Quakers in Tokyo/Picture of the classroom of SJIS

February 24, 2013
Dear Friends
Today I was at the meeting place of the Quakers, officially called the Religious Organization of Friends.
They are quite different with the conventional Christians. They stress on the continuous revelation and that God is in everyone.
They are known as a total pacifist and live with what Jesus /spirit had told everyone. Pennsylvania is known as a Quaker State, founded by William Penn. Johns Hopkins is a Quaker University where Nitobe Inazou became a Quaker. But not many people know that the Quakers have a school, Friend Gakuen and Tokyo meeting place in Japan.

The picture you see above is the last classroom of Seniors of SJIS 2000.
 I replaced Jeff Miller for two months in April and May of 2000 as last teacher for the alma mater. NHK had televised it.
Brother O'Donnel was in charge of this mission. I really sympathize him for this work.  It is much easier to build a new school than closing one.It is the closest room to the entrance and in my days, extra room for typing or business classes, in late 1960's, Brother John Sullivan and Brother O'Donnel were the business teachers who had taught in this room.  It was right next to the bell, calling Brothers or teachers from all school corner to tell them there is a phone call or some visitors are in the office. Mrs. Koizumi was a long time secretary.
However, in 2000 this room became the only room used by the last fifteen students. I remember the map I got from Nihon Kyouzu in 1980's standing there as a monument of my teaching career.
I asked the school to give me as many equipment(s) as possible for I had  a space and very strong feeling to them. But the school didn't want to have anything remaining behind, wanted to close it fast and destroy any remembrance.
But, I asked Brother O'Donnel to let me have the desks.  As a typical Brother O'D onnel, he wanted to close the SJIS school account with "0", he didn't give me the desks free but sold them to me with the exact amount of my payment for teaching the last two months.
Though there was a slight expense on my part, luckily to all SJIS graduates, I do have the last fifteen desks and chairs with Zabuton for earthquake evacuation head protector, plus Brother gave me 15 dictionaries which were in this classroom.
Whatever it may be I always liked Brother O'Donnel and tried to follow him.  I don't have a good sense of business like him nor like Fr. Tagawa,SM or Sister Minagawa of Futaba.
Gradually I see my true mentor was Father Gerber not the ones I wanted to follow.  He was the one who hired me and overwhelmingly protected me in time of troubles. Maybe in this line I should pursue my life.
gto