INDIAN MANDALA India and Japan, ‘different but close’. The story of Fr. Sudhakar Nukapogu

On March 19, Japanese Prime Minister Kishida will be in Delhi to continue the path started by his predecessor Shinzo Abe. However, the two Asian giants have almost opposite cultures in some aspects. The PIME missionary, originally from Andhra Pradesh, but who has lived in Japan since 2015, explains how he has had to adapt to a people who are strict with the community, but flexible on the religious level.

Milan () – From March 19 to 23, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will be in India to deepen the economic, political, military and cultural cooperation that began between the two countries in the early 2000s with Shinzo Abe , his predecessor, and Manmohan Singh, former Indian Prime Minister. Abe is a highly regarded and well-known figure in India: one day after his assassination in July last year, the current Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, declared national mourning.

Despite being on the same continent, India and Japan couldn’t be more different. Father Sudhakar Nukapogu knows this well, who, born in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, has lived in the Japanese archipelago since 2015 after spending a period of studies at a seminary in Italy. “The culture, the food and the people are different,” the missionary commented. “The Japanese are very reserved, schematic, strict. They have great respect for the community,” said the priest based in Hadano, in the Yokohama diocese. “As soon as I arrived, in my first Japanese class, the teacher asked us to wear a mask if we had a cold, out of respect for others. After the pandemic it seems like an almost obvious request, but in 2015 it was not at all, especially for us foreigners.”

An attention to the other that goes through the small gestures of daily life: “One of the women who helps us in the parish comes to church by bicycle,” continued the Indian missionary. “A few days ago, when he finished work, he found a note and a note on the seat that was equivalent to just over 10 euros: they had been left by a stranger who had accidentally dropped his bicycle and he did not know if he had damaged it. or not”.

However, even after all these years, Fr. Sudhakar is sometimes still surprised by the strictness of his parishioners: “Last year we organized a bus excursion that left at 9 in the morning. All the participants were already there at 8:30, but early departure was inconceivable: the bus did not leave until 9 o’clock.”

Episodes that make you smile, but also force the missionaries to adopt a new approach to the population. “During the pandemic,” he continued, “we had organized a banquet to distribute food packages in the parish. No one came, even though we knew there were many people in need. So I asked the other priests to leave the food in the church, and we invited those who needed it to come look for it with the lights off, late at night, after work. As the days went by, we saw that this is how help worked. Each one took only what they needed, with Sincerity This is because for the Japanese the sense of shame is as strong as the sense of duty.

For the same reasons, it is also easy to suffer from loneliness in Japan. “The sense of friendship that is lived in India, where you talk and go out for tea, is not experienced with the people here,” said Fr. Sudhakar. “Sometimes it is difficult to talk about a deep friendship even after 10 years. The Japanese work very well in groups, but at the same time they are closed in their relationships, they are quiet and our work has to adapt. It is important to be with them, to use few words and show the beauty of the relationship with Christ with personal testimony”.

Father Sudhakar, 38, experienced it firsthand: “When they see that a young priest is here for them, they understand the meaning of my presence and follow me.”

Only 2% of the population of the Japanese archipelago comes from other countries and it is known that the Japanese are closed with foreigners. However, “there is no open racism towards them”, explained the Indian missionary, “if anything, there is an even more closed attitude towards those who come from outside”.

For this reason, the priest, whose mother tongue is Telugu but who also speaks a little Hindi and Tamil, had to learn Spanish: “A group of South Americans, especially from Ecuador and Peru, asked me to celebrate mass in their language. They have lived in Japan for at least 20 years and do humble jobs in the cleaning or agricultural sector, but they don’t speak Japanese. But now at least they can pray in Spanish.”

According to a famous Japanese saying, one is born a Shinto, marries a Christian, and dies a Buddhist. Something inconceivable in the Indian subcontinent: “India is a great country where people of different languages ​​and creeds live together. The relationship with religion is very personal and a conversion is forever. Indian Christians are a minority, like in Japan, but here the Shinto culture is also reflected in the life experience of Christians. For them, God is nature, with which it is important to live in harmony.” Even those who convert to Christianity, often at an advanced age (Father Sudhakar recounted that he baptized a 94-year-old woman) continue to go to the temple. Because first of all they are Japanese,” said the priest.

There is another saying in Japanese, very dear to the Indian missionary, which comes from the Buddhist tradition: “It is the ‘wabi sabi’, a concept that exhorts us to find the good even in imperfection. It means that even in the diversity between cultures there can be joy. For me it was a starting point as soon as I arrived in Japan, and it still is today.”

“INDIAN MANDALA” IS THE NEWSLETTER OF ASIAN NEWS DEDICATED TO INDIA

WOULD YOU LIKE TO RECEIVE IT EVERY FRIDAY IN YOUR EMAIL? SUBSCRIBE TO THE NEWSLETTER AT THIS LINK.