*** w82 10/1 19 Kingdom "Explosion" in *** Over thirty years ago one of the missionaries studied with Isamu Sugiura, who is now a member of the branch committee. Sugiura introduced the principal speaker of the day, Brother Fred Franz, the president of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society. Nearing the conclusion of his dedication talk, Franz asked: What do you want to do with these facilities? Toshio Honma, the coordinator of the branch, made a motion that they be dedicated to Jehovah God to serve his purposes. The motion was endorsed and all in the audience concurred by applauding.
*** yb98 112-23 *** As Brother Knorr had predicted, the space was soon used up. By 1974 two more buildings were neededone for storing supplies and the other to house the workers. This was the first construction that the Witnesses undertook all by themselves in , says Toshio Honma. We were a bit concerned as to whether there would be enough experienced workers or not. God blessed us by providing people like Tadazo Fukayama, a construction overseer with over 30 years experience with a major building contractor.
After years of work that had taken him away from home, Tadazo had just quit his job in order to spend more time with his family. So he had mixed feelings when he was asked to consider the possibility of coming to to supervise the expansion. Would he have to leave his family behind again? No! came the response from the branch. His wife and two sons, 18 and 20 years of age, were also invited.
Although the structures built at that time were relatively small compared with what was to come, this project gave the brothers experience and the confidence that with Jehovahs help they could tackle even greater projects.
Native Brothers
Take
Heavier
Responsibility
In April 1975, Lloyd Barry, who had been the branch overseer since 1952, left to serve as a member of the Governing Body of Jehovahs Witnesses. He had zealously shared in the work during the time that the theocratic organization grew from 8 publishers in 1949 to over 30,000 zealous Kingdom proclaimers. At his departure the oversight of the branch was entrusted to Toshio Honma, a native Japanese brother who was then serving as the factory overseer.
Regarding Brother Honmas abilities, his assistant in the factory said: Toshio wasnt one to sit back and wait for someone to tell him what to do every step along the way. You could give him a job and tell him, This is the direction were going, and then he could take the ball and run. He was a good organizer and got people motivated.
Another organizational change took place in February 1976. In unison with all the other branches throughout the world, the branch oversight in was put under a committee of brothers rather than under a single branch overseer. The five initially appointed were Toshio Honma, the coordinator, Masataro Oda, Shigeo Ikehata, Kiichiro Tanaka, and James Mantz. This new arrangement was readily accepted by the Japanese brothers, as they were very familiar with the concept of group approach and consensus seeking in the decision-making process. One of the committee members later observed: With the Branch Committee arrangement, the brothers look to a group of mature brothers as the representatives of the organization. This has the effect of directing the brothers attention to Gods organization rather than to an individual. When a weighty decision must be made, this arrangement provides a group of spiritual men with varied backgrounds and abilities to consider it and to seek the direction of the holy spirit and of Gods Word.
In January 1983, Masataro Oda, who had served at since February 1960, became the coordinator. He replaced Brother Honma, who by this time had a two-year-old son to provide for. Others who have since served on the Branch Committee for varying periods of time include Ryosuke Fujimoto, Percy Iszlaub, Isamu Sugiura, Yoshihiro Nagasaki, Makoto Nakajima, Kenji Mimura, and Richard Bailey. Currently seven brothers serve on the Branch Committee. As the work has expanded, each of these brothers has humbly contributed his talents to the advancement of the interests of Gods Kingdom in this part of the world field.
At this point, when we look back, observes Brother Oda, we can see the divine wisdom in the committee arrangement. Since 1976, when the committee arrangement was inaugurated, the work has grown to where no one man could handle it alone. Jehovah gave the wisdom to the Governing Body to delegate the responsibility to many brothers, and in this way the smooth flow of the work has not been impeded.
Local Brothers
Organize
Conventions
Similarly, in the 1970s responsibility in connection with the organization of conventions began to be transferred to local Witnesses. One of the first Japanese district overseers to serve as convention overseer was Takashi Abe. He had gained valuable experience working along with missionaries such as Percy Iszlaub. Percy had been the convention overseer at the Peace on Earth International Assembly held at the Tokyo Korakuen Cycling Stadium in 1969. Two years later, Brother Abe served as the convention overseer for the national convention held at the same stadium. With the experience he had gained from the 1969 convention, the operation went smoothly. But heavier responsibility was to come.
In 1973, Brother Abe was appointed by the Society to be the convention overseer for a five-day Divine Victory International Assembly to be held in . An attendance of some 30,000 was expected, including 400 foreign delegates. His reaction? He recalls: When I received the appointment letter, I became very ill and spent several days in bed, not even being able to sit up. I could only think about the challenge of organizing all the convention departments. How happy I was when, a few months before the convention, I received the booklet Convention
Organization from the Society! By following Bible-based procedures, many problems were solved.
One of the immediate challenges was to arrange for enough seats for all the delegates. The convention was to be held in the in the Expo (1970) Memorial Park in , but the plaza had no seats or stage. The surrounding congregations were asked for information regarding folding chairs that could be rented for the convention. All the school principals in one city were contacted. Also, the president of the biggest electric-appliance maker in was asked if his company was willing to rent out chairs for the convention. A company representative met with the convention overseer concerning this request. Although the company did not have extra folding chairs that they could rent out, they willingly donated money for renting 5,000 chairs. Still more seats were needed. The solution? Make benches from scaffolding rented from a construction company. The benches were completed a few days before the convention, and an audience of 31,263 listened to the public talk. Because of their growing numbers, this was the last time that it was possible for all of Jehovahs Witnesses in and to gather at one convention.
Five members of the Governing Body as well as the factory overseer from the world headquarters in attended the convention and encouraged the audience. Other delegates were on hand from , , , , , , , , and the , making the convention truly international.
Following that convention, more local brothers began to shoulder the responsibilities of convention organization. This made it easier for the brothers to balance the preconvention work with their other responsibilities. In addition, traveling overseers could now concentrate on their assignment instead of devoting months before each convention to convention work.
1978 Victorious
Faith
International
Conventions
The fourth international convention to be held in was the five-day Victorious Faith Convention in 1978. This time, four convention sites were used in order to accommodate everyone. The main convention held in had a peak attendance of 31,785, including over 200 delegates from the , , , , as well as from other European, Asian, and South American countries. Three members of the Governing Body were on hand to take part in the convention program.
A fine spirit of cooperation had been cultivated over the years. The brothers had come to have full confidence that with Jehovahs help they could handle even major theocratic assignments.
From Bowling
Alley
to
Assembly
Hall
It became evident that in addition to having Kingdom Halls, the brothers needed reliable access to larger facilities for assemblies. By the early 1970s, many public facilities would not rent to religious groups, and contracts for gymnasiums could be canceled at the last minute because local sporting events had priority. Hirofumi Morohashi, who served as an assembly overseer in the area for many years, recalls a particular incident that moved the brothers to start searching for their own Assembly Hall. He says: In 1974 we made a deposit of 200,000 yen [$700, ] for the use of a hall in an amusement park in for our circuit assembly. Later, the amusement park went bankrupt. We had a very difficult time in trying to recover the deposit as well as in finding another location for the assembly. Then Percy Iszlaub showed them pictures from of an old weaving factory that had been converted into a beautiful Assembly Hall. The brothers in felt that it was time for them to try something like that.
They located a bowling alley that was not in use. It was in Higashi-Matsuyama, on the outskirts of . The owner of the building, having no knowledge of Jehovahs Witnesses, wrote to a family with whom he had stayed in the and asked them about Jehovahs Witnesses. He received a very favorable reply telling him that Jehovahs Witnesses were the most trustworthy religious group in the . From then on things went very smoothly, and a contract was made.
Thus, in December 1976, the first Assembly Hall in was completed. Meanwhile, another significant construction project was under way.
Jehovah Directs
the
Move
By the time the expanded facilities were dedicated in 1977, there were more than 40,000 publishers. The branch was directed to look for land 300 percent larger than the property. An old textile factory was located in Ebina, midway between and , with about 18 acres of property. This was 1,600 percent larger than the site. But would the Governing Body approve such a move in a country where land prices were incredibly high? This property would cost more than twice the amount the paid in purchasing back in 1867. For a while, there was no response from headquarters. Then, suddenly, Brother Barry came from with Max Larson, the Societys factory overseer, to look at the plot, and we were given approval, says Toshio Honma. In looking back now on the increases we have had in the past 20 years, we thank Jehovah for guiding us to purchase that huge property.
In January 1979 the construction of a two-floor factory, an office building, three residential buildings containing 161 Bethel rooms, a Kingdom Hall, and two smaller shop buildings was started. It was one of the largest construction projects ever undertaken by Jehovahs Witnesses anywhere in the world until that time.
Many family men with construction skills left their former jobs and moved their families to Ebina or surrounding cities in order to share in the building work. Yoshiaki Nishio was one of them. When he received his first invitation to share in the project as a plumber, he had just moved to a small town on to serve where the need was greater. Since he had three small children, was then unemployed, and was low on funds, he at first declined. But when he received his third invitation by express mail, he felt that it was Jehovah telling him to go. He discussed the matter with his wife, who offered to support the family in his absence. When I arrived at , I first realized that all five of us had been invited! It was incredible! recalls Yoshiaki. The three children grew up to be pioneers, and one of them now serves as a member of the family at Ebina.
Time and again we saw Jehovah open doors for us in connection with that construction, recalls James Mantz, chairman of the Construction Committee. We had what seemed like insurmountable walls in front of us. The government had some of the strictest pollution-control laws in the whole country. We were told not to drain one drop of wastewater into the canal that ran through the property. But Jehovah opened up the way for us. The former factory on the property used to cool its machinery with water from three wells. The water drained into a canal and this was used to irrigate the neighbors crops. When the neighbors heard that this water supply was going to dry up, they went to the city office and complained, We are dependent on the water coming out of that property for our crops. So the city officials reversed their decision and set a minimum amount of water that we had to put into the canal every day in order to supply the farmers. In addition to the purified wastewater that went into the canal, we had to pump water from our wells to satisfy the farmers needs.
With Frederick Franz, then president of the Watch Tower Society, present, the completed buildings were dedicated to Jehovah on . Lloyd Barry and his wife, Melba, were also present and shared in the dedication program. As Brother Barry interviewed 14 of his fellow graduates who had been sent to from the 11th class, the audience could sense his deep love for the Japanese brothers.
Progress in
Quantity
and
Quality
The publishers continued to increase; so did the demand for literature. Even before the dedication of the facilities at Ebina, in October 1979 the branch took possession of its first web offset press. This press weighed 75 tons, was 64 feet [20
m] long, and could produce 300 magazines per minute, in full color. Did that care for our needs?
In 1981, recalls Brother Mantz, we had a zone visit by Brother Jaracz. He noticed that we were running a double shift on our press and recommended that we ask for approval to purchase a second one. We were hesitant to request a second press because we felt that it was more economical to get by with one. However, within a month we received instructions from to order our second rotary offset press. At the time, we did not realize what was in store for us. But when it was delivered in May one year later, we immediately had to start production of the complete New
World
Translation in Japanese for release at the district conventions just two
months away. At those conventions the book You
Can
Live
Forever
in
Paradise
on
Earth was also to be released. So again we could see Jehovahs hand directing matters. We could never have produced our magazines, the Bible, and the book all on the one press.
A third press, a high-powered Mitsubishi, was installed in 1984. It had two webs and four color units in addition to an extra black unit; it was capable of producing 1,000 magazines a minute. At the time, it was the fastest press in the country and became the talk of secular printers. Ichiki Matsunaga, who was given special training to run the press, was thrilled to see it running at its maximum speed. But, he said, it is even more thrilling to contemplate the tremendous speed at which the printed message will be going out.
How could 60,000 magazines an hour be handled efficiently? Eventually, the brothers in the machine shop designed and built an electric conveyor system that transported the magazines from the press through a hydraulic pressing unit and a three-knife trimmer to the packing station. The operation overseer explains: The press is fed a half-ton paper roll every 20 minutes, and at the other end of the line, the magazines are packed directly into labeled cartons, ready to be shipped. Within five minutes the paper goes from the roll through the press, the trimmer, and into the carton. This in-line system reduces the need for a number of workers and much storage space.
The high-quality printing made possible by this equipment, together with improvements in the artwork and paper quality, greatly enhanced the appeal of the magazines. The publishers enthusiastically offered them in the field ministry.
Specialists in
Array
In keeping with the move to offset printing, the Society began to computerize its prepress operations. Were there Japanese Witnesses with sufficient technical background who could make themselves available to undertake this change? Yes! Yasuo Ishii, one of the technical pioneers in the field of computer science in , had become a dedicated servant of Jehovah. He had also shared his faith with his colleagues. As a result, six persons who were systems engineers and expert programmers had become baptized Witnesses. This entire group accepted the invitation to share in the Societys project, some as Bethelites and others as commuters. Recalling what had occurred, Toshio Honma, the Branch Committee coordinator at the time, said: Jehovah had specialists in array for the very moment they were needed.
As to the computer to be used, the office had recommended leasing IBMs yet-to-be-released mainframe model 4341. The branch of the Society was second in line, by lot, to receive one of these latest mainframe computers. However, the agent for the company in felt that it would be better to give it to one of their regular customers who had the resources to do the programming. The five brothers and one sister working on our project quickly drew up the specifications for the Societys unique needs. After seeing these detailed specifications, the company readily included our order in its first shipment of this new model.
Under the skillful direction of these specialists, more than 40 willing young brothers and sisters received training to be programmers. The goal was to build a fully automated system for typesetting and composition for the Societys Japanese publications. The system came to be called SCRIPT (System of Character Reproduction Incorporating Photo-Typesetting). In less than two years, it was ready for a test. The first publication produced by the system was the 192-page book Let
Your
Kingdom
Come.
By 1987 the capacity of secular personal computers had advanced to the point where they could accommodate the needs peculiar to the Japanese script. So when the phototypesetter linked with the SCRIPT system broke down, a switch to the Societys less expensive typesetting system was made. The specialized features that our brothers had developed for the SCRIPT system, incorporating a Japanese alphabet of some 8,000 complicated Japanese characters, were then integrated into the MEPS system. A number of programmers who worked on the local Japanese system now work in other countries to support the Societys worldwide publishing system.
