Word: aoki
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1950-1959
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...pound class, Kirkland's Tom Myers led off with a quick pin over Lowell's Vincent Aoki. In an inter-Kirkland match in the 130 pound division, Fred Kullman outpointed John Johntz, 3-1. Rennie Golden of Kirkland edged out Mike Bell of Adams 8-7 in the 137 pound class...
Undaunted. Aoki slipped back to Okinawa, used intermediaries to buy up a wooded island called Yagaji, just off the peninsula shore. Two wealthy Japanese Christians donated money to build a central hall and two dormitories. A new colony, called Airaku-en (Garden of the Haven of Love) was started, and Aoki became its manager. The following year the Japanese government decided to use Aoki's site for its leprosarium, built a hospital and several other buildings. The colony's population jumped from 42 to 242, and some blamed Aoki for the government's brutally efficient gathering process...
Full Cycle. Out of nowhere to Okinawa came World War II. The Japanese turned on Christians, treated Aoki as a spy, and drove him out of the colony. He tried living on an offshore rock, got the police to jail him until they needed the jail for criminals, finally went to live in an abandoned tomb. Later, he dragged himself from his tomb to have a leg amputated. Making his way back to Airaku-en, he found his colony demolished by U.S. bombs (the U.S. thought Yagaji a submarine base) and his old companions back in the caves...
...fighting had no sooner stopped, however, than Aoki was back on his one foot, organizing the colonists in rebuilding Airaku-en. The U.S. Army arrived with Quonset huts, clothing and food. Aoki was made a lay reader of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the U.S.. acted as minister until the Rev. Luke Kimoto, a 25-year-old Episcopal deacon from Japan (who does not have leprosy) became its first permanent minister...
...Aoki still bears the dreadful marks of leprosy, but the disease seems to have been arrested. In Airaku-en's chapel he leads hymn singing and teaches Sunday school each week. He watches over Airaku-en like a patriarch, continues to convert its inhabitants to Christianity. Last week he asked the Episcopal Church on behalf of Airaku-en's Christians to establish a worldwide mission to victims of leprosy. By the standards he has set for himself, Aoki regards his life as a heartening success. His proof: although less than 1% of Okinawans are Christian, 34% of Airaku...