• They Won’t Forget Their Oriental Tour!
    Awake!—1978 | December 22

    • On to Japan

      A little over a week later, international conventions began in Japan. Of the many tours headed that way, one left from Anchorage, Alaska, aboard a Japan Airlines flight. One of the tour group related the following:

      “It was after 5 p.m. when the giant DC-10 became airborne. We marveled at the sight of Alaska’s rugged mountain ranges below and at Mount McKinley in the distance, bathed in the light of the setting sun.

      “About then a voice greeted me with the remark: ‘Is this your first trip to Japan?’ The young woman was Oriental, but from San Francisco, and was not part of our tour. ‘You’ll love Japan,’ she said, but then added, ‘Americans are always so open and so ready to smile even at strangers. Japanese by nature are not like that.’ But she was in line for a pleasant, unexpected surprise.

      “Hours later, when we arrived in Tokyo, we were greeted by a whole congregation of Japanese Witnesses who had come to meet us. We were engulfed in a burst of excitement and friendliness. There were shouts of joy, applause, hugs and kisses. This demonstration of extraordinary warmth was very touching. I then turned to the woman who spoke to me on the plane about the Japanese being reserved and asked jokingly: ‘Did you say Japanese don’t smile, that they’re reserved?’ She laughed and shrugged her shoulders.”

      Assembly Experiences

      Nagoya, Osaka, Sapporo and Tokyo were the convention cities. Together they had an attendance of over 78,000, about 47,000 more than in 1973, the last time international assemblies were held in Japan.

      When the assembly at Osaka was about to start, two vicious typhoons headed toward that coastal city. More than 800 Witnesses coming by chartered ship from Okinawa had to brave one of these typhoons. What was normally a 35-hour journey took 64 hours amid mountainous seas. The ship arrived at Osaka at 7 a.m. on the second day of the assembly. And where did the delegates go? To their accommodations to rest? No, they went straight to the convention! And after the day’s sessions, a group of these Okinawans volunteered their services to work at the assembly!

      Many were impressed by a heart-touching procedure experienced by each speaker just before giving his talk. Because of the typhoons, there was much rain. So an elderly Witness, one who has been preaching full time for more than 20 years, waited with shoe-cleaning equipment. She took the dirt and mud off each speaker’s shoes and polished them, a modern-day version of Jesus’ instructions to “wash the feet of one another.”​—John 13:14.