A Future Emperor Asked: “Who Is Jesus Christ?

In 1970, a future emperor of Japan walked into a Mormon pavilion at the World's Fair. He had only been scheduled to stay for 10 minutes. Instead, he stayed for 25. And after hearing about Joseph Smith, the restoration, and what Latter-day Saints believed, Crown Prince Akihito asked just one question of his own. What kind of person is Jesus Christ? The answer he received was part of a much bigger story.

Because over the next six months, more than six and a half million people would walk through that pavilion. Some would cry. Some would meet missionaries. Some would eventually be baptized. And for some, the impact of those few minutes inside the Mormon pavilion would not be fully realized until years later. This is LDS story time, where I share remarkable stories of faith from Latter-day Saints around the world.

To understand why the 1970 World's Fair mattered so much to the church in Japan, we need to go back nearly 70 years. In 1901, Heber J. Grant, then a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, dedicated Japan for the preaching of the gospel. But missionary work in Japan was difficult. For decades, growth was slow. Then in the late 1960s, Japan began preparing to host one of the largest international events the world had ever seen, Expo 70.

The Japan World Exposition would be held in Osaka under the theme progress and harmony for mankind. Countries and organizations from around the world would build elaborate pavilions showcasing technology, culture, art, science, and ideas. and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints decided it wanted to be there. The story really began in 1968. Elder Ezra Taft Benson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles was visiting Japan.

Shoozo Suzuki, a counselor in the Japan Okinawa Mission Presidency accompanied him to the Future Expo site in the Sangri Hills. Suzuki later admitted that he didn't really understand what a world exposition was, but that visit became the first step. The following year, the church officially decided to construct what would be called the Mormon Pavilion. The project would cost about 72 million yen, approximately $200,000 at the time.

Its theme was simple, the search for happiness. And the church didn't simply import an American presentation and translate it into Japanese. A Japanese version of the church's film, Man Search for Happiness, was created specifically for the expo. Japanese professional actors were used and local church members from the Concai region participated in the production. The pavilion itself contained exhibits about church organizations and activities on the first floor.

On the second floor, visitors learned about the creation, early Christianity, Joseph Smith, and the restoration of the gospel. Then they would watch man's search for happiness. And somehow in a massive World's Fair filled with extraordinary attractions, the church received an incredible location. The Mormon pavilion sat beside the largest pond on the expo grounds near the festival plaza and close to the Japan pavilion.

It was positioned between the Kodak Pavilion and another major commercial pavilion. Thousands upon thousands of people would pass it every day. On March 13th, 1970, the pavilion was dedicated. President Hugh B. Brown of the First Presidency traveled to Japan for the occasion along with apostles Ezra Tap Benson and Gordon B. Hingley. The next day, Emperor Shawa, also known as Hirohito, attended the official opening ceremony of Expo 70.

And on March 15th, the gates opened to the public. What happened next was remarkable. At the church's pavilion at the 1964 New York World's Fair, attendance had averaged about 18,000 visitors per day. In Osaka, the Mormon Pavilion averaged approximately 25,000. Just over two months after opening, the pavilion welcomed its 2 millionth visitor. But church leaders understood that simply getting people through the door wasn't enough.

So, they developed an enormous follow-up system. As visitors left the pavilion, they could fill out referral cards with their names, addresses, and impressions. And missionaries were supposed to contact interested visitors within 3 days. Remember, this was 1970. No email, no smartphones, no shared computer databases. Every evening, missionaries finished their pavilion assignments and carried bundles of referral cards to Umea station.

Church members picked them up and transported them to local branches. Each sheet contained information for roughly 10 people. So volunteers physically cut the names apart and sorted them according to where people lived. And before midnight, those referrals were being dispatched to missionaries across Japan. They did this night after night for 6 months. On a typical day, they were processing information from somewhere around 3 to 4,000 people.

By the end of the expo, the system had handled approximately 650,000 names, and behind all those numbers were individual people. One of them was Kazyoshi Tokuda. He and his wife came in contact with the church through an expo referral card. That contact eventually led to conversion. Years later, when the Tokyo Japan temple was completed in 1980, Brother Tokudo was invited to work there as facilities technician.

He later served as bishop of two different wards and eventually as an assistant temple president. And both of his sons served full-time missions. And perhaps one of the most fascinating visits to the pavilion happened on July 31st, 1970. His Imperial Highness, Crown Prince Akihito, was coming to the expo. Only a limited number of pavilions could be included in his schedule. The Mormon pavilion was selected, but there was a catch.

He was only scheduled to spend 10 minutes there. When someone asked why the visit was so short, the explanation was essentially it was a religious pavilion. Shooz Suzuki was assigned to guide the crown prince. He knew he had 10 minutes. So Suzuki awoke at 5:00 that morning. He fasted and he practiced his presentation over and over trying to figure out how to explain the church in the tiny amount of time he had been given.

Then something unexpected happened. The crown prince arrived 15 minutes early and instead of staying 10 minutes, he stayed 25. When he entered, Bernard P. Brockbank's daughter approached him with a lay made from fresh orchids that had been flown in from Hawaii. Members of the imperial household staff had apparently expressed some concern about presenting fresh flowers to the crown prince, but he lowered his head and accepted the lei and he continued wearing it until he left the pavilion.

There was another deeply personal moment. Japan Okinawa mission president Edward Y. Okazaki was a Japanese American who had served in the famous 442nd regimenal combat team during World War II. He had been seriously wounded fighting in Europe. The crown prince apparently knew about his history. He reached out to shake President Okazaki's hand and asked him about the injuries he had received during the war.

President Okazaki told him he was doing well and the crown prince responded that he was glad to hear it. Then Suzuki began his presentation. He explained what Latter-day Saints believed. He talked about Joseph Smith, the first vision, the restoration. And the crown prince listened. He nodded. And then he asked his only question. What kind of person is Jesus Christ? Suzuki answered that Jesus Christ is the savior and explained that all people would someday stand before him and give an account of their lives.

Years later, Suzuki looked back on that experience and thought of a passage from the Doctrine and Covenants. Quote, "That the fullness of my gospel might be proclaimed by the weak and the simple unto the ends of the world and before kings and rulers." close quote. And Suzuki's explanation for what had happened that day was simple. I believe it was the help of God. A month later, another member of Japan's imperial family came to the Mormon pavilion.

Prince Mikasa was a scholar of Asian cultures, and unlike the crown prince, his visit wasn't under the same strict time limitation. He spent more than an hour there. He watched the film and examined the exhibits. He asked his own question. What is the difference between this church and other churches? Suzuki explained that Latter-day Saint belief and priesthood authority. Before Prince Mikasa left, Suzuki presented him with a specially prepared white-bound copy of the Book of Mormon.

But the people whose stories I find most fascinating weren't princes. They were ordinary Japanese teenagers, families, and visitors who walked through those doors without knowing what would happen afterward. Junko Sato remembered watching man's search for happiness. One image stayed with her. She remembered the depiction of God's hand sending a person to earth and then receiving that person back again at the end of life.

She couldn't forget it. Later, while still a high school student, she met missionaries and joined the church. Then there was Tomoko Ishizuka. She was there because her junior high school choir had been invited to perform. Afterward, the students were allowed to explore the expo. Tomoko and her friend wandered into the Mormon pavilion. Tomoko later said it felt almost as if they had been drawn there.

At the end of the exhibit was the sheet where visitors could leave their information, so she wrote down her name. Then she went home. She later said that she hadn't even realized it was a Christian church, but then the missionary showed up. Because she had already visited the pavilion, she felt comfortable with them. She took the missionary lessons. 3 months later, she was baptized.

More than half a century later, she could still remember writing her name on that piece of paper. Then there was Masato Enomoto. While walking through the expo, he encountered two missionaries. They asked him a simple question. Did he believe in God? He said yes. So they asked if he would pray with them. Nothing dramatic seemed to happen. He didn't immediately join the church. In fact, 15 years passed.

Then he was baptized. Looking back, he described encounters between people as mysterious. And I think that's one of the most beautiful things about this entire story. We tend to measure events like Expo 70 with numbers, but God works with individuals. By the time Expo 70 closed on September 13th, more than 64 million people had visited the World's Fair, and 6,658,532 of them had entered the Mormon Pavilion.

That's roughly one out of every 10 people at the entire expo. But perhaps the most important lesson from Expo 70 came from something Bernard P. Brockbank repeatedly taught the missionaries who worked there. The displays weren't the most important thing. What mattered most was their love for the visitors and their testimony. More than 50 years later, that's still true. Technology changes.

The way missionaries find people changes. World's fairs became social media feeds. Referral cards become messages sent instantly across the world. But the gospel still spreads one person at a time, one conversation, one invitation, one testimony. And sometimes we may never know what happens because of a simple interaction. Maybe the person responds immediately. Maybe it takes 3 months.

Maybe it takes 15 years. And maybe all we ever do is plant a seed. But the story of Expo 70 reminds me that God can take very ordinary efforts and use them in ways we could never predict. And ultimately, every story comes back to the same question a future emperor of Japan asked inside that pavilion more than 50 years ago. What kind of person is Jesus Christ? For me, he is the savior of the world, and he is at the center of every story I hope to tell here.

This is LDS story time, where I share stories of faith from Latter-day Saints around the world. Until next time, keep looking for the remarkable stories of faith happening all around us. And most importantly, keep following Jesus Christ who is at the center of them all.