August in Japan

August is the month of hope. The monsoon rains have passed and now the rice paddy fields are a vivid mass of green. The harvest will come. There will be food. The rice plants gently waving in the wind somehow symbolizes hope; it is has scent that touches the heart.

Hiroshima, Japan - November 3, 2015: Hiroshima Peace Memorial The Atomic Bomb DomeAugust is the hottest month of the year. The heat brings out the cicadas, it is also the month of the children’s summer vacation. They come out armed with nets on long bamboo poles to catch these songsters and put them in woven bamboo cages. The hunting grounds especially in cities are the thickets of trees around the Shinto shrines and thankfully around our Hodogaya Church in the centre of Yokohama City?

August in Japan is a sacred month. On August 5, the anniversary of the Hiroshima atomic bomb, the whole country stops for prayer. At 8:15am (the time of the bomb) TV, radio and district loud speakers broadcast the solemn echoes of the Hiroshima Peace bell. Japan observes a minute of silence praying for peace. We as Christians in Japan are a part of this ecumenical prayer.

Call to mind that August 5 is the feast of the Transfiguration. Jesus was ablaze with white light. This light of Jesus brings peace. Hiroshima too on that day was ablaze with a white light. It brought death. We pray: Lord Jesus, may your light prevail.

Feast of the TransfigurationThen on August 9 we commemorate the atomic desolation of Nagasaki. I schedule my Mass on that day for 11:00am. At 11:02 (the time of the bomb) we join with the rest of Japan in prayer for peace.

On August 15 we celebrate not only Mary Queen of Peace taken up into heaven but also the anniversary of the end of the Pacific War 66 years ago. Since Pope John Paul II’s visit to Nagasaki in 1981, the Japanese Church observes ‘10 days for peace’ (August 5-August 15). In all dioceses we have special prayers and gatherings for peace. The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Japan issues an annual statement that has an uncompromising challenge.  In 2010, the Bishops called on the Japanese people “to reflect on Japan’s past history of aggression…courageously admit failure and implore God for forgiveness, not to belittle ourselves but to face up to the reality of human frailty in the way Christ desires us to." The Bishops often quote the Pope’s words in Nagasaki: "To remember the past is to commit ourselves to the future.”

August 15 - Buddhist All Souls DayBut there is more to the month of August! The 15th is the traditional Buddhist All Souls’ Day. It is the custom for people to return to their town or village of origin to visit parents and relatives, tidy up and pray at the graves of their ancestors. We Catholics join these prayers. We pray that as Mary was taken up into Heaven so too through her intercession may our ancestors enjoy eternal peace.

Finally to add to the flavour of August each year for two weeks I travel by train 660kms south to Wakayama City where I was, after language school, first stationed. Fifty-two years ago when I was 27-years-old I arrived in this southern country city when it was in the grip of a deep depression. I, as the junior assistant in the parish had the leadership of the Youth Group. From an attendance of a mere 10, the numbers rose to 70. Now 50 years later this ‘youth group’ has a re-union in August. From far and wide about 30-40 of us gather for a Mass and a meal. The conversations are peppered with, 'Do you remember when…?’

There are self introductions which usually involve an update on their grandchildren and their antics. All are now in their late 60s and only a few are able to get part-time jobs. Some have drifted from the Church but they tell me, not from God. So it is an opportunity to water the seed of faith. I feel that the re-union is worthwhile, it is certainly fun. Indeed August is a month of a special flavour.

Columban Fr Barry Cairns from New Zealand has been a missionary in Japan since 1956.