But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.
— 2 Corinthians 4:7

Japan (MNN) — Support for the Tokyo Olympics just hit a new low in Japan. The latest spike in Tokyo’s COVID-19 infections has 80-percent of Japanese residents saying the Summer Games should be rescheduled again, or canceled altogether.

Pfizer’s vaccine is 95% effective at preventing someone from catching COVID-19.

Japan (MNN) — This week, the company Pfizer will deliver an estimated 2.9 million doses of a COVID-19 vaccine to locations around the US. The UK has already begun using the vaccine, which was developed by the German company BioNTech.

The vaccine was developed in under a year and uses new technology to vaccinate people against viruses. It needs to be kept at very cold temperatures, at least 70 degrees below zero Celsius.

Pandemic challenges Japan’s group-oriented culture

Japan (MNN) — While other countries battle rising COVID-19 cases, Japan is seeing a different kind of spike – suicides.

More people in Japan have died by suicide in 2020 than from COVID-19. In fact, their suicide numbers in October alone outnumbered the nation’s total COVID-19 deaths in the first 11 months of the year.

Declining Rates, But Daily Reality

It is well known that Japan has one of the highest suicide rates in the world. Fortunately, the numbers have been declining in recent years as can be seen from this graph. That said, many days I ride the trains in Tokyo and a delay occurs because of “an accident”. It’s so sad to see. And, it’s a complicated situation as culturally many Japanese see suicide as a way to retain honor for one’s nation or family as in the case of war before being overtaken by an enemy or by saving your family from the shame of losing your job, and so on. Yesterday, this all became much more vivid to me as...

Japanese pastors praying for Joe Handley, the president of Asian Access. (A2 photo)

Japan (MNN) ― In Japan, suicide is on the rise. Nearly 34,000 people took their lives last year alone, according to USA Today. This number is the second-highest toll ever in Japan and ranks Japan at ninth for suicide rates worldwide...