In May of 1933 Miss Alexander
decided that she had to return to Hawaii. Shortly after she reached there she
received a letter written on behalf of the Guardian saying "He firmly believes
that such a visit will give you a chance to rest and will enable you, on your
return to Japan, to better serve the Cause. There should always be a limit to
self-sacrifice."
Miss Alexander had lived in Tokyo for
five years since her last visit to her homeland, Hawaii. This time her stay in
Hawaii was two years. As it was the Guardian's wish that she return to Japan she
did so in May 1935. During the time she was in Hawaii the Faith in Japan did not
go forward nor hold its own. The Bahá'ís were not ready to
function on their own. However, as Miss Alexander wrote "My heart has never
faltered for an instant, for how could it when this is God's Plan and He is Our
Helper under all conditions."
InTokyo she engaged a house in
Kudan and moved into it in September. She stayed there until she left Japan in
March 1937. The first gathering in her new home was a celebration of the
Birthday of the Báb. Some of the old friends came and also some new ones.
Attending were Mr. and Mrs. Takeshi Kanno. Mr. Kanno, who was a poet, had met
'Abdu'l-Bahá in California in 1912 and had been shown great love by Him.
Mr. Kanno is sitting beside 'Abdu'l-Bahá in the well-known photograph
taken of 'Abdu'l-Bahá and the friends in Oakland, California in 1912. Mr.
and Mrs. Kanno did not become Bahá'ís, however.
Miss Alexander made the acquaintance of a
young man who worked for the Japan Times newspaper. Some years before, he had
known Mrs. May Maxwell when he was at school in Canada. He was attracted to the
Faith but he had not become a Bahá'í. It occurred to Miss
Alexander that she might have something published in the newspaper about the
Faith through this young man. She was able to have a number of articles
published in the Japan Times and also in a Buddhist newspaper and a Braille
weekly paper edited by her friend Mr. Kyotaro Nakamura.
After she became acquainted with a
professor who was teaching at Meiji University she was often invited by the
students to speak at their weekly English meeting. She wrote that they would
talk of the Teachings of Bahá'u'lláh. She belonged to the
Pan-Pacific Club, a cultural club in Tokyo which met weekly. She spoke about the
Faith before Blind Association meetings and Esperanto groups.
In spite of the activity there was no
Bahá'í group functioning in Tokyo but a letter written on behalf
of the Guardian advised Miss Alexander that "patience, perseverance and hard and
continued efforts are needed in order that your mission may meet with complete
success." The Guardian added that future generations would reap an abundant
harvest of the seeds she was sowing.
21
Mr. Tokujiro Torii decided to publish a
Japanese Braille edition of Bahá'u'llah and the New Era in memory
of his son Akira, who had died at age 17 in 1935. Akira was the first
second-generation Bahá'í in Japan. Thirty copies of the book,
which had 770 pages, were distributed, of which thirteen were sent to libraries
of the principal schools for the blind. Others were sent to blind workers for
the blind.
In the fall of 1935 Mr. Hossain Ouskouli
(Uskuli) from Shanghai visited Tokyo for business. He was the second Iranian
Bahá'í to visit Tokyo. The first was Mr. H. Touty who came on a
business trip in 1932 and who Miss Alexander said "brought the spiritual
fragrance of the Master."
Miss Alexander left Japan in 1937 to go
to Haifa for her long-awaited pilgrimage and then to her home in Hawaii. She was
not to return to Tokyo again until 1950.
Martha Root paid her fourth visit to
Japan after Miss Alexander had left, June 3 to June 27, 1937, visiting Tokyo,
Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe. She met all the Bahá'ís and had several
meetings arranged for her. She was the last Bahá'í from another
country to visit Japan before World War II began. Bahá'ís of Japan
would not have another foreign Bahá'í teacher until Mr. Robert
Imagire came as a pioneer in 1947.
After Miss Root left Japan, and in the
absence of Miss Alexander, there seems to have been virtually no
Bahá'í activity.
Chapter 5 Chapter 7