Article April 28, 2003 Issue

No enemies in the kingdom

By Takashi Oka

"I've tried Christian Science , and it's not for me," Tonao said. He was a close friend whom I had always regarded as an older brother, and when we were younger, he had attended a Christian Science Sunday School with me in Tokyo for a couple of years.

I was visiting Tonao in his home in central Tokyo. He was back in Tokyo on a brief visit from Singapore, where he had been working for a government airline. Japan had been at war with the United States for nearly four years, and wartime restrictions, including blackout rules, were severe.

Under a dim light in Tonao's bedroom, we talked pretty much through the night—about our families, the war and all its uncertainties, and what future beyond the war we had to look forward to. Toward the end, our conversation turned to reminiscences about our Sunday School years. The Christian Science Society in Tokyo had been dissolved several years before, because of a government decree, and the few Christian Scientists remaining in Tokyo met together quietly on Sundays in one of their homes.