'Joyful Sounds' bring cultures together

  • Published
  • By Airman Tara A. Williamson
  • 18th Wing Public Affairs
KADENA AIR BASE, Japan --  A gospel choir group from mainland Japan took the chance to visit Kadena and share their sound with service members during church services July 15.

The Joyful Sounds Gospel Choir has been together for seven years and this was the first chance they've had to leave the Miyazaki Prefecture to perform for Americans.

"This is the first time we've been able to share our culture with [the choir members]," said Tom Carr, an American missionary and the choir's director.

The missionary who brought the choir visited the base a few months ago and showed interest in returning with the choir, explained Chaplain (Maj.) Randy Sellers, 18th Wing deputy wing chaplain.

"(Benefitting from each other's cultures) is one of the priorities Gen. (Matthew) Molloy is really interested in and the ambassadorship that he wants to have with our community here in Okinawa," Sellers said.

A total of 30 people, including 24 choir members and six children, made the trip to Okinawa to experience not only the local culture, but the American side of life while visiting Kadena.

Choir members sacrificed a holiday weekend to fly down and perform four shows -three at Kadena's base chapels and one at a church in Naha.

"To be able to get services in a Japanese-speaking church in Naha gives us a pretty good connection with the local nationals," Sellers said. "It improves the relationship we have with our host country and it helps us see their side and understand them better. That's the most important thing."

Being stationed in Japan on the small island of Okinawa, Americans run into language and cultural challenges, Carr said. There are many barriers that work against having an understanding for the local community. One of the purposes the chaplains had for the choir coming was to stir up the interest in the culture outside the base.

"We can be seen as ambassadors, coming in and helping another country," the chaplain continued. "But this choir came in to give to us. I think we were more of a beneficiary than they were."