Japanese publisher organizes relief effort

Written by Eric Tiansay

Monday, 28 March 2011 03:19 PM America/New_York

Two Japanese soldiers stop to look at a ship that was blocking a road they were trying to clear in the town of Onagawa, Miyagi Prefecture. Photo credit: David Guttenfelder, the Associated Press

A Christian publisher in Japan has issued a plea for prayer and financial support to help provide relief supplies as well as Bibles and Christian materials to churches and people devastated by the March 11 magnitude-9 quake, which triggered a tsunami. The disasters death tool from the disasters is expected to top 18,000, with hundreds of thousands still homeless, USA Today reported.

In an e-mail sent to Christian Trade Association International (CTAI), Tokyo-based Word of Life Press CEO Motoyoshi Tago wrote that "we are settling down a little bit," despite a nuclear crisis that has compounded the challenges faced by the nation, rattled by scores of strong earthquakes during the past two weeks.

The publisher is looking to distribute 5,000 Bibles, 10,000 New Testaments, a million tracts and copies of Philip Yancey's What Good is God?, Max Lucado's You Are Special and other similar-themed books.

Additionally, Word of Life plans to feed evacuees until the end of April at its Megumi Chalet Karuizawa, a Christian conference center in the mountain-village resort of Karuizawa in Nagano Prefecture. The publisher also wants to hold charity concerts with Japanese and overseas artists to encourage survivors.

"Everyone is looking for hope, something they can hang on," wrote Tago, noting that the relief effort would cost approximately $487,000. "We do have the true hope in Christ. There is not better chance such as this time to let them know this real hope."

CTAI Chief Operations Officer Kim Pettit told Christian Retailing that she contacted via e-mail approximately 30 Japanese suppliers after the earthquake. "I don't know if they are doing well," she said. "We haven't heard from most of them because of the language barriers."

The quake and tsunami are emerging as the world's most expensive natural disasters on record, racking up to $310 billion in damages, USA Today reported.

For more information on Word of Life's relief efforts, contact Motoyoshi Tago at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..