Sister Anne Michael Kuwabara admires a New Years gift from friends.			Sisters Anne Michael Kuwabara, Mary Nicholas Inoue, Mary Paul Morimoto and Miriam Maki attend to seeds growing, a symbol of deepening communion.
Sisters Mary Nicholas Inoue and Madeline Marie Nakatsu prepare special dishes for a New Years breakfast feast on January 1, 2010.			Sister Christina Takeichi helps in the kitchen.

Sisters in communion with the dear neighbor on Japan

“The time has come when we are strongly advised to enter the foreign mission field. The Church realizes it is asking us to give out of our necessity and not out of surplus—but the appeal is for planting the Church, which we cannot deny.”

With these words, written in 1955 by Mother Eucharista Galvin, superior general at that time, she indicated her willingness to commit the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet to cooperate with the Church’s directive. The Congregation chose Japan as the “mission field,” and on August 14, 1956, the first four sisters arrived at Yokohama Harbor. They eventually settled in Kyoto. In 1959, St. Joseph Joshi Gakuen, a school for girls, opened in Tsu.

Since that time, many Sisters of St. Joseph have served in Japan. A number of Japanese women have also entered the community. Today Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet serve in Tsu and Tokyo.