We slipped into our seats, the concert had just begun.
A rapper and pop female vocalist appeared on stage with the latest music style. 3 funky young men in typical American street fashion hip hopped onto the stage and began to dance to their song.
The music was loud, fast and saturated, with flashing lights, quick steps and intense emotions.
Nothing too exceptional about the scene...if you didn't know that it was a Japanese Christian music concert.
And one with an exceptionally high level of professionalism in the sounds, lights, music and dance.
This is music and dance that non-Christians can happily listen to, that communicate God in the most natural language of their environment.
We were moved beyond expression.
Japanese people celebrating God in their own culture, using their own melody and rhythm, pouring out their hearts in a way that only Japanese can do -- is the coolest, most beautiful thing in the whole world.
Courage, excitement welled up. We couldn't sit still from the joy we felt. We wanted to laugh, to tell each other how glad we were. For this is a land in which the Christian population is officially 1%, and many Christians believe is in fact much smaller -- yet there are so many giving their talents, time and effort to God!!
They have so much potential, so much power for God -- if they can find the means to go on.
Please join us in praying for and supporting these Christian musicians.
Remember that Christian books and music in Japanese don't have a worldwide market as English ones, and that the market in Japan itself is small. This pushes up cost and makes Christian products less affordable, creating a vicious cycle in an already difficult situation.
Yet, until Japanese Christians find expression for God in their own voice rather than borrow from churches in other countries, God will always be a foreign guest in Japan.
See http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=b2lm9JmRRmo for a sample of one of the singer's music. Her name is Kaori Yamamoto. Unfortunately the sound on this clip is not good, so it is but a far cry from her actual powerful singing voice.
