0:00 Seventh-day. I'm a Seventh-day. Seventh-day. What's there? I mean Seventh-day. >> it's a Filipino There's a Filipino way? Seventh-day. >> [laughter] >> For real? Seventh-day Adventist. Welcome back to another episode of Careful Boy. We were just in the middle of talking to Joe about his experiences growing up in a Japanese Seventh-day Adventist church. I'm hella curious about your experience, too, because um when I grew like they were going through like this modernization controversy. >> Oh, yeah. Cuz like I grew up hearing like the guitar is a devil's instrument. The drum is a devil's instrument. >> you plug in the guitar in, it is. >> What's What's a godly instrument then? So, I was taught like >> Acoustic is fine. piano
0:50 >> Organ, for sure. Uh piano and organ Mhm. Okay. And then for me, there's no logic behind it. It's just what you're taught. Like that's an acceptable instrument, right? Cuz then like you see some modern churches and they had a whole band. Like I was like, "Dude, that's so cool." They had like modern rock mass, songs like that. >> Feeling? That's kind of cool. Is it a feeling that makes them feel like it's a devil's work? Oh, I thought it was like once they heard the electric guitar and they're like, "Oh, s███." >> Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, it's association cuz they'll be like, "Oh, that's popular, so we can't have that." Like it's it's secular. So, they never seen Little Richard on a ████ piano? >> [laughter] >> Uh yeah. Yeah, he used to come perform. Cuz I got He used to come perform and that's that's where it was like Like some white churches were like modern, they would do it, right? But I think Seventh-day Adventists were just
1:41 late to the game. There were other Protestants that were like more modern. Existent for too long. Yeah, yeah. But Little Richard, though, he played piano and then he would sometimes come to the the black congregation and then that was really cool because like, you know, if you get lucky, he'll just bust out and he'll be like Yeah, he'll >> up to your guys' church? No, no, no, like he went to the he showed up at the Westminster one a couple times. The one I went to was in Boyle Heights. I think he was a member of Hollywood SDA. Oh. Ramp? Yeah, probably. Yeah. Most famous SDA guy? Or gal? >> Oh, man. I think Joe is. >> [laughter] >> Joe Mama. When you're in a church, right? Because it's all Japanese American Japanese. So, the first one I went to was in Gardena. They had
2:31 >> Oh. big Japanese American population there, right? So, they actually had like a language They had a school. So, like my parents first got hired You know how like you have to get like a work visa and ████ to come to America? So, like they were a part of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Japan. Yeah. They needed um more teachers for their school. It's a private school. You got sponsored. Yeah, so this So, the church owned a Japanese school and that church also had like on Saturdays, they had their regular like mainstream worship where it's like general English speakers. But, they also had a separate church for Japanese speakers. So, they would run two sermons. Oh, right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. But, then
3:21 7 days a week though, it would operate as a school. Oh. And then so elementary school or like a private elementary school? >> K through high school kind of thing. Yeah, yeah. There were a lot of Japanese back then cuz it's Gardena and like that was during the time in the '80s when um they were sending hella employees for like car play like Toyota Okay, okay. Yeah, so so there was a big like like I guess like a like a second wave migration or whatever you call it. So, that's where my parents um moved to and then they had me when they moved to the states and then growing up in it was like I kind of really liked it cuz it felt like a extended family. Like the church environment's kind of cool. You just have like every every every you know weekend you go and you you you see your friends and ████ and then I also went to
4:12 that language school. So like I had friends there too. So it was just like a fun place to be but my dad you know he's he's a musician so he would teach the choir. He would sometimes perform. My uncle's a pastor. So like I grew up kind of watching them being involved not just a spectator but like also and then my mom would play piano sometimes for yeah for the performances and the sermons. So sometimes it'll it'll be a funny like um collab that like my uncle would be like doing his thing and then they would plan out like a transition where the music will start fading in and ████ My mom's like playing a ████ song. Wait but so like musically did the music sound Japanese? Yeah yeah. So they had they had the dong dong no no [laughter] no no no no no no no no you know what it SOUNDED LIKE BRO?
5:06 >> [laughter] [laughter] >> PAPER DOORS OPEN. YO YOU GUYS are good at those noises. >> [laughter] >> Watch those MOVIES GROWING UP. >> [laughter] >> THE TAIKO'S. SO PEOPLE ARE SINGING THE same church hymnals as like any other 7th Day Adventists but they have they have heavy Japanese accents while singing it? Yes well sometimes but most of them are translated. Oh okay. Cuz like I'm pretty sure the in the Philippines they have their own songs right? They're not singing in English. A A of time they are singing in English from my experience. You guys are so cool, dude. >> [laughter] >> What you mean? But I think cuz if you're if you're already going to a Seventh-day Adventist church, you're probably going to a English-speaking school already, I think. Well, the way Well, yeah, I grew
5:58 like if you're not in the English section Oh. >> then like everyone's the sermon's in Japanese. They're singing >> Oh, wow. Okay. songs like a Jesus alive with me this I know that's that's Is there a Japanese version that you sing that's in all Japanese? There's Japanese parody versions, yeah. >> [laughter] >> Parody? What does that mean? Say I'm ichiban. >> [laughter] >> Jesus is LIKE ICHIBAN. >> [laughter] >> IT'S TOTALLY ENGLISH WITH A JAPANESE ACCENT. >> [laughter] >> JESUS IS ICHIBAN. That's calling me ichiban. >> [laughter] >> Gardena is number one. Yeah. I know what you mean cuz it's like happy birthday. You know how like in every language do their version of it. birthday to you.
6:49 Happy birthday Masato birthday >> [laughter] >> They go happy birthday to you. >> [laughter] >> They do disco lights. There's no There's no Japanese version? No. Cuz Chinese is ah zu ni san kuai le. So it's the same happy birthday, but it's Chinese words. >> Using jazz synthwave >> [laughter] >> Casio Yeah, Casio P. Happy birthday. with like crazy time signatures >> [laughter] >> Happy birthday, okayo. >> [snorts and laughter] >> I feel like we singing like 1800 hymns. Yeah, yeah, yeah, old ones, yeah. They're old. Like other other churches had like modern versions or like cooler like pop ones. Did you have the same hymn book that was like kind of maroon
7:40 colored and had 600 pages? It looked like a Bible itself. And then so they'll tell you to turn to this page. It's like a hymnal book, >> [laughter] >> right? And then you you're you're just with this ████ wax joint paper and you're just It takes so long. And then everyone sings like like they're in the Great Depression or some kind of Little House on the Prairie and ████ Like the songs are old, bro. Yeah. Remember man, what are these band names? Is this Sonic Flood? Is that one of them? Whoa, is that a Christian band? Yeah, or like a Vineyard? You guys remember? That was forbidden for us. To those? Cuz that was considered almost like a perversion of the word. Cuz even though they're using it, yeah, it it's like it's like the Seventh-day Adventist would go, "I'm on to you guys. I know you're trying to do trying to use rock music." It Yeah. But then it doesn't even feel rock though. It just
8:31 feels like, "Okay, now you have a full band that's playing the Christian songs." I think it's like um they're like purist, right? So like they they they're more like traditional. So they try to figure out what the like the OG hymn was and they just keep it that. That's why the whole seven-day thing is so OG cuz like technically the you know, Judaism, they celebrate or they they worship on the Sabbath, which is Saturday, right? And then it turned into the Sunday because of the Catholic Church. And then like so the so the Seventh-day Adventist is trying to be like, "Wait a minute. Like that ████ Yeah, that ████ was corrupted by the Romans. So we got to go back to the old school of when Jesus used to worship, he used to worship on the Sabbath, like Saturday. He didn't worship on Sunday." So then that's that's where
9:21 >> Shabbat for Jews. Damn, you guys are like real actual Christians then. You're like more hardcore. >> [laughter] >> And you know what's got a lot of roots to like when um the the Mormons, the Latter-day Saints, they have we have like a similar like origin like they're like they're like from the same area. During that same time there was like a lot of um It's kind of like the second wind of like new churches were coming and then that's when all the ████ fringe ones came up. You talking about the Millerites? Yeah, and then like the Adventist and then like all those other guys. Yeah. away from break away from break away to that. Yeah. Based on your guys' rules from our conversations, it sounds like you guys are like Mormonish. Jason. It feels like it when you're in it. But but we don't have as much money. All the 70 It's up there, but it's like
10:12 top five. You're like the Navy SEALs of like Christians. It's still like roughly considered a cult. Really? Because in the definition of what cult is, uh because we have a prophet technically. Ellen Ellen G. White. She had visions. She's like a She was just like a girl that like kind of was able to see. Is there pictures of her? Yeah. You trying to see if she's hot? >> [laughter] >> No. G. White in her 20s. Hot or not? She used to uh That's a crazy name. have like like what do you call it like the old school that like like she would have like kind of like moments of like out of body experience or like some kind of visions and all There's no young picture of her. I mean this is her. Oh, damn. She's old as ████ No, that's her young picture, dude. Right there. >> Oh, which one? With the black hair.
11:02 >> That one? Yo, that's That should look like a better angle. She was like a Still looks like Rosa Parks to me. >> Yeah, she's as old still. But yeah, that's who like we would study about her. So I think I think based on definition if your religion has a human person as like a figurehead or prophet, you're considered a cult technically. Like David Koresh, you know, like um You're not supposed to have a human. It has to be a deity or a god. >> Did Did you guys have full on instruments or no? Like you guys have a full band? No. [clears throat] Not Just a piano and organ, yeah. They wouldn't let drums They wouldn't let drums in our churches. Like some now Seventh-day Some Seventh-day Adventist Church has like like bands. They're over it now. We got to go to We had a pan flute. You know the flute that like Peter Pan plays that goes like this? >> Oh, yeah. Oh, the like this? Holy ████ Yeah, oh, wow, that's crazy. >> a famous Seventh-day Adventist pan flute
11:53 guy and he would go from church to church and he would perform himnos like that. >> Did Did you guys have a bell choir during the Bell choir, yeah. We had We had that at San Gabriel Academy had that, yeah. >> [laughter] >> Bell choir, you know that like if you have two bells in your hand and you wait for your turn Oh, [laughter] yeah. So, it was always a Christmas Christmas bell choir. Yeah, you do, but then that was basically like almost like a varsity team at your high school. You would have bell choir, yeah. >> so like synced in to be able to pull that off. >> [laughter] >> Yeah, but that's like the most you get in terms of like musical entertainment. Lame songs, too? Like the OG songs? >> All old ass songs, yeah. And then everyone's singing like like it sounds It literally sounds like how she dresses. The music sounds like that. >> are like thou, thee. Yeah, it's old
12:44 English. >> It's not even modern English. Yeah, it's like a little bit newer than Gregorian chant. >> [laughter] >> Japanese spin to it at all? It's just in Japanese language. But was it was it in like old Japanese language? >> No, it's just translated. It is just boring as ████ And then like were the sermons that the that the pastor would give, are they like geared for like Japanese people to receive it in some better way? Like does he use J jokes and stuff? >> [laughter] >> You know what we used to have? So, we used to have bilingual sermons. Where we had like We had like like a double tag team pastors and then like one would say it in English, and then and then the other one would say it in Japanese. >> Like Key and Peele style? Like just
13:34 improving on stage? That's crazy. And then and then sometimes I'm like, that's not WHAT HE SAID. [laughter] DID YOU GUYS EVER HAVE THAT? LIKE DUAL LANGUAGE? I think we did at Central Filipino. We did, but I most of my life I went to Norwalk SDA. It was all white. Oh. No, cuz yeah, there was like three, four different churches we went to, and then the church moved around. Sometimes we had like it wasn't big enough to be only Japanese. So you would like combine forces of like, you know, there's a English speaking and Japanese speaking, and then so the yeah, the pastor who's leading it, if they're Japanese or white, like they'll say they'll say their thing, and then the the other guy would translate, say the other stuff. So you just hear that? What's the Japanese
14:24 phrase for Seventh-day Adventist? Is there like another Japanese word? Sebunsu dei adobentisuto. Really? [laughter] It's not even like seven day. What's seven? >> [laughter] >> Maybe there is. But I've never heard anybody say it. They go sebunsu dei. That's what they Sebunsu dei. Sebunsu dei. I am a sebunsu dei. Sebunsu dei. Sebunsu dei. I mean, sebunsu dei. They say it in the Filipino Is there a Filipino way? Seben dei. >> [laughter] >> Seben. For reals? Seben dei adbentist. adbentist >> Dude, yeah, I could go for hours about this ████ cuz there's even the way that we were taught, man, like like you're taught that everyone else is like corrupted by the devil if they aren't a part of the Seventh-day group. Basically, everyone's a ████ So when they when they say words like devil devil and demon in Japanese Seventh-day Adventist churches, are they saying oni?
15:14 No, they're saying akuma. Akuma? Like that character on on ████ Oh, Street Fighter? So that's what the translation is. Yeah. That's crazy. [laughter] I love Akuma. They're They're It's like they're using the same words as Buddhist and Shintoism of like kami that's God like all this stuff and I'm like you're just using Buddhist words. You're not impressed at all as a kid? They should use new They should make up new words, bro. >> [laughter] >> They're using the same words you use for spirit and gods and like ghosts and ████ and I'm like A bucket bucket PERFECTION PERFECTION A BUCKET >> [laughter] >> DEVIL YOU ARE A DEVIL? WAIT, ONE LAST QUESTION. >> Satan So growing up in that church as a kid you always have record you always
16:04 get requests as a kid to do something for the church, right? Did you ever have to go up and give a kid sermon or lead prayer? >> They always forced you to do ████ >> What did you have to do actually like yourself? Do you remember? Mostly music because You Oh, you had to do music? You had to play in church? Well, yeah cuz my parents So it's like it's kind of like whatever your parents is known for whatever you do that. >> Yeah, did you ever mess up? No, actually no. Yeah, but I I performed and that was it or like or like the bell choir ████ or like you know like you have different classes you have the primary you have the and then and then everyone has to do like a performance stupid ████ like that. I went to a I was a member of Pasadena SDA as all Filipino church. I used to have to sing a lot like do special music and so it would just be me doing a solo song and I hit puberty around that time and then my voice
16:54 started cracking the whole song whole church is laughing the whole time. And I was so embarrassed but it was like mostly my family laughing. >> [laughter] >> I think it's on video too. I remember crying afterwards. >> [laughter]
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