Tami Offers Welcome to Fellow Japanese

Two little Japanese girls came running from the playroom full of children for the one who could understand them. Consistently pulled from assisting in the adult English class, Tamiko Sakaguchi soon transitioned herself to caring for the children during the Maryville ELL (English Language Learning) program. Now she orchestrates childcare for the international children like a weekly VBS with Bible songs, a story about Jesus, and games to reinforce the concepts. Tamiko, also called Tami, is a wise Japanese woman who loves Jesus. Behind her quiet smile and bright eyes is a storehouse of scriptural wisdom, a prayer warrior, a creator of games, and the power to lead.
​
Tami arrived in Indiana from Japan at the tender age of 15 for a school exchange program. Learning for the first time about the gospel of Jesus, she also witnessed the freedom of praying Christians who did not hide their problems. As an honor\shame culture, in Japan, problems are not shared; people bear heavy burdens alone. But Tami saw a better way...

---

and began to follow Jesus and attend a local church. She remained in the US, attended college, and married Yoshi, whose Japanese father and American mother had followed Jesus for many years. 

Tami and Yoshi moved to the Chicago area and met a man connected to a Japanese community in Maryville, a population largely recruited by the Japanese robotic company, Denso. Two American families had built a foundation and network of trust within this community for over 10 years, sharing the love of Jesus with them. In Japan, a history of distrust toward all spiritual groups leads Japanese to regard them all as cults. With less than 2% of the population identifying as Christian, Japan suffers from a crisis of hope, with alarming rates of depression and suicide.

When Tami and Yoshi moved to Tennessee from the Chicago area in 2021, they soon met members of this Japanese community and with their three children, made many friends. They enjoyed serving together, including with the “meals ministry to the homeless”. Tami began a quarterly craft event for Japanese women where ladies completed an attractive craft, laughed with games, answered fun trivia, learned Bible verses, practiced English, and enjoyed snacks. The crafting events were soon connected to the church’s ELL program and ladies were invited to attend and bring their children. The ladies were also invited to practice English at the weekly “Walk & Talk” alongside a variety of church attenders, their Japanese husbands were invited to social events, and weekly tutoring sessions were offered for their children.
​
Many Japanese couples find love and acceptance in the Sakaguchi home, where they can ask spiritual questions without shame. Some have asked to read God’s Word, pray, and learn more about Jesus. Bibles with side-by-side English/Japanese translations and children’s Bibles have been provided to them and have been a source of encouragement and instruction. For these families coming from a country of people desperately in need of hope and a future, their new lives in Maryville have not only provided an environment of freedom to search for truth, but true friends in Tami and Yoshi to walk with them on their journey.