We announce with deep sorrow the passing away of the Right Reverend James T. Yashiro, Primate of the Nippon Sei Ko Kai and Bishop of the Diocese of Kitakanto. He passed away at 11:40 pm on March 12 in Murayama Hospital near his residence at the age of 65. He succumbed to respiratory failure after a long illness.
Japan's Anglican bishops have vetoed moves to ordain women as priests. According to the Church Times, in London, the General Synod of Japan's Anglican Church, Nippon Sei Ko Kai, rejected moves to ordain women priests after the bishops voted six to four against the proposal. Clergy and lay delegates at the synod had voted by a two-thirds majority in favour of the proposal. The Japanese Church has seven women deacons, three of whom wish to be ordained to the priesthood.
Nearly a year after the great Hanshin earthquake devastated large areas of Kobe and Osaka in Japan, the Anglican Church in Japan made a report on the situation in the country.
