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I did not make final decision, however, at that time. We
agreed to meet again in Jerusalem on December 1st, for final
decision. Meanwhile, Dr. Mazar, with Dr. Aviram, Dean of the
College of Humanities at the university, came to Pasadena, and
visited also the Texas campus, to look us over. They liked what
they saw. And on December l, at the official residence of Israel's
President, Zalman Shazar, we made the joint participation official.
I did not learn until later that we were actually clearing
away the decay, rubble and debris -- some 50-60 feet high -- over
the very spot where prophecy says the returning Messiah -- Jesus
Christ -- is to RULE THE WHOLE WORLD. Tremendous things have
happened in this relationship since.
So that is the manner in which this VITALLY IMPORTANT leap
forward in the Work was started. We have been given VERY GREAT
favor in the eyes of both government and university chiefs in
Jerusalem!
Now, "Coincidence" #3: After our mid-October meeting in
Jerusalem in 1968, Mr. Rader and I caught a Pan Am round-the-world
plane for Hong Kong and Tokyo, for conferences with advertising
officials of Reader's Digest. We had begun purchasing double-page
advertising space in many editions of their magazine around the
world. Arriving Tokyo airport, we were met by our Mr. Osamu Gotoh,
Chairman of the Department of Asian studies at Ambassador. I have
explained previously the providential manner in which Mr. Gotoh
came to us.
Mr. Gotoh's family had had very wide connections, not only in
Japan, but around the world. He was acquainted with Prince Mikasa,
brother of Emperor Hirohito. Unknown to me he had shown the 1966
ENVOY to the Prince, and the Prince had expressed a desire to meet
me.
At Tokyo airport, Mr. Gotoh told me the Prince had asked me to
be his guest at luncheon the following day. After the luncheon,
Mr. Rader, Mr. Gotoh and I were driven with the Prince through the
immense and magnificent Imperial Palace grounds. We also were
introduced at that time by the Prince to his very charming and
lovely wife.
This first meeting with Prince Mikasa has led to other
important meetings. I did not visit Tokyo again until last
September. But when Prince Mikasa learned I was coming, he, his
wife and daughter planned a dinner in my honor. Also he arranged
for a meeting with some sixty leading professors from various
Japanese universities, which he invited me to address.
The meeting with Prince Mikasa has led to a number of things
vitally important to the Work. It is paving the way for opening
the Work in Japan on a big scale. And unlike all other nations so
far, we are starting in Japan from the top down -- and reaching the
100 million Japanese people as a whole will come later, hopefully
by mid-year.