FOR ME, LINKS with Japan go back fifty-four years, although in the last five they have multiplied apace. But in 1943, as an undergraduate at Cambridge, I was recruited to be taught written Japanese of a military nature, and at the end of six months I was sent to Bletchley Park to work as a translator. (More details about all this can be found in the first part of Alan Stripp's book, Code Breaker in the Far East.) After the war, I proceeded to forget most of what I had learnt. However in 1962 I had a second brief encounter, not with intercepted military messages, but with living Japanese fellow-Anglicans.
That year, I spent the autumn term at St. Augustine's, Canterbury, which was then the Central College of the Anglican Communion. Among the students there were priests from many parts of the world and one of the Japanese was Fr. James Yashiro, a member of a family which has played a great part in the Nippon Sei Ko Kai (NSKK), the Anglican Church of Japan. Next, from 1980 to 1986 I was Sub-Warden of St. Deiniol's Library, Hawarden, and one year the Rev, Professor Barnabas Seki came from Japan for quite a long stay, in order to study F D. Maurice with a view to writing a book about him in Japanese. Then, in 1991 my son was sent to work in Tokyo, and the following April my wife and I went out to visit him. While there we made contact with the Professor, and were invited to his house for a meal, In conversation I mentioned James Yashiro, and learnt that he was now Bishop of Kita Kanto, and would certainly like to see me again. A meeting was arranged, Bishop James kindly making time one afternoon to come to our hotel - Kita Kanto is not far from Tokyo. Later that summer he came to England, for a conference on Faith and Order, and I met him in London. As well as being glad to renew our acquaintance after thirty years, we were happy to find that we were both 'traditional' Anglicans. We kept in touch by occasional letters, and I was delighted in 1994 to hear that he had been elected as Primate of the NSKK. (The primacy is held for two years by any one of the Bishops, who may be re-elected for a further term of office.) Meanwhile another link with Japan has been formed: in my retirement I have come to know Fr. Job Uchida, Japanese Anglican Chaplain in London. This is because I am NSM, assistant priest at the church of St. Botolph-without-Bishopsgate, and he for the last few years has been coming there monthly to celebrate a lunchtime Eucharist in Japanese. One day in March 1995 Bishop James Yashiro, in England for a meeting of Anglican Primates, came and celebrated at St. Botolph's, and afterwards he, his assistant, Fr. Uchida and I had an enjoyable meal at a Chinese restaurant in Soho. In 1996 Bishop James was re-elected Primate, in spite of the facts, as he wrote afterwards, that there were many who disagreed with his conservative stand on such matters as the ordination of women to the priesthood, and that he was physically not in good health. Actually he was suffering from cancer, and sadly he died in March this year.
My most personal link with Japan was formed in October 1996 when I officiated in Frinton, where I live, at the marriage of my son and his Japanese fiancée, Miho Kadota, whom he had first met when in Tokyo. Fr. Uchida kindly took part in the service, saying some of the prayers and giving one of the blessings in Japanese.
These lengthy prolegomena lead up to what I want to write about NSKK. as a result of a visit to Japan in October this year. We went in response to an invitation to stay with Miho's parents, but Fr. Job Uchida was able to arrange for me to meet the Bishop of Yokohama and Fr. Emmanuel Kinoshita, General Secretary in Japan of the Association for the Apostolic Ministry (AAM.). So one afternoon I was met at Yokohama station by Fr. Kinoshita, who took me to the bishop's house, next door to the cathedral. Those words must not be allowed to conjure up a vision of Barchester! The cathedral is in a side-street, and is a comparatively new building of modest size; close by stands the bishop's house which resembles a modern English vicarage; a few yards away is a building which contains the diocesan office, one or two committee rooms, and a large hall and kitchen. I should add that though the two cities are contiguous, Tokyo and Yokohama are separate NSKK dioceses.
Bishop Raphael Kajiwara, who had been a friend and supporter of Bishop James Yashiro, gave me a cordial welcome, particularly when he discovered that my wife is distantly related to one of his nineteenth-century predecessors, Bishop Bickersteth. We spoke about the problems of the Church of England and the fear, likelihood perhaps, that the NSKK might go the same way as we had. I explained how the "two integrities" and "flying bishops" seemed to be working out in practice, and said something about Forward in Faith. At that point to my surprise and delight Fr. Emmanuel produced the latest number of New Directions.
Sadly I learnt that although the diocese of Yokohama had been "twinned" with that of Leicester in the days of Bishop Rutt, the relationship is now no longer as close as it used to be. The bishop spoke of the year he had spent studying liturgy at Cuddesdon (Ripon College), in the course of which he had got to know the present Archbishop of York, David Hope, then Principal of St. Stephen's House. The bishop and I share an interest in Orthodoxy, for he has spent some time in Greece, on Mount Athos and in Thessalonike, and like me is a reader of SOBORNOST, the journal of the Fellowship
I was shown round the cathedral, which has a Sunday congregation of 100 plus, and the bishop pointed out the statue of Our Lady of Walsingham which he has had placed in a niche on the North wall. In the building next door I was introduced to the editorial committee working on the next number of the diocesan newspaper, and to other members of the diocesan staff. Then the bishop took us to one of his favourite restaurants which provided a splendid Japanese meal and where I wielded my chopsticks with fair success. We said 'Good-bye' to Bishop Raphael, and Fr. Emmanuel, who looked after me with great kindness, then took me to the convent of the sisters of the Community of Nazareth where I was to spend the night. The convent is in a quiet suburb of Tokyo, and to reach it we travelled by local trains to the nearest station. This Community of Anglican nuns is a "daughter" of the Community of the Epiphany at Truro, having been formed in 1936 into a new and independent Japanese order. Fr. Emmanuel went home, saying that he would come to fetch me next morning, and I was shown to a very comfortable room in Epiphany House, the part of the convent used by guests and retreatants.
Next morning I was very glad to be able to join the sisters in chapel for the Eucharist and receive communion. Having forgotten most of my wartime Japanese and anyhow never having learnt the vocabulary of Christian liturgy, I followed the service as best I could reading my own Prayer Book. After I had been given an excellent breakfast, an English-speaking sister showed me round the convent. This was built as recently as 1992/93, when the nuns had decided that they ought to move to a district less noisy and crowded than the one where they had previously been living. They were very fortunate in their architect who took great trouble to produce a lovely building, well-suited to its purpose, blending happily with its surroundings, and not looking either offensively modern or in the least pseudo-Gothic. The chapel is in the centre, but before the visitor enters he sees in the outside hall a sculptured Holy Family, the work of a noted Japanese sculptor. 'The chapel itself,' to quote the architect's description, 'has a house-like shape, but it also symbolises the Ark of Noah ... A large inner sphere is constituted by concrete beams like the ribs of a ship.' On the left of the chapel are the nuns' quarters (Nazareth House), built round a garden; on the right is Epiphany House; behind the chapel there is a smaller oratory, in which is kept the altar of the original convent, and on the wall above and behind it is a great fresco of the glorified Christ, standing and with his arms extended in a gesture of welcome. In the passage outside the oratory I again noticed a statue of Our Lady of Walsingham in the passage, and was informed that it had been sent to them as a gift. I counted twelve sisters in chapel, and I was told that they have a branch house elsewhere. They are not an enclosed order, for some of them visit the sick and aged, but their main work is prayer, looking after Epiphany House and the retreatants and guests who use it, and making altar breads supplied to the churches of N.S.K.K. and of one or two other denominations. Their normal day starts at 5.55 with Matins, followed by meditation and the Eucharist; at appropriate times they have Terce, Sext, Nones and Evensong, and then finally Compline at 8.15. I was sorry to have to bid farewell to the convent when Fr. Kinoshita came to escort me into central Tokyo, where he had in the afternoon to attend a meeting in the Provincial Office of N.S.K.K. However, during our walk back to the station and our journey on the local train, as well as over lunch in a restaurant, I had a good opportunity to converse with him. I learnt that N.S.K.K. is predominantly a middle-class Church; that it is short of priests; and that the A.A.M. organises an annual conference, while its committee meets three or four times a year. A.A.M has members in all but one of the Japanese dioceses, the exception being Kyoto whose bishop is the chief protagonist of the ordination of women to the priesthood. Humanly speaking, the General Synod of N.S.K.K. seems likely to be going to accept this, and then there will be great difficulties for traditionalists. From Fr. Emmanuel and from Bishop Raphael Kajiwara I gained the impression that the idea of "two integrities" would probably win little support, as the total membership of the Church is small and Japanese people are naturally prone to submit to authority, finding it hard to maintain a minority position. On the other hand, one can take comfort in the fact that there does not seem much likelihood in the near future of their having to face the problems of same sex "marriages" or the ordination of non-celibate homosexuals.
When Fr. Emmanuel had to leave me to go to his meeting, it was less than twenty- four hours since we had first met at Yokohama station. Nevertheless I felt that in that short time I had learnt a great deal about N.S.K.K., and I hope that my interest in what they told or showed me was some recompense for all the kindness I had received. For me it was the last link {so far) in a long chain of contacts with Japan and Anglicans there; I hope that what I have written may move other members of Forward-in-Faith to form more links for the mutual encouragement of traditionalists in both our Churches. Through such links we can learn from one another's experience, give each other support, and be helped to overcome the feelings of isolation which may at times threaten to demoralise us in view of the difficulties and uncertainties we face. At least let us remember to pray that N.S.K.K may not follow the bad example set by our General Synod on 11 November 1992.