While traveling to his next appointment on the Tokyo subway system, Howard Zehr (right) is interviewed by Yasukazu Akada, a reporter for Asahi, a daily newspaper circulating to 10 million across Japan. Trivia test: Who is famous in Japan, lives in a rural Virginia city, teaches at a small Christian university and had never visited Japan before this summer?
Until a few weeks ago, Howard Zehr would have said, “I have no idea.”
National Coverage
Dr. Zehr, co-director of the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding at Eastern Mennonite University, made his first trip to Japan this summer and was amazed to find himself facing crowded lecture rooms almost every day for two weeks. He also received coverage from the two leading national newspapers and the three weekly Christian newspapers. The resulting articles reached the hands of more than 10 million people.
“My stuff is being used in Japan a lot more than I knew,” Zehr said in an understatement that is typical of his style of speaking.
Japan