From the Ashes

 Good Morning,

 

While we were in Hawaii, we met an amazing man named Tatsuo Hagiwara.  His story was so compelling, I had to hear it a couple of times to get all the facts straight. 

The day before we left, we had the privilege of meeting his mother who is now in her 80's.  She'd come to visit a couple of her kids, including Tatsuo.  She mentioned to someone in the room that her husband (significant in this story) was "getting older and didn't like to travel as much".  I think he's in his 90's.

And so, here's what I've understood.  We encouraged him to write a book, like the one we wrote about our pastor and friend Naoki Noguchi, "Sacrificed: Given to an Empire, Saved by God".  They said they'll "think about it."

So, come with me to March 10th, 1945. The war is in the final stages, but the atom bombs won't be dropped until August 6th and 8th of that same year, bringing everything to an end on August 15th.  

But back to March 10th. That night, more than 2000 tons of bombs containing napalm were dropped in downtown Tokyo.  Over 110.000 people died initially, and another 350,000 soon after.  There were an estimated 103,000 people living per square mile and the fire completely destroyed over 16 square miles.  Obviously, millions of survivors were left homeless.

Including those who died of their injuries over the next few days, the total casualties of this one night have been said to have totalled more than the victims of both Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the only difference being that in those two cities, death was for the most part instantaneous. 

But for many in Tokyo, death was not instant but much more cruel, as it was an incendiary death. But even in this tragedy, God’s Hand can be seen at work is so many places. For example:

Tatsuo's great grandfather, the leading merchant for government and commercial stationary in all of Japan, had recently died of pneumonia.  They were a large, prestigious family and had several  'bessos’ outside of Tokyo (similar to country homes for the rich). The extended family had chosen to live in some of these to wait out the war.  Altogether, there were seven brothers and sisters.

But on March 10th, the entire family had come into Tokyo. It was a dangerous time to do so, but they wanted to attend the funeral of this Great Grandfather.  And while they were at it, they planned to install Tatsuo's great grandmother to assume the head of the clan as matriarch who would be taking over the family business. It's important to remember that in addition to Tatsuo's grandfather, there were six other children and their families of this wealthy man.

While they were all gathered in Tokyo, the bombs started falling.

One of the sons, Tatsuo's grandfather, was a volunteer firefighter.  His job was to oversee the inner-city evacuation to a preassigned elementary school.  He worked valiantly to encourage people into the building; and then when the area was filled to capacity, he made the decision to lock the gates to keep people out. 

Because of his foresight and planning, the people inside the school survived, but the ones outside the gates were all killed, including his own wife and SIX kids, who had failed to get there in time.  

Eventually ALL of this family, (over 20) were wiped out that night, including the matriarch to be.  There were  only two survivors: Tatsuo's grandfather, (the fireman), who had done his job so well even though he excluded his own family, and had now become the only heir left to take over the company, alonbg with Tetsuo's father, Junichi.

Tatsuo's father (to be) was just a boy of 13 and had been out on a school field trip away from Tokyo even though the funeral for his dynasty was taking place. That's the way with school in Japan, often attendance at school functions, no matter how trivial, trumps it all. However, in this case, it saved his life.  

So now Tatsuo's grandfather and father were all that were left. They were the only heirs, but there was nothing left to inherit.  The warehouses, the properties, the money......all burned up.

So now I'm going to ask you to stay turned till next week (don't you hate it?). Because ya' ain't gonna believe what happens next.  Yes, God was aware of what was going on in the midst of the war.  

Stay turned, 

Marsha