Japan

Brief history of the Province

The Province of St. Michael the Archangel was founded on 12th May 1951. The Sisters arrived in Fukuoka, Kyushu, called by the Bishop who wanted a school for girls, as he had seen in Hong Kong. The Meiko School began in Omuta, Fukuoka Prefecture in April 1952.

In 1954, the Kindergarten “St. Magdalene Canossa” was opened in Tokyo, in 1961, a Middle and High School for girls in Okuchi, Kagoshima Prefecture and in 1978, a Kindergarten in Minamata, Kumamoto Prefecture.

Between 1970 and 1987, the Sisters worked in Nara in a Nursing Home for the Elderly and a Kindergarten belonging to the Marist Fathers. In 1986 they were called to teach at the University of the Society of the Divine Word in Nagoya. After two years, this experience ended, but the community was established as a community of parish activities and Youth Ministry.

Currently there are two communities: Tokyo and Omuta.

In schools, in collaboration with the laity, the Sisters devote themselves to the education of the heart and offer students, children and their family’s opportunities to come closer to the Lord, to know Him and to open their hearts to the message of the Gospel. The number of baptized Japanese does not reach 500,000 which represents less than 0.5 % of the population.

In parishes the sisters are present in catechesis for children and adults, they are together with young people and migrants. Foreigners are an important presence in parish communities and their number is almost equal to that of the Japanese. Adding Christians from other churches, it comes to just over one percent of the population.

The Sisters accompany young people from Vietnam who come to Japan to learn a trade for a period of two or three years and other young people from different countries who come to study or work. They also become traveling companions for young Japanese, helping them to discover the Lord’s plan of love for each one of them. Every year they organize volunteer experiences in the Philippines for young Christians and non-Christians. Through these, young people have the opportunity to learn about a social, religious and cultural reality that particularly contrasts with their own, to open themselves to new horizons of service and to feel the merciful presence of God.
The Canossian presence in Japan is very small but it tries to make Magdalene’s dream come true, which is also that of every Sister: ‘To make Jesus known so that he may be loved.’

Website: www.canossa.jp