A History of the Church in Western Japan

by Andrew Hall

Chapter 3: New Areas, New Translations, and New Leadership, 1955-1965

Paul Andrus, one of the first five missionaries in the reopened Japanese Mission in 1949, became the Mission President in December 1955. He was only 31 years old at the time. Sister Andrus (nee Parker) was also an early missionary in Japan. She had served in the Juso (Okamachi) Branch in 1950. The Andrus family served in Japan until 1962, a very long time. 

One of President Andrus's first actions was to reopen the Fukuoka Branch in 12.1955. It had been closed in 5.1955 by President Robertson because of the lack of success. The members, led by Brothers Kawasaki and Yoshizawa, had continued to meet on their own. President Robertson had to return to America before President Andrus arrived, due to his own and his wife's ill health, and as a result Robertson and Andrus did not have an opportunity to speak to each other directly. President Andrus had been stationed in Fukuoka in the Air Force after the war, and felt strongly that the Church could succeed there. He disagreed with President Robertson's decision, and quickly sent missionaries back into the area. 

Another of President Andrus's first tasks was to organize the work in Okinawa and Korea. Okinawa was at that time administered by the United States, and would remain so until it was returned to Japan in 1972. Okinawa was dedicated for missionary work on August 14th, 1955, by Joseph Fielding Smith, accompanied by Sister Smith and President and Sister Robertson. American servicemen members had been meeting together on Okinawa since the end of the war, and a handful of Okinawans had been converted by them. One of the earliest Okinawan converts was Sister Nakamura Nobu. Sister Nakamura came from a prominent Okinawan family, and lived in the Nakamura-ke, the family mansion. The house is in Kita Nakagusuku, the village northeast of Ginowan, and was later declared a cultural treasure by the government. I have two different stories about how she encountered the Church. According to one, she was the chairman of the Okinawan Women's Union, and in that position got to know Church members who were part of the military women's groups. In another story a Brother Ralph Bird, who had served a mission in Japan and was now in the military, received orders to go to Okinawa. He was not expected when he arrived, and had some free time. According to President Andrus, he "was interested in the Okinawans. He walked out into the countryside, and as he was walking along the road, he came to a home and decided . . . he would go in and speak with the people to see if he could take a picture of their home. So he slid open the door and said, 'Gomen kudasai.' He didn't realize that at this very moment Sister Nakamura was in her home on her knees praying that the Lord would lead her to the true church. And here Elder Bird came, opened the door, and said, 'Gomen kudasai.' She came out and was very impressed that here was an American who could speak Japanese. So she asked, 'How is it that you speak Japanese so well?' He said, 'Well, I was a missionary for the Mormon Church in Japan.' She said, 'Wouldn't you come in and tell me about your church?' This is how they came together. He taught her and she was converted and baptized." Sister Nakamura, her daughter Ayako, and Tamanaha Kuniko were baptized in the East China Sea near Futenma on Christmas 1955. 

Soon after the baptisms President Andrus visited the island. Sister Nakamura offered her home, and as a result the first elders came to live in this Okinawan landmark. I heard about Sister Nakamura when I was serving as a missionary in Futenma in 1989, and I went with a group of missionaries to visit her. She was quite elderly, and hadn't attended church for several years. She was very friendly, and showed us where those first missionaries stayed. 

The first elders, Clarence Anderson and Sam Shimabukuro, traveled by boat from Tokyo, and arrived in 4.1956. As anyone who served in Okinawa would notice, Shimabukuro is a common Okinawan name. His parents, like many other Okinawans at the turn of the century, emigrated to Hawaii in 1908 as contract laborers working for the sugar plantations. He has since served as Sendai Mission President (1981-1984), Tokyo Temple President, and as a member of the Second Quorum of the Seventy (1992-1997). At the time the missionaries arrived there was a good sized group of American members who lived on the Futenma Air Base, which is located in what is today Ginowan-shi, not far from Sister Nakamura's home. Therefore the first branch in Okinawa was in Futenma, instead of the larger city of Naha. A piece of land for a church near the Futenma base was acquired in 12.1956, and the American members built a Quonset hut there for the chapel and missionary apartment. The amount of land was too small, however, to build a chapel, as they hoped to someday do. So the missionaries decided to ask the three landlords who owned land adjacent to the church if they would sell their land. At that time there was strong anti-American feeling on the island, and the missionaries visited the landlords with trepidation, fearing that they might reject their offer because of their nationality. The first landlord, a man in his 70s who lived quite a long ways away, turned out to have worked as a laborer in Utah fifty years before, and remembered Mormons as honest and hard working. He therefore not only agreed to sell the land, but he also acted as an intermediary with the other two landlords, helping the missionaries to acquire all of the land. This area is the site of the current Futenma chapel. 

In 1956 the Okinawa and Korea Districts were organized, and in 1957 additional missionaries were sent to Okinawa, resulting in the opening of the Naha Branch. 

In 11.1956 the Juso Branch moved from the Yodogawa Girls High School to a beautiful house in Toyonaka city, near the Hankyu Okamachi station, which the church had bought. This was the first piece of property bought by the Church in Kansai, and remains the site of the Okamachi church. It was a grand house, measuring around 21,600 square feet. It was the largest church meeting house in Japan for many years thereafter. The unit's name was changed to the Okamachi Branch. 

Throughout the 1950s and 1960s the members of the Church tended to be very young, mostly high school and college age students. As a result the MIA was one of the key organizations in each branch. The MIA in Japan appears to have been an auxiliary for young unmarried people from the age 14 and up, a combination of today's YM/YW and Young Single Adult programs. Activities were held one night a week, often Saturday nights.  The baptism rate was somewhat slow during the early 1950s, which President Andrus blamed in part on the unorganized lesson plans the missionaries used, the accepted wisdom that Japanese investigators first had to be taught basic Christianity before the restored gospel, and the reluctance to ask investigators to make a commitment. President Andrus asked his traveling elders (the predecessor to today's APs) to come up with a uniform lesson plan, which was completed in late 1956. He also put the missionaries on a strict work schedule. As a result the number of converts per missionary went from 0.7 a year in 1955 to nearly double that in 1956. The plan was revised again in 1957, using six lessons, teaching investigators about the restored gospel immediately, and emphasizing an earlier invitation to baptism. The number of baptisms in Japan took a huge leap in 1957, from 141 the year before to 447. (Britsch puts the 1957 number at 616, but I think he is including Korea). The average number of baptisms per missionary per year rose to 5.8. 

At the end of 1956 the translation committee, led by Brother Sato Tatsui, completed the new translation of the Book of Mormon, and in 1957 the Doctrine and Covenants and Pearl of Great Price were also published. The availability of the standard works in Japanese was another important aspect in the growth of the Church at this time. 

The "Seito no Michi" replaced the "LDS Messenger" as the Church magazine in Japan in 6.1957. Brother Takagi Tomigoro was the first editor. In 1957 the circulation was 300 copies a month, in 1960 it reached 3000 a month. 

The units in western Japan in 6.1957 were:
Minami Chuo District: Nagoya, Kanazawa, Komatsu, Kyoto, Abeno, Okamachi Branches. Headquartered in Okamachi. Minami District: Okayama, Hiroshima, Yanai, Fukuoka Branches. Headquartered in Hiroshima. Okinawa District: Naha and Okinawa (Futenma) Branches. 

There were several branches in small towns which were mostly opened during President Mauss's tenure. He believed that people in the rural areas would be more willing to listen to the gospel. These areas were not particularly successful, and President Andrus closed down several of them, preferring to concentrate on the larger cities where people were less strongly tied to traditional ways. In 3.1956 the Narumi Branch was merged into the Nagoya Branch. In 9.1957 the Kyoto and Komatsu (Fukui Prefecture) Branches were closed, as well as three other branches in eastern Japan. President Andrus explained that the branches suffered from lack of converts, lack of members willing to fulfill callings, and poor organization. Neither the Kyoto nor the Komatsu Branch had any baptisms in 1957, while the Okamachi Branch already had 26 by September. Since both areas were reasonably close to strong units (Okamachi and Kanazawa), the members could attend church there, while the missionaries were placed in more fruitful areas. Yanai, on the other hand, was an example of a small town branch which was able to succeeded. 

In October and December of 1957 new units were opened in Sannomiya (Kobe) and Nishinomiya as part of President Andrus' effort to focus on large population  prepare the members for the organization of stakes. The Nishinomiya Branch was basically split off from the Okamachi Branch, and had many strong members in it when it opened, including Brother Aki. The Sannomiya Branch had less members when it opened. The branch grew very quickly, however, with five baptisms by the end of the year. Brother Katayama, from the recently closed Kyoto Branch, was called into the Branch Presidency, and traveled that long distance every week to help lead the Branch. The Minami District Conference in 11.1957 was held in Kobe, and President Andrus praised the city for its beauty, and said that it was a blessed proselytizing area. He noted that the word "Kobe" means "God's Door", and that surely the light of the gospel would spread from it. President Andrus bought the piece of land in Nada-ku Shinohara Honmachi, where the Kobe Ward and Mission Office now stand, on July 28th, 1958, and the branch began to meet in a two-story building on the land in 10.1958. The branch was lucky in that few other units had their own building to meet in so soon after being organized. 

In 10.1958 the ten branches in the Minami and Minami Chuo Districts were combined into the new Nishi Chuo District, headquartered in Kobe. 

In 1959 there were 631 baptisms in the Mission, including 369 converts in Japan and Okinawa. The three highest baptizing branches were in Korea. Fourth was Naha, with 31, followed by Okamachi, with 29. The number of missionaries in the mission dropped from 140 to 100 because mission lengths were reduced from three years to two and a half. 76 served in Japan, 18 in Korea, and 6 in Okinawa. There were a total of 3468 members in the mission, including 2502 in Japan, and 148 in Okinawa. Women made up 56% of the members in Japan, 58% in Okinawa, but only 33% in Korea. There were 94 Melchizedek Priesthood holders in Japan, 12 in Korea, and one in Okinawa.  

From 1955 the Church was buying land for the larger units, and meetings were held in the houses or older building that stood on the land. In 4.1962 Elder Hinckley came to Japan and announced that the church was beginning a building program in Japan. Building missionaries would come from America, and members would be called as short-term building missionaries. They began in the Kanto area , and then moved on to Kansai. Each unit needed to gather around 15 million yen to build a building. At that time an average salaryman earned only 30 thousand yen a month, so it was a great burden to raise the money. Throughout the 1960s there were lots of fund raising activities for the building fund, like concerts, plays, bazaars, etc. Around 1/8 of the building fund was donated by American service personnel stationed in the Far East. Many young male members served as building missionaries during this period. 

                        Land bought      Building constructed
  Abeno                1959                  1964-1967
  Okamachi           1956                  1967-1969
  Nagoya              1956                  1972
  Naha                  1964                  1964-1966
  Futenma             1956                       ?
  Yanai                    ?                      1969-1970
  Kobe                 1958                   1970
  Kyoto                1964                   1971
  Nishinomiya       1960                   1972
  Fukuoka            1960                   1972
  Kanazawa          1963                   1973
  Okayama              ?                           ?
  Hiroshima           1954                       ?                           

The Kyoto Branch was reopened in 10.1961. 

1960: 75 missionaries in Japan, 6 in Okinawa.
1961: 118 missionaries in Japan, 6 baptisms per missionary. 8 in Okinawa, 6.3 baptisms per missionary. 

In 1960 the Branches in western Japan were:
Nishi Chuo District: Abeno, Okamachi, Nishinomiya, Sannomiya, Nagoya, Kanazawa, Fukuoka, Okayama, Hiroshima, Yanai. Okinawa District: Naha, Futenma 

For a time in the early 1950s there apparently were a few Japanese Branch Presidents, but by 1954 all of the units had missionaries as Branch Presidents, with native members as councilors wherever possible. In the early 1960s President Andrus began replacing the missionary Branch and District Presidents with Japanese members, as part of his effort of preparing to establish stakes in Japan. Brother Yanagita was called as Branch President in Nagoya in 11.1960, the first in western Japan. In 3.1961, at the Nishi Chuo District Conference, President Andrus reorganized all of the other branches in the District (except for Okayama) with Japanese Branch Presidents replacing the missionaries. 

By 1960 Brother Shimizu was District President of the Nishi Chuo District, and Brother Suzuki Shoozoo replaced him in 11.1961. Brother Suzuki remained District President until at least 1968. In Okinawa Brother Nagamine (the Tokyo Temple President in 1999-2000) was called as District President in 11.1962. Sister Akimoto, from Okamachi, was called as District Relief Society President in 1960. Sister Yanagita, from Nagoya, replaced her as around 1961. In 1964 Sister Yanagita was called as the Mission Relief Society President, where she served for most of the 1960s. She was the main translator of the hymnal used in 1960-1989. It was a revision and expansion on the hymnal her father, Brother Takagi, translated with Elder Ivins in 1915. 

President Andrus went home in 7.1962, replaced by President Dwayne N. Anderson. President Anderson had served in the Japanese Mission in Hawaii during the early years of World War II. He was drafted into the army after his mission ended, and he fought in the Battle of Okinawa in 1945, where he was seriously wounded. After the war he married, but because of the lack of missionaries during the Korean War, he and his wife were called to serve in the Japan Mission in 1951 to 1953. He served as a councilor to President Mauss for 17 of his 22 months in Japan. 

Korea, which had been part of the Mission since 1955, was split off as a separate mission when President Andrus went home in 7.1962. 

President Anderson made Priesthood advancement, better organized branches, building meeting houses, genealogy, and preparing members to go to the temple as his main goals, rather than rapid expansion. There were very few new units created between 1958 and 1966, only the Tokyo East, Kyoto, and (for a short time) Sasebo Branches. 

The 6.1963 Seito no Michi included a story about missionaries helping to rescue a member family from a house fire in Niigata. One of the Elders was Elder Morris Sterrett, a future Kobe Mission President. Another future President, Elder Douglas Matsumori, appears in the 1.1968 issue as one of the Yamagata Branch Presidency. 

Attendance in the Nishi Chuo District in 1963 was 24% at Sacrament meeting and 32% in Priesthood meeting. President Anderson pushed the units to increase attendance at these meetings. 

In 12.1963 missionaries were first send to Sasebo, where an American military branch already existed, and organized a branch for Japanese. It was an attached branch to the Fukuoka Branch. In 1.1965 the Japanese branch was closed, and the Japanese members went back to meeting with the Americans. 

In 7.1965 23 of the 29 branches in Japan had Japanese Branch Presidents. All of them had at least one Japanese in the presidency. There were 7571 members and 145 missionaries. 

In the next chapter I will discuss the Hawaii Temple trips, President Adney Komatsu's term, and the creation of the Japan-Okinawa Mission, the first mission headquartered in Kobe.