LAKE FOREST – Takeshi Takazawa’s alarm on his watch goes off at 2:46 p.m. local time everywhere he travels.
That’s when the massive magnitude-9.0 earthquake shook East Japan, where Takazawa grew up, two years ago on March 11. The alarm has reminded him to pray for the hundreds of thousands of victims every day since the earthquake.
“Many Japanese people said that was the day their life completely changed,” Takazawa said, adding it’s similar to how 9/11 changed the lives of Americans.
Takazawa, a pastor at Cypress Church in Cypress, was one of the two guest speakers at Japan Night on Monday hosted by Saddleback Church. Having visited disaster areas in Japan on a monthly basis, Takazawa talked about the country’s ongoing recovery during the memorial event at the near-packed Refinery auditorium.
According to the Japanese government, more than 18,500 people lost their lives or went missing due to the earthquake and tsunami. About 315,000 are still refugees.
Most of the debris has been cleaned up along the coastline struck by the tsunami, Takazawa said, and media outlets don’t report on the lives of the refugees as much as they used to. But the hearts of the victims are still aching, he said.
Japan is in the middle of the graduation season now. Many schools are leaving empty seats for deceased students who were supposed to graduate this year. One middle school girl held back tears at her graduation ceremony when her deceased friend’s name was called, Takazawa said.
She didn’t cry because she doesn’t want to accept that her friend is gone, the pastor told the crowd.
This is the second time Saddleback’s Japan Outreach Ministry organized a prayer memorial for the earthquake victims. The first was held two weeks after the earthquake.
David Lee, a core member of the ministry, said the goal of observing the second anniversary is to make sure people don’t forget about the tragedy. The church has sent several ministries each year to Japan as part of the relief effort, he said.
“People tend to forget things,” Lee said in Japanese. “We’d like to create an opportunity to raise awareness on a regular basis.”
Japan Night opened up with a dance performance by Saddleback’s Hula Ministry.
Gospel singers sang “Amazing Grace,” “Moving Forward” and “Rejoice with Those Who Rejoice,” in English and Japanese. The group featured saxophonist Ron Brown, who’s performed with Diana Ross, Whitney Houston and Stevie Wonder. Brown played a solo with a slideshow of earthquake disaster areas in the background.
Takazawa led the prayer at the end of the night. He said people pray because there’s certain deep pain only God can heal. Prayer is also an expression of people thinking about others, he said. The victims he’s met have repeatedly pleaded with him not to forget about them.
“Prayer unites our hearts,” he said, “even if Japan’s really, really far.”
Contact the writer: 949-454-7347 or TShimura@OCRegister.com