JAPAN - 日本
St John Paul II was a pilgrim to Japan in 1981, during his 9th apostolic voyage (his only one that year, due to the assassination attempt on his life on 13th May, the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima). Pope Francis followed in his footsteps in 2019.
Here below are responses to Totus2us podcasts given by Japanese people
- あなたに感謝 ♥
You can download the free audio mp3 recordings by right/double clicking on the blue play buttons - あなたは、プレイボタンを右/ダブルクリックして無料オーディオMP3録音をダウンロードすることができます
Pope Francis, in his catechesis on Baptism: "On the subject of the importance of Baptism for the People of God, the history of the Christian community in Japan is exemplary. It suffered severe persecution at the start of the 17th century. There were many martyrs, members of the clergy were expelled and thousands of faithful killed. No priest was left in Japan, they were all expelled. Then the community retreated into hiding, keeping the faith and prayer in seclusion. And when a child was born, the father or mother baptized him or her, because the faithful can baptize in certain circumstances. When, after roughly two and a half centuries, 250 years later, missionaries returned to Japan, thousands of Christians stepped out into the open and the Church was able to flourish again. They survived by the grace of Baptism! This is profound: the People of God transmits the faith, baptizes her children and goes forward. And they maintained, even in secret, a strong communal spirit, because their Baptism had made of them one single body in Christ: they were isolated and hidden, but they were always members of the People of God, members of the Church. Let us learn a great deal from this history!" (15 January 2014)
St JPII's Prayer to the Immaculate Virgin Mary
at the Church of the Immaculate at Nugenzai-No-Sono, Nagasaki
- in Italian, Portuguese & Spanish
"O Immaculate Mother of the Church,
through your humble intercession with your Son,
grant that this "little flock" may become, day by day,
a more eloquent sign of the Kingdom of God in Japan!
Grant that, by this means,
this Kingdom may shine more brightly in the lives of the people and
spread among others through the grace of faith and Holy Baptism.
May it grow always stronger
by means of the example of Christian life given by the sons
and daughters of the Church in Japan.
May it grow strong in the wait for the coming of the Lord,
when the history of the world will be realized in the one God.
This I entrust to you, O Immaculate One, and this I implore from Christ through the intercession of the saints and martyrs of Japan, and of Blessed Maximilian Kolbe, the apostle who so loved this land. Amen."
Aetheria 
"I was converted about 11 years ago and my mother, who is still pagan, loves Our Lady. I have given her a small statue of Our Lady and every day she prays to Our Lady, even if she is not Christian, and she always tells me how much Our Lady is protecting me. So it's very real me to me, I am feeling that I am being protected by Our Lady."
Kaz
"Every time I see the little statue of Mary, it gives me hope so I can go on and can keep saying little prayers. It's just so amazing she is in my life everyday."
Manami 
"Our Lady is for me my everything. Whenever I have a problem, I always ask for her intercession and everything about her I love and I believe. Our Lady, we love you, we trust in you and we live in you."
Manami gives her something about Mary in English & Japanese.
Yasko 
"What can I say about Mary, the Mother of God, yes exactly, Hail Mary, yes. I don’t know, it’s just my own words but actually that she is, to me, she's everything to me."
If you'd be up for saying your something about Mary,
please do get in touch with the Totus2us team
- as well as hopefully bringing you joy,
you'd be really helping Totus2us ♥
Totus tuus ego sum et omnia mea tua sunt.
Accipio te in mea omnia. Praebe mihi cor tuum, Maria. - St Louis de Montfort
St John Paul II took his motto Totus Tuus from this quote.
"I am totally yours and all that I have is yours.
I accept you for my all. O Mary, give me your heart.”
Papa Juan Pablo II's Message to the Japanese people
15 February 1981 (ahead of his apostolic pilgrimage to the Far East) - in Portuguese & Spanish
Queridos amigos, queridos hermanos y hermanas del Japón:
Se está acercando la hora de mi visita a vuestro país y con gran alegría anticipo mi estancia en medio de vosotros.
Me es también muy grato tener esta oportunidad de enviaros mi saludo por anticipado. Es un maravilloso privilegio para mí poder, a través de la radio y la televisión, entrar en millones de hogares de vuestra nación. Agradezco este gran favor a los medios de comunicación japoneses y deseo hoy declararles mí profunda gratitud por su contribución a hacer llegar mi mensaje al pueblo.
Tengo la intención, durante mi estancia en Japón, de visitar las comunidades católicas de Tokio, Hiroshima y Nagasaki. Como Pastor de la Iglesia universal estoy unido a ellas por especiales lazos de amor. Pero deseo también expresar mí amistad a todo el pueblo de vuestro país, ofrecer un respetuoso saludo a las autoridades del Japón y en particular a Su Majestad Imperial. Asimismo espero con ilusión manifestar la estima de la Iglesia católica por la venerable cultura del Japón y por todos los valores espirituales y morales expresados en las diferentes religiones del pueblo japonés.
A todos declaro mi afecto fraternal y mi deseo de paz. Invoco sobre todo el pueblo la bendición del Dios Altísimo.
Sadao Watanabe (1913-1996)
Sadao was 10 when his father died. Shortly afterwards he dropped out of school and became an apprentice in a dyer’s shop. He was invited by a Christian woman in his neighborhood to attend church with her; at 17, he received Baptism. Sadao's art prints in the mingei (folk art) approach are all on the Gospel. The Vatican Museum, the British Museum, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the National Museum of Modern Art in Tokyo are among leading museums in the world that have exhibited Watanabe’s works. Watanabe once remarked that he preferred that his prints hang in the ordinary places of life: “I would most like to see them [his prints] hanging where people ordinarily gather, because Jesus brought the gospel for the people”. For more about Sadao Watanabe, 'one of the most talented Bible story-tellers of the 20th century', visit John Kohan's beautiful Sacred Art Pilgrim website.