Japanese-y Things

We still have so much to learn about living in Japan, Japanese customs and traditions, where religious boundaries and cultural boundaries lie / are blurred, how to responds to various things, how to live life here... Here are a few stories about Japanese-y things that have challenged us in many different ways...

A few months after we first arrived, I was at a community center playtime with the kids and learned a song about throwing beans at demons. I thought it was just a weird song. I soon found out that this is part of a MAJOR Japanese tradition. A "demon" even comes to our kids' Christian preschool every year and gets beans thrown at it (poor volunteer dad!). At the end of winter, people "cleanse" their homes by throwing beans while saying "Demons out! Luck in!" There are LOTS of different kinds of beans available. I posted something on facebook about the whole demon and bean thing and a new local believer wrote that she's sad that she can't eat the beans anymore because she's Christian now and they're so delicious. Well, I didn't know what to say! I didn't know enough about the cultural and religious significance of the beans, what exactly they do with the beans, etc to be able to answer her clearly. Many months later, I had the opportunity to ask a bilingual Japanese pastor who had spent some time in America about this and his reply was, "Well, let me ask you this. Do American Christians eat Halloween candy?" All of the American missionaries sitting in the room smiled. As did I. :)

As you can imagine, there's a lot of "Engrish" around. I usually just smile and don't usually take photos, but I did of this one. The spelling errors on this sign "Fride steamed Bum in custard" though actually stopped me from taking one. It wasn't until I got home that I read the Japanese above and realized it's something that I actually really like! One of those rare occasions where I would have been better off ignoring the English!

Did you know that Hiroshima is famous in Japan for its oysters? I had no idea that oysters could be served in so many different ways... The middle one in the last picture is fresh oyster with Japanese-style kimchi on top. We don't eat out very often and the type of restaurants we go to don't tend to offer fresh oysters, but it's a fun treat when we get the opportunity!

This is a story from almost almost a year back now... Before we were given our second car, I had to take a taxi a couple of times because Peter needed the car. I knew it'd be expensive, but I just remember being so completely shocked the first time I rode in one - the 10 minute drive from the kids' preschool to our home cost more than I care to remember. :/ After one particular playdate with other moms from Juhee's preschool class at the mall, I had to go home because I had to teach later that afternoon, but the mom who had offered to give me and Juhee a ride back home on her way home was nowhere to be seen. I tried calling her, but no answer. I tried calling Peter probably about 10 times to see if he could come pick us up as he was back home, but no answer. So I decided to get a cab. It was a white one, very much like the one in the picture. The cab driver started speaking a mixture of Japanese and English to us when he realized that Juhee and I were speaking in English. Two parts of our conversation are still vivid in my mind. As usual, when someone asks about why we're here, I mention about us being Christian missionaries. His reply was, "Oh! I'm Christian too. Do you know Jehovah's Witness? I'm Jehovah's Witness" Ummm... We talked about life in America and Japan and the taxi driver asked Juhee, "Which do you like better, America or Japan?" Juhee put her head to the side, thought for a minute, and then said, "America" The driver's response was "I hate you!" Wow. Seriously?!?!?! To a 5-year-old?! We were insulted AND had to pay way too much for the 10-15 minute ride home. I was not a happy bunny!!!

Strawberries, like most fruits in Japan, are fairly expensive. I don't tend to buy them in the Winter when they first come out but usually wait till March or so when they're cheaper. Now and again, if there's a packet of strawberries in the discounted area 'cause they're starting to go bad, I'll grab it. I wash them, cut off the tops (although now that the kids are older, sometime I leave them on) and the parts going bad, count them, and divide them evenly into four so the four of us get the same number. Japanese strawberries are similar to Korean ones - a brighter & lighter red and sweeter with no tartness. I don't know if they're still around, but if they are, I'm looking forward to buying one of those boxes with six quarts of strawberries for $10 from the guys who sell them on street corners when we get back! :)

We have cable. When our home was set-up for us, our home set-up team ordered cable for us as part of our internet package. We're so grateful for cable!!! Being able to watch familiar TV shows in English at night after the kids have gone to bed is a great way to detox from language and cultural stress. One evening during the Sochi Winter Olympics, I was watching Korean news on KBS World. Everything was normal until they got to the part where they were going to show footage from the Olympics. And then I got this! A notification saying that due to copyright laws, the footage cannot be shown on KBS World. :( The commentary continued but no footage... :'( We have this issue with some videos online too - praise songs, sermons, drama :) ... It's very sad when I get a message telling me that the online video cannot be viewed in my country of residence. :(

During a visit to Korea a couple of years ago, I was chatting with the taxi driver and I told him that we live in Japan and were just visiting. He then said, "I heard Japanese people brush their teeth in the kitchen / kitchen sink." "Uh..." "That's gross!" "Uh..." At that point, I didn't know anything about it and I didn't know that brushing teeth in the kitchen was something gross. Weird, yes, but not sure if it was gross. Well, fast forward a few months and we're sitting in the home of one of the Japanese pastors that we work with and are having a conversation about life in Japan. I'd just shared a testimony about how difficult our first couple of years were and they wanted to know more. As an example, I told them about how it was a challenge for us to brush the kids teeth and do bath time in the Winter because our sink & bath area (toilet's separate) were so cold and would take a while to heat up because our insulation was so poor. The pastor very matter-of-fact-ly said, "Why don't you brush your teeth in the kitchen? It's already warm." Well, we hadn't really thought of doing that... We didn't think it was something that people did... And then I remembered what the Korean taxi driver had said... So as of Winter of 2013, the Oh family brushes their teeth in the kitchen during the Winter too... Gross or not, it's the most practical solution and one that we're very happy with!

When we first went to visit our first house, there was a very powerful, distinct, not-so-pleasant smell. I asked what the smell was and I was told that it's the smell of new tatami mats. Thankfully it aired out pretty quickly. When we first came to our current house to view it, the tatami mats were used, but still in very good condition. When we moved in, we found out that the owners had replaced them with new ones - eek! For us, it meant more pressure to keep it "gently used". We don't really like tatami - it's hard to vacuum and sometimes little splinter like parts come off, so to kill two birds with one stone, we bought a carpet to cover our tatami. One of our close friends came to visit soon after we moved in and she told us that she did the same with her tatami. She lifted it up one day during rainy season and found mold covering the bottom of the carpet and tatami! So whenever we get the chance, we air out our tatami/carpet. We've had so many problems with mold on our futons, blankets, shoes, etc and clothes, towels, etc smelling like dirty rags in Hiroshima... We definitely try to be more proactive now - we found out the hard way!!!

On April 1st of this year, the Japanese government raised tax from 5% to 8%. Next April, it's rising to 10%. As you can imagine, there was a rush to buy big items (like cars!) before April 1st and I'm sure people will be buying more throughout this year before next April hits. On March 31st (Monday), we'd just come back from our one week Vision Trip and I needed to do some grocery shopping. I went to the discount grocery store that I usually go to and was met with a big surprise! There was hardly any parking and it was PACKED inside!!! All of their tills were open and they still had long lines. It was already close to dinner time, so I decided to just grab a few things. I chatted with the lady at the till and she said that it'd been crazy since the weekend, and not just that store but most stores around the country. Price tags are also different now. Japan used to have the same system as Europe (or at least the countries I've been to) and most of Asia (ditto) - what you see is what you pay. But now, it's changed so that it's like America - what you pay is what you see + tax, so the amount you pay at the register is always higher. It was hard for me to adjust to this when I moved to America. I always felt like I was being ripped off. I often felt like something that I thought was affordable, or at least OK for the price, was no longer so and ended up leaving the store wondering if I'd actually made a smart purchase. I'm sure it's going to take a while for people in Japan to get used to too. We're going to have sticker shock BIG time when we return to Japan in early 2016!

3rd Anniversary of 3.11

Yesterday was the third anniversary of 3.11.

First, let me share with you a few links...

This article called "Still hunting shadows" gives you insight into the efforts that are put into pacifying the spirits of the dead in a culture where spirits never find rest.  Here, they don't say, "Good-bye.  Rest in peace."  There are so many ceremonies / times of the year when spirits of the dead supposedly come back and need to be pacified again and again.  I know that being able to bury remains is important in any and every culture, and that a lot of closure comes from it too, but in Japan, it's a different level...  It's not so much about closure for the people who are remaining, but for the well-being of the spirit of the dead.  The author also writes this...

"Midorikawa believes that many Tohoku residents are currently in worse shape than they were in 2011. The number of volunteers has shrunk to a fraction of the number that used to travel to the region to help cleanup operations.

In 2011, residents were genuinely hopeful of a brighter future. The reality now, however, couldn’t be starker. Over the past three years, more people in Fukushima Prefecture have died as a result of stress-related illnesses as a consequence of the quake and tsunami than the number of people killed on March 11, 2011, a joint report released last month by the prefectural government and the local police showed."

With regards to the statement beginning "Over the past three years," I don't think it's accurate as the number of people killed on 3/11/2011 is over 15,000 and I don't think it's possible that over 15,000 people died in three years in just one Prefecture where most of the area is actually empty now.  This article, "Survivors still overwhelmed by 3/11 losses", mentions that approximately 3,000 have died since the tsunami due to stress-related illnesses and suicide in the Tohoku region, and I think this statistic is more credible.  I was shocked to read more in this article about the number of people suing the Japanese government.  This would have been pretty much unheard of pre-WWII.  From a nation that used to worship the Emperor as a god and had so much respect for its leaders/politicians...  Filing lawsuits is a big change...  And for a natural disaster nonetheless...

There are so many other titles, "Tohoku kids stressed, haunted by trauma", "Widower to tsunami dives on in hope", "Survivors cling to memories of lost and missing"...  And these are just some of the articles from Japan Times.

But let me turn the focus now from the immense grief, sorrow, and pain to one of hope...

We have friends in the Tohoku area, friends who have moved up to the Northeastern area of Japan after the Triple Disaster.  They uprooted themselves, took themselves out of their "comfort" zones, and started loving on the people there as best as they could.  They have my complete and total respect.

The largest group of volunteers that flooded the area after the Triple Disaster were Christians.  The only group of volunteers that continues to constantly send volunteers are Christians.  Most of the international organizations are now no longer there and most other religious organizations have stopped coming.  Well, at least regularly anyway.

As I already mentioned, we know amazing men and women of God who have moved up there.  Colby & Theresa are doing an amazing job working together with a Japanese pastor, working on the Ippo Ippo Project and their church plant.  Stephen worked with Samaritan's Purse for two years and is now Director of the Ishinomaki Christian Center, drawing Christian leaders and churches in the area together (cooperation and being unified is important!).  Dawn's Facebook posts never cease to amaze me as to how difficult living conditions are up there.  There are people like Sue who have started a business, helping women to make beautiful jewelry out of broken pieces of pottery (short youtube clip, long youtube clip, watch both if you can!).

These people left their homes in Japan to make a new home in an area that was full of heartache and devastation.  Can I just say...  There are two very important parts to that last sentence.  It takes a long time to make a "home" in a country where you don't speak the language and you don't know the culture.  It takes a lot of faith and guts to follow God when He calls you to leave that place where you're now finally feeling settled in and have friends, to go somewhere else, especially a disaster zone!  I can imagine how concerned their friends and family would have been when they found out...  And perhaps the missionaries that are there now, they themselves had fears too.  But they're up there and God is doing amazing things through them.  There is more work being done now there than ever before and people's hearts are being opened as they see the love of God through short-term volunteers and long-term missionaries.

Pray for the survivors in the Tohoku region of Japan.  Pray for the missionaries living there.  Pray that a revival will start there and spread throughout the country!

That would be amazing...  Absolutely amazing...!!!  Nothing is impossible with God!!! :)

March Focus

In Japan, March is when many things end. It's the end of the fiscal year, end of the business calendar year, and of course, the end of the academic year.
This month, Juhee graduates from the preschool that she's been attending for the past 3 years. She leaves with lots of good and bad memories and is actually looking forward to not seeing her bully again for a long time. :/ Pray that she'll enjoy her last couple of weeks and that everything will go well on her graduation day. She's really looking forward to getting dressed up! :) Big day is Friday, March 21st.

After a break, Peter has begun meeting with his private English student again. Pray that their relationship will deepen during the next year and that Peter will always remain open to following the HS's guiding.

Due to popular demand, we have a new Kids Brown class starting up in April at Asaminami Chapel. Praise God for the provision of another teacher! We now have 3 classes and about 35 students total + more at Koyo and Kabe Chapel. I'll be training the new teacher in March so pray that she'll be able to prep well and feel confident before her classes begin.

During March, the Kids Brown teachers (me, Jess, and the new teacher), will be planning a special Easter class during April. Pray for us as we plan! Pray that the kids and moms will come to know the importance of Easter and spend some time thinking about the new information that they've been presented with...

The biggest thing happening in March as a family is probably our vision trip at the end of this month. We were going to try to make it a half vision trip, half vacation kind of thing, but it looks like it's going to be mostly vision trip. Hopefully we'll be able to have fun and be encouraged as we talk to different Japanese pastors and missionaries in Shimonoseki and Fukuoka + surrounding areas. Hopefully the kids will have fun while the adults talk?! Juhee and I don't travel well - car sickness - so we're trying to time long drives during possible nap times to try to minimize car sickness. We'll be driving a lot and staying at four different places so pray that we'll be able to not get too tired and stay healthy and vomit-free during our travels. In our minds, we are nowhere near qualified for some of the possible "jobs", but we've been asked to at least come and see so we are. The church members here in Hiroshima too, as more and more are finding out about the possibility of us not returning to Hiroshima, are asking that we please return. There's a LOT of work to be done in Japan and a HUGE need for more workers. Pray that the trip will really help us to discern God's will for us for when, God willing, we return to Japan in January/February of 2016. Pray for more workers too!

Peter continues to attend Japanese conversation classes at the local community center. Pray that he'll continue to make good connections there with the students and teachers and that his Japanese listening & speaking skills will continue to improve.

Pray for me as I continue to prepare for Juhee's entry into elementary school! Still lots and lots of prep to do... :/

And last, but definitely not least, March 31st is our 7th wedding anniversary. Yay! :) We praise God for the crazy 7 years that we've been married and all that He's held our hands through. Thank you, God! Thank you for an amazing hubby. I'm so glad he's my hubby. *^^*

Thank you so much for your constant prayers and encouragement. :)

Quick prayer request...

Hey everyone!

Just writing up a quick prayer request post before I head out the door to teach my English classes. :)

Pray for health for our family - I've had a couple of days of not quite being sick but not really being not-sick either.  I had forgotten that days like those exist.  Today the fog's cleared (yay!) but Juhee was talking about not feeling so good this morning so pray for her.  She's had a runny nose (for like the 10th time this winter!) since last week so I'm debating on whether or not to take her to the doctor on Tuesday if she still has a runny nose.  Sungjae had a fever last Friday and had to be picked up early from daycare.  I was sad having to ask Peter to go pick him up while I went to teach English... :'( It was the first time I wasn't able to be there for my baby when he was sick. :(  Peter's had a cold since the weekend. :(  It hopefully peaked during the past couple of days and is now going into recovery mode.  I hope!!!  He's leading praise again tomorrow as usual but with a nasal-y voice and less practice...  He's just gone out to put a few hundred of our latest flyers in mailboxes 'cause he's feeling a bit better.  Hopefully he won't feel worse after!  

Hahaha...  Well, it's not very funny...  But I just realized that as I post this, most of you will be going to bed or are already in bed...

However!  I'm still going to ask for your prayer 'cause I know at least some people are still up and someone might see this blog post. :)

Pray for March too - LOTS of things happening in March!  Will update with March Focus hopefully soon.

And pray for those that are depressed.  Spring = more energy = more energy to attempt suicide.  It's a sad and horrific truth.  Blog posting coming soon about that too...

Thankful for your prayers :)

Spring Suicides SOS

Today, my friend from High School (Germany), texted me to tell me about how things have been going.  She sent it to my old-style not-smart cell phone and I started getting tired of constantly having to scroll down, so I forwarded it to my gmail - it was pretty long. In the text, she wrote about how difficult life has been.  She had an argument last night and she became so depressed, she decided that she would commit suicide the next day.  In her mind, it was the last straw and life was just too hard.  So she was going to commit suicide today but thankfully, decided not to - phew!  I think she'd gone a whole year without contemplating suicide which I think is a big achievement!

I was glad that she made an active decision not to, instead of today becoming another failed attempt - or worse.  She now wants to live so that her children won't be branded as "the kid who's mother committed suicide"...  I'm glad she now has something that is making her want to live.  But she's going through a tough time so I don't know if this will be enough motivation.  She said she just wants somebody to say "Good job!" and let her know that she is doing things right, doing things well, that someone does appreciate all of the mundane housework, etc that she's doing, that it's not all in vain...  And for someone to understand how hard it is for her to even get up in the morning because of her depression, let alone live the life of a "normal" housewife and mother of two young kids.

I've talked to her about God, Jesus, forgiveness, love, hope, have sent her a couple of things...  In her text, she wrote that she cannot pray because she does not believe in God.

My SOS to you is this.  Pray that she will open her heart to the Holy Spirit knocking.  Pray that she will be able to have the courage to go to a new place with new people and visit a church nearby 'cause it's something that's really hard for people with depression.  She doesn't drive so takes public transportation everywhere but has to swallow a few pills before she can do so 'cause of various anxieties and phobias.  Pray that other encouragers will come alongside her.  Pray for her marriage.  He's stressed and tired.  He's tired of caring for a wife with depression too.  He's a friend of mine too from the same HS.  Pray for the health of her children, especially her daughter as she's developed signs of psychological distress.  Her daughter's in the first grade, just one year older than our Juhee.

I always thought that more suicides happened in the winter.  I'd heard that depression is worse in the winter when it's darker for longer and it's cold.  I'd heard some statistic about the most suicides being committed on the day that the night is longest.  But recently, I heard from an expert on depression that spring is actually when the most suicides occur.  In Eastern Asian countries, for those that are not depressed, it's because of the pressure from entrance exams or "not good enough" results after.  Or not getting the "right" job and letting people down.  For those that are depressed, the winter months are usually really tough and they have very little energy.  In fact, for many of them, they actually have too little energy to attempt suicide.  In the spring, they have a bit more energy - which also means just enough energy to attempt suicide.  I was so shocked when I found out about this...

Here's a bit more info on suicides in and outside of Japan.  The links are from an old blog post that was started but never finished.  Suicide has become very real to me since I became reacquainted with my friend from HS several years ago through Facebook.  I was so sad to find out out that the bright, cheerful, outgoing girl I once knew had been suffering from depression after being bullied at college when she and her family returned to Japan.  Bullying...  At college...  Because she spoke English and had grown up abroad...  When she first told me, my response was, "Bullying at college?" "Jenny, this is Japan.  Bullying happens everywhere and anywhere, regardless of age."  I guess that's true for most countries, but something seems different here in Japan...

Saving 10,000
Third Day - I Need a Miracle
Suicide is a Lie

Depending on the year, Japan has either the highest or second highest number of suicides per year.  One thing I learned from when I was in the pharmaceutical industry is that Japan is one of the highest consumers of mental illness related medicines too.

PRAY for those that are depressed!  PRAY for the hundreds who are contemplating suicide today.  PRAY for someone to reach out to them and just listen to what they have to say.  Sometimes, that's all it takes.  PRAY that their families and friends will have renewed energy, patience, and love for them.  PRAY that they will one day soon come to know the love and hope that we have in Jesus Christ.  That we have eternal life in Heaven to look forward to...

I mentioned a Christian group called enochinodenwa ("phone call of life") to my friend once and suggested that she tried calling them.  She said she tried calling them several times and most of the time their line was busy.  She did get through to them and talked with them but she said it didn't help. Suicide helplines in Japan always receive more phone calls than they can handle...

Pray for the depressed...  Pray for those helping, living with, or related to those with depression too.

Pray that the sufferers will soon one day becomes survivors.

Dec '13 - Jan '14 Newsletter

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Lice... ^^; (No, not rice)

I can laugh about it now, but I couldn't back then... I was brushing Juhee's hair one morning to tie her hair like I always do and noticed that there were a few small white.. um.. things in her hair. I tried to brush it off, but it wouldn't come off easily. I thought "it can't be.. it can't be.......", checked Sungjae's hair and saw that he had some too, had a discussion inside my head as to what I should do, and then sent them off to kindergarten/daycare. ^^; Probably wasn't the wisest or the most responsible decision...

Peter and I spent some time that morning reading up on lice. LICE! We couldn't believe it... Neither of us had ever had lice nor knew much about it so we had a lot of reading up to do! We live in Japan, one of the cleanest countries in the world. One of the most hygiene-and-bath-obsessed countries in the world. How could our kids possibly have lice???

We also needed to find out what "lice" is in Japanese... Our English-speaking Japanese friends sometimes joke about how the Japanese pronunciation of "rice" and "lice" are the same and then explain to their non-English speaking friends what the two mean in Japanese. It's usually followed by some measure of shock and horror. I know what "rice" is in Japanese but never paid close attention when "lice" was being explained. Maybe I should have?! :/

Before picking up the kids, I went to a drug store nearby and looked for lice treatment shampoo. I tried to do it without asking for help, but alas... :/ I was shocked at how expensive those shampoos are! We were able to make out most of the instructions from the explanations and pictures but having general instructions online in English definitely helped. That evening, we used our "special shampoo" and our "special comb" for the first time...

Sungjae was the first to get out of the shower and when Peter went through his hair with the lice removal comb, he got lots of eggs and a female too! It was SO GROSS!!! Ach!

I won't go into too much detail, but let's just say that many many hours were spent going through the kids' hair searching for eggs. We learned that I have a talent for finding eggs that are invisible to Peter. I couldn't believe how lo~~~ng it took for us to become completely egg-free. And no, that wasn't a typo. I did mean "us". I sleep in between the kids so did not escape... :( Peter did though! :)

I also did something like 7 or 8 loads of laundry in the first 24 hours after finding out that we had lice and then a few more after that too. Laundry was hanging everywhere downstairs! I don't like using our dryer 'cause it's expensive to run, takes forever, and everything tends to come out wrinkled, but I had to use our dryer once.

This is just some of it... There was lots more... :/

I called the kids' kindergarten / daycare to let them know that our kids had lice but that we're treating it and washing everything. Their teachers checked their hair too and said they seemed fine. Their teachers thought it was kind of funny that I was so horrified and grossed out about our kids having lice. One of their teachers said, "Oh~ It must be because Jenny-san doesn't like bugs!" I guess the Japanese perception of lice is different..?! Their teachers told me that there's been an outbreak of lice in the surrounding elementary schools since fall and so some of the kids with older siblings have had it too. There was another kid in Sungjae's class who had it at the same time. It actually ended up spreading in Sungjae's class so instead of the kids' hats all hanging together on the hat rack, they're being put away into their individual lockers and I think the kids are still being checked regularly. I really hope our kids don't come home with lice again!!!

I bumped into the mom of Sungjae's best friend last week and asked her why she had so much stuff to take home mid-week (on Fridays the kids bring everything home to be washed, but mid-week they don't usually bring home a whole lot). She said that the teacher told her that her son had lice. She had had no clue. I was surprised back then that she hadn't realized, but thinking about it now, I completely understand... We don't brush Sungjae's hair and I don't tend to look carefully at it. It's only 'cause I tie Juhee's hair every morning that I realized...

Anyway...  I think it took us three bottles of the special shampoo, many hours of me running laundry and both Peter and me trying to figure out the best (quickest, most energy efficient, and cheapest) way of drying everything, and many hours of checking through hair and removing eggs. Needless to say, every time I see a speck of anything on our kids' hair now I go on high alert... @@

Man did those little creatures make our "quiet" January a lot busier and stressful than we ever could have imagined!

I'm sure there's a really good reason why God created lice... ^^; Why, God? Why???

"Participation Day" and "Explanation Day"

Today was one of my busier days.

I had to be at Juhee's preschool by 10:00am for their "(Parent) Participation Day" performance. They have these days I think twice a year and today's was her last ever one as a preschooler.

They had lots of little mini performances showing the moms (and the couple of dads that came) what they've learned and how they play at preschool.  It was really cute and very Japanese-y! :)

So the preschool thing was supposed to be from 10:00-10:30 which would have left me and the one other mom from Juhee's preschool class who has a son who will be attending the same elementary school, plenty of time for us to get to the elementary school for the 11:00 "Explanation Day".  However, it ended closer to 10:45 so we RAN out of the preschool, drove down, and then RAN into the elementary school and up the stairs to the fourth floor.  We made it in just as the Vice Principal started speaking - so thankful that two other moms who have kids in the same preschool saved seats for us! But before we went in, we had to get our information packs. I said Juhee's name and the teacher at the registration desk actually went straight down the list past Juhee's name, the only name written in English. So when I pointed it out to her, she looked up at me in surprise. :) I think she was expecting a non-Asian to go with the name written in English. ;) She then asked me to speak to the VP after the meeting as there were a few things that she wanted to discuss with me.

The mom from Juhee's class has a son already in that elementary school so it was great having her sitting next to me.  I asked her questions about different things that various teachers informed us parents about, and filled in two forms with her that needed to be submitted as we were leaving.  I almost ended up buying double the number of PE clothes than I needed!  I spoke to the VP afterwards and I could see the look of mixed alarm and relief when I introduced myself to her.  I knew I needed to speak to somebody about how Juhee's name would be written and sure enough, that's what she wanted to speak to me about too.  So we discussed various options and came up with おうじゅひ.  Now I can go start making the hundreds of labels that I need to label everything for elementary school.  And no, I'm not exaggerating!

The Principal greeting the parents; The VP thanking all of the parents for attending - everyone bow!; Moms looking at PE uniform sizes - short sleeves & shorts all year round, names are all stitched on, all special order; When we were leaving, there were kids outside for PE, despite the fact that it'd been snowing earlier that morning and was still super cold, they were all in short sleeves and shorts with their school uniform blazers thrown on top of beams in the playground area of the field... 

It was nice meeting her and putting behind us the tension of who-are-the-foreigners-and-how-much-Japanese-do-they-speak from the school's point of view and how-understanding-are-the-Principal-and-VP-of-this-school from our side.  I told her that Peter and I would like to meet with the two of them sometime to officially introduce ourselves and explained that although Juhee would only be a student there for one year, that if there was anything we could do to help in terms of English, to just ask.  They both seem really nice so seriously seriously Praise God for that!!!!!

I was supposed to have lunch with the moms from Juhee's preschool class, but as I would have been very late (due to the "Explanation Meeting"), I organized a last minute lunch with the moms from Juhee's preschool who would be going to the same elementary school.  They were all up for it and we had a great time!  It's great to have friends already before going into our next big adventure of unknowns.  The moms and their kids are all really nice too so I'm looking forward to hanging out with them more.  We went to an Italian restaurant really closeby that I didn't even know existed.  The food and atmosphere were great!  Price was reasonable too.  We all found out each other's first names and decided to go on a first name basis.  Going from Last-Name-san to Abbreviated-First-Name-chan is a big step here in Japan!!!  We talked about preschool things, elementary school things, kids' after school activities...  I found out that there's one more kid from the same preschool who will be attending the same elementary school too.  We're all in a similar phase so we didn't really have a shortage of things to chat about. ;)  Today was hopefully the first of many hangouts together with these moms. :)

Lunch with the moms; my delicious seafood risotto which came with a salad appetizer, a drink, and creme brulee dessert all for about $12; lots of paperwork for me. SO GRATEFUL for God providing awesome friends who are willing and wanting to help.

Thank you, God!!! :)

Ehomaki

So in Japan, on the last day of Winter or "Setsubun", they have a couple of traditions, just like Americans (used to) have traditions followed on "Groundhog Day". Groundhog Day is February 2nd, Setsubun is February 3rd.

There's the really old tradition of throwing beans inside homes while saying "Demons out! Luck in!" to chase out demons. They eat all sorts of beans too. Many kids around Japan including Juhee and her friends, made demon masks this past week. I'm sure Sungjae will be making a mask next year too. A parent dresses up as a demon every year on this day and runs around the preschool grounds terrorizing the kids. As with the past two years, Juhee cried when the demon was at her preschool and had trouble falling asleep at night, even knowing that God is stronger than any demons and that it was a pretend demon with a daddy inside. I really don't understand why they do this at Juhee's preschool. After all, it's a Christian preschool and not even all non-Christian preschools do it, so why do it? Why teach the little kids Bible stories and prayers to the One and Only Almighty God and then confuse them with traditions that teach the kids to think that throwing beans at demons is an effective and necessary way of chasing out demons and bringing in luck for the next year??? Especially when the Bible clearly teaches us to not play with demons!

Anyway... :///

There's a relatively new tradition in Japan for this day too, which is to make a specific type of 김밥 or makisushi rolls called "Ehomaki". I didn't know anything about it until last month, when one of the ballet moms asked all of the other moms to order "Ehomaki" through her as her friend owns a 7Eleven. The moms talked about how it wasn't something that they did when they were kids and that 7Eleven made it popular a few decades ago. The power of marketing... The start of a new "tradition"... Anyway, here's what my friend sent to me to explain the whole thing:

Ehomaki is a long sushi roll which you eat all in one on the night of Setsubun, while facing silently toward the year's “lucky” direction with your eyes closed, wishing for perfect health and praying for prosperity of business. It is said ehomaki-eating comes from men making prostitutes eat sushi for fun in the Kansai area. You make ehomaki with seven ingredients: cucumber,teriyaki eel, sweet fishflakes and kanpyo are rolled in seaweed representing the seven gods of happiness. By doing so, people hope to bring happiness into their lives.

Only five ingredients are listed above. In ours, there was a Japanese-style sweet egg roll and something pink too... I think it might have been some sort of fish egg but I'm not sure.

So I ordered a couple for our family so we could try them out and so that I can talk about the traditions concerning Setsubun, including this new one, with our kids. I've found through experience that it's better to be proactive than reactive... They are with many other adults who will guide them otherwise.

Here's part of what I wrote on facebook:

Thanks to one of Juhee's ballet friends' moms, we enjoyed a new experience today too: eating "ehomaki" on "setsubun" (Coming of Spring Day). ... You're also supposed to eat it all in one go without closing your mouth... So you don't bite off a small bite, put it down, chew, swallow, and take another bite. You chew swallow chew swallow chew swallow etc until the whole thing is gone. I ordered a "mini" and a "regular" but there was no way we could have eaten the rolls like that, even the mini one! I could see why it started as a tradition for heartless men in the Kansai region to delight in seeing prostitutes suffer as they forced them to eat these big rolls. Anyway, the origins have become mute as it's now become another way for some Japanese people to try to find more blessings in their lives, the 7 ingredients all having a special meaning, a prayer being said while eating it, facing a set direction that is supposed to bring luck for that year. We obviously didn't follow the traditions while eating it, but it made for interesting dinner conversation with the family. Even Sungjae knew that God is not pleased when people pray to other gods. And that neither eating nor facing a particular direction is necessary for our God to hear our prayers.  Thank goodness the rolls were delicious!!! 

And here's what we ate:

The wrapper explains how to unwrap it, the ingredients, nutritional info, and
which orientation to face while eating one's ehomaki.
This year's lucky direction was east-north-east.

Delicious, but definitely too big to eat without stopping. Well,
unless it was really important for you to do so...

We cut ours up into smaller pieces. Much easier to eat and share!
Sungjae didn't eat any, but the rest of us did. They were delicious. :) 

They really were delicious! In the facebook messages going back and forth after everyone ate their "ehomaki"s, the moms talked about how their kid/s did a good job eating the "ehomaki" all in one go, about how for some of the younger siblings it was their first one. One of the moms mentioned that her husband crawled in through the window that evening after work wearing a demon mask and that the one that was most frightened was their cat!

I think for many people it's now something that they do just for fun. I can't imagine people actually believing that either tradition will add any happiness to their lives or health or business prosperity for that matter... But I know that many do have false hopes in such things and that's the part that saddens me. With so much less effort, they could have so much more if they had Jesus and that their hope lies in gods that do not see, hear, or speak...

Pray with me for the people of Japan...

February Focus

Happy Lunar New Year! :)

Hope all of you have had a great start to the new year.

At the end of January, my parents ended up visiting for a few days during Lunar New Year as my dad had a few days off. It was my mom's third time visiting us, but my dad's first. Things have changed a lot since my mom visited us twice within our first six (very stressful!) months here so it was good for her to see things again. It was also her first time going to the churches we work at as she wasn't able to the first two times she was here. It was a super busy but great visit and the kids are a few more toys better off than they were before going to Toys R Us with their grandparents ;) Our fridge-freezer is much better off too! :)

Peter also preached at the end of January for Asaminami Bilingual Chapel. It was his first time preaching for ABC, the new church plant. He continues tolead praise at each of the Saturday afternoon services and will now be taking part in small group preparation classes every other Saturday after the services too.

Peter turns a year older in February. Happy birthday hubby!:)

I'll be teaching English at "Smile Club" again this Friday, 7th, at Asaminami Chapel. There are some new friends of mine coming this week so please pray that they will continue to come, even on the days that I don't teach English.

My two "Kids Brown" Friday afternoon English classes continue this month and it looks like we'll be adding a new class from the new school year in April - yay! The class will be on Thursdays and taught by one of the attendees at Asaminami Chapel.

Peter continues to attend Japanese conversation classesat the local community center. Pray that he'll continue to make good connections there with the students and teachers and that his Japanese listening & speaking skills will continue to improve.

I'm doing lots of prep for Juhee's Elementary School this month and I'm thankful for the other moms that are willing to do things together with me and share information with me.It's great to have friends around! :)

Towards the end of the month, I'll be teaching my last two "English Time" classes at four of the classes at Juhee's kindergarten. For the oldest kids who will be graduating next month, including Juhee and her buddies, it'll be my last time with them. I'm so sad!!! :'( I pray that God will continue to bring them to Him and that maybe through English classes or a continued interest in English, or some other way, that they will continue to be connected to good Christians, Christian organizations, and churches who can share the love of Christ with them continuously as they get older. Please pray with me for these precious kids!!! NONE of them are from Christian homes.

Pray that I'll be able to complete my Annual Ministry Report and that we'll be able to get out newsletters in both English and Korean this month. They're high on our priority list but somehow still somehow managed to get pushed back with all of the urgent needs. Lots of prayers for this one please!

Peter and I are going through 2 Corinthians during our couple devotional times. Reading this reminded me of all of you who continue to check in with us and pray for us and the work here: "For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again. You also must help us by prayers, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many." 2 Corinthians 1:8-11 We don't feel that we've "received the sentence of death", but we do often feel "so utterly burdened beyond our strength". Thank you for your prayers. It's great to have people around us that we can share our burdens with and that we can rely on for prayers. Thank you. :)

Thank you so much for your constant prayers and encouragement. :)

Our Monthly Support is now at 85%! The support from approximately 50 individuals/families giving regularly + 16 churches currently make up our ongoing Monthly Support. THANK YOU!!! :)