Mirabella, Tom & Karen

In America, the first of September marks the start of a new school year, a time of excitement and anticipation. In Japan, it is the number one day for children to commit suicide. Child suicide is highest annually on two days: the start of the fall school term, and the start of their new school year in April. Why?

Japan is a culture that puts huge pressure on children (as well as adults) to work hard, to excel, and to fit in. For some, that pressure becomes too great, so they seek escape. Some flee the world, locking themselves into a bedroom, refusing to go to school, to a job, or to interact with people. Others choose the more drastic path of suicide—the leading cause of death in those 15­–34.

Japan is a wonderful country: safe, clean, technologically advanced. But out of the nearly 127 million Japanese, fewer than 0.5 percent are evangelical Christians, making the them the world’s second largest unreached people group.

Pastor Tom and Karen Mirabella are part of a team that is working to bring hope in Japan, planting and strengthening gospel-centered churches in the Toyko/Chiba area.