by the News Group, Tokyo, Japan

On June 7, 2003, initiates from the Tokyo Center promoted vegetarianism at Yokota Air Base, home to approximately 14,000 American service people, through two vegetarian food parties. The events were the first of their kind hosted by Tokyo initiates.

The first party was held on June 7 in a large garden at the home of two initiates. The weather was extraordinarily beautiful that day although it rained almost every day immediately before and after the event. The guests thus commented, “I can’t believe what a beautiful day it is! This is supposed to be the rainy season in Tokyo.”

The cooking demonstrations were the highlight of the event.

Dozens of Americans attended the party and were surprised to discover how delicious vegetarian food can be. Many people asked for the recipes and suggested that it would be nice to have cooking lessons in the future. We then understood that it was not only important to demonstrate how delicious vegetarian food tastes but also to show how easy it is to prepare, and thus the second party was planned for June 21 to fulfill the guests’ wishes.

While planning the second event, we unexpectedly heard from a member of the Formosa video team, which produces the TV program A Journey through Aesthetic Realms, that the team had been thinking about doing a special on Japanese Vegetarian Cooking and would come to Japan for the event.

Later, an Australian brother visiting Japan called to say that he needed a place to stay. When he arrived he began to help solve some computer problems so the invitations and announcements for the party could be printed in time. In addition, the video team mentioned that they needed a person to operate one of its video cameras. Coincidentally, the Australian brother had studied video production in the U.S. and volunteered to help film the party and demonstrations!

One day before the event, a group of cooks and decorators from Gunma and Tokyo gathered at Yokota Air Base, magically transformed an American living room into a Japanese kitchen overnight, and prepared dish after dish of Japanese vegetarian delicacies. Meanwhile the Formosan video team worked with the Japanese initiates as filming began in the late afternoon and continued throughout the night. By sunrise Saturday morning the team had filmed twelve vegetarian cooking demonstrations.

Then amazingly, on June 21, the sky was again clear! The cooking demonstrations were the highlight of the event and the whole process was filmed by the Formosa video team in order to enhance the content of the TV program for viewers. Japanese sisters not only demonstrated their culinary skills, but also let members of the audience participate. The party was a big success as all of the guests appeared to love the food and many commented on how delicious it was. Some also asked when we were planning to have another party.

As we reflected on the planning involved in setting the stage for this amazing play of events, we could see God’s hand in all of it. The first party seemed to be a rehearsal for the second, and through these projects we gained a practical understanding of the expression “Everything is arranged by God” and learned how to better participate in God’s work.