President Gordon B. Hinckley, who was accompanied by his wife, Marjorie, 
dedicated the island-nation's second temple in four sessions. It was a 
pleasant day, warm and free of rain even though the area is in its rainy 
season.

Tears flowed freely throughout the day, inside and outside the temple, as 
members emotionally expressed their gratitude to be in the presence of the 
president of the Church under such circumstances. They have a special 
affection for President Hinckley because of the close association he has 
had with their country since he was a new General Authority. He was 
assigned to oversee the Church in Asia as an Assistant to the Quorum of 
the Twelve in 1960 and supervised the work there for a total of 11 years. 
He has made dozens of trips to Japan over the past 40 years. He was in 
Fukuoka for a fireside during an Asian tour four years ago and announced 
in 1998 that a temple would be built in Fukuoka.

Japan's closest major port to mainland Asia, Fukuoka is a dynamic, 
sprawling city with a population of 1.3 million. The heart of the city is 
a bustling area of shopping, government and transportation centers. But a 
short distance from the heart of the metropolis are forested hills where a 
zoo and botanical gardens are located. The temple is tucked up against one 
of those hills, which provides a lush, green backdrop.

One of the smaller temples, it is unique in its construction. The main 
entrance of the white-granite-faced edifice opens onto the hillside on 
which it is situated. Underneath the temple, opening to the bottom of the 
hill, is a dark-gray faced lower level which includes a new mission home, 
mission offices and an apartment for the temple president. It is an 
efficient use of property in an area where a standard building lot can be 
priced at more than a million dollars.

Several longtime members of the Church in Japan remember when the Church 
obtained the property, a time that roughly corresponded with the beginning 
of President Hinckley's service in the area.

The property then was "out in the boondocks," said Eugene M. Kitamura, a 
Fukuoka native who is now director of temporal affairs for the Church in 
the Asia North Area. He joined the Church while attending a university in 
Tokyo, but returned to Fukuoka the following summer and attended Church in 
what had been a restaurant on the lot. He said the road to the area wasn't 
paved back then and, on rainy days, those going to Church were lucky not 
to lose their shoes in the mud.

The meetinghouse soon shared the property with a mission home. Now the 
Fukuoka Ward has a regular meetinghouse a few blocks away.
The temple is a great blessing for the members in the temple district, 
Brother Kitamura said, remembering the sacrifices of time and resources 
they made beginning in the 1960s to join excursions to the temple in 
Hawaii. That continued until the Tokyo Japan Temple was dedicated in 1980.
The new temple was also a marvel to Emiko Murakawa of the Takamatsu 
Branch on the island of Shikoku. She remembered from her days as a 
missionary in Fukuoka in 1979 the old meetinghouse and mission home on the 
site. "I can't believe it," she said as she gazed at the temple after 
attending a dedicatory session. She was also thrilled to see President 
Hinckley whom she met nearly 40 years ago, "when he was a young apostle," 
at a time she was investigating the Church as a 17-year-old young woman in 
Sapporo, Japan.

Along with the longtime members of the Church basking in the blessing of 
a new temple were more recent converts.

Riyo Ogawa, the daughter of a Buddhist priest, was receiving formal 
training in Buddhism when she first heard about the Church in an English 
class taught by missionaries. She was taught the missionary lessons and 
felt the spirit. She wanted to be baptized, but was concerned about 
getting permission from her father. He struggled with her request, but did 
allow her to be baptized in 1993. He struggled even more when she decided 
to serve a mission, wondering why she wanted to go out and try to get 
people to change their religions. She said he wrote her one letter while 
she was in the Japan Tokyo North Mission, encouraging her to be committed 
to what she was doing and work hard.

When the temple was completed, Sister Ogawa, now a member of the Kurume 
Ward, Fukuoka Japan Stake, invited her father to attend the open house, 
and he accepted. She said her father enjoyed going into the temple and 
showed respect for it. He also discussed the temple in relation to 
Buddhist temples with Japan Fukuoka Mission President James A. McArthur.

Another relatively recent convert who attended the dedication was Marie 
Giusto Yasunaga of the Fukuoka Ward. She had been looking for the truth 
for quite a while when Kanako Osakabe, a full-time missionary serving in 
Fukuoka, gave her a Book of Mormon three years ago. Sister Yasunaga didn't 
receive the lessons at that time but, after seeing the missionaries again 
a year later, decided she wanted to learn more about the Church and went 
to the mission office to ask for help. She said her husband wasn't 
interested in hearing about the gospel, but didn't mind if she did because 
he had worked with a member of the Church 10 years earlier and had been 
impressed with what a good man he was. Her husband also attended Church 
with her after she began taking the lessons and was received so warmly and 
with such friendship that he supported his wife in her investigation and 
baptism.

After she was baptized, she wanted to share the gospel with her mother, 
Morie Morinaga. Sister Yasunaga's father had passed away some time before 
and she told her mother that she could be with him again. Her mother was 
touched by the Spirit and attended Church, Sister Yasunaga said. Her 
mother joined the Church and the two of them assisted Hatsuhiro Ohira of 
the Nagasaki Branch in arranging flowers that were in the Fukuoka temple 
during its dedication.

A week before the dedication, a three-day open house was attended by more 
than 4,800 people. Among them was the United States ambassador to Japan, 
Tom Foley. He responded to an invitation from Elder Norman Shumway and his 
wife, Sister Luana Shumway, public affairs missionaries in Japan. Elder 
Shumway, while a six-term congressman from California, got to know Mr. 
Foley when he was Speaker of the House. They went on some governmental 
trips together, including to Japan, and developed respect for each other. 

Elder Shumway said his guest, after being guided through the temple by 
Elder L. Lionel Kendrick of the Seventy and president of the Asia North 
Area, was impressed and glad he had the opportunity.

While the temple is newly opened, it has already been a blessing in its 
district. Elder Gary Matsuda, Area Authority Seventy and the vice chairman 
of the temple committee, said that more than 150 members were reactivated 
while the temple was being constructed. That group was motivated to strive 
for temple worthiness through the efforts of many individuals, guided by 
priesthood leadership, who wanted to strengthen the Church in their temple 
district.

© 2000 Deseret News Publishing Co.