If you move into a new home and meet the neighbors, you could be anywhere. However, you know you are in Japan if:

1. Instead of the neighbors dropping by, you go to visit all of them. You give them a gift that is something mundane (i.e. practical – ours was packets of sugar) but beautifully wrapped and apologize for any inconvenience your moving in has caused and ask if they will kindly accept you into the neighborhood.
2. Before doing that, you have to go visit the neighborhood leader (the han cho – that’s where the slang term comes from) and ask exactly what houses are in your neighborhood (they are specifically segmented) so you get the right ones. He also gives you information about neighborhood dues, clean-up days, and the highly detailed recycling / trash collection system in your new town.

You might also be in cross-cultural ministry if:

1. You do this as a group activity because your fellow worker and his wife come to translate and the Japanese pastor’s wife comes because they also want to meet the people in the neighborhood and invite them to church.
2. You do this even though it is 40° and pouring down rain.

This was the situation we found ourselves in yesterday, taking advantage of a fading Japanese tradition in order to get to know the neighbors (Think about it: In a society oriented around community, you at least get to know everyone’s name and family situation and they get to know yours.) Hopefully, these will be contacts that we can follow up on in the future.

Pray for us as we get to know the people in the neighborhood, even though for the time being our language ability is limited (The pastor’s wife told the neighborhood leader, “They don’t really speak Japanese well yet, but talk to them in Japanese anyway.”) Pray that even now our actions and few words will convey respect and love for the people.

This entry was posted on Monday, February 23rd, 2009 at 7:50 am and is filed under Life in Cross-Cultural Ministry. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.