In October 1933, the first missionaries were sent out from France. Their mission began when Mother Mayer, the first principal of Obayashi Sacred Heart School in Takarazuka, Hyogo Prefecture, invited the Daughters of Charity to assist the poor in Osaka’s Nishinari district, known as “Kamagasaki.” Upon their arrival in Osaka, the Sisters immediately began serving in Kamagasaki. Though they did not yet understand the Japanese language, they walked 30 minutes each way every day to visit the poor, care for children in the day nursery, and assist at the free clinic—the Sacred Heart Settlement. All of this sprang from the compassion and vision of Mother Mayer’s heart.
In March 1945, as the war drew to a close, the Settlement was destroyed. The Sisters opened their residence to war orphans and mothers with children, which became the seed of today’s Holy Family Home and the Holy Mother Day Nursery (present-day Seibo-Takuji-En). Mother Mayer also reached out to the marginalized community at the foot of Sacred Heart School, fostering creative activities there through the alumnae and the Daughters of Charity (present-day Obayashi House). She stood out among the Mothers of the Sacred Heart Society: she established the school’s guiding principle of “service,” and her brother, Jesuit priest Rupert Mayer, is honored as Blessed.
On the eve of the renewal of vows in 1946, the Sister Servant, Sr. Geneviève Termier, succumbed to typhus. With no money, cut off from communication with the Motherhouse, the community faced extreme hardship. Yet, as in every mission across distant lands, their story became one of astonishing Providence and profound gratitude.
The Japan Mission first took root in Tanabe, Osaka, before its headquarters moved to Maiko in Kobe (Maiko Central House). In 1950, the seminary was opened there. By 1952, missionaries arriving from the China Mission made the community increasingly multinational. In 1955, four American missionaries from the St. Louis Province established the Wakayama House. In 1963, the year following the opening of the Second Vatican Council, American Sister Mary Moran became Visitatrix. From that time, formation and community life decisively embraced the Japanese language.
