Since childhood, I was very much aware of the poverty around me, perhaps because I was raised in a religious environment by parents who are committed Buddhists. In University I started to ask myself, “Why is my country so rich, while others are so poor?”
I was around twenty then, when a family friend who worked for the Buddhist Movement, Rissho Kosei Kai (RKK) in New York introduced me to the Focolare Movement. I became very interested and I asked if I could make an experience of living together with Christians in the Focolare town of Mariapolis Luminosa in upstate New York.
This was how I became a friend of the Focolare, and started attending its meetings. Since the Focolare Movement is spread throughout the world, I started to send alms through them to poor countries.
The dignity of the poor
Year after year I felt an increasing desire to help the poor. After I graduated, instead of looking for a job, I decided to go to the Philippines for ten months to offer my services to the poor. It was not an easy decision, because although I wanted to help the poor, the prospect of getting a good job in the fashion industry that caters to the rich was very tempting. My course had prepared me for this kind of job.
My 10 months in the Philippines proved to be a very strong experience for me. I encountered difficulties especially when I worked in an orphanage. I overcame the difficulties and decided that to truly serve the poor I have to live with them.
Then I started working in a social center of the Focolare. There I learned that what mattered most was not only to give, but also to recognize the dignity of each person.
A big providence
Upon returning to Tokyo, I started living the life of the Focolare youth or the Gen. I also found a job in a real estate company. After a year, however, I felt empty in that job. I wanted to search for meaning in life. I decided to go to Loppiano, Italy, where a center of the Focolare Movement is located.
During an Expo in Loppiano, I discovered the Economy of Communion and its projects. I was enthusiastic and tried to delve deeper into this reality. Although initial fears set in when I started working in a restaurant called Philocafè, an EoC business enterprise run by an Italian couple in Polo Lionello, Loppiano, my fears vanished when I saw that the Philocafè was imbued with the principles of EoC which transformed our work. I saw how brotherhood was the basis for the company, involving many other people. I was impressed by the warm reception that makes a community open to all, even in the field of economy.
In Loppiano I learned more about the EoC. I had thought that this would involve lessons in accounting and other business subjects. But working there day after day, I realized that this was not the case. At first, I doubted if EoC could be useful to me.
Then I understood that EoC is a culture of giving and that if I didn’t start giving, I would not be able to live and practice EoC. I was happy to have found what I had always been looking for and decided to start living EoC right away.
The desire to give became much stronger. I never regretted my decision, as I’ve so many gifts in return. I started to understand what divine Providence means, although it is still a mystery which always amazes me. Providence also means the opportunity to speak, or to have been able to work at Philocafè where I met many people who were EoC supporters.
Indeed, the biggest Providence for me was the possibility to work with this Italian couple, Giuliana and Giovanni Bertagna, the owners of the Philocafe who really live the ideals of EoC in their business showing their concrete love for everyone.
A light that weaves
During my job at the Philocafè, I too felt the desire to start a small business where I could apply my studies of Indian textiles. After coming back to Tokyo, I started work in a tailoring shop to learn how to sew and manage the workplace where the employees use sewing machines.
After 3 years of experience, the opportunity came: I attended the United World Week in Mumbai and Coimbatore, India. I had always wanted to go to Coimbatore, knowing that I would find beautiful fabrics there.
I participated in the entire week’s program and stayed on a few days more after the event, in Coimbatore in the center of Shanti Ashram center (it’s a Hindu movement that lives the spirit of Ghandi). With the support of Shanti Ashram, I managed to import the fabrics to launch my EoC project.
But what mattered even more was how the Hindus welcomed me as if I was a part of their family and we were able to establish a fraternal relationship. Now I have my own EoC project. I opened a web-shop where I sell scarves made from Indian fabrics.
The shop is called “Prima Luce” (meaning “first light” i.e., named after Chiara Lubich who started the EoC). For me, all this is a gift from Heaven, for I am a Buddhist who has embraced the idea of the EoC, developing this in unity with Christian brothers, and with the support of Hindu brothers. I hope that Prima Luce can be a bridge between peoples, since I know that Buddha employs all the means necessary to achieve a united world. In fact, ever since I opened Prima Luce, I have seen how many people have been deeply moved by the idea of EoC and are helping me with their great love.
