We have had a March for Life in Tokyo for nearly ten years now, but still it is not nearly the scale of the March for Life in Washington, DC.
Tokyo March for Life 2019 (Photo by Walter Matt)
I myself tried to help make the March for Life known to people in Japan, but it was not so successful. There are only three hundred people at most who attend the March. One of the obstacles, sadly, has been the Katorikku Simbun, the Catholic Weekly. This ostensibly Catholic newspaper has never covered the March for Life in Japan, even though Protestant media outlets often do.
Indifference to life issues in Japan would appear to be worsening. For example, while the problem of depopulation is growing more and more serious, movements to introduce yet more methods of abortion are picking up steam.
Linepharma, a British company, applied for approval of their abortion pill in November of 2021.[1] If the Japanese government approves this so-called “medicine,” it will lead to the deaths of even more unborn children in Japan.
Not everyone is going along with this move, however. A pro-life group here organized “Keiko Chuzetsuyaku ni hantaisuru purojekuto (the Project against the Abortion Pill).”[2] This initiative started a petition, both in paper form and online, against the Linepharma drug.[3]
At this very important moment, there is a pro-life organization working very hard to fight against the approval of the abortion pill in Japan.
It has been more than one year since I also got involved in the battle against abortion pills in Japan. When I visited Kumamoto, in southern Japan, last February, I attended Mass at Tedori Catholic Church. After Mass, I went to a shop within the church and found newsletters from Jikei Hospital, also located in Kumamoto.
Jikei Hospital is well known for starting the first baby hatch in the country, known as “Akachan Post” (“Baby Letterbox”), in 2007 to prevent abortion and abandonment by mothers.[4] The “Akachan Post” is a small door in the wall of the hospital which opens into a warm and safe incubator-type environment. Infants left in the enclosure are immediately tended to by hospital staff. The “Akachan Post” has saved many lives.
I talked with a woman at the counter of the church shop that day after Mass. I asked her about the newsletter. She then informed me about the movement against the abortion pill.
I told her the March for Life in Tokyo. Unfortunately, she did not know about it at all. Our exchange gives some indication of how badly many in the Catholic hierarchy here prevent the exchange of information about pro-life activities.
When I returned home after my Kumamoto trip, I renewed my subscription to a newsletter from “Seimei Soncho (Respect Life) Center.” I learned from that organization the details of the movement against the abortion pill. I requested a petition form from the Respect Life Center and tried to collect signatures, as many as I could. I asked my Catholic friends and priests to help me.
Since at the end of this February, Mr. Yoshiki Okuma, the leader of Inochi wo Mamoru Oyanokai (The Parents’ Association for Defense of Life), and the supporters of the organization have arranged protests and campaign vans to go out in front of the Diet Building, the headquarters of the Liberal Democratic Party, and the MHLW.
In order to promote the petition, I wrote to Bishop Bernard Taiji Katsuya of Sapporo, Bishop Paul Daisuke Narui, S.V.D of Niigata, Bishop Michael Goro Matsuura of Nagoya, Bishop Alexis Mitsuru Shirahama, S.S. of Hiroshima, Bishop Josep Maria Abella of Fukuoka, Archbishop Peter Michiaki Nakamura of Nagasaki, Bishop Francis Xavier Hiroaki Nakano of Kagoshima, and Bishop Wayne Francis Berndt, O.F.M. Cap. of Naha.
Not one of them replied to my letter seeking help with the pro-life petition. One thing I noticed was Bishop Nakano wrote an article on Evangelium Vitae by Saint Pope John Paul II in the diocesan newsletter last July.[5]
Both Archbishop Tarcisius Isao Kikuchi, S.V.D. of Tokyo and Thomas Aquinas Cardinal Manyo Maeda of Osaka are on the list of supporters for the Project against Abortion Pill. It is said that Dr. Ishijima of the Japan Catholic Medical Association and Ms. Nakayama, director of Seimei Soncho Center, met Archbishop Kikuchi and requested His Excellency to call for help with the petition. He accepted their request, but I have never seen a form in any of the parishes of the Archdiocese of Tokyo. Cardinal Maeda asked all parishes in the archdiocese to sign the petition, according to a Catholic doctor who was very close to him. However, when I visited Sapporo last September, a priest there who was from the archdiocese of Osaka told me that the petition signature drive in the Archdiocese of Osaka had already ended.
Mr. Okuma protests in front of the Diet Building on February 26, 2023
Last October, I was invited to attend a study meeting on the abortion pill at the Members' Office Building of the House of Councillors. Ms. Eriko Yamatani, a Japanese politician who was baptized as a Catholic, arranged it. Remnant Tokyo Correspondent Jason Morgan was one of the lecturers.
About thirty members of the Japanese Diet (parliament), including those represented by their secretaries, joined the study meeting. The explanation by the government official from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) only stressed the safety of mothers’ health. Mr. Osamu Miyata, a leader of Seimei Soncho Center and a chief priest of some Shinto shrines in Chiba prefecture[6], was angry with the bureaucrats’ attitude and appealed to the officials not to approve the abortion pill in Japan.
Around the end of 2022, I wrote a letter to Mr. Uchida Fumihiro, chairman of Shinto Association of Spiritual Leadership[7], which is against the infiltration and the promotion of LGBT ideology in Japan on abortion pill. He did not reply.
Mr. Kazuo Sasaki, a fellow pro-life activist here in Japan, joined the protests against the abortion pill from that time. He started a hunger strike and protest in front of Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare on March 27, 2023.
This January, the Japanese media reported that the MHLW will soon make a decision on the abortion pill.[8] At that time, I wrote a letter to Ms. Yoshiko Sakurai, one of the close followers of the late prime minister, Shinzo Abe. Ms. Sakurai is known as one of famous Japanese “conservative” critics of LGBT ideology. As I expected, she did not reply to my letter either.
On January 10, I attended a memorial Mass for Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI at Tokyo Cathedral. I was fortunate enough to catch up with Archbishop Kikuchi that day. I requested His Excellency to issue a joint statement by the Japanese bishops against the morning-after pill and the abortion pill, especially because the Japanese Bishop Conference issued a statement against the morning-after pill once before, in 2010.[9]
To my disappointment, Archbishop Kikuchi was unwilling to do so. He told me that Dr. Emiko Wada, president of the Japan Catholic Medical Association[10], may have issued a statement. To this day, however, neither group has issued any statement against the abortion pill.
Mr. Kazuo Sasaki, with a banner reading “Against Abortion Pills!!,” sleeps in front of the MHLW at night.
This February, the MHLW collected public comments about the pending approval of the abortion pill. This is standard bureaucratic procedure before making a decision.[11] In response to this, the Diocese of Kagoshima requested the faithful as follows on their website:
As many of you may know from various media reports, procedures are underway in Japan for the approval of the oral abortion drug […]. As part of this process, the MHLW is seeking public comments as follows.
It is the important duty of Catholics and the Catholic Church to work within society to protect all life as created by God and to ensure that its dignity is recognized from the moment of conception. With Bishop Nakano's approval, we would like to outline a call for public comment in order to encourage as many people as possible to voice their opposition to the approval of the abortion pill that threatens the life of the unborn.
We are short of time before the deadline, but we would appreciate your cooperation.[12]
As a Catholic, I felt very sad there were very few other Catholics bravely fighting for the lives of the unborn.
At this very important moment, there is a pro-life organization working very hard to fight against the approval of the abortion pill in Japan. This organization is called “Akachan no Inochi wo Mamoru Zenkoku Rengo (The National League for Defense of Babies’ Lives).”[13] Since at the end of this February, Mr. Yoshiki Okuma, the leader of Inochi wo Mamoru Oyanokai (The Parents’ Association for Defense of Life), and the supporters of the organization have arranged protests and campaign vans to go out in front of the Diet Building, the headquarters of the Liberal Democratic Party, and the MHLW.[14] I myself also joined.
Mr. Okuma protests in front of the Headquarters of the Liberal Democratic Party on February 26, 2023
Protest in front of the MHLW on March 11, 2023
It was expected that the MHLW would approve the abortion pill sometime this March.[15] However, the MHLW postponed the scheduled discussion on March 24 due to the large numbers of public comments (about 12,000, with some two-thirds running in favor of the abortion pill). The MHLW wanted time to review the comments.[16]
Mr. Kazuo Sasaki, a fellow pro-life activist here in Japan, joined the protests against the abortion pill from that time. He started a hunger strike and protest in front of Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare on March 27, 2023.[17] He is a follower of Seicho-No-Ie (House of Growth), a new Japanese religion, which Masaharu Taniguchi founded in 1930. Taniguchi was one of the religious leaders who tried to remove “economic reasons” as one of the approved exceptions for abortion from the Eugenic Protection Law in 1968.[18] In addition to standing (and sleeping) in front of the MHLW offices, Mr. Sasaki also protests in some busy areas of Tokyo on the weekends. I have sometimes joined his protests, but I have to admit my fervor for the unborn is much less than his. He is quite literally risking his life to save theirs.
Mr. Sasaki has been on a hunger strike for thirteen days as of April 8, 2023
A Reporter of Christian Today interviews Mr. Sasaki on April 8, 2023.
On April 10, Mr. Sasaki has been on hunger strike for fifteen days.
I also asked my other friends in the pro-life movement for help. Christian Today, one of the major Christian news websites in Japan, interviewed Mr. Sasaki and published a report.[19] During the protest, I myself called Christians to fight against abortion pills so we could all be “Salt of the earth, Light of the world” (Matthew 5:13-14).
I would like ask Remnant readers to pray that we will fight a good fight to defend the voice of the voiceless in Japan.
As a Catholic, I felt very sad there were very few other Catholics bravely fighting for the lives of the unborn. I also cannot help thinking of the phase in the New Testament: “Not everyone that saith to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven: but he that doeth the will of my Father who is in heaven, he shall enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 7:21).
We need to fight all the more because the MHLW will soon be held another discussion for the approval of abortion pills.[20] Mr. Sasaki has been hunger strike for fifteen days as of April 10, 2023. But, still, the number of people who join the battle against abortion pills are very few.
I would like ask Remnant readers to pray that we will fight a good fight to defend the voice of the voiceless in Japan.
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[1] https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2021/11/21/national/science-health/abortion-pill-approval/
[2] https://www.facebook.com/babylifeseimei/
[3] https://voice.charity/events/307
[4] https://jp.reuters.com/article/us-japan-baby-hatch/japanese-hospital-tests-first-baby-hatch-idUST17793420070501
[5] https://kagoshima-catholic.jp/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/2022-07.pdf
[6] https://shirakojinja.jp/about/
[7] https://www.nipponkaigi.org/about/yakuin
[8] https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2023/01/27/national/science-health/abortion-pill-japan/
[9] https://www.cbcj.catholic.jp/2010/12/02/5752/
[11] https://public-comment.e-gov.go.jp/servlet/Public?CLASSNAME=PCMMSTDETAIL&id=495220368&Mode=0
[12] https://kagoshima-catholic.jp/info/6222.html/
[13] https://warai88waraikun.hatenablog.com/
[14] http://inochi-mamoru.org/
[15] https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/society/general-news/20230228-93875/
[16] https://sp.m.jiji.com/article/show/2916039
[18] https://www.lifeissues.net/writers/zim/zim_180attemptamendlaw.html
[19] https://www.christiantoday.co.jp/articles/32193/20230408/hunger-strike-against-abortion-pills.htm
