Japanese Prince Asks Latter-day Saints About Jesus Christ

A future emperor of Japan walked into a Mormon pavilion at the World's Fair. Crown Prince Akihito asked just one question of his own. What kind of person is Jesus Christ? The Japan World Exposition would be held in Osaka under the theme progress and harmony for mankind. And the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints decided it wanted to be there. 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. And on March 15th, the gates opened to the public. Just over 2 months after opening, the pavilion welcomed its 2 millionth visitor. 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. Shoozo 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.

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 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. 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.

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. 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.