Grand Lodge of F.&A.M. of Japan
  
   Early March, I was in Tokyo for business. While I was missing my duty of Wor.Master for the Stated Meeting, I was not going to miss my privilege as a Master Mason traveling in a foreign country.
   Here is a very brief history of Masonry in Japan. The below summary is shamelessly pulled from the Grand Lodeg of Japan website. More can be found at:
http://japan-freemasons.org/modules/wfchannel/index.php?pagenum=13
   Before 1854, only Protestant Dutch and non-Christian Chinese were allowed to do business with Japan. For this reason, the first known Mason to have been in Japan was Isaac Titsingh. He was initiated in Batavia in 1772 and headed a Dutch trading post in Nagasaki in the 1780s.
   The first lodge in Japan was a military lodge called Sphinx Lodge No. 263, Irish constitutions, who came to Japan with a detachment of the British 20th Regiment which arrived in Yokohama in 1864. While in Yokohama, the lodge held meetings and admitted civilian members. Being a military lodge however, it could not operate in Japan long. It held its last meeting in March 1866.
   The first local lodge, Yokohama Lodge No. 1092, came into being, holding the first regular meeting on June 26, 1866 and formed by the local Brethren initiated by Sphinx Lodge No 263
   The situation began to deteriorate fro Freemasons in Japan in the late 1930s when the government authorities began to crack down on the fraternity, especially after the outbreak of war in China in 1937. In the early 1940s the anti-Masonic movements intensified and all the lodges had to cease their operation.
   In March 1956, 15 Philippine lodges operating in Japan formed the Grand Lodge of Japan. The membership of its roll steadily increased, reaching 4,786 in 1972. Since then, however, the membership has been on the decrease and it now stands at just over 2,000.
   Many more lodges not under the Grand Lodge of Japan still remain in activity. Due to the presence of US troops in Japan, some lodges are linked to their US sister lodges or tohers such as one English lodge, two Scottish lodge, two Philippine lodges and one American lodge (Massachusetts) which, originally founded in Shanghai, China, was reactivated in Tokyo in 1952.

   Back to my adventures, I therefore endeavored to go and visit the Grand Lodge of Japan. With my fluent Japanese (NOT!), I was able to get a taxi to get me there. It is not a very well known building in that area especially in the Embassies area. However, I recognized the building from photos from the website http://www.japan-freemasons.org/ and also from the Square and Compass on the windows.
   At the entrance, a massive square marble stone with the Square and Compass engraved welcome the visitor to the Tokyo Masonic Center.
   After some trickery to gain access to the building, the security being quite high, I met with the secretary of the Grand Master. She informed me he wasn’t there but invited me to sign the Guest book, which I did and I also left the commemorative medal of Redwood City Lodge #168 as a token of my visit.
   She then remember a member was around. She introduced me to Brother Richard A. Smith P.M., who was busy printing leaflets for the upcoming Spring Blossom dinner, a traditional event.
   Even being quite busy and trying to beat Mother Nature and its pouring rain (Wor. Richard also rides a motorcycle which in Japan is no small feat), he took the time to show me around the Tokyo Masonic Center. We started with the Blue Lodge room which is magnificent and held quite some history, then we went to the Scottish Rite Temple which was smaller but not less beautiful..

   Wor. Richard had so many anecdotes of past events in the building. He described how lively some events were and sometimes got few brethren in trouble (with no harm done, just too much success in the planning). This, actually, gave me some ideas for our lodge.
   Between the 2 lodge-rooms is the memorabilia aisle, with a lot of historical artifacts from Japan Masonic life with display for each one of the Concordant Bodies and the Youth groups.

   Wor. Richard, who is the current Senior Warden of Tokyo Masonic Lodge No. 2  F. &A. M. and a Past Master, presented me with photo and a commemorative pin of his lodge. These are both in the Traveller’s display for every brother to enjoy.
   This was a short but enjoyable visit. While I couldn’t assist to a tiled meeting, I may be coming back and this time make sure to be officially announced and ready to attend a lodge meeting.
   Many thanks to Wor. Richard for his welcome and my apology to him for getting him late and probably wet with the pouring rain that happened right after I left the building.

Sebastien Taveau, MPS
March 2008