Catherine Sasanuma

Catherine is from Seattle WA. Catherine's love of Christ grew from her elementary school years. She attended Calvary Temple, Assembly of God, through college. At Calvary Temple, she taught junior high Sunday school and drove a school bus for the youth outings as well. Later she joined University Presbyterian Church and served meals to homeless youth. After college she went to L’Abri in Switzerland, founded by Francis Schaefer, to contemplate her faith in Christ.

In 1993 Catherine married Taisuke Sasanuma and moved to Japan. She found Tokyo Union Church and for decades God has used people at TUC to help her faith grow. Taisuke and Catherine have two sets of twins, Julia and Andrew, who are 24 and Sasha and Christopher, who are 21. Raising them in the knowledge of God at TUC has been central to Catherine’s time in Japan. TUC’s confirmation process and youth service trips have been keys to building their faith. Catherine loved teaching Sunday school and working with the hospitality team to make delicious and merry events happen. She served as elder of Children, Youth and Women for 5 1/2 years, and chaired the Associate Pastor search as well. She also worked on the team that renovated the Fellowship Hall.

Catherine graduated from Seattle Pacific University (Methodist) and from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. Prior to moving to Japan, she worked for government and for NGO’s. In Japan, she serves on the Asian University for Women Support Foundation, the Portland Japanese Garden International Board of Advisors and as a Trustee for the American School in Japan and has fundraised for several of these organizations. Catherine loves travel, art, arranging flowers, good food, aqua aerobics, walks, watching movies and tennis.