Today 11 March 2025 is a day of great significance for Japan and its people. In our hearts and prayers, we join every Japanese citizen on the fourteenth commemoration of the 2011 triple disaster (earthquake, tsunami and nuclear plant). We remember the scenes associated with 11 March 2011, the incredible loss of human life, widespread injury and suffering, as well as the terrible destruction of property and the livelihoods of many families.
As we reflect on the immense scale of suffering in this time of lent, we encourage you to read the gripping testimony by Prof. Takashi Yoshida, current president of Kobe Reformed Theological Seminary. He shared this testimony originally in March 2012 in Stellenbosch, South Africa. Amazingly Prof. Yoshida is still actively involved in support work through Tohoku Help , after 14 Years! Please keep on praying for God’s healing in this area and for more and more people to receive the hope that there is in the gospel of Jesus Christ amid their despair.
The Great North-Eastern Japan Disaster | March 11 2011
Testimony | Prof. Takashi Yoshida
The Church’s response to theological and practical challenges
I am very honored to be here and very glad to meet you all, brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ. I cannot begin this morning’s presentation without expressing deep appreciation for your warm prayers and precious gifts to the Japanese churches, especially those in the disaster area. Thank you so much.
Now, it was on March 11, 2011, almost one year ago, that the triple disaster — the earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear plant explosion— struck us one after another. All the routines in our lives were suddenly stopped and thrown into turmoil. From that day on, we began to face and struggle with many problems.
I would like to take this special opportunity to share with you some theological and practical lessons and challenges that we have experienced through the disaster. Many of the challenges I will mention shortly, however, were not necessarily new to us. They had already been present in Japanese society even before the disaster. We might have been unaware of them, or we had just ignored them consciously or unconsciously.
It seems to me, therefore, that the disaster was not only a major challenge to us but also a God-intervened event to awaken the Japanese churches spiritually and lead them to true repentance, becoming more Christ-like and deeply reformed by the word of God.
Since many relief activities are still going on, and the situation at the Fukushima nuclear plant is not settled yet at all, I would like to mention three tentative lessons, among others, which I have learned and am still learning through the tragedy.
The Integrality /Totality of the Gospel
In most recent Japanese churches, people coming to church are not as they used to be. Many of them are suffering either financially or mentally, such as homeless individuals, people with mental illnesses, alcoholics, and victims of domestic violence. They are not necessarily seekers in the sense that they are looking for a certain truth or are interested in Christianity, but rather seekers of a place where they can feel safe without having to defend themselves or a place where they are accepted unconditionally.
Right after the disaster, thousands of people became literally homeless. There were numerous people on the streets needing food, mental and spiritual care, and a place where they could feel safe. Thanks to the help of so many Christian people, organizations, and missionaries both within and outside Japan, including Mission Japan of South Africa, even very small local churches in the affected region became relief centers to serve their neighborhoods and help suffering people by delivering food, water, and whatever else they needed, as well as providing mental and spiritual care.
Christians in that area had never thought before that they could do anything like this for the community, partly because most Japanese churches are too small and weak to do so. More seriously, I think, our understanding of church ministry and the Gospel itself might have been too narrow. But I believe that through this, God taught us what the church of Christ is supposed to be and do in its community.
According to Martin Bucer, one of the German Reformers and a colleague of John Calvin, pastoral care or diaconal work not only for Christians but also for potential Christians is an essential ministry and the identity of the church of Jesus Christ. It should be holistic, he says, caring for a person as a whole, both soul and body, just as Jesus did. As a matter of fact, in the history of Christian missions, countless missionaries have demonstrated this “full” Gospel of Jesus Christ—intellectually, spiritually, and physically—through their sacrificial and merciful attitudes and deeds, often contributing to local welfare.
Japanese churches, particularly those in our Reformed tradition, have been too intellectually oriented to recognize their God-given potential to serve the community more positively, more charitably, and more powerfully. Thanks to God, however, we have come to realize this wonderful mission of the church through various kinds of relief work, one of which has been done by East Sendai Church, as you saw just before, in which Tobie and Annalie De Wet have been significantly involved, embodying the love of Christ through their presence and actions.
To be a Neighbor: An Issue of Religion
A second challenge, rather than just a lesson, was and still is learning how to be a neighbor to the affected people. Being a neighbor, especially to those in suffering, is not easy. It challenges us to reflect on who and what we really are. In other words, it questions the essence of our faith and even our religion itself.
This is the lesson of the parable of the Good Samaritan. We all know that Samaritans were seen as heretics or even virtually pagans to the Jews in those days. Imagine if the priest and the Levite who passed by the wounded man were Japanese Christian pastors or church officers,and if the Samaritan was a Buddhist or a heretic. This is a scenario we do not like to imagine. But in our disaster area, such things do happen. Just as Jesus said, the question is not what religion a person follows but who is a neighbor to the victim. This story teaches us to see from the perspective of the beaten person or “the perspective from below.” For the wounded person, it doesn’t matter what religion a helper belongs to. The only one who matters is the one who helps. And Jesus said, “Go and do likewise.” Astonishingly, in the parable, the Lord identifies himself either with the beaten person or the Samaritan. Why shouldn’t we?
In fact, cooperative relief work between Buddhist monks and Christian pastors or priests has been significant, especially in the tsunami-stricken area. After the tsunami, many medical doctors and staff came to help the survivors, yet they soon found that they could not do much because most survivors were physically fine but severely damaged mentally and spiritually due to the loss of their loved ones. The doctors told us, “This is not our job but yours, pastors and priests.”
One month after the disaster, the bodies of victims began to be cremated due to a lack of fuel, but without any religious ceremony. Then Buddhist monks and Christian pastors and priests raised their voices to the city, requesting a ceremony before cremation—not for themselves but for the victims and their bereaved families. Eventually, the city recognized its significance and permitted them to conduct the ceremonies at the crematorium. Later, we also launched an interreligious counseling center, which is still active today.
The Power of Prayer
Lastly, a vital lesson we have learned concerns the essence of our religion: the power of prayer. I’d like to share two stories about this.
A highly experienced and well-respected American mental health doctor, who was also a Christian, visited one of the evacuation centers near the seashore, south of the nuclear plant in Fukushima. When the person in charge announced, “A famous American mental health doctor has arrived. Does anyone want counseling with him?” nobody responded. The doctor himself then approached a group of people, asking if anyone needed to talk. Again, no response. Finally, he said, “I’m a Christian, and I want to pray for you. What do you need? What’s your wish?” Then, someone hesitantly replied, “Fish. They disappeared after the tsunami.” The doctor said, “Okay. I will ask my God to bring back fish for you, even radiation-free.” At that moment, their faces brightened, and they said, “Please, your God may be able to do that.”
Photo’s | Aftermath | 11 March 2011
Conclusion
Two days before March 11, 2011, was Ash Wednesday. While we have seen and experienced much suffering in the aftermath of the disaster, we have also reflected on the earthly life of our Lord Jesus with suffering people.
We do not know how many years it will take for all the turmoil in the stricken area to come to an end. Yet we are certain that our God is with us, and the incarnate God is still walking with us by His Spirit, even in the midst of our sufferings. This is the most significant lesson we have learned and the greatest comfort we have experienced.
