Bizarre Sunday
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- TheBlueOne
So there's this Japanese cat named Tommy Tomita who's lived in Harlem for something like 20 years now. He was very influential in the Japanese Jazz scene in the 70's owning a bunch of Jazz clubs in Roppongi and so forth and he gives NYC Jazz tours now and sits on the board of the Apollo and so forth. My wife is his cardiologist.
So this weekend she gets an invite from his assistant to attend some sort of celebration in his honor up in Harlem, so we go...
Turns out Tomita-san has also overseen the formation of the Japanese Harlem Gospel Choir for the last ten years. Yes, the Japanese Harlem Gospel Choir. I did not know such a thing existed, but in fact it turns out that for the last ten years there has been a growing Japanese community in Harlem. And they are converting to Baptists.
So..wow..I can't even begin to tell you how weird this was - sitting in a Baptist church in Harlem watching a Japanese Choir praising Jesus..tons of "Harrerurahs!!" And "Plaise Jesus!!" I mean it was awesome, cool and totally surreal...
and they had this Japanese Preacher woman who resides in Osaka who starts the fire and brimstone speech IN Japanese and going through a translator and the entire congregation is up waving hands, praising Jesus...they pick a small Japanese woman from the audience, hugging, crying falling - she gets saved!
And as I said Tomita-san is very well known in NYC Jazz circels..and in walks in Lonnie Youngblood to lay down some jazz saxophone (Lonnie used to play with James Brown, also hired Jimi Hendrix in his earliest gigs in NY...), in walks in Omar Edwards - the OTHER tap dance guy with dreadlocks, who does some tapping for Jesus...then they had Japanese Mimes for Jesus...I mean..it was totally bizarre...
Sometimes I love being a human on this planet...
- grunttt0
that's fantastic. =)
- marychain0
yup....that's the oddest thing I've heard today...Japanese Baptists....hmmm
- TheBlueOne0
It was sooo awesome...I'm still processing the strange beauty of the entire thing....
- k0na_an0k0
awesome.
it would be cooler if the japanese version of jesus was dressed like a samuri. would probably get more american kids involved. maybe spur a sunday morning cartoon.
*calls cartoon network with idea
- TheBlueOne0
ahhh...just found this:
- ItTango0
I love it!
Surreal.I did a photo shoot during a Baptist service here (Chicago) at a church in Englewood. It was quite animated. Folks dancing in the aisles, grown men crying...
Now I'm picturing them all Japanese.
LOL!!!
I spent most of the summer in Harlem... I miss it.
- Nairn0
Wow, that's truly something else - all the cats manage to achieve here in Blighty is sleep, bury their crap and kill off wildlife in large numbers.
'Japanese Mimes for Jesus'? Quite possibly one of the most engaging new ideas I've ever come across - I don't think I'll ever forget that. tBO.
Thanks!
x
- TheBlueOne0
Now I'm picturing them all Japanese.
(Sep 24 07, 07:59)
Hahaha!! Well other then the choir members I'd say 1/4 were Japanese...the rest were african-american - which made it even more surreal!! I tell you this little woman from Osaka was laying it on with the John 3:16 quote and the congregation is issuing out the "Praise Jesus!" "Thank the sister from Japan Lord!"
And the interpretive dance the Japanese Mimes for Jesus did was just...wow...
Seriously - I mean I am a total agnostic and everything and I probably fundamentally disagree with a lot of the tenets that Baptists hold dear, but to just see such a awesome display of surreal humanity like that made me really happy...
- CALLES0
wow... a japanesse cat that palys the blues? amazing
- TheBlueOne0
wow... a japanesse cat that palys the blues? amazing
CALLES
(Sep 24 07, 08:06)Hey now! Everyone gets the blues, brother...