The Hoon Dok Hae was red by Sarah and myself. Henri gave a short testimony and then warmly invited Ferdinand Renz to come to the stage and share his heart. Ferdinand had gone through a difficult moment and expressed his heart to all of us. We then spoke about the event at the Hankyu Hotel and how to prepare ourselves. After breakfast, we all prepared for the Sunday service. Team 5 went to West Osaka and team 6 to South Osaka.

We were received at the video center by the church leader, Mr. Momota, who is 1,92 m tall. I had a chance to speak with Mrs. Yoshida, a former English teacher, now aged 75, and who would be the interpreter during the service. The service started at 10:30 with a song and the Pledge, followed by three songs of the choir. The church leader spoke and introduced Reverend Jeung, our team leader, who offered a brief report in Japanese. Fumiko spoke and then, I offered a report about the past week activity in Osaka, showing my photo albums. The service ended with the awards for the donation from members, followed by three cheers of Mansei. Group pictures were taken, especially in front of a big fish that Father caught and had offered to this church. This church has another holy item: a chomochoguri from True Mother, which is kept in a special cupboard.

At 1:15, we had lunch in a Chinese restaurant and I was sitting besides Mrs. Yoshida. There were 2 WFWP leaders who spoke about their activities. Eric and Ferdinand offered songs and then Mr. Momota was also asked to offer a song with his wife, who is really tiny. We were back at Abeno church at 3:30, and some of us went to take a bath.

We left Abeno at 5 p.m. and entered the magnificent Hankyu International Hotel. At 6:15, the first consuls arrived, as well as some other VIPs. I exchanged a few words with some city counselors, with Mr Chris Laycock, the US consul for public affairs, and also with Dr Seyed Morteza Arastoo, an Iranian businessman living in Osaka.

The program started at 7:15, in a beautiful hall where 850 people had gathered, including the 40 who were on the stage. Facing the audience, the 24 Peace Ambassadors were on the right hand side, while the consuls and other VIPS were on the left hand side.

A congressman, who had just defeated Mrs Takeko Doi in one Osaka constituency, gave a powerful talk. He stayed on stage during the whole event, which is rather unusual. Mr Oyamada’ explanation of the IIPC was very wise and clever to convince the Japanese audience. Chantal gave an excellent speech and Staffan Berg could really captivate everyone with his presentation of the Jerusalem events. A group picture was taken on stage and then we all went back to Abeno with a feeling of great victory in our beloved city of Osaka.

We had our Hoon Dok Hae and testimonies and then, we stated to have our breakfast when we received the most stimulating visit.

Mr Oyamada comes and speaks to us

Mr Oyamada came to greet us and gave us some explanations:

"I wanted to visit you earlier, but I was focusing on the elections. Moreover, the heavy burden of the financial mission remains on the shoulders of Japan until the birthday of our True Parents.

From the political viewpoint, whenever Father thinks of Japan, he has only one name in his mind: Mr Nakasone. But he is now 84 and the law has set the limit of age at 73. Yesterday, one congressman stayed till the end, almost 3 hours on stage. These people usually cannot stay more than three minutes, because they are afraid! But you are like magnets, aren’t you? We support some politicians in Japan, provided they sign a document which would allow Father to enter Japan. Moreover they should attend a Divine Principle Seminar.

Almost all the Japanese members are involved in the financial responsibility. A very small number of members have another activity. When I was the president of our church in Japan, Father gave us clear goals: we were to find 50,000 full-time members, 500,000 associate members and then allocate 1/3 of the manpower to business, 1/3 to witnessing and 1/3 to PR work. We could never achieve that and we now face a difficult financial dilemma.

In the past, former President Hyo-Won Yoo came to teach us Principle. Then many 36 couples focused on the spiritual education of the Japanese members. From 1960 to 1967, we supported the establishment of a national foundation centered on Korea. Then, we focused on developing our own national foundation to develop Japan. In a third stage, which started in 1975, we had to reach the worldwide level, which meant sending 120 missionaries in 1975. Later on, Father thought of Japan mostly for a political activity, but as you know the mission of Japan as Eve nation is now clearly identified as bringing a lot of money for all the providential projects. I am sorry that only a few members could help you. But I must say that our members felt heaven when they were working with you."

We again went to different places for our activities. I stayed in Abiko, and at 11:00 a.m., we had the visit of a young city counselor who has been extremely helpful to settle some matters regarding our church in Osaka. It was very pleasant to have lunch with him and with many local members. He could taste some of our traditions and take a group picture with us. In the afternoon, I focused on the final report concerning the consulates and the Christian ministers, and then prepared for the appointment of the evening with Mr Park

Elisabeth Kang, Sayaka and myself met a Japanese sister at 6 p.m. in the lobby of the Granvia hotel of Osaka. We had an appointment with Mr Park, a professor at the Faculty of Economics of the University of Osaka, who has been knowing our movement through the WFWP for the past 10 years. He was invited at our Media Conference in Washington DC in February 2003 and could apparently meet high-ranking officials of the US State Department.

Mr Park arrived 1 few minutes after 6 p.m., carrying a satchel. We went to a restaurant from which we had a panoramic view of Osaka by night. The dinner was mostly a conversation between professor Park and myself, even though I tried to involve progressively the three sisters. Professor Park is a scholar, and it was interesting to have his views of the Korean situation as a member of the Korean minority of Japan. I discovered a man of a rich character and rather complex personality. He kept asking me what I thought about the situation of the Korean peninsula, but I confessed my relative ignorance of the issue and my desire to learn from him. However, I sometimes had the feeling that he wanted to give me the kind of answers that I would be happy with. Since I tried to have an open and curious mind, the conversation some time to find a clear direction.

"Mr Ladouce, do you really believe that North Korea has nuclear capacities?

- Could be. In this case, you may help me solve a question which I have had for months. The coalition has attacked Iraq, which had opened to inspections, and while Kim jong Il categorically refuses any inspection whatsoever, his regime is preserved, and with it the potential danger of mass destruction weapons.

- The Americans do as they please. But tell me, do you believe that Kim has these weapons?

- He makes people believe so.

- Right. He is a very clever politician, and all that is politics more than terror. Personally, I doubt that he has the capacity.

- It is a blackmail, then? Is it what you mean?

- We’ve got to produce a better analysis of the situation. I met top officials in the State Department. They are divided in two groups, and the North Korean regime is also divided into two groups.

- what do you mean?

At this stage of the dinner, I had the fear that the discussion would become a purely intellectual game of political speculation between two men, with our three sisters probably having a much more internal spiritual and internal agenda for professor Park. However, he was determined to give me an answer.

"In North Korea, you have those who favor a military approach of things, and another group, who thinks that Pyongyang must take the direction of economic reforms.

- North Korean Gorbatchevians?

- If you will. In the Pentagon too, you have the hawks who advocate a military solution to the Korean question and those who think that we must have a much more subtle approach.

- What do you think?

- What about you?

- Communism is pure evil and must disappear. It is the supreme form of evil, and according to Reverend Moon, the root of this radical evil is something spiritual, not only political and economic. So that we need a strong power to overcome this radical evil?

- Which power? I am a scholar.

- I respect that. We call it the power of True Love. Reverend Moon thinks that if South Koreans are determined to save the enemy brother, a solution is possible.

- I am not a religious person at all.

- That’s why we need to talk. Reverend Moon is a prophet and announces things which often seem impossible. We need the wisdom of experts like you to examine if some of these prophecies can be fulfilled more quickly than we sometimes imagine.

After this exchange, we moved to another place of the hotel to take coffee and tee and the discussion became more personal.

To be continued

Laurent Ladouce

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