Emba first went to Japan on two vision trips in September 2012 and December 2013, and subsequently moved to the Tohoku area of northern Japan in August 2015 on the Japanese Government’s Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Programme.

She now lives in Saitama (30 minutes north of Tokyo by train). Emba taught English in local government schools for 7 years and was privileged to see "life from the inside" in this very Japanese public institution.

Emba has a burden to come alongside Japanese facing mental health challenges in a nation that has the 6^th highest suicide rate in the world, where “death from overwork” is common, and where young people aged between 10-29 have the highest rates of depression and suicide in the world.

Not only did Emba encounter many cases of mental health challenges amongst both school children and Japanese teachers while she was an English teacher in local government schools, but also among the runaway children in Tokyo’s red-light district where she has been serving since 2023. These children, known as ‘Toyoko kids’ range in age from 12 years old upwards. They gather in this area of Tokyo seeking community, belonging and hope as they are often rejected, bullied or abused at home or at school. They run away from all over Japan (Emba has spoken to children who have run away from home from as far as Hokkaido, in northern Japan, to Kyushu, in southern Japan). 

Emba and those she partners with covet your prayers for the interactions they have with these children, that God would lead her and the team to the vulnerable who are seeking hope and a life away from the red light district. The long-term vision of several ministry partners is to have a safe house for the children, offering practical and longer-term solutions to them, including physical shelter, counselling (both mental and spiritual) and mentoring in practical skills – all towards hope and healing in Jesus Christ, the only true Hope, Healer and Shelter.

To learn more about the Toyoko Kids, here is a link to an article in the Japan Times.

If you would like to give toward's God's work for Toyoko Kids in Japan, please click on the button below to partner financially and mention this with your gift in comment field.

Please pray with Emba for the provision of financial supporters since this deeper involvement in mental health ministry and with the Toyoko Kids in Tokyo is unpaid (so as to provide free access to those in need).

Emba would be glad to hear from you. In particular, she would very much value your partnership in prayer.  You can also:  

Partner with Emba financially

For an insight into the current mental health landscape in Japan, particularly among the young people of Japan, please view the following short YouTube documentary in English and Japanese:

Japan's youth mental health crisis