School Work in Japan by F. W. Field

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D.C. · Jan 21, 1904

School Work in Japan

By F. W. Field

We have nothing that can properly be called a school as the term is used in our educational work. This statement may come as somewhat of a surprise, so I will attempt to explain how the idea that we have schools here has evidently been given.

From the beginning of the work, Elder Grainger and the other workers held daily classes in English Bible. Tokyo is the educational center of Japan, and schools of every description abound; so there are tens of thousands of students scattered all over the city. My home is very near the Imperial University and First Higher school. Many of these students were attracted by the free classes in English Bible. The class hours are arranged so as to be most convenient for those who desire to attend. While these classes are open to any who wish to attend, and while people from various walks in life have attended, by far the larger number have been students from the various secular schools. The name Bible Schools was given to the places where these classes were held. And while not altogether inappropriate, I think it will be seen that such work is not to be called school work in the sense in which we use that term in our Educational Department. But these Bible classes are all the schools we have, or have had here, except Sabbath-schools. I regard all this work as strictly evangelical, and report our class recitations as Bible readings; for they differ from Bible readings only in this, that our readers come to us instead of our going to them.

This work has not been wholly satisfactory; for it appears that the majority attend for the study of English, and not from an interest in the Bible. However, it gives us something to do while we are learning the language, and during the last few months three young men who first became interested through attending our Bible classes, have united with the church.

So for the reasons already given, I would not like to have any school work set to our credit until we have a real school. And that brings me to the consideration of our needs in that direction. Our church-membership for all Japan is not yet fifty, including the three families of foreign workers. But among our members are some promising young people. Of the eleven candidates baptized this year, seven are young men. We are planning, as much as our circumstances will allow, for an industrial training-school. We hope to connect our health food work with printing work, when the way opens to start this latter work, and make these two the industrial part of the work. We have already quite a trade worked up in health foods, and manufacture our own nut butter. I believe that other foods could also be manufactured with profit. We have four hundred dollars donated to purchase a printing-press and appliances, but are holding it till we can carry on such work to advantage in connection with educational work.

We have been doing what we could for our young men. A year ago last spring

I gave three hours a day for some weeks to several of our young men, two of them already in the work. But while this was real school work, it was too brief to be called a school, being more like our Bible institutes at home. More recently we have provided daily Bible classes especially for our own young men. But here again the work is so small, so dependent upon the varying circumstances of the young men, that it would give a wrong impression to call it a school.

I am glad of this opportunity to state our circumstances and needs; for I trust it will be the means of giving our brethren at home a more definite idea of our work here. We trust that as our work enlarges, we shall be able to furnish the right kind of training for our young people who give promise of becoming useful workers. There is everything in favor of this plan for the development of workers. It takes years for our foreign workers to acquire even a fair use of this difficult language. The natives know it as we know English. They also know the ways and ideas of the people, while our knowledge concerning them is very imperfect. There are other reasons why we should depend as far as possible upon native help.

F. W. FIELD.