It’s been a long time since we’ve released an episode but we’re grateful to share this one with you, featuring Professor Gerry Yokota (@gerryyokota), Professor Emerita of English and Contemporary Interdisciplinary Cultural Studies at Osaka University. Gerry shares about her experience organizing a Gaza Ceasefire Pilgrimage in Osaka in April, her commitment to nonviolence as a Quaker, and more.

Mentioned in the interview:

Make a donation to the Gaza Ceasefire Pilgrimage GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/gaza-ceasefire-piligrimage-in-osaka

Make a donation to Gerry's Just Joy Postcard Project and receive digital images of the artwork in her note of thanks: https://pcrf1.app.neoncrm.com/np/clients/pcrf1/campaign.jsp?campaign=342&fundraiser=809493& Read the PDF “Global Transformation of Christian Zionism” edited by Yoshihiro Yakushige, from the International Conference on Global Transformation of Christian Zionism held at Kyoto University, 2022: https://repository.kulib.kyoto-u.ac.jp/dspace/bitstream/2433/274116/1/gtcz.pdf

Support the BDS movement. Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) is a Palestinian-led movement for freedom, justice and equality. BDS upholds the simple principle that Palestinians are entitled to the same rights as the rest of humanity. Learn more here: https://bdsmovement.net/what-is-bds

The history episode: A conversation with J, a colleague of Erika here in Chicago, discussing her experience as an Assyrian American and her family's history. We learn about the Assyrian people, Western missionaries' attempts to restore the Assyrian church, the Assyrian genocide, and the resulting diaspora.

This conversation feels particularly relevant now as we are witnessing the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people. There are certain parallels I notice between then and now--the genocide during the Ottoman Empire was conducted by Turkish nationalists who believed that religious, ethnic, and cultural homogeneity was necessary for the success of their nation. There are many today who believe that anyone who is different deserves to be deported, killed, or denied basic rights for the sake of preserving the nation. We see this today in many countries including Myanmar, Israel, and the United States. However, keeping a society homogeneous is neither realistic nor is it beneficial. People of different religions, ethnicities, and cultures can live together in peace. The solution is to fight for justice and equality for all people, tearing down all boarders and walls.

“Struggle so that all may live this rich, overflowing life. And be sure that in this struggle you will find a joy greater than anything else can give.”

― Peter Kropotkin, Anarchist Morality

The one where Erika talks about her trip back to Japan this summer. There's a lot of laughing, 2 separate times Erika starts crying on air, and many random memories from childhood.

(Note: In this episode, Erika mentions a member of the Nojiri community, Mark Ramseyer. Ramseyer is a Professor of Japanese Legal Studies at Harvard Law School who continues to publish right-wing historical revisionist defenses of Japanese imperialism, despite his work being described as “woefully deficient, empirically, historically, and morally.” For more context on Ramseyer, I recommend the Against Japanism podcast, particularly their episode "Caste Oppression and the Buraku Liberation Movement w/ Buraku Stories" from April 25, 2023.)

In November of 2022, Tells Law, the law firm that handled the abuse investigations at CAJ, organized a retreat in Colorado Springs for alumni survivors and for school and mission representatives. This was commissioned by CAJ and the cooperating missions, per the recommendations of the investigation review panel. There, siblings Jan (who we spoke with in Season 2) and Rudy Engholm delivered Impact Statements to the representatives of CAJ and the founding missions. We are grateful to have been able to speak with Jan and Rudy about their experience. 

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Although she's not a CAJ alum, we knew that we HAD to have Chami Nagai on our pod. Chami is a global nomad, yoga teacher, musician, and now mother. Chami shares about her experience growing up as a Japanese missionary kid in Papua New Guinea, grappling with identity in Nagano, expanding and deconstructing and reconstructing her spirituality as she journeyed from Canada, to the slums of Cambodia, to Miyagi, and eventually to Yokohama.



Chami’s Yoga Website; https://www.migiwayogaspace.com/

Mentioned on the podcast: On Being Podcast

(Note: we recorded this episode  in 2021 and had shelved it to finish Season 2)

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“Being me is not a sin”

We were so happy to talk to Natasha Takahashi, who attended CAJ from 2006 to 2019.



Natasha shares about their experience attending CAJ as a dyslexic, queer person. We chat about how an 8th grade essay prompt to compare Mao and Jesus kickstarted Natasha’s questioning of Christianity, about their decision to leave CAJ and attend UWC in Wales, and their journey towards self-acceptance and self-care.



(Note: we recorded this episode last year (July 2021) and had shelved it to finish Season 2)

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"Is it possible for Christians to hold their religious belief that God does not affirm same sex marriage and also support the rights, safety and dignity of LGBTQ people?"

This is the critical question that Sofia Olson ('97) posed to her Christian friends on FB as a sort of experiment to see what responses would emerge. We unpack this and more in our first episode of Season 3.

(Note: we recorded this episode last year (July 2021) and had shelved it to finish Season 2)

We start off the conversation learning about Sofia's Seattle goats (!), and later on her transformations after leaving CAJ: coming out when she was 23, learning more about systemic racism and sexism via an interest in development work, and recognizing the particular brand of hubris-wrapped-in-humility that is so common in Evangelical Christian culture. 

To learn more about Sofia's Internal Family Systems coaching work, check out her website: https://sofiaolsoncoaching.com

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In Season 2, we’re interviewing CAJ alumni who are working on bringing to light abuse that occurred some decades ago at CAJ. Content warning: child abuse. For more information about the investigation into abuse at CAJ, please see our website here.

Happy Pride! (Episode recorded June 26th, two days before the the 53rd anniversary of the Stonewall Riots).In this episode we wrap up Season 2 with a reflection-- on what it was like to speak with those who lived through the time of historic abuse at CAJ in the 60-80s, on the Southern Baptist Convention abuse coverup, and on the scapegoating of abuse during the Satanic Panic of the 80s being mirrored by the anti-queer and anti-trans moral panic in the United States right now.



Though it's a dark time in the world right now, we are encouraged by those who advocate for justice and who care for one another, just as the  the CAJ alumni advocates have done. Special thanks to the CAJ senpai alum that we got to interview this season: Debbie Rhoads, Brenda Seat, Janet Pape Oates, Simon Riis Christensen, Jan Engholm, Paul Corwin and Jon Rodgers. We also want to honor all survivor advocates, including the many that we did not speak with, as well as all those who survived abuse at CAJ.



P.S Jeweliann had to leave towards the end of the episode so Erika finishes up on her own.

Stay tuned for Season 3 and thanks for listening!



Mentioned in this episode

How the Southern Baptist Convention covered up its widespread sexual abuse scandal

How Frank Peretti's Christian Horror Novels Shaped Today's Moral Panics

CAJ News: Update on Historical Abuse Investigation Recommendations

In Season 2, we’re interviewing CAJ alumni who are working on bringing to light abuse that occurred some decades ago at CAJ. Content warning: we will be discussing various types of abuse experienced by children in these episodes. For more information about the investigation into abuse at CAJ, please see our website here.

Note this episode was recorded in December 2021. Apologies for the poor audio quality!

In this episode, we discuss All God's Children, a documentary by Scott Solary and Luci Westphal about Mamou Alliance Academy in Guinea and the stories of the children who were abused there. As adults, the Mamou abuse survivors called on the Christian and Missionary Alliance for years until finally the CMNA acknowledged the abuse and Mamou became the first boarding school for children of protestant missionaries to be publicly investigated for abuse. The investigation of the Mamou Alliance Academy was the first of its kind but has since inspired investigations at other Christian schools, including CAJ.

We summarize the documentary, discuss the connections to the work of CAJ abuse survivor advocates, and talk about the risk factors for abuse in Christian communities. 

The documentary can be watched on Youtube here.



Relevant Resources:

Learn more about the documentary here.

Missionary Kids Safety Net

How White Rule Ended in Missions - Christianity Today

White Supremacist Ideas Have Historical Roots In U.S. Christianity - NPR

White American Christianity Needs to Be Honest About Its History of White Supremacy - Time

Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner: American Missionaries, Racism, and Decolonization in the Congo - Organization of American Historians

In Season 2, we’re interviewing CAJ alumni who are working on bringing to light abuse that occurred some decades ago at CAJ. Content warning: we will be discussing various types of abuse experienced by children in these episodes. For more information about the investigation into abuse at CAJ, please see our website here.

In this episode, Jon Rodgers, class of 1971 shares his story. Jon talks about how the corporal punishment and abuse at CAJ was an extension of the home culture of many missionary families at the time and the toxicity of patriarchy and of placing ministry above all else in the missionary world. We chat about Jon’s love of Japan, CAJ highschooler hijinks, and end with a tribute to his mother. 

Episode transcript and photos available here.

Mentioned in this episode:

Fellow CAJ alum Paul Boardman’s interview on the “And then everything changed” podcast

Episode 1: A Living Person Among the Dead ft. Paul Boardman