austraLasia #1849

It's all 'go' in the new Salesian Parish in Hamamatsu

HAMAMATSU: 19th May 2007 -- If you are familiar with names like Yamaha, Kawai, Suzuki, Honda, then you are, without knowing it, familiar with Hamamatsu City. And although it is an industrial city, farming, fishing and forestry still flourish there thanks to a mild climate, good soil, rain, and hard-working, inventive farmers.  It is equally distant from Tokyo and Osaka, therefore a key transportation link, and has the only inland container terminal in Japan.  Hamamatsu is also the latest development in the Salesian Japanese provincial pastoral plan.  This year the Salesians took over the Catholic parish in Hamamatsu.  The city has 800,000 residents, 20,000 of whom belong to the Brazilian community, mostly migrant workers 'feeding' industry in the area.  The parish has some 150 Japanese regular worshippers, 450 migrant workers with a further 600 somewhat closely involved.
    Fr Angel Yamanouchi and Fr Evaristo Higa are the two Salesians at the parish, the latter being in charge of the Brazilian community.  Three CSM (Charity Sisters of Miyazaki) Sisters also work in the parish, between them speaking Japanese, Portuguese and English.
    Recently, in fact on the day that both the Pope and the Rector Major arrived at Aparecida in Brazil, the Hamamatsu Parish celebrated especially, along with Mothers Day, regularly celebrated in Japan on 2nd May each year.  The EAO Regional, Fr Klement, on a flying visit to Japan, was also present.  The event took on special significance also because of the presence of the newly formed Japanese novitiate, with Fr Loro Piana as novice master and two novices.  Nor did it quite stop there - that Sunday the first steps were taken with the Oratory, with the help of the novices and the Sisters.
    There is then, understandably, some excitement in Catholic Hamamatsu, as the migrant worker outreach develops.  There are a further ten places of worship serviced by the parish and in particular by Spanish-speaking Fr Yamanouchi and Portuguese-speaking Fr Higa. There are many smaller groups of Latin Americans, Asians even Africans working or studying in the city.
    Following the Saturday evening Mass on this occasion, the community joined in with one of the four migrant groups in the parish, 'Esperanza', who have been serving homeless Japanese in the city for the past thirteen years, giving superb Christian witness by doing so.  Fr Higa presented the work of the Esperanza Project more recently at the Nagoya Brazilian Business Expo (May 12-15), with a view to encouraging sponsorship for the Hamamatsu Salesian project which aims to build a migrant centre near the Church as soon as possible.
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