Dad in Japan, Kermit's wedding

Life overseas is difficult to explain, so that's part of the reason I loved having my dad in Japan!  Plus, I had missed him a lot!  Here are some pictures of:

A) coming into Tokyo from the airport
B) volunteer work in Tohoku
C) Tsukiji fish market
D) eating soft cream with my beloved friends
E) campus ministry

Another Fall blessing was Kermit's wedding! 

Th

1 Year

Today was my one-year anniversary of living in Japan.  It was a good day.  Actually, I lived in Japan for 9 months before (2007-8) and my neighbors at that time are the biggest blessing ever. 

Today, we had soft cream at our favorite little shop.  Then they invited me back to their house, where I was told to relax because it is also my home.  Thank you Keiko and Minori for celebrating with me and giving me sweet presents and being like family to me!!!

Identitiy Check

So, I'm going to church camp tomorrow.  I've never really been nervous for that sort of thing, but I can't sleep and I'm pretty scurred. 

The thing is that I don't know if there will be any other foreigners or not.  The language barrier is a bit nerve-racking, but the cultural differences are what really gets me.  But my friend just reminded me the other day not to worry about making mistakes.  And the truth of the matter is that I'm prideful and need to check where my identity comes from.  I like how one of my new favorite songs puts it:

I am His, He is mine. Bought with the blood of Christ. (Hello by KB)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9ORUsOPF4I

Tono and Tokyo

This week I got to spend a lot of time with people living in temporary homes.  We mostly just talked, and occasionally made a craft.  I loved meeting the local people and the other volunteers.

It's still heart-breaking to see the piles of wreckage, and this time some of the mounds were unbelievably high.  Overall, those who suffered loss are able to laugh and have a good time though.  One man's experience of the tsunami was unreal, but he told it without a trace of fear and without tears.  I guess time brings healing, but this man lost both of his brothers, and found the body of one of them hanging when he returned after escaping.  Also, his wife and him helped many kids from a near-by junior high get to the mountains, but the whole group was not able to make it safely. 

I can't imagine what these dear people went through, but God seemed to be showing me something this week.  I am just like these people, because I need God's grace every single moment. 

On a lighter note, I've been back in Tokyo for approximately 24 hours and I've:

• been to one wedding
• had two people fall asleep on me on the train
• eaten tiny squid pasta thinking it was parmesan cheese

comma

I think the word for "lost and found" in Japanese is the most boring thing possible: 　おわすれものとりあつかいじょ、,  which basically means "the place for handling lost things." 

Please note that I used two commas above, to demonstrate that I learned how to write a comma in Japanese this week.

Perhaps future posts will be more interesting than this one, because I started taking an Intercultural Communications class which, if I am correct, has some serious potential for blog material.

cherry blossoms

さくら(sakura) are truly a source of national pride and joy in Japan. However, I find it ironic how many people complain during this season. If you want to know the whole truth behind the cherry blossom in Japan, here it is. The vast majority of my Japanese friends are experiencing severe hay fever. Also, the train stations and streets near large parks are ridiculously crowded (no fair or anything I've experienced in America compares.)

However, I went outside of Tokyo to visit a friend on Saturday and peacefully enjoyed the sights. Early mornings and the area where I usually go running are also perfect for お花み (ohanami, or cherry blossom viewing.)

Although there are some frequent complaints lately, I can see why the Japanese love this flower. When you're below the tree with the blue sky as a background or beside some low branches, the sakura are breathtaking.

Saturday

Not the greatest meet-up spot.

Beach

I love the ocean so much! And I had the chance to go on Tuesday with my classmates and teachers, thanks to the spring equinox national holiday （春分の日）in Japan! Understatement: I really enjoyed being by the ocean. It took a little bit of courage, but I also ate hijiki, a type of seaweed apparently loaded with minerals.

Update on the CHANGE conference. Thank you so much for your prayers! It was an incredible time of worship and fellowship!! The students loved time together and were courageous to share their faith as well. Pictures to come in my monthly prayer letter.

beer?

Today I was trying to explain to two of my Japanese classmates (from Russia and China) that I met someone from Spain who is an architect. Well, I couldn't remember how to say architect in Japanese. When I tried to say that she designs buildings, I accidentally said ビール (biーru) instead of ビル (biru), which means beer, not building. They thought that she gives tours to people at beer factories...

On a more serious note, yesterday students from all over Japan came to Tokyo for the CHANGE conference. They are focusing on how to know Jesus better in order to change their lives and the world for Him. You may be able to see us in worship at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/チェンジ２０１２-仕えよう-ニッポン

pure white

Talking about the weather is usually just small talk. But since a lot of my friends and family are from San Diego and LA, the seasons in Tokyo can actually be pretty exciting...last week it was snowing, and today I spotted the first signs of spring.

Actually, I've only ever experienced snow-fall in Japan, and I think it's beautiful. It really brings to life part of the Bible for me:

Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. -Isaiah 1:18

From my brand new Japanese Bible, that's: さぁ、来れ。ろんじ会おうと主はおおせられる。たとい、あなたがたのつみがひのようにあかくても、雪のように白くなる。ーイザヤ１：１８

I can't understand or fully explain this in Japanese yet. But, I love how the snow reminded me of how clean I am because of Jesus in my life. Alone, my life is extremely ugly and stained. However, through God's grace all of that is washed completely away.


OK, then approximately an hour after I wrote this stuff above, I learned a new Japanese character... 真. I learned two different ways to read this kanji, "ma" and "shin". Two of the words it's used in are masshiro (真白）and shinri（真理）、meaning "pure white" and "truth".

best and worst word of the week

Studying Japanese can be interesting.

It doesn't seem to make sense that できるだけ (dekiru dake), which literally means "to be able, only" actually means to do as much as possible.

But, if you think about it, we probably have words like this in English too. And, what does Jack have to do with a wind-up box that pops something up out at you? The Japanese have a much better name in my opinion, びっくりはこ (bikkuri hako), which means "surprise box."

This week also held some very fun events in ministry. Especially having a celebration for graduating students and meeting with the gospel choir FREE (pictures included.)

It is also fun to mention that tonight, I got to see my uncle!!! He's been to Japan on business twice already in just short of 6 months that I've been here! I'm so blessed.

Valentines

In Japan, Valentine's Day is celebrated by women giving chocolate. There are different kinds of gifts, including:

A. purchased chocolate for male co-workers
B. purchased choc for female friends
C. hand-made or very special chocolate for husbands, boyfriends, love interests

The idea is that a guy must return the gift, but 3 times as expensive, on White Day, March 14th.

Well, the guys of Campus Crusade for Christ wouldn't have that, so they decided to treat the women to a special meeting during the week of Valentine's Day. They ran all the usual events, including worship, a message from the Bible, and dinner. They also had a fun game, flowers, and cake for afterwards! My friend said it was the first time she saw men giving for Valentine's Day, and all of us LOVED it!

Is Japan different...

It's a bit difficult to imagine how different a foreign country is until you visit. My Japanese friend did a homestay in America, and yesterday we started talking about the differences between the U.S. and Japan. I don't think I can do them justice, but here were a few of our thoughts...

A. food. she missed sticky rice and miso soup, and I miss readily available and cheap pizza

B. dress. in Tokyo the style is so much more formal overall. sweatshirts and jeans are far less common, and the vast majority of people are very fashion conscious. frills and feminine touches are also everywhere

C. space. Everything in Tokyo is condensed and small. stairways can seem like a joke to me. water glasses seriously look like shot glasses sometimes. Japanese people are so good at packing things into small areas

D. rules. There is a particular order to follow for everything in Japan. In America, going to the bank and the grocery store are in the same category: errands. But in Japan, places like the post office and bank are taken more seriously, and they have procedures and check-points that take a bit longer.

E. this is random, but in Japan the shower and toilet are in separate rooms. my friend thinks it's so inconvenient to have them together. she just doesn't understand :)

まちがえます (make a mistake)

Yesterday I started to wonder, what percentage of the time do I have miscommunications? I think if I knew, I'd leave Japan. Last week's blunders (that I'm currently aware of):

fireworks⇔flower vase
son⇔daughter
janitor⇔doll
milk⇔beef
20 years⇔20 years old


Another fun note about life in Japan~they have a monster instead of a groundhog. The traditional calendar marks the beginning of February as the beginning of spring, or Setsubun. To celebrate, you throw beans at someone dressed like a monster, to drive away evil. Then you eat the number of beans of your age, because traditionally they didn't celebrate individual birthdays in Japan but aged together at the new year.

iroiro いろいろ

いろいろ is a very convenient word when you're learning Japanese. It's means various, as in:

What kind of cakes do you like to bake? いろいろ。

I have some catching up to do on my blog, so I will write about いろいろ things. :)

First, I would like to say that Skype (see photo) is great. I celebrated Christmas with my family over Skype and then had a great party with my roommates and classmates for my birthday. I am super blessed.

I also got to spend my first white Christmas in the area where the tsunami hit last year. I will write my next prayer letter about the trip, but here are some extra pictures. There are really no words, seriously. But you can see a glimpse in the pictures that the devastation is still incredibly serious. The people in Tohoku welcomed the donated Christmas presents we delivered with joy. You can see that I spent time helping to cook and hanging out with kids, since I'm still learning Japanese. For more about the trip, next week please take a look at http://www.ministryupdates.org/eads


Being back in language school is quite the adventure. The amount of reference to alcohol never ceases to out-do itself. This week, one of our kanji was sake (酒). The teacher that day proceeded to act out drunkenness, which I just can't quite picture happening in the classroom setting in America. She keeps us awake though.

Then today, I was thinking that we actually didn't really discuss alcohol at all. We're learning about intransitive verbs. But then, I remembered that shortly after we celebrated a birthday during our break, the teacher mentioned wanting a beer. I think it's a daily topic, with very few, if any, exceptions.

Oh and Happy Belated New Year! I got to visit a temple, as is the Japanese custom. I went with the crowds and watched them wave smoke over their heads (a tradition to make you smarter), threw coins, and read fortunes. Then we went where you can by almost any Japanese food and souvenirs. I'm thankful I could experience they typical new years day in Tokyo!