Richard, tell us about the record you’ve released.

The name of the album is “Pray” and it is set to be available online April 1. It’s pretty much something I’ve always wanted to do. It’s a “God thing” and it helped that the right people came along to help make it happen.

Who, exactly, “came along?”

A Japanese gentleman named Taro Kajima helped make it happen. He helped me arrange the music and make sense of what I was doing and helped me to get several gigs. My wife has also been a true partner. She has prayed for me and took care of the kiddos while I spent long hours at the studio. She has also helped me set up my Web site.

So the people in Japan have been good to you?

Yes. One of my favorite things about the people in Japan is that when they say they are going to do something, they’re going to do it. They are committed and they follow through.

Gospel in Japan has sorta taken off in recent years. Can you help explain this phenomenon?

From what I’ve been told it started to become more popular when “Sister Act” came out in ’92. The song “Joyful, Joyful” from that movie was very popular here.

You write lyrics, play piano and record music. What inspires you?

Things happen. For instance, Lisa West, a friend of ours from church, was battling cancer and our congregation at Atsugi was praying for her healing. She went on home to be with the Lord because that was His will, but the song “My Friend” is about that situation.

You were raised in Phoenix, a city you said was much divided by races. What was that like?

I grew up in a state that originally didn’t want to recognize the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. There was racism, but I also grew up in a Christian home with loving parents and was insulated from racism. I didn’t encounter it until I joined the Navy in 1981.

Has the Navy advanced in terms of equality?

Oh yes. Our children are being taught to be tolerant of all races and both sexes these days, which is great. The Navy is a reflection of that. Now sailors are just being picked on for more abstract things, like being overweight.

Next duty station for you is Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma. Talk about a difference in cultures!

It’s gonna be night and day, although like in Japan, the people in Oklahoma City are very, very hospitable. We’ve already been stationed there and we really enjoy the country. Compare that to Los Angeles where people could care less whether you come or go and we’ll most definitely take Oklahoma.

So you were born in Los Angeles and raised in Phoenix. Suns or Lakers?

Man, gotta go with Suns because that’s where I’m from, but I was a huge Magic Johnson fan. When he left I jumped off the Lakers bandwagon.

Lt. Richard W. Johnson

Age: 45

Location: Naval Air Facility Atsugi, Japan

Claim to fame: Gospel recording artist

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