March Sycamore Tree

Anpan-man is arguably the most famous cartoon character in Japan. After spending only a few moments with my co-worker’s 2-year-old daughter, Nonoka-chan, I learned the song and hand gestures for not only Anpan-man but also his fellow super-heroes Currypan-man, Shokupan-man, and the evil Baikin-man (a villain from the ‘germ world’). There are images of Anpan-man virtually everywhere in Japan, painted on the sides of trains and school buses and there is an entire museum dedicated to Anpan-man in Yokohama.

I didn’t know what Anpan-man’s super-power was until a joint youth event that was held at the Sendai Student/Youth Center last weekend. ‘Anpan’ is a baked pastry filled with red-bean jam and Anpan-man’s face is made out of this pastry. In the original children’s book by Takashi Yanase, Anpan-man finds people who are hungry and lets them eat parts of his face. When his entire face has been eaten a kind baker, Jam Ojisan, bakes a new face which is bigger and filled with more jam so Anpan-man can continue his work. Takashi Yanase was an author of children’s books and he was inspired by his time in the military when he was often hungry. As a Christian, he imagined that feeding others from one’s own body was the ultimate embodiment of love and community service.

This year was the 2^nd joint youth event for all the churches in the Sendai-area. Christians make up a very small minority in Japan and since churches are very small there are very few young people. Last year some of the college-age and recent graduates decided to start an annual youth event so that these young people could meet and share their faith with one another. The theme this year was "What does it mean to work?" and was centered on the Anpan-man picture book. In total, there were 23 people including high school and college students as well as pastors and recent college graduates. After we read the Anpan-man story we broke into smaller groups with 2 students and 2 people who were working.

In my group, our discussion boiled down to the question of who it is that you’re working for, whether it be for your company, your family, or yourself. Often students have dreams of finding a job where they can help the most people by becoming doctors, politicians, or teachers. Just as many people use tissues as go to a doctor but society values the job of the doctor more. After the event, the students had very positive comments and felt that they had a better perspective on finding meaning in work or community service.