The Legacy of Paul Rusch

The final chapter begins with the reading of Paul Rusch’s last will and testament at Kiyosato Educational Experiment Project (KEEP). His will suggested that Rusch was not the man many thought he was; while some believed he lived the high life, he died with little monetary worth and virtually no possessions. He was a man of contradictions, as he often implored people to do as he said but not as he did in life. Rusch achieved a great deal through KEEP, especially when it came to bringing food, faith, health, and hope to the people of highland Japan after World War II. But this chapter highlights the mixture of failures and successes of his vision when it comes to those four elements of the organization’s mission. Nonetheless, the legend of Rusch’s personality inspires people of the next generation to embark on new ventures in environmental sustainability, peacemaking, and international friendship and outreach.

Rusch in Winter

The twilight of Rusch’s years are highlighted in Chapter 8, beginning with distinguishing honors Rusch received during the 1970s. Rusch’s health became increasingly frail as KEEP confronted various crises. The Kiyosato Farm School closed for lack of applicants, the consequence of a changing Japanese economy. There was scandal at KEEP, as Ryo Natori was accused of misappropriating funds sent from America. Then cancer began to cast a shadow over Rusch’s life, as his dearest friend, Karl Branstad, succumbed to the disease. The ailment also took the life of three of Rusch’s other protégés at KEEP, most painfully Ryo Natori, who passed away from liver cancer. Because Rusch was unable to travel and raise money owing to his ill health, the prospects for KEEP looked grim until Eli Lilly Jr. bequeathed over $2 million in Lilly stock to KEEP. Rusch died of cancer at the age of seventy-nine at St. Luke’s International Hospital in Tokyo.

Crusade for Peace

Chapter 2 describes how Paul Rusch, in the face of rising militarism in Japan and increasing anti-Japanese sentiment in America, held fast to his belief that war could be averted through prayer and promoting Christianity in Japan. Despite a growing anti-Western movement in Japan, Rusch worked to establish Seisen-Ryo, a Christian training camp near Kiyosato. With the patronage of the heiress Miki Sawada, with whom it is rumored Rusch had a romantic relationship, Rusch managed to complete his task despite formidable obstacles. Rusch ran afoul of the American church mission when he took a propaganda tour of Japanese-occupied areas of China and Manchuria. Rusch was labeled an apologist for Japan’s expansionist policies, drawing criticism and ridicule from the press. U.S. Ambassador to Japan Joseph Grew tried to warn Rusch against being an advocate for Japan, but Rusch publicly maintained the United States did not understand Japan’s intentions. Later, when the Episcopal Church withdrew its entire missionary delegation from Japan, Rusch defiantly stayed in Tokyo. Days after Pearl Harbor was attacked, Rusch and many of his friends were arrested by Japanese police.

Enemy Alien

After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Paul Rusch was detained at a makeshift, minimum-security jail in Tokyo. Sharing quarters with other missionaries and clergy, Rusch acted as chief organizer and camp cook, preparing meals with food scrounged from the black market and gleaned from his loyal network of students. Daily life among internees at Sumire camp was amiable, almost pleasant, until the Americans bombed Tokyo and Yokohama. The Doolittle Raid sparked a fierce debate between pacifists and prowar factions in the camp, foreshadowing the heated controversy that would arise while Rusch was repatriated on the ships Asama Maru and Gripsholm. Missionaries aboard ship were divided into opposing factions who debated the morality of the war. On the journey home, Rusch made connections with American intelligence officers aboard the ships, setting him up for his work in military intelligence during World War II. Despite his loyalty to the Japanese, Rusch cooperated with military intelligence, dedicating himself to winning a war against a militarist government he believed was enslaving a great people. Rusch still trusted his Japanese colleagues in Tokyo, believing they would hold fast to their promise to protect Rikkyo’s Christian identity while safeguarding Seisen-Ryo.

Occupation

Rusch returned to Japan to find destruction, despair, and starvation everywhere. Rusch began his work for the Civil Intelligence Section in Tokyo, uncovering evidence for the International Military Tribunal of the Far East (IMTFE). Rusch hoped that the Allies would bring justice to postwar Japan, but the Americans had an agenda. As part of the effort to facilitate a peaceful occupation, Rusch secured evidence supportive of American policy, absolving Emperor Hirohito of blame for the Pacific War. Rusch was instrumental in acquiring the Saionji-Harada Memoirs, volumes of notes cataloguing the imperial family’s resistance to militarism. Rusch also recovered evidence of an international Communist conspiracy in Japan, a development that greatly enhanced his standing among his anti-Communist superiors. Rusch soon discovered the level of compromise and corruption in the Occupation government as he saw innocent Japanese being purged while some war criminals, such as the biological warfare mastermind Shiro Ishii, received immunity. During this time, Rusch met a former kamikaze pilot, Ryo Natori, a teenager he hired as a houseboy. Natori became a surrogate son and was a key figure in the rest of Rusch’s life. Rusch also used his considerable power to punish those who sold Seisen-Ryo and stripped Rikkyo University of its Christian identity.

Early Life

Chapter 1 traces Paul Rusch’s early life in Louisville as the son of a grocer and as a soldier in World War I. After the war, Rusch led an effort to establish a bohemian art colony in Louisville, though his venture eventually went bankrupt and landed Rusch in court. Rusch left Kentucky and then on a lark volunteered to help rebuild the Tokyo and Yokohama YMCA branches after the Great Kanto Earthquake. His connections at Holy Trinity Church in Tokyo led to positions on the Rikkyo University faculty and as a fund-raiser for St. Luke’s International Hospital in Tokyo. As Rusch worked to convert young Japanese men to Christianity by relaunching the Brotherhood of St. Andrew, Japan was swept up in political and social turmoil and militarism. Along the way, he staged the first organized game of American football in Japan and laid the foundation for Japan’s collegiate football league. Dr. Rudolf Teusler mentored Rusch during tours in America, honing Rusch’s skills in fund-raising, expanding his network to include wealthy patrons, and shaping Rusch’s staunch anti-Communist views.

Seisen-Ryo

Chapter 7 joins Rusch after he retired from the army, having arrived in the United States to begin his nationwide fund-raising tour for Seisen-Ryo. Rusch envisioned a rural life training center, and by that time Communism was seen as an increasing threat by American citizens, a development that favored Rusch’s attempts to raise money on the theory that Rusch’s enterprise could help teach the Japanese “Christian democracy.” Rusch often asserted that the Japanese would accept Western values, such as democracy and Christianity, if they were “wrapped in a kimono.” Part of Rusch’s initiative was to teach the Japanese Western methods of agriculture, including the introduction of a dairy farming to highland Japan. Toward that end, Rusch made an effort to send both dairy and beef cattle to Kiyosato, with some humorous results. Though Rusch received the support of the Episcopal Church in the beginning, after a while Rusch’s connections to the church waned as he tried to appeal to a broader audience. Because of his efforts to build youths’ interest in farming through a kind of 4-H program, Seisen-Ryo hosted the first county fair, a regional festival that became an enduring trademark of the lodge and the region.

Faith and Compromise

Chapter 6 follows Rusch’s work in army intelligence, where he was in close contact with a number of Japanese prime ministers and high officials. Many officials were cooperating with the American effort to ferret out Communists, and Rusch was part of an administration that bent the rules of democracy by supporting pro-American Japanese candidates while hindering their opponents. At the same time, Rusch was working to restore institutions of the Nippon Seikokai, the Episcopal Church of Japan, and he used his authority as an army officer to forward his various projects, including the rebuilding of Seisen-Ryo. He was accused by his superiors of abusing his power to help the church and rebuild the lodge. Rusch covertly aided the heiress Miki Sawada in caring for mixed-race children born of sexual liaisons between Japanese women and Allied personnel, and he routinely raided American supplies to help Sawada feed the displaced children. Rusch also played a minor role in ushering in the McCarthy era in America, providing anti-Communist intelligence to his superiors and helping defend the army and his boss, General Charles A. Willoughby, against charges that Willoughby’s operatives smeared an American citizen as a Communist agent.

The Reluctant Warrior

Chapter 4 describes Rusch’s experience from the time of his repatriation to the United States to his service as a personnel officer for the Military Intelligence Service Language School. Rusch’s task was to recruit Japanese Americans for the U.S. Army, where they would learn Japanese to serve the war effort. Rusch was also part of a speaker’s bureau, through which he would appear at public functions to discuss Japan’s military capabilities. On some occasions, before audiences of the Protestant Episcopal Church, Rusch spoke against America’s policy of interning Japanese Americans. But more often than not, Rusch’s remarks mirrored American policy and sentiments of the day, calling for the fiery destruction of Japan’s militarist regime, which he acknowledged would require the killing of Japanese civilians. At other times, Rusch used his position to implore army officers to treat Nisei soldiers as individuals, not as members of another race. Occasionally, Rusch spoke of World War II in terms of a race war, of Japanese leaders bent on expelling Caucasians from Asia, casting Americans in the role of the fearless pioneers who fought off Native Americans to secure their westward expansion. Rusch remained committed to returning to help Japan rebuild after the war.

Introduction

The introduction portrays the scene at the Paul Rusch Festival Yatsugatake County Fair. Initially, it appears to be like any other American harvest festival, but the event takes place in the highlands 120 miles northwest of Tokyo. It explains why the Japanese would honor the Kentuckian Rusch, someone they called the “red-headed foreigner,” outlining the arc of Rusch’s life, from an altar boy in Louisville, Kentucky, to a military intelligence officer who walked the halls of the Imperial Palace and interacted with royalty, prime ministers, captains of industry, and the rich and powerful in both America and Japan. Rusch took stands on racial injustice and worked to uplift the poor people of rural Japan, but at some points he compromised his religious principles as he became involved in the dark intrigue of America’s Cold War policy. Rusch was also something of a con man, a kind of Robin Hood who bent and broke the rules to forward the cause of helping people or promoting his own pet projects. Rusch was instrumental in the rebuilding of the postwar Episcopal Church in Japan.