Sasaki served as the Primate of the Nippon Sei Ko Kai throughout much of the Second World War. During this period the majority of Protestant churches in Japan were forcibly brought together by the Japanese wartime government to form the United Church of Christ in Japan, or Kyodan. Reflecting the distinctive doctrinal character of the Anglican Communion, and a fear of state intervention in religion, many individual Nippon Sei Ko Kai congregations refused to join. Sasaki, in a written statement issued in October 1942 and signed by the majority of the Japanese bishops, was adamant in rejecting the proposed union with Kyodan. The statement upheld the authority of the Anglican church's episcopacy and Apostolic succession and highlighted, among other reasons for rejecting the government proposal, the failure of Kyodan to adopt the Apostles Creed as one of its main theological tenets. The cost of resistance to and non-cooperation with the government's religious policies was public criticism by prominent lay and ordained members of the Nippon Sei Ko Kai, harassment by the military police and periods of imprisonment for church leaders such as Sasaki, as well as Bishops Samuel Heaslett and Todomu Sugai. On January 25, 1944, Sasaki was installed at St. Andrew's Cathedral, Tokyo as Bishop of Tokyo to replace BishopPeter Yonetaro Matsui During late 1944, government prosecutors examined Sasaki and Bishop of South Tokyo Todomu Sugai, on numerous occasions; military police detaining them for extended periods at Sugamo Prison. Reports of torture at the hands of the military police at Sugamo Prison are also recorded. On their release on the 16th June 1945, both men were found malnourished and in poor health from their confinement, neither being able to walk without assistance. Sasaki had remained in Tokyo throughout the Allied incendiary bombing of the city. At considerable personal risk, he held fast to the principle that religion should not be unduly interfered with by the state. Sasaki died less than a year after his release from prison at the end of the war.
Legacy
For his courage and leadership of the Japanese Anglican community during the Second World War Sasaki is commemorated on February 24 on the Calendar of saints. The Calendar of saints remembers the pair on October 31. The Nippon Sei Ko Kai, reflecting on the legacy of Bishop Sasaki, the Japanese occupation of China and Korea, actions during wartime and the challenge of maintaining authentic Christian witness in the face of nationalist government policy, adopted a formal Statement of War Responsibility at its General Synod in 1996. A presentation of this statement and homily by the Rev. Canon Susan Cole-King, daughter of Leonard Wilson, the Bishop of Singapore during the Japanese occupation, was made at a liturgy led by Nippon Sei Ko Kai bishops celebrating the Feast of the Transfiguration at the 1998 Lambeth Conference. The NSKK remains active in multi-year projects promoting peace, reconciliation and youth exchange programs between East Asian nations. In 2013 the NSKK co-hosted with the Anglican Church of Korea, the 2nd Worldwide Anglican Peace Conference in Okinawa.
