Heart and Soul Cafe: Downtown Youth Outreach
With thousands of youth suicides annually (one Japanese commits suicide every 15 minutes), shockingly high teen prostitution rates (9% of high school girls and 4% of junior high school girls report having participated), ubiquitous child pornography (possession of which is legal in Japan), and seemingly inescapable bullying in schools (70% report bullying or having been bullied), young people in Japan desperately need Jesus Christ!
Heart & Soul Cafe is an outreach in downtown Nagoya with the goal of providing a "safe space" for Japanese high school and college students. Young people come and drink coffee, make friends, perform at Open Mic nights, learn English at Eikaiwa (English Conversation School) classes or at English Cafe Night, and learn about Jesus. It also serves as a hub where young Christians around Nagoya can come to meet with each other and also introduce non-Christian friends to young Christians.
