Retired businessman Yoshikazu Sakai, 73, of Tokyo found Christ 30 years ago amid worshiped statues and tightly controlled big business deals with the government.
“Before I was saved, I committed myself to many religions. I had many idols and worshiped them,” he said.
By age 40 he would ride the wave of big business deals at the helm of the company his powerful father had headed, but within three years the business empire and Sakai would fall to their knees.
During a visit to Cottage Hill Baptist Church in Mobile Sept. 23–Oct. 1, Sakai spoke to The Alabama Baptist through his pastor and translator Yoshio Kawaguchi.
Sakai’s father owned the com-pany that manufactured and sold ductwork used by large central air-conditioning units.
He wielded influence in government in a mafia-like way that made him known and feared, Sakai said.
“His father was the chief of the mafia in the city — that mafia is not as big as some, but his father had a strong influence,” Kawaguchi said.
He said that due to his father’s high position as chief of this controlling organization, people would move to the far side of the narrow streets of Tokyo when his father happened to be passing, so as not to offend.
“Many years ago the Japanese government had a strong relationship with the mafia when the government built big construction projects, so they used these companies. There was a strong relationship between these and government, city hall and policemen,” Kawaguchi explained.
“In Sakai’s family there were many conflicts and problems. His father was a good person, but he had ex-wives — not unusual for bosses of mafia to have ex-wives — and there were many conflicts there,” Kawaguchi said.
Sakai said that his earliest recollection of religion was idol worship. Statues of various gods, including Buddha were commonplace in his home. As he became an adult, he bought more statues to worship. Looking back, he sees irony in those purchases.
“I bought the statues, but they controlled me,” he said.
With Sakai at the helm of the business his father had once ruled, the business failed.
The progression of problems in his company and life could not be solved by any of his statues. Difficulties and worries grew, but he caught glimpses of his wife’s dedication to Christ.
“One day, some things happened in my company. They troubled me every day. I found that in spite of suffering, my wife, Mitsuko Sakai, had peace and hope which I did not have — she was a Christian,” Sakai said.
Finally, business and personal devastation brought him to his knees.
Coupled with the influence of his wife and the ministry of a Baptist church in Tokyo, he would stand again as he reached up to Jesus.
A wife’s influence
Sakai had visited his wife’s church — the Baptist church where Kawaguchi is now pastor — and there at age 43 he accepted Jesus as his personal Savior and started to pray for others in his family, including his father.
“I came home and burned and threw away my statues,” he said.
God opened doors for Sakai to found a new business, but the going was tough in the changing face of the 1970s world economy and politics.
It was a completely different company, but engaged in the manufacturing and selling of the same kind of product.
“In spite of all this difficulty, God blessed and protected my business,” the businessman said.
Though things were well with his new business, his father, who was still not a Christian, became progressively ill. Troubled by his father’s illness and lack of Christ in his life, Sakai purposed to pray harder for his father’s salvation and to witness to him.
On his father’s deathbed, Sakai led his elderly father to Jesus.
“Right before his father died at age 83, he became a Christian, accepting Christ on the bed. He could not be baptized, but he became a Christian, then he died,” Kawaguchi explained.
“God changed his heart, his family and his life,” Kawaguchi said of Sakai’s experiences. Sakai and his wife’s three grown children are Christians.
Now, Sakai recognizes wherever he goes that goodness, kindness and true hospitality come from Christianity.
“The American people are so kind, so good. I know that comes from the Christian spirit,” he said.
Because of his strong interest in contracting and construction, he has enjoyed observing the various building styles in America.
“I like the way there is harmony of building design when you drive through a neighborhood,” he said.
He enjoyed visiting the Mobile area and Cottage Hill Baptist Church with other members of his church, Shinkoiwa Baptist of Tokyo.
This was Sakai’s first time to visit the continental United States.
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