{"id":36291,"date":"2023-11-12T23:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-11-13T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=36291"},"modified":"2023-11-13T17:39:51","modified_gmt":"2023-11-13T17:39:51","slug":"shinto-priests-tour-camp-zama-as-chaplains-promote-interfaith-dialogue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=36291","title":{"rendered":"Shinto priests tour Camp Zama as chaplains promote interfaith dialogue"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n Several Shinto priests and members from the Association of Shinto Shrines visit the Otakebi Torii during a tour of Camp Zama, Japan, Nov. 9, 2023. The U.S. Army Japan Chaplain\u2019s Office invited them to the installation as part of an ongoing effort to increase interfaith dialogue with its unit ministry teams.
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\n Several Shinto priests and members from the Association of Shinto Shrines visit the emperor’s bunker during a tour of Camp Zama, Japan, Nov. 9, 2023. The U.S. Army Japan Chaplain\u2019s Office invited them to the installation as part of an ongoing effort to increase interfaith dialogue with its unit ministry teams.
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\n Several Shinto priests and members from the Association of Shinto Shrines participate in a tour of Camp Zama, Japan, Nov. 9, 2023. The U.S. Army Japan Chaplain\u2019s Office invited them to the installation as part of an ongoing effort to increase interfaith dialogue with its unit ministry teams.
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CAMP ZAMA, Japan \u2013 Several Shinto priests from the renowned Meiji Jingu Shrine toured this installation Thursday as part of an ongoing effort to increase interfaith dialogue with the unit ministry teams here.<\/p>\n

The U.S. Army Japan Chaplain\u2019s Office invited the priests and members from the Association of Shinto Shrines on post after unit ministry teams had the opportunity to visit the Tokyo shrine in August.<\/p>\n

The tour here, which included presentations, a luncheon, Catholic mass, a historical site visit and a windshield tour, aimed to create supportive relationships and increase sensitivities toward other faith groups.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re following the commander\u2019s intent on partnership,\u201d said Col. J.P. Smith, command chaplain for USARJ. \u201cThe bottom line is that the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force does not have counterparts for us. They don\u2019t have chaplains, so it\u2019s important for us to build community with the religious leaders within this area.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith said that while the budding partnership with the Shinto priests may assist the U.S. Army in bolstering trust in the local community, it could also help JGSDF personnel when they need religious support.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we\u2019re interacting with [the priests] and helping them understand military culture, that\u2019s going to help everybody out,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s going to help our bilateral partnership, it\u2019s going to help our Soldiers, it\u2019s going to help the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force. We believe it\u2019s something that will help at large.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n Col. J.P. Smith, left, command chaplain for U.S. Army Japan, provides a military coin to Atsushi Ushio, director of the Edification Department at the Association of Shinto Shrines, during a visit at Camp Zama, Japan, Nov. 9, 2023. Several Shinto priests and members from the Association of Shinto Shrines toured the installation as part of an ongoing effort to increase interfaith dialogue with unit ministry teams.
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\n Col. J.P. Smith, right, command chaplain for U.S. Army Japan, poses for a photo in front of Kastner Airfield at Camp Zama, Japan, Nov. 9, 2023. Several Shinto priests and members from the Association of Shinto Shrines visited the installation as part of an ongoing effort to increase interfaith dialogue with unit ministry teams.
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\n Shinto priests and members from the Association of Shinto Shrines view a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter during a visit to Camp Zama, Japan, Nov. 9, 2023. The visit was part of an ongoing effort to increase interfaith dialogue with unit ministry teams.
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One of the priests on the tour was Atsushi Ushio, who also serves as director of the Edification Department at the Association of Shinto Shrines, which oversees about 80,000 shrines in Japan.<\/p>\n

Ushio said the event allowed him and others to learn from and share their beliefs with the unit ministry teams.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to spread our Shinto beliefs to the world,\u201d he said, \u201cso this activity and communication with the chaplains is a best practice to show what we do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ushio also appreciated the tour of the installation, which concluded with a brief visit to Kastner Airfield where guests were able to view a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter up close.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs an outsider, you cannot see inside the base,\u201d he said. \u201cBut once you get in, you can see what they are doing and their missions. So, now I understand more [about] their presence here in Japan.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maj. Tsungyu\u00a0Pan, deputy command chaplain for U.S. Army Garrison Japan, said partnerships like these could be beneficial when emergency situations arise, such as a natural disaster, and affected people need a variety of religious support.<\/p>\n

\u201cAn important mission that the chaplaincy has is to interact with local religious leaders,\u201d he said, \u201cso if anything happens, we can cooperate together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leaders on both sides said they will look to expand the interfaith relationship and perhaps broaden it by inviting other faith groups in the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor us, today is just the beginning, because this is not just a one-time event,\u201d Pan said. \u201cOur goal is to continue the communication and interaction, so we can bring more understanding to each other of what we do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Related links:<\/strong><\/p>\n

U.S. Army Garrison Japan news<\/a><\/p>\n

USAG Japan official website<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1 \/ 3 Show Caption + Hide Caption \u2013 Several Shinto priests and members from the Association of Shinto Shrines visit the Otakebi Torii during a tour of Camp Zama, Japan, Nov. 9, 2023. The U.S. Army Japan Chaplain\u2019s Office invited them to the installation as part of an ongoing effort to increase interfaith dialogue […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":36293,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36291","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36291","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=36291"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36291\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36300,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36291\/revisions\/36300"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/36293"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=36291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=36291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=36291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}