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Life Interrupted

We, like the rest of Japan, are shocked and saddened by the untimely passing of the ex-prime minister of Japan, Abe. The news of him being shot reached us on Friday early afternoon, and it was hard to even accept it as real news at first. Shot? By a gun? In Japan? Even though Abe was no longer prime minister, he had a tremendous influence on Japanese politics and was campaigning for the upcoming elections (which are happening as I write this).

On Friday, as the time came approached to launch our weekly episode of Life in Japan at 7:00 PM, the news of his death was announced. It was shocking. I couldn’t imagine launching our episode of Life in Japan. The Bible says to mourn with those who mourn, so after consulting with a number of trusted friends, we decided to postpone the normal episode of Life in Japan and instead offer our own heart-felt condolences.

There was no time to prepare a speech, so we simply shared from our heart our deepest sympathies to Abe’s family and to Japan, letting everyone know that our heart and our prayers are with Japan. Anna did her best to translate and I did my best to try to figure out how to do a last-moment livestream offering our condolences. You’re never really prepared for something like this.

We do want to reiterate that our hearts and prayers are with Japan, Abe’s family and colleagues. May God bless Japan.

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