On July 28, 2015, Pastor Masaru Kawagoe, a retired minister, dropped in at my housein Imabari City, Ehime Prefecture of Shikoku Island, Japan. He was travelling all around Japan in his small car doing recordings for Adventist World Radio (AWR).
For this trip, Pastor Kawagoe started from his house in Tokyo on June 29 and drove, first of all, to the northern part of Japan. He used a ferry boat to cross the ocean from Honshu Island to Hokkaido Island and continued to drive until the most northern part of Hokkaido, Soya Cape. Then he began the return trip back to the south. To welcome the Sabbath, he dropped in nearby Seventh-day Adventist churches and preached for the worship service at Sapporo, Aomori Minami, Akita and Kyoto Churches. He said that he would drive from Shikoku Island to Honshu Island and Kyushu Island and would preach at Yaizu in Shizuoka Prefecture before completing his tour inTokyo on August 13. It would take 46 days for him to accomplish his scheduled tour.
Pastor Masaru Kawagoe and his car
I was astonished to learn that his small car was being used for the all-Japan tour. It seemed to be too small. My second surprise was that Pastor Kawagoe studied, worked, ate and even slept in his car. When I looked inside the car, I saw that he had carefully reformed his car for all these purposes. All the necessary equipment for recording was well prepared in a box and placed beside the driver seat. In the back seat area, there was a small table he had made for studying, working and eating. A small bed was also set up on the other side of the back seat. This means that he doesn’t need to eat at restaurants nor lodge at hotels. Since he is doing this project voluntarily, he tries his best to save money.
Pastor Masaru Kawagoe using his computer in his car
Pastor Kawagoe’s daily schedule is quite tight. First of all, he drives on his own according to his scheduled plan. Second, he stops to rest and eat at free parking lots. At the same time, he washes his clothes and hangs them to dry inside of his car. Third, he writes articles each day about his findings, experiences and interviews with pastors and others. Fourth, he records himself reading the articles using a portable microphone. Finally, he sends photos and the recorded files to AWR Japan through the internet. To me, doing all this seems to be a very tough assignment for a 71-year-old man, but Pastor Kawagoe is now doing this hard work after his retirement, namely after 44 years of pastoral ministry.
Pastors Masaru Kawagoe (right) and Tadaomi Shinmyo (left)
Five years ago, Pastor Kawagoe made an all-Japan bike tour in order to do recordings for AWR. It took 73 days, and he produced a series of 57 recordings for AWR based on that trip. Additionally, last year, he made a bike tour for 35 days in the eastern part of Japan. Pastor Kawagoe is familiar with doing such tours, and he seems to find them enjoyable and rewarding despite the challenges and difficulties.
You can see and listen to Pastor Kawagoe’s reports of his “All-Japan AWR Recording Tour” onthe following websites.
http://www.awrjapan.net
http://syacyuhaku.exblog.jp
Reported by Tadaomi Shinmyo, Retired Minister in Japan