Category Archives: Blog

I gathered with thirty or so others on the top floor of an art space in West Tokyo for a performance of “HOPE” between Good Friday and Easter. The wind blew a light rain through the window as a man danced beneath the dull orange glow of the setting sun. Through the hour-long performance, the …

Continue reading “Hope in the Passion”

• “No!” the owner exclaimed as Alana Essex stepped inside the share house. Alana had just landed in Tokyo and was anxious to get settled in her new room. She had doubted her decision to come to Japan right up until she boarded her plane yesterday, and the first words spoken to her after she …

Continue reading “She Couldn’t Resist: A Nashville-Bound Songwriter Follows God’s Call to Japan”

One foot is in a pointe shoe. The other is bare. One foot is dressed for onstage and is presentable to audiences. The other shows blood, sweat, and tears. On stage, dance is beautiful with costumes, choreography, sets, and music. Off stage, dance is cuts, bruises, sore muscles, and injury. Feet are the means through which they bring the good news and preach the gospel.

The auditorium was packed with students and professors as part of a week of events sponsored by the Asian Studies Department at Belmont University in Nashville. For my part, I talked about kintsugi, the traditional Japanese art of joining broken shards together with gold. “Kintsugi is not about fixing; it’s about recreating into the new. …

Continue reading “The Hope of Kintsugi”

Chieko Ozawa came to faith after being invited to a Bible study during a three-year stint in England. She fell in love with Christ and the Church, but her faith threatened her relationships with what she most loved. Her husband and mother were not supportive of her conversion to Christianity and she feared she might …

Continue reading “A Life Transformed in Tokyo”

Our lives have scars. Scars are part of the process of healing. A common question among friends is, ‘How did you get that scar? Tell me your story.’ Telling our stories brings us closer together. …

Congratulations to Peter Bakelaar for winning the Grand Prix Prize at the Central Photo Contest in Nagoya, Japan. The timing was perfect for spreading awareness of the opening of Gallery Nani a week later! …

There are many artists who do not see the importance of their role in helping people and in bringing hope and healing to really hard situations. Most of the time we do not get to see or hear the stories of the effect of our art. Occasionally, God does give us glimpses, and we are thankful for those moments. …

I am a member of a community art group made up of Japanese from many different backgrounds. We exhibit in downtown Nagoya twice a year. Each exhibition theme is chosen by the director. For an upcoming group exhibition entitled The Color of Buddhism, I started making this piece The Great Exchange. It represents my friend’s experience and invites questions about the great exchange needed for heaven in death. What kind of exchange is fair for both rich and poor? What kind of exchange would be sufficient for people from every tribe, tongue, and nation? What kind of exchange would involve both justice and mercy even for those who have done terrible things? What kind of exchange would make heaven assured? What kind of exchange gives peace to someone facing their own mortality? …

It was the spring of 2014 and I was sitting across from a woman named Mary Sunshine. She was a refugee from Burundi who had to flee her own husband and family. She ended up in Kigali, Rwanda. I met Mary Sunshine in the tiny room next to where her coworkers were sewing bags to be sold in the states. I was there with my camera to do my first film I ever made. …