Their appearance might be outrageous, but a Columban teacher finds his non-Christian students to be perceptive about the Bible and helping others.
By Fr. Barry Cairns

"I have a problem! Could I come see you?" the woman told me over the phone. It was Ms. Tanaka, a dean at a university in Yokohama, Japan, that specializes in courses for health-care workers.

She explained her problem: "Our usual professor has had to take sudden sick leave. Would you take his place for this term and give a 10-week course on Christianity?"

There would be 27 students in the class; 13 men and 14 women between the ages of 19 and 35 training to become health-care therapists. Many would eventually work in Christian-related institutions for the elderly or physically and mentally handicapped children. The broad topic of the course was “Christianity,” but none of the students are Christian.

Many Japanese youth, like these young women, favor provocative, unorthodox clothes and hairstyles to make a statement about themselves.

The university supplied me with a page of 27 photographs, names and the class seating arrangement. However, those 27 sedate photographs were taken at the time of application for the course. The reality that faced me in the classroom on my first, very nervous day was quite different.

The students arrived wearing the “mod” dress styles of today’s "with-it" Japanese youth. Most of the young women had their hair tinted brown—called "tea-colored" in Japan.

It amazed me how some of the girls could get their hair to stand upright, defying gravity, in a carefully orchestrated confusion of spikes. But the women were relatively conservative compared to the men. Most of the men had their hair dyed too—not only brown, but two were blond, one green and one red with a Mohawk haircut!

The young men had earrings, nose rings and a selection of finger rings that are sold outside most Japanese railway stations. Admittedly it was the first day after the long summer holidays, so they had let their hair down (or up).

That was their outward appearance. Gradually, I came to recognize their inward values. This group had deliberately chosen the health-care course over much more prestigious courses because they wanted to help people.

For my class, each student had two textbooks: the Bible and "The Life of Jesus" by Shusaku Endo, the popular Japanese Catholic author. I was aiming to "portray Jesus with an Asian face," in the words of the combined Bishops of Asia. I also used videos of Mother Teresa and Fr. Damian of Molokai.

A Modern Parable Interpretation
I had the students act out some of the parables and miracles of Jesus. I emphasized the compassion that Jesus had for the afflicted people for whom He performed miracles. He very much suffered with them.

At the end of the term, I had to give an exam and assign grades. I gave the class three questions, each limited to 500 Japanese characters.

Topic 1 was “Give three examples of Jesus’ miracles showing how He felt with others and spell out what this says personally to you, who are to be a health-care worker.”

Topics 2 and 3 had a common format. “Read the parable of 1) the Prodigal Son and 2) the parable of the Good Samaritan and, using your outlines, put them both in the context of today’s Japan.”

Their answers staggered me.

One answer, from the young man who on the first day had green hair and a nose ring, was outstanding. He took the parable of the Good Samaritan and masterfully transposed the scene and message from its ancient Biblical culture into modern Japanese culture. I give you a translation of his answer:

“At high school, I wore thick glasses and tended to stutter when I got excited. As the Japanese proverb puts it, ‘The nail that stands out gets hammered.’

“I was a victim of bullying. One day was especially bad. My mathematics teacher mocked me in front of my classmates by imitating my stutter when I gave a wrong answer. At the lunch break, other students continued this harassment. I was very hurt. I felt as if I could commit suicide as I sat alone on a bench at the edge of the baseball field.

“The teacher responsible for the overall care of our class ignored both me and the bullying. The elected student-leader looked across at me but pretended he was busy. I was desperately lonely and hurt.

“Then an ethnic Korean classmate, whose family had been in Japan for three generations and was still discriminated against, came and quietly sat beside me. For five minutes he just sat there, saying nothing. Then he spoke: ‘I know what it is like. Be brave. You have your values. You are a good person. Through this experience you will be able to feel with others.’

“My Korean classmate not only healed me, but I now see that he sowed the seed for my choosing this course to help those who are on the edge of Japanese society: the elderly, battered children, those who are physically and/or intellectually handicapped.”

So you see why I was staggered. What an amazingly perceptive answer! I gave him a grade of 95 percent. And my green-haired student gave me new hope for Japanese youth.

Columban Father Barry Cairns has spent most of his 51 years of priesthood as a missionary in Japan. He currently serves in a parish in Yokohama City.