Japan by Irwin Henry Evans

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Sep 16, 1909

Japan

By Irwin Henry Evans

Since the day that Commodore Perry dropped anchor in one of the beautiful harbors of Japan, that country has been more and more attracting public attention. It is only in recent years that the civilized nations of the West have come to know and appreciate Japan’s progress and struggles for national growth. The fascinating stories told by travelers of Japan’s enchanting beauties seemed more like romance than reality, but to-day the world has come to know Japan, and those who know must acknowledge that the half was never told.

Japan is not simply a place of beauty, but by her push and enterprise, in both commerce and war, she has taught the world that she is a power to be reckoned with, and the Western nations concede that in all matters pertaining to the far East, Japan’s wishes must be considered.

Probably history offers no parallel to Japan in the rapid progress she has made in adapting herself to Western civilization, in her growth in the arts and sciences, in manufacturing and commerce.

Forty-eight millions of people acknowledge the sovereignty of the Japanese government, and they are densely crowded into the rich valleys of the mountainous islands that compose the kingdom. Most of the Japanese people are short in stature, rather heavily built, and are intelligent, industrious, economical, and very ambitious to keep pace with the progress of the Western nations.

Perhaps there is no nation in the world to-day whose government is more highly regarded by its subjects than is the government of Japan. The emperor is considered almost divine, and his subjects have great respect for law. The government is a strong military administration; and when one sees the almost constant drills and maneuvering of troops, the military uniforms worn by the high-school and college boys, and the constant visits to the shrines of emperors and leading statesmen by the various schools of Japan, he is reminded of the military government of Germany.

The Japanese have a high regard for education, and believe their progress during the last half century is largely due to the education of the masses. Education of the children is compulsory by law. The government supplies the country with school buildings and with teachers. A tuition is generally charged, but is remitted in cases of extreme poverty. The teachers are required to have a certificate from one of the normal schools approved by the government. None are permitted to teach in the lower grades who have not received governmental recognition as qualified teachers. In this country, the lower grades are not provided for as in Japan. In our country, they are often supplied with inferior teachers, while in Japan the best teachers that can be secured are placed in charge of the children in the lowest grades of the school.

Japan is well supplied with daily papers and other literary matter, which is continually issuing from the press. Most of this educational growth and progress has been made in the last fifty years, and in this respect Japan is a marvel to the nations of the world. Judging from the progress made by Japan in the past, we may reasonably expect its future to be bright and propitious in both intellectual and material growth.

The Japanese as a people are what the Christian nations would call heathen. Buddhism, Shintoism, and Confucianism are all blended together in various forms of worship, or are carried on as separate classes of religion, according to the taste of the individual. Costly temples, beautifully decorated, are in most of the larger cities, while simpler edifices can be counted in almost every village and hamlet. Ancestor worship is generally practised, from the emperor to the lowest coolie laborer, in some form or other.

The Japanese do not seem to be prejudiced against the Christian religion, and are ready to read the Christian Bible, though it is difficult for them to see the superiority of the Christian religion over the teachings of Buddha until they have given their hearts to God.

The teachings of our denomination are tolerated in Japan; and as the Japanese recognize no Sabbath, Seventh-day Adventists have the same opportunities, with the exception of the difficulties with the military laws, for teaching in the country as have other denominations. In our worship, we are protected by the civil authorities, and our meetings are never broken up.

We began our work in Japan in 1895. Since that time we have had some workers in Japan, but until recently our progress has been slow. To-day we have six foreign missionaries in Japan to teach the third angel’s message. Besides these six workers, we have two competent native preachers, Brother T. H. Okohira and Brother H. Kuniya, who are earnest, faithful men in preaching the truth for this time.

But what are six foreign missionaries to do with a population of nearly forty-eight million, scattered on many little islands, as are the inhabitants of Japan? These six foreign missionaries in Japan each have a population of about eight million to look after, and to warn concerning the coming of Christ. That means that one man would have as much work to do in warning the Japanese people of the soon coming of Christ, as he would have were he placed in charge of all the territory in the United States west of the State of Iowa, from Canada on the north to Mexico on the south, and made responsible for warning the people by giving them the third angel’s message. In other words, each worker will have to preach the truth to as many people as the following States contained in 1900: Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Montana, Colorado, Idaho, and Kansas.

We must not forget that while the Japanese are making rapid progress in education and in the modern methods of civilized life, yet they remain a heathen people, worshiping at temples and shrines filled with heathen deities, and do not acknowledge the true God, nor do they recognize the Christian Bible.

During the last year our brethren in Japan have been very desirous of securing a little plot of ground, of about five acres, on which they might erect a little printing plant, a school, and a small sanitarium. They have not asked for any such facilities as we have in the United States, though they have more than half the population of this country. To-day Japan is conducting its printing work in a small room in the basement of Brother W. D. Burden’s private house. They have a small cylinder press, which is turned by hand; and the running of this press requires all the strength of a strong man. The printed matter has to be carried up-stairs through a very narrow, dark stairway, and the facilities are in every way inadequate for the work of that kingdom.

Other denominations have gone into Japan, erected splendid printing plants, fine colleges, and costly hospitals, but up to date this denomination has invested comparatively nothing in Japan in institutional work. Last year a school was conducted by our brethren in Japan, at which there were thirty-eight grown people in attendance. This school was held in a room in Brother Burden’s home. As I looked into the intelligent, earnest faces of the students, who study there about eight hours a day, my heart went out in great sympathy for them, and I could but feel that it was an injustice to our work in Japan to see them supplied with such meager facilities.

Up to the present time, the Mission Board has not felt that it was warranted in investing money in the purchase of land, and the starting of a printing plant and school in that country. But these conditions will have to be remedied, and if our work is not crushed in its infancy in Japan, the workers must have some facilities with which to reach the people.

Two boys who went out from the school conducted last winter, have raised up a nice little company of fifteen or twenty Sabbath-keepers. The literature that has come from the press has been taken by the students in the school, and the sales have been most encouraging. When I was in Kobe last winter, one brother, whom I met on the street, told me that he had sold, that week, five hundred copies of the Japanese paper.

Dr. Kiku Noma and her husband, with some of our native brethren and sisters, have erected a nice little sanitarium at Kobe. They have done this with money they borrowed from the Japanese, and the General Conference has not invested a dollar in the sanitarium. This little institution is bringing many people into the truth. A good spirit permeates the work, and I have never been in an institution where there seemed to be a more earnest desire on the part of those who were conducting the work to lead the employees and the patients to Christ than in the Eisein Sanitarium.

From every standpoint, Japan appeals to our denomination to quicken its pace in getting the message before the Japanese. There ought to be another physician to go to Japan at once and master the language. There ought to be at least three or four good strong evangelists placed in Japan this year, who would learn the language and be able to locate in different parts of the empire, to help direct the work.

If ever God has called to this people to arise and do something in these heathen lands, he is calling now. In our history there have never been such opportunities for service, there have never been such calls made to the denomination for men and means, as at the present time. If we fail at this time to do our duty, what will our future be? We earnestly ask our people to pray that God will raise up workers for Japan. May he give our people liberal hearts that the General Conference may have means with which to supply the much-needed facilities called for in that country.

I. H. EVANS.