by the News
Group, Tokyo, Japan
On
June 7, 2003, initiates from the Tokyo Center promoted vegetarianism
at Yokota Air Base, home to approximately 14,000 American service
people, through two vegetarian food parties. The events were the
first of their kind hosted by Tokyo initiates.
The
first party was held on June 7 in a large garden at the home of
two initiates. The weather was extraordinarily beautiful that day
although it rained almost every day immediately before and after
the event. The guests thus commented, “I can’t believe
what a beautiful day it is! This is supposed to be the rainy season
in Tokyo.”
|
The
cooking demonstrations
were the highlight of the event. |
Dozens of Americans attended the
party and were surprised to discover how delicious vegetarian food
can be. Many people asked for the recipes and suggested that it
would be nice to have cooking lessons in the future. We then understood
that it was not only important to demonstrate how delicious vegetarian
food tastes but also to show how easy it is to prepare, and thus
the second party was planned for June 21 to fulfill the guests’
wishes.
While planning the second event,
we unexpectedly heard from a member of the Formosa video team, which
produces the TV program A Journey through Aesthetic Realms,
that the team had been thinking about doing a special on Japanese
Vegetarian Cooking and would come to Japan for the event.
Later,
an Australian brother visiting Japan called to say that he needed
a place to stay. When he arrived he began to help solve some computer
problems so the invitations and announcements for the party could
be printed in time. In addition, the video team mentioned that they
needed a person to operate one of its video cameras. Coincidentally,
the Australian brother had studied video production in the U.S. and
volunteered to help film the party and demonstrations!
One day before the event, a group
of cooks and decorators from Gunma and Tokyo gathered at Yokota
Air Base, magically transformed an American living room into a Japanese
kitchen overnight, and prepared dish after dish of Japanese vegetarian
delicacies. Meanwhile the Formosan video team worked with the Japanese
initiates as filming began in the late afternoon and continued throughout
the night. By sunrise Saturday morning the team had filmed twelve
vegetarian cooking demonstrations.
Then amazingly, on June 21, the
sky was again clear! The cooking demonstrations were the highlight
of the event and the whole process was filmed by the Formosa video
team in order to enhance the content of the TV program for viewers.
Japanese sisters not only demonstrated their culinary skills, but
also let members of the audience participate. The party was a big
success as all of the guests appeared to love the food and many
commented on how delicious it was. Some also asked when we were
planning to have another party.
As we reflected on the planning
involved in setting the stage for this amazing play of events, we
could see God’s hand in all of it. The first party seemed
to be a rehearsal for the second, and through these projects we
gained a practical understanding of the expression “Everything
is arranged by God” and learned how to better participate
in God’s work.