Japan's Forgotten Children by Cynthia Ruble (published in The Japan Daily Press, June 11, 2012)

It was Saturday morning and time to go to the orphanage again to “teach” English. I wondered who would come to the class this week and if an adult would help me. My goal was modest…make this class a positive experience for the children. I had failed many times before. Fights would often break out. Fits of anger would ruin the class for everyone. Sometimes I was the target of aggression. More often the weakest in the class was bullied. Why did I keep going? The answer was simple. There was one little boy who looked forward to my coming and tried his best to learn. He would often be waiting at the door for me. I couldn’t let him down.


Once while I was there, I saw something I will never forget. A little boy had been brought over from the baby orphanage to join the 3-to-18-year-olds’ orphanage. This is the way the system is set up here. Suddenly uprooted from the only home he had known, he was plopped down into a big building full of older boys. Though I had just walked into the room and he was seeing me for the first time, he clung to me for all he was worth and would not be comforted. I’ve rarely witnessed anything as pitiful.

There were 36,450 children in the orphanage system in Japan in March, 2011. Only 12% or 4,373 were adopted or placed in foster care during the preceding 12 months. Orphanages abound here; there are 14 within the Nagoya city limits alone. You may wonder why there are so many children without parents in Japan. The fact is that the vast majority of children in orphanages here do have parents. Parents are allowed to put their babies/children in orphanages for any number of reasons. They don’t even need to visit them. They can leave them there, and often do, until they reach 18 years of age. The government will not proactively sever their parental rights.

Last month, a Chukyo Television director who was documenting this problem, asked a high government official why Japan had such a system, as opposed to promoting adoption and foster care like other developed nations. The man, whom I respect for his honesty, basically said that after the war there were many children without parents. At that time, many orphanages were built. So, that became Japan’s system to this day. Let me translate that for you…There are many jobs involved in this system. Plus, we don’t like change.

Orphanages receive government funds based on the number of children they have and are thus not motivated to try to get children adopted or into foster care. And to be fair, they have their hands full, especially because many of the children have been abused by their parents. I have found orphanage workers to care very much about the children but also to be overwhelmed by the task. An orphanage where I taught for two years was very well run. But even there, the workers admitted there were many problems and they worried about the children who had to leave at age 18 with no support system.

The issue the government doesn’t seem to want to face is the negative impact on children who grow up in institutions. Tokuji Yamanta, a former child welfare worker in Aichi prefecture and well-known champion of Japan’s children, told me recently that the children who live in orphanages for many years are hurt in deep and complex ways. Some who eventually end up in family environments can develop reactive attachment disorder in which they regress to behaving like a baby. Some years ago, Britain did a study of children who grew up in orphanages and the findings were so disturbing that they shifted their policy to ensure more children were cared for in foster families. The Japanese government doesn’t study this issue, in Mr. Yamanta’s opinion, “because it doesn’t want to know the truth and thus be forced to change.”

When you consider that there are so many couples in Japan who want to adopt, it is hard to understand why the government opts for a system that keeps children, even babies, in institutions. An underlying reason is that many in Japan have a hard time believing that adopted children can be happy. (While abortion became legal in the 1940s here, adoption wasn’t legalized until 1988.*) When I asked a Japanese friend if Japanese people think that children who grow up in orphanages are happy, she said that no one’s thinking about that, as most people aren’t even aware of the system.

The government hopes that once children grow up and leave the orphanage, they can return to their parents where they belong. Hence, the government doesn’t force parents to either meet certain conditions to get their children back or eventually lose their parental rights. Children end up waiting for parents to visit and hoping to go home…for years. Sadly, as Mr. Yamanta pointed out, when he worked in child welfare, 80% of the time the children no longer had a connection with their parents by the time they left the orphanage.

In Japan, there is a saying that the nail that sticks up gets hammered down. But I know another saying, “You can’t keep a good man down.” In my next column, I will write about Mr. Yamanta’s unwillingness to go along with a bad system and the ray of hope that is dawning for Japan’s forgotten children.

*Before 1988, adoption did exist in Japan, but primarily among relatives, especially for the purpose of having an heir. In 1988, adoption for the benefit of the child, where the rights of birth parents are terminated, became legal.

May Update

PRAISE REPORT

Thank you so much for your prayers for our recent trip. God is good! It was a great trip and we are so thankful for God's protection while we were driving over 3600 miles, through 12 states, with no car trouble and no sickness. Thank you Righteous Rides for providing us with such a nice vehicle! 

We met many new friends and have added them to our update list. Welcome! And we were able to connect with many old friends and partners as well as some of Kim's family. Thank you to everyone who housed us and/or fed us, we are blessed!

We met with and/or spoke at 9 different churches and were able to share with countless individuals about the great spiritual need in Japan. And, as always, people just couldn't believe that less than 0.3%  of the population of Japan is without Christ. That's over 126 million people! 

We have already added some new supporters as a result of this trip. Please pray that God will move in the hearts of His people to give towards this ministry and that we will be at 100% soon!

DEPARTURE CHECKLIST

We received our renewed passports last week, so that's one thing checked off. We will be making a trip to the home office in June to get any needed vaccines. Of course, we were inoculated with just about everything imaginable before going to Papua New Guinea, but we do need the Japanese encephalitis vaccine and maybe some boosters. Sounds like a fun trip!

PRAYER REQUESTS

Please continue to pray for our family as we go through all these transitions. Pray that we will enjoy every day God blesses us with. Please pray that we will enjoy our kids, they are growing up so fast! And this special time God has given us to be so close as a family and spend so much time together. It truly is a blessing that we far too often take for granted.

Please pray for our marriage. The past year has been very challenging because God has been working on some major issues in our lives. We are growing so much closer to Him and to each other as a result though. We are so thankful for the people God has put in our lives to help us on this journey!

May 18-20th we will be attending a team retreat in the Tennessee mountains. Those of us who are itinerating will be team building and fellowshipping with those who are in the states on HMA (home assignment/furlough). Please pray that it will be a nice, relaxing time for all of us and our families.

Last, but certainly not least, please continue to pray for the people of Japan. They really are more open to the Gospel right now than they've ever been. There is a window of opportunity open right now so now is the time.

Thank you so much for your encouragement, support and prayers!

In Christ, 

Triston and Kim

April 2012 Update

News from the recent Festival of Hope in Sendai, Japan

“Japan has few Christians relative to its large population, and northwest Japan has fewer than most other parts of the country. Churches in Sendai typically average less than 30 in attendance, so it was a wonderful answer to prayer and brought great joy to Japanese Christians when nearly 12,000 people attended the Festival of Hope to hear the Gospel. The final meeting was the largest Christian gathering ever in that region of Japan. The Crusade was held in the Grande 21 arena, a sports complex that had served as a temporary morgue after last year’s disaster. Many Christians asked God to transform the stadium—which had been a place for families to come and seek their dead—into a place where people found new life. God answered. Members of one family said that they decided to attend the Crusade for a simple reason—after the tragedy, it was the military and Christians who came to help, and Christians were still there a year later, volunteering, rebuilding, and providing encouragement. That made them want to learn more about the Gospel. “(From the April 2012 BGEA Newsletter)

Please pray for our upcoming trip (schedule below). Pray that the Lord will open new doors for partnerships with these new churches and /or individuals and also that we will have a good time as a family on this 2 week adventure! Please pray that the remaining 17% of our support will come in soon. Our desire is to leave for Japan in July so we can help relieve our team leaders of some of their workload and provide hope and encouragement through the Gospel to the people of Japan.

April 17-18 traveling to Gosport, Indiana to visit friends

April 19-20 traveling on to Iowa, dinner with new friends in Alton, Iowa

April 21 a.m. meeting at Hospers PCA in Hospers, Iowa, then drive to Grundy Center, Iowa for dinner with new friends

April 22 a.m. presentation at Colfax Center Church, Holland, Iowa

April 22 p.m. presentation at Faith PCA in Ackley, Iowa then drive to Madison, Wisconsin

April 23 Kim’s Birthday, meet friends from PNG for dinner in Tomah, Wisconsin

April 24 meeting at Cornerstone Church in Delafield, Wisconsin

April 25 meet Kim’s cousin for dinner in Elgin, Illinois

April 26 meeting in Elgin, Illinois, then drive to Plainfield, Illinois to visit friends

April 27-28 drive to Greenwood, Indiana to visit Kim’s family

April 29 a.m. Triston preaching at Shiloh Community Church, Franklin, Indiana, visit friends, then dinner with family in Muncie

April 29 p.m. presentation at Westminster PCA, Muncie, Indiana then head south

April 30 traveling home to NC

May 18-20 retreat with Nagoya team in North Carolina mountains

We would love to see you during our trip if you are in any of these areas! We would also like to add more to our schedule for May and June! Please let us know if you’re interested in hosting a home meeting or if your church, Sunday School class or Bible study group is interested in having us come and share about the great need in Japan!

The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom - Trailer - ACADEMY AWARD® NOMINATED ...

One Year Later

(This is from MTW missionaries, Bruce & Susan Young, who spent 30+ years in Japan.)

On March 11 it will be exactly one year since the catastrophic 9.0 earthquake hit northern Japan, causing massive destruction. Looking over these past 12 months we see the terrible effects it has had in four areas—physical damage, emotional damage, nuclear damage and economic damage:

· one, the tsunami which was at some places 90 feet high, killed over 15,000 lives! And there are 3,320 still missing; it will take 245 billion dollars for reconstruction;

· two, emotional damage that resulted in increased suicides, depression and emotional stress (throughout 2011 earthquakes continue to shake Japan—there were over 19,000 earthquakes in the 3.0 category and 2200 5.0-5.9 magnitude quakes!)

· three, exposure to nuclear radiation and the shut down of the power plant which resulted in the loss of 20% of Tokyo’s electricity and the scare of contamination of food, water and the air.

· four, it was a blow to the all ready hurting Japanese economy by the loss of production and increased debt from having to pour money into repairing the infrastructure and care for the affected people.

Could there possibly be anything positive come out of such a tragedy? Yes, and let me tell you of four ways God is using this:

· the evangelical church has become unified in their efforts to work together to reach the affected areas.

· our Presbyterian denomination has committed to starting a presbytery of several churches in one of the least churched areas of Japan.

· perhaps most notably, the reputation of Christians in Japan has taken a turn for the good. Many Japanese are impressed at the unconditional help and concern shown by Christians to those suffering from the tsunami.

· local churches have become visible in their community. Neighbors have entered churches for the first time to bring contributions to be sent north for relief work!

"Passenger Injury"

I just read a blog post from someone living in Japan. He arrived at the train station to find out that his train was running 70 minutes late, unheard of in Japan, unless there has been a "passenger injury". His next train was running 15 minutes late, again due to "passenger injury".

What is "passenger injury"? A nice, tidy way of saying that someone jumped in front of the train to commit suicide.

Over 90 people a day commit suicide in Japan and it seems to be on the rise. The people of Japan need the hope that can only be found through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ!

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