Japanese earthquake and Friends
Symon Hill reports on Quaker responses to the crisis in Japan
Japanese Friends have met to discern God’s guidance on how they can best respond to the suffering caused by last week’s earthquake and tsunami. They have also thanked Quakers in Britain for messages of support and love.
Sachiko Yamamoto, a member of Tokyo Monthly Meeting, explained that Friends ‘prayed for those who suffered and are still suffering from the loss and the missing of their loved ones’. They ‘thanked God that our members are safe although some are very much worried about the relatives and friends around that area’.
Friends are considering how they can best help the most vulnerable people in Japan in the wake of the disaster. Tokyo Quakers are considering opening up their Meeting house as a refuge.
Louisa Hatanaka, an English teacher at Tokyo Friends’ School, explained that the staff had gathered students in the auditorium after the quake struck. A family living nearby arrived with 300 rice balls for those who were sheltering in the school.
Sachiko Yamamoto said that Friends feel ‘threatened by the damage of the nuclear power station. The nuclear incidents following the earthquake have raised questions about nuclear power around the world. The Swiss government has responded by suspending approval for three new nuclear power stations.
The UK’s energy secretary Chris Huhne has announced that the chief nuclear inspector, Mike Weightman, will produce a report on the implications of the situation in Japan for the UK.
He urged the public not to jump to conclusions before the report is produced. ‘The investigation is absolutely crucial,’ he said, ‘We must not put the cart before the horse’.
This did not stop Green MP Caroline Lucas, who described the nuclear incident in Japan as ‘one of the worst in the fifty-year history of the international nuclear industry’.
Kate Hudson of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) suggested that the dangers for Britain would increase as climate change makes extreme weather conditions more likely.
There have been Friends in Japan since 1885, when two Japanese men, Inazo Nitobe and Kanzo Uchimura, became Quakers after attending Meetings in Philadelphia. Christianity was developing in Japan at this time, owing to growing interest in influences from the US and Europe and the translation of the New Testament into Japanese.
