The Rev. Antonius Harnoko, an Indonesia missionary in Ofunato, Iwate Prefecture, is offering psychological and spiritual support to foreign residents in the Tohoku region ravaged by the earthquake and tsunami of March 2011.
Harnoko, 42, is especially helpful to Filipino residents as he speaks Tagalog and celebrates Masses in the language at the churches he visits.
"Masses in Tagalog make me feel calm," says a 37-year-old Filipino woman working at a nursing-care facility in Ofunato. "I didn't expect them in Japan."