Obituary: former Japanese theological educator, Akio Hashimoto
Akio Hashimoto, former president of Kobe Lutheran Theological Seminary and chairman of the Asia Theological Association, passed away at his home in Kobe on February 28 at the age of 82. On March 2, a “prayer meeting before the coffin” was held at the Kinki Evangelical Lutheran Church Higashi Tarumi Lutheran Church, officiated by Makito Masaki (professor and former president of Kobe Lutheran Theological Seminary). The next day, a funeral service was held at the same church.
Hashimoto was born in Nara Prefecture in 1944. He was baptized at Sakurai Lutheran Church in 1960 while still in high school. He met his wife, Masako, while attending Kobe Lutheran Bible College. After graduation, he and Eishi Nakamura served as evangelists on the Christian evangelistic ship Shinkō Maru, engaging in street evangelism as they traveled around the fishing ports in the Osaka Bay area. He studied in Norway and married Masako while attending Stavanger Theological Seminary. After graduating from Oslo Independent Theological Seminary, he returned to Japan and began pastoral work at Kashihara Lutheran Church. In 1978, he studied at Concordia Theological Seminary (graduate school) in the United States and obtained a doctorate.
After returning to Japan, he served as a professor at Kobe Lutheran Theological Seminary while also working as a pastor at many churches, including Lutheran churches in Higashi-Tarumi, Mukonosō, Takarazuka, and Matsuzaka. He became the president of the seminary in 1992. He taught intensive courses and other classes at many seminaries across denominations and national borders. He dedicated himself to the work of the Asia Theological Association in Japan, which comprises seminaries from all over Asia, serving as president and professor at the Asia Graduate School of Theology and as chairman of the board of directors of the Asia Theological Association from 2007 to 2012. In 2009, after stepping down as president of Kobe Lutheran Theological Seminary, he continued as a professor at the same institution while also serving as a director of the social welfare corporation Misono Home.
He has two children, a son and a daughter. He had many hobbies, including shogi (Japanese chess), pursuing the latest gadgets such as cameras and computers, keeping a daily diary, and putting his various ideas for improving his life into practice. He also loved to sing, humming hymns, enka (Japanese ballads), and children’s songs. In 2014, he was diagnosed with stage 2 multiple myeloma. His condition deteriorated rapidly from October 2025. On the eve of his passing, at the time of his medication, he had a peaceful expression, raised his arms as if in benediction, and turned his face towards Masako. “That was a movement he normally couldn’t do because of the pain. Perhaps he was sensing heaven, or perhaps he was expressing his gratitude to people,” said someone who was with him.
He published numerous articles in journals such as Mission and Theology of Kobe Lutheran Theological Seminary and Evangelical Theology of the Japan Evangelical Theological Society. His translations include Man, This Irreplaceable Being: The Foundations and Practice of Diakonia (by Kjell Nordstokke) [Editorial note: the original is in Norwegian Det dyrebare menneske : diakoniens grundlag og praksis and we don’t think there is an English translation], Tyndale Bible Commentary: Old Testament 15, Psalms 1–72 (by Derek Kidner), and Tyndale Bible Commentary: 2 Corinthians (by Colin G. Crews), all published by Word of Life Press.
From Christian Shimbun, March 24, 2026