On Saturday, April 16th, I attended my second concert since coming to Japan, but this time, it was on a much bigger scale. Approximately 350 people came to listen to Christian gospel singers Makoto Iwabuchi (岩渕まこと) and his wife sing at a charity concert organized by the
Hiroshima EV Free churches (link) and
Japan International Food for the Hungry (JIFH) (link) for the victims of the tsunami in the Sendai area.
They were scheduled to come down to Hiroshima to do a "Happy Easter Hiroshima" concert, but the focus of the concert changed post March 11th. It also changed from an event with an entrance fee to a free event with a love offering collected at the end. Iwabuchi-san is actually from the Sendai area, so this charity concert was especially meaningful to him. He is not only a talented singer but a top class acoustic guitarist and an entertainer too! He and his wife had the audience laughing and crying, clapping and singing, while he laughed, cried, clapped, sang, and played the guitar too. It was hard seeing him cry while he recollected memories from his childhood in Sendai... It was heartbreaking to hear his wife share about their oldest child becoming ill at the age of six (something to do with the brain), passing away at eight, her depression and the many questions she had (like "Why, God???") and how the events became a pivotal moment for her in her Christian walk.
This (link) is one of his most famous songs (I think), titled "God Bless You", which I learned while spending time with our church's short term missions team to Japan back in 2009. It was part of a set of songs they prepared to sing for the church they went to serve in Sapporo. When I found out that the writer of this song was going to be singing it live here in Hiroshima, I became very excited about going! :)
Through this event I also learned how influential our churches & pastors are here in Hiroshima. I already knew that Koyo Chapel is one of only 2-3 churches in Hiroshima with 100+ attendees and that Kabe Chapel, with approx 50 attendees, are both considered to be big churches here, and I knew that Pastor Haitaka had been chairman of the Japan EV Free Association for two terms, but I was surprised to find that our pastors were the ones leading the concert. Pastor Haitaka gave the opening welcome speech (top left pic) and Pastor Kitano then gave a briefing regarding our Hiroshima team's trip up north to distribute food and help clean up followed by a slideshow presentation that Scott had made (top right). Following the hour long concert, Pastor Numata (sp?) who attends Koyo Chapel and is a missionary with JIFH, gave a message (bottom left) and lead perhaps one of the most meaningful parts of the concert. The bottom right picture is one of the powerpoint slide that let the audience know what they were going to do as a group. The first was to pray, second was to write a message to the victims, and the third was to give financially to raise funds to buy books to help rebuild the libraries of 3 elementary and 2 middle schools in the area.
All of the pastors and missionaries that were present went up on stage and held hands together while the audience did the same (2 pics on right) and a minute of silence was observed. Pastor Numata then prayed. He then explained the contents of the envelope that everyone had received as they were coming in (left pic). Inside the envelope were a few things, of which one was a song sheet of a song that we all sang together, a little card, an offering envelope, and a pen that clipped everything together (big black pen and schedule book are mine). Everyone was given time to write a note to put in with their offering while the Iwabuchi's sang one more song. I thought the note was a very thoughtful idea and wrote mine in a mixture of English and Japanese. It would be so awesome if it encouraged someone, even if just a little bit!
This was a very special and meaningful event. I so wish I could have understood more of the Iwabuchi's testimonies, jokes, etc, but alas... Maybe next time. And maybe next time, I'll be able to sing along to more of the songs - and not just parts of "God Bless You" and "Puff the Magic Dragon"! :)
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