico (110.9), Philippines (83.6), USA (72.3), Italy (58.0), France (48.3), Colombia (45.3), Spain (43.3), Democratic Republic of Congo (43.2) and Argentina (40.8).
The number of Catholics worldwide increased, from 1,272 million in 2014 to 1,285 million in 2015.
Of every 100 baptized, 49 are from America, 22.2 from Europe, 17.3 from Africa, 11 from Asia, and 0.8 are from Oceania.
Viewed as continents, 63.7 percent of Americans are Catholics, 39.9 percent of Europeans, 19.4 percent of Africans, 26.4 percent of Oceanians, and 3.2 percent of Asians.
To serve them, there are 5,304 bishops, 415,656 priests, 670,320 nuns, and 45,255 permanent deacons. (No numbers for Brothers? No figures for seminarians preparing to serve?)
The grimmest figures are in the number of women religious, which has fallen from 721,935 to 670,320 – in only five years. ◘
Fr. Pedro Tomaselli, a PIME pastor in Ashikaga and Sano — north of Tokyo.
The ‘Coldness’ Is Grim in an Affluent Japan
►Of the total population of Japan of 127 million, more than 99% — THAT’S ALMOST ALL JAPANESE! — are Shinto/Buddhist, leaving a tiny fraction – 0.35% of the population — as Catholics.
But Catholics are OUTNUMBERED — two to one — by Christians of other denominations: Anglican, Baptist, Greek Orthodox, the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel, Lutheran, Mennonite, Methodist, Pentecostal, Presbyterian, Russian Orthodox, the Salvation Army, the Seventh-day Adventist Church, and other persuasions. But even when counted together, ALL CHRISTIANS comprise LESS THAN ONE PERCENT of the population.
A Brazilian missionary of PIME (Pontificio Istituto Missioni Estere) who studied four years in Manila, has shared how “lonely” the evangelical challenge can be at his mission north of Tokyo. On weekdays, this means “only two” worshipers are present at his celebration of the Holy Mass. About a hundred come for Sunday Mass. Only two couples are his real friends. A joyless Japan is centered on itself, competition and success.
The AsiaNews (official press agency of PIME) has posted this story about “Father Pedro and His 25 Japanese Friends”:
►ROME — (AsiaNews) – Father Pedro Tomaselli, 42, is a priest with the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions (PIME). He hails from Santa Caterina, southern Brazil, and has lived in Japan since 2008, serving as pastor in two cities — Ashikaga and Sano, in Tochigi Prefecture, north of Tokyo — some 40 minutes apart by car.
About 25 Japanese take part his Sunday Mass. Other worshippers come from the Philippines, Vietnam, Bolivia, Peru, a couple from China, and a few students from Africa. In total, a hundred, no more. On weekdays, “only two” come to church for the service. For Fr. Tomaselli, “it is necessary to leave the outcome in God’s hands, because if one were to rely on one’s own results, one would quit Japan immediately.”
Did you want to come to Japan or did the circumstances of life lead you to it?
I wanted it but had little hope. As a young seminarian, I was impressed by the missionaries I met who talked about their experience in Japan. That’s where my desire was born. I later had the opportunity of studying philosophy in the Philippines for four years, but Japan never left my mind. When Fr. Marc Tardiff (then PIME General Advisor, now missionary in Japan) came to the seminary and met us individually, he asked us to pick three countries for a possible destination. I told him: Thailand, Japan and Mexico. I ended up instead in Brazil as an outreach missionary for three years. One day though, I got a phone call from Rome, from Fr. Francisco da Silva. At the age of 33, I took off for Japan.
Did you speak Japanese already?
No. I started from scratch — two years in Tokyo at the PIME’s regional home. Another year with the local Franciscans. Finally, another 12 months with a Japanese priest in two parishes in Gunma Prefecture. Still, after nine years, I still have trouble communicating.
How is your daily mission?
I arrived in Ashikaga, north of Tokyo, where I am in charge of a multinational parish. I also deal with another parish, not far away. I live alone in the rectory. About 25 Japanese come to Sunday Mass, though my parish registry has 187 names. In addition, we have Filipinos, Vietnamese, Bolivians, Peruvians, a couple of Chinese and some African students. I always read the Mass in Japanese once. Alternatively, I do it in Vietnamese, Tagalog, or English. The songs are in Spanish. On weekdays however, only two come.
Are there any integration issues?
Foreigners help and enrich the Japanese Church. Without them, most communities would not survive. Foreigners are fundamental to evangelization.
Who are your friends?
Two families have especially opened their hearts to me and I to them. This is quite rare. In fact, the Japanese see friendship as an exchange of favors. I give you something or do something for you and you give something to me or do something for me, then we are friends. It is not bad, but it is different from the free love that Jesus taught us. It must also be said that they are not in the habit of opening their homes. Once I was happy when I finally received an invitation. I thought I was going to the house of these people, but instead they came to pick me up to go to a restaurant.
What about the two cases you mentioned?
What happened is that thieves broke into the church and the rectory three times. They told me that in Japan if a person violates private property then he is capable of any violence. I was so scared that I could not sleep any more. A bit selfishly I prayed, “Lord, I do not want to die martyred in such a petty way.”
Then, my Japanese friend showed up at the rectory one night and said, “I’ll spent the night here with you. You are tired and you have to rest.” A bit ceremoniously, Japanese style, I told him: “No, no! you have your family; you must go home to them.” But he insisted, and for some nights he came to keep me company. He is 70 years old and converted to Christianity about 20 years ago. He has four children, one of whom is a priest.
How did you befriend the other family?
They come from Nagasaki. He was already a Catholic, she was not a Christian. Or, better, she said she was a bit Shintoist and a bit Buddhist. She said she liked being free. “Come on,” I would tell her, “then your heart must be Christian.” She laughed.
Having strong feelings for the poor, she expressed some admiration for Mother Teresa of Calcutta, but nothing would bend her. I did not insist. After three years (about a year ago), she came to me and said, “Let’s start studying.” Eventually, she asked to be baptized.
Why is it so difficult to pass on the Christian message in Japan?
Being Japanese is almost like a religion. I asked one kid, “What is your religion?” And he answered: “My grandparents were a bit Shintoist and a bit Buddhist; my parents a bit Buddhist and a bit indifferent, I am Japanese.” Given such syncretism he confided in me and said that he liked Catholic weddings.
The Church has put greater efforts in Japan than in Korea. Yet Catholicism is more widespread in the latter. Why?
No bishop or priest in Japan would ever say that we must imitate Korea. Pride prevents it. Unresolved historical events that have come to the fore again in recent weeks also prevent it. It is undeniable that the situation is different. If I think about Brazil, its 500 short years of history, its melting pot — I certainly see greater openness to new things.
However, we cannot say that Japan’s ancient culture is in itself an impediment to the novelty of the Gospel. The point is always about touching people’s hearts. The Japanese mind-set aims at competition and victory, but faced with the inevitable defeat in life, it has no answer, and that is the end. Failures are not an opportunity to grow, but a misfortune that sometimes results in tragedy. Just think of the countless cases of depression and suicide. Many people who come to church go through these problems. For them, we proclaim hope.
Yet, the proclamation must also be valid for everyone caught up in the frenzy of everyday life
The idolatry of money and work is widespread. Often what matters the most is not the family, but the company one works for. There is even a tendency to show that one is busy even when one is not. The Japanese propensity of seeing themselves in a group rather than as individuals is still very strong. If you ask, “Who are you?” The answer is, “Ask my neighbor.” Still, it would be wrong to focus on these flaws. First, one has a lot to learn and share. I remember their kindness, honesty, cleanliness, order… We need to listen to them.
One gets the impression that joy is missing in Japan…
Indeed. At the Shinjuku railway station, employees must exercise their facial muscles to learn to smile before working with the public. Although it does not seem very honest, they say it does a lot of good.
Of course, with the great joy of the Gospel, this would not be necessary. ◘
Fr. Arrupe led first-response team to aid hapless victims of the A-Bomb
Fr. Pedro Arrupe Led Response to the Thermonuclear Carnage
►Saul of Tarsus, a zealous Pharisee who was a relentless persecutor of early Christians, was so active in pursuing Christians that he was even present at the stoning to death of St. Stephen, the Protomartyr or first martyr of Christianity. But he had his “Damascus” moment (circa AD 33–36) – “on the road to Damascus” — when he was felled by a blinding light and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” — an event recorded in the New Testament. He became an ardent follower of Jesus and is venerated in Christendom as Paul the Apostle.
Emperor Constantine had his “Chi-Rho” (ΧΡ) moment in AD 312 when, marching to battle, he saw a cross of light above the sun, and with it some Greek words, rendered into Latin as “In Hoc Signo Vinces” (“In This Sign, You Will Conquer”).
Fr. Pedro Arrupe, SJ (1907-1991), Father Superior of Jesuits in Japan during World War II, had his “Hiroshima” moment – when the First Atomic Bomb was dropped on humans as an instrument of mass destruction on Aug. 6, 1945. Fr. Arrupe described that event as “a permanent experience outside of history, engraved on my memory.”
The Jesuits were at the rectory of the Church of Our Lady of the Assumption when they heard the sirens warning of the approach of a hostile bomber. After an ominous explosion they felt the concussion that blew the doors and windows of the rectory. Led by their Father Superior, the Jesuits ventured out to see Hiroshima engulfed in a “lake of fire.” He later recalled: “I shall never forget my first sight of the result of the atomic bomb: a group of young women, 18 or 20 years old, clinging to one another as they dragged themselves along the road.”
Knowing nothing about the dangers of atomic radiation, the Jesuits brought into their damaged rectory some 150 of the wounded and dying, under the direction of Arrupe, who had some medical training. Arrupe recalled, “The chapel, half destroyed, was overflowing with the wounded, who were lying on the floor very near to one another, suffering terribly, twisted with pain.”
Whereas thousands of people had been immediately vaporized in one blinding instant, Fr. Arrupe and ALL the German Jesuits — including Fr. Hubert Cieslik (1914-1988), who would later be the lead historian for the “Beatification Cause of Justo Takayama Ukon” — continued to live without serious ailments or disabilities for over four decades after the A-Bomb. Fr. Hubert Schiffer, SJ, and his fellow Jesuits believe they survived “because we were living the Message of Fatima and we lived and prayed the Rosary daily in that home.” ◘
Dr. ERNIE A. DE PEDRO
Managing Trustee
Lord Takayama Jubilee Foundation
Brazil-born Fr. Iwao Daniel IKEGAMI, FMVD, celebrating Mass
Propagating the Faith ‘in Exile’
►Fr. Iwao “Wow” Daniel IKEGAMI, FMVD – Fraternidad Misionera Verbum Dei (in Spanish) or Verbum Dei Missionary Fraternity (in English) — highlights the special significance of Blessed Takayama Ukon to “exiles” like him — in a homily he delivered at a Beatification Thanksgiving Mass at the Ateneo de Manila in Quezon City, concelebrated by Rev. Fr. Tony Moreno, SJ, Father Provincial of the Society of Jesus in the Philippines.
Father “Wow,” who was ordained priest on Aug. 15, 2015 at the Maria Della Strada Parish Church, Katipunan Ave., Quezon City, attended the Beatification Ceremonies of Blessed Takayama Ukon in Osaka with other FMVD missionaries on Feb. 7, 2017, shares:
►“Minasan konbanwa.” Good evening everyone. Magandang gabi po sa inyong lahat.
I would like to introduce myself for those who do not know me. My name is Fr. Iwao Daniel Ikegami, remember: “Wow”! I-wow! I am a Japanese missionary with the Fraternidad Misionera Verbum Dei (FMVD). We are more commonly known here as the Verbum Dei missionaries. (Verbum Dei means “Word of God.”) Our founder is still alive; his name is Fr. Jaime Bonet, and he will be turning 91 years old this year. My superior, Fr. James McTavish, is here and some of our Verbum Dei sisters and also many other friends are here.
For sure many of you here are familiar with the life of Blessed Takayama Ukon; at the same time some of you may not know too much about him just like me until a few years ago.
Discovering Takayama Ukon Some Years Earlier
I knew the name Takayama Ukon, way back when I was still in Japan before I entered Verbum Dei but I didn’t know much about him. It was only three years ago when the Bishop of Kyoto, Bishop Paul Yoshinao Ōtsuka, was here in the Philippines and gave a talk on the life of Takayama Ukon that I came to know more about the life of this Christian feudal lord and samurai.
The most striking discovery in that talk for me was that Ukon died in the Philippines! Oh really? I didn’t know! Wow, I – WOW! That is amazing! He (Bishop Paul Ōtsuka) also mentioned that there is a statue of Takayama Ukon in Plaza Dilao, Paco, Manila!
I was so excited; imagine, the very next day I went to Plaza Dilao, I just couldn’t wait. I wanted to see it. I checked it on the map: What are some of the landmarks? Across the road from the statue was the Philippine Columbian Association (PCA), the oldest sporting club in the Philippines. I went by LRT. I found the place; from afar I could see the statue: Is that Takayama Ukon? I saw him dressed as samurai and it looked like he was holding a sword but it was a crucifix the same size as a samurai sword. I remembered St. Paul Miki, he was a samurai too. I stood in front of the statue and made a solemn prayer – “Lord, I want to be a samurai for your kingdom, even I want to give my life for you in the Philippines…”
I was so happy about this because we have one Filipino saint, San Lorenzo Ruiz, who was martyred in Nagasaki, Japan and now we have one Japanese Samurai who died in the Philippines who is on his way to canonization! Blessed Takayama Ukon is an inspiration for the Japanese Church and also for us all here in the Philippine Church.
My Journey to the Priesthood
I would like to share with you a little bit about my life and vocation also. Maybe you are wondering how did this Japanese end up here in Philippines, di ba?
My parents are both Catholics (which it is a rare case in Japan) so I was baptized when I was born. In Japan the normal situation is to be baptized when you are an adult. I have one older sister and one younger brother. My parents, right after getting married, migrated to Brazil, and I and my two siblings were born in the north of Brazil, near the Amazon River. Can you imagine to born in the Amazon – wow! When I was 10 years old, my whole family moved back to Japan, but to a small island far away from Tokyo.
As we were living in a remote area, it was only when I was 20 years old when as a family we began to go to Sunday Masses regularly. As I was beginning to discover the beauty and the richness of our faith, I met the Verbum Dei Sisters in Yokohama. And the first thing they invited me to do was to go to the Philippines. Just like Takayama Ukon who came to the Philippines almost 400 years ago, I came to the Philippines where I had a strong experience with The Word of God, an encounter with Jesus. I was 21 years old.
The Word of God that struck me then was “There is no greater love than to lay down your life for your friends and you are my friends.” (John 15:15) I had found what I was looking for: the kind of love, unconditional, the greatest love, the love of God. And I realized this is what happened to Takayama Ukon. Takayama was willing to undergo all the hardships — imagine he lost his property, his home because he discovered this love. A love that is stronger than death, exile, hardships, sufferings, humiliations. As St Paul said in our first reading (Romans 8:35-39): “What will separate us from the love of Christ? Will anguish, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or the sword?” Is that just a nice verse for us all or have we had a fresh experience of that same love? In my own life I was inspired by this great love of Christ because I was searching in so many things, like so many other young people, and I discovered that this is the love I was looking for. At that time I was studying Political Science to become an ambassador of Japan, but after that experience I realized that I was being called not to only be an ambassador for Japan but to be an ambassador of Christ.
I Was There at Takayama’s Beatification
I would like to share with you briefly the recent beatification of Justo Takayama Ukon which I actually had the wonderful privilege to attend.
It was January last year (2016) when I heard the news of his beatification to be held in Ōsaka, Japan. I immediately asked my superior and my community for the possibility to be present at the beatification ceremony. So far I am the only Japanese missionary in Verbum Dei and I really wanted to be there for the beatification ceremony. So my wish was fulfilled and, on February 7, I was there together with my brother priest Fr. James McTavish.
Cardinal Angelo Amato was sent from the Vatican on behalf of Pope Francis to preside over the Beatification Mass of Takayama Ukon. And in the homily Cardinal Amato described Ukon’s life and work as a “tireless promoter of the evangelization of Japan,” highlighting his distinctive features. He said that Takayama was “educated to honor and loyalty, a true warrior of Christ, not with weapons of which he was an expert, but with words and example.”
Wow… a true warrior of Christ, a true samurai of Christ, using the sword of the Word of God, the shield of faith and the helmet of salvation to spread the Gospel.
Jesus in the gospel (Luke 9:23-26) asks each one of us to follow him. If only we could follow Christ with the same fervor and holiness of life as Blessed Takayama Ukon!
Takayama – A Martyr
Takayama was declared a martyr, which as we know means a “witness”. We are also called to witness, interiorly and exteriorly, our love for Christ. We are surrounded by persecutions, perhaps not literally, but there are so many voices telling us to be lazy, to lie, to cheat, to return evil with evil. How are we responding to them? Do we simply give in to them or do we stand up firm and battle against them as a true warrior of Christ not with weapons but with words and example?
Maybe we are working fervently for the canonization of Justo Takayama but we should also not forget to work with the same zeal and fervor for our own sanctification. This was strongly emphasized in Lumen Gentium of Vatican II, in the “universal call to holiness.” And here in Asia, with so few Christians, we need that zeal for our mission. So few here know Christ! And as Pope Paul VI so astutely reminded us “It would be useful if every Christian and every evangelizer were to pray about the following thought: men can gain salvation also in other ways, by God’s mercy, even though we do not preach the Gospel to them; but as for us, can we gain salvation if through negligence or fear or shame — what St. Paul called ‘blushing for the Gospel’ — or as a result of false ideas we fail to preach it?” (Evangelii Nuntiandi, no. 80).
Let us fix our eyes on Jesus and follow in his footsteps as Blessed Takayama Ukon did. Let us indeed pray for his canonization and he will surely be praying for us too, that we also can take up the challenge of holiness each day as we heard in the Gospel — “If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross every day and follow me.” Yes Lord, we want to follow you, grant us your grace and courage to follow you to the end. Amen ◘
►As we shine light on the forthcoming 40th Anniversary of the Takayama Memorial at the Philippines-Japan Friendship Park at Plaza Dilao, Paco on Nov. 17, 2017 – and the 425th year of the establishment of Dilao as the Philippines’ first “Japantown” in 1592, one indispensable figure comes to mind: Japanese Ambassador Toshio Urabe (Manila, 1969-1974), the longest-serving Japanese ambassador to date.
(But Toshio should not to be confused for his illustrious son, Amb. Toshinao Urabe — who also served as Japanese ambassador to Manila, 2011-2014 — who was similarly cited for his efforts in enhancing bilateral relations between the Philippines and Japan. Toshinao was decorated with the Order of Sikatuna, rank of Datu [Gold Distinction], the highest possible decoration given to a non-head of state.)
Toshinao’s father, Amb. Toshio Urabe, had a formidable record: In 1953, Mr. Urabe first arrived in Manila as Counsellor of the Overseas Liaison Office and Chairman of the Technical Panel negotiating the Peace Treaty and Philippines-Japan Reparations Agreement — which was ratified by the Philippine Senate on July 23, 1956. (With diplomatic relations established that day, July 23 is celebrated by Presidential Proclamation as Philippines-Japan Friendship Day. For several years now, the entire month of July has been celebrated as Philippines-Japan Friendship Month.) As Deputy Director General of the Treaties Bureau, it was Mr. Urabe’s job to implement the Reparations Agreement in the spirit of friendship and mutual respect.
In 1969, he returned to Manila – this time, as Japan’s Ambassador, serving from 1969 to 1974. During his incumbency, the Philippines was able to secure a broad range of economic assistance from Japan, beginning with the funding of the 2,000-km. Philippines-Japan Friendship Highway (1969) which now straddles the archipelago from north to south.
Though Amb. Urabe had never heard of the Japanese Christian exile, Lord Takayama Ukon before – he insisted on historical documentation from Japan and extensive discussions with historical groups in Manila and Tokyo — it was under his stewardship that, across four centuries of checquered bilateral relations, Ukon was finally recognized as the only acceptable exemplar of Philippine-Japanese friendship and amity. ◘
Dr. ERNIE A. DE PEDRO
Managing Trustee
Lord Takayama Jubilee Foundation
Blessed Justo Takayama Ukon 