Year Book of Jehovah's Witnesses - Watchtower Archive

194 Yearbook
JAPAN
The work is just getting started in Japan, and
Jehovah our God has surely been a loving provider
for his people there. The Japanese are like all other
people living throughout the world. Their interest
in the Bible must first be aroused; and the Bible is
not a common book in Japan. Their minds must be
cleared of traditional thought to appreciate the principles
of truth and righteousness that we find in the
Bible. The service year of 1950 has been outstanding
as far as progress in this field is concerned. The
publishers have increased from 8 to 106 within a
year. Five companies are now organized; regular assemblies
are being held and public meetings arranged;
and the 26 graduates of Gilead who are there are
delighted with their work. They esteem it a great
privilege to be serving the 90 million people of the
Japanese islands. Of course, not all have yet had the
opportunity to hear the truth; but, if it is the Lord's
will, that is their goal. The interesting report from
the branch servant follows.
Many interesting events took place during the year, such
as Memorial with attendance of 476 and 16 partakers, with
3,706 at the different public lectures that Sunday; 28 persons
were immersed; and, best of all, the number of Gilead
graduates here grew to 26 from 7. All together, 50,148 hours
were spent in the witness work, with 16,889 back-calls resulting
in 4,809 Bible studies. In fact, for the year each
Gilead missionary averaged 19.2 Bible studies, with some
conducting from 30 to 37 studies.
Copies of chapters from "Let God Be True" were mimeographed
In Japanese and used in studies, also The Kingdom
Hope 01 All Mankind, and one issue of The Watchtower
in Japanese. Also, many leallets and handbills in Japanese
were mimeographed and used to good effect. In recent
years there has been a great change in the Japanese language
with an effort to modernize it. The Bible is so classical
in style that many cannot understand it. Now our urgent
need is for a translator understanding English and
modern Japanese, so as to put the message of the Theocracy
In understandable form. However, as the Gilead missionaries
continue to progress with their study of Japanese, a greater,
more extended witness will be possible, by the Lord's grace.