Naomi Kakinuma

I grew up in a Christian family (The United Church of Christ in Japan) in Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan, and attended a church and Sunday School since kindergarten to junior high school. I fondly remember the pastor, his wife, and the Sunday School teachers who showed genuine kindness and compassion.

While I appreciated the biblical teachings, as a child I found it challenging to fully grasp their meaning, and they felt like fairy tales from faraway lands. Reading the bible in Japanese, full of complex expressions for a child to teenager, also made it feel somewhat distant from my daily life. I stopped attending church in my youth as I became busy with school, then left my hometown for university and later studied abroad, but I feel truly blessed to have had Christian friends at various stages of my life sharing their faith. In my 30s, I reconnected with my faith through a Christian friend who supported me during a difficult time and introduced me to an English-speaking congregation. The simple message "God loves you" displayed on a screen resonated deeply with me, making the Gospel's simple yet powerful truth finally click in my heart. I began to attend TUC and was baptized in 2013. Since then, I have been assisting the Children’s Ministry and helping to organize Christmas presents for children at Bott Memorial Hall as part of Outreach Ministry activities.

I work as an English-Japanese translator in the business field. I have a family with a husband and two daughters (14YO and 4YO). Based on my own experience, I am interested in helping children develop their biblical understanding and personal faith, beginning by reading Bible stories with my preschooler while engaging in conversations with my teenager about how biblical teachings can be applied to her daily life and challenges.