Funny things can happen when you’re in another culture, don’t read the language very quickly, and think that you are buying something in particular because it fits your preconceived notions.  Everyone gets through life by unconsciously working off of assumptions.  It’s what keeps you from having to remake every decision on a daily basis.  However, when you live in another country or culture, these assumptions don’t always hold true.  Allow me to illustrate…

Right after we arrived here last February, Colby and I were out doing our grocery shopping.  There were a number of things we needed, laundry detergent being one of them.  Unfortunately, we forgot to look up the word for laundry detergent before we left home, and so we found ourselves at the store gazing at all of the bottles that could possibly be detergent.  I had a mountain of laundry at home and so it was imperative that we get detergent that day.  We both knew the pictorial character for “to wash” and so that narrowed our search to just one or two shelves.  After some debate, we settled on a bottle that had the wash character on it along with a picture of some shirts with bubbles all around them.  “There,” we thought, “this must be it!”

A month later,one of our co-workers was here at the church doing some clean-up and asked if she could borrow some laundry detergent.  I gave her what we had and after smelling it and looking at the consistency, she said she didn’t think it was detergent.  She said she didn’t know those characters off the top of her head, but they didn’t look like the ones for detergent.  I went to my computer and looked them up and low and behold, it was shirt whitener!  (Why the bubbles on the bottle? I don’t know.)  So for the whole first month we were here in Japan, I had been washing all of our clothes with shirt whitener.  Needless to say, the clothes were nice and bright!

A few months later, we found ourselves at the hundred yen store (like the dollar store) looking for white-out.  We were in the office supply section, had found something in a bottle similar to the normal one for white-out, and it had the characters for “to write” and “to erase” on it.  “There,” I thought, “this must be it!”  So we happily bought it and brought it home.  Later though, when I went to use it, it came out clear on the paper!  Low and behold, it was some kind of solvent for cleaning ink off of hard surfaces!  Thankfully I went back to the store and was able to find some actual white out for paper and not walls.

The last story is what prompted me to write this post.  A few months before we came to Japan, I had begun using hard contacts instead of glasses.  In America, the cleaning solution and the overnight preserving solution for the contacts are in separate bottles and are usually bought separately.  After running out of my American solution, I went to the drug store here to buy the more, not even giving a second thought to the fact that they might be sold differently.  My wrong assumption was confirmed when I saw two bottles of solutions side by side, one larger and one smaller, just like in America.  So what that they happened to have the same picture on them – they must just be from the same company, that’s all.

After faithfully using both bottles as separate solutions for the last year, I went to the eye doctor recently to get my prescription updated.  With the new contacts, they also gave me a bottle of solution to use.  It was a small bottle and so I thought, “This must be the cleaning solution and I must have to get the preserving solution elsewhere.”  Then I looked more closely at the characters on the bottle and found that it said both cleaning and preserving (I’m now able to recognize those words).  “Oh, isn’t that interesting?” I thought, and suddenly a tiny suspicion about my two bottles at home started to grow inside of me.  Upon returning home I checked both of the bottles  and they both also had the same two words on them – cleaning and preserving.

It is usually at this point when previously held cultural assumptions shatter. However, not to be outdone for the third time by a store product, I calmly told myself I would wait and ask my language helper what the difference between my big and small bottles was.  Alas, my helper said that the two bottles I had bought were different in one simple way – size.  So from here on out I will only need to buy one bottle of solution!

They sure look different, don't they?

Unfortunately, just as it was easy to wrongly assume things about store products, it can also be easy to wrongly assume things about the Japanese.  We desire to understand the Japanese and their perspectives, but sometimes it can be hard to keep an open, unassuming mind when they do or say things.  People from other cultures act differently and look at life in different ways than we do, which is neither good or bad, but just different.  One of the most important things for being effective here is for us to be very careful not to rush to conclusions about the things Japanese people do and say.  By taking the time and putting in the effort, we can learn more deeply about them which will have an effect on how we minister in the future.

Please pray for us as we continue to have our understanding of Japanese culture modified.  Pray that we would be careful not to assume various things about people and their actions, but that our hearts and minds would be open to seeing the Japanese for who they really are.

Once a month the Christar workers in Japan get together for a morning of prayer followed by lunch and general discussion. This past month’s meeting took place at the Christar planted church in a town called Hofu where the Japanese pastor, Yuki-sensei, shared some thoughts with us. He had some very fascinating things to share about the history of Christianity in Japan that Colby and I thought would be interesting to share with you.

Pastor Yuki shares as our team leader translates.

In a general sense, Christianity was formally introduced to Japan in 1549 by Frances Xavier who was a Jesuit missionary. The people were open and over the next few years it seemed to flourish. Pastor Yuki estimated that by 1620, around 800,000 people professed to be Christians (approximately 5% of the population at that time). Around that same time, the Tokugawa dynasty came to power. They began to see Japan’s biggest threat as colonization by the west and almost anything foreign in Japan – Christianity being one of those things – was made illegal. Anyone who was caught worshipping Christ was tortured and killed in a variety of ways unless they renounced their faith. Eventually, Japan became so closed that from 1635 to 1868 the only foreigners allowed in Japan, were Dutch traders, and even they were restricted to a small floating island in Nagasaki harbor.

The Japanese people, being an organized and systematic people, created efforts to expel Christianity that were also organized and systematic. According to Pastor Yuki, the methods used to eradicate Christianity were some of the most systematically thorough methods in the history of the world. During this period of about 250 years, each family was required to be registered with their local Buddhist temple. In those days the Buddhist temples acted like a pseudo town office. Every year, every member of the family had to visit the temple, confirm their membership (including their adherence to Shinto and Buddhism), and then to prove it, each person was required to stomp on a picture of Jesus or Mary.

One of the pictures of Jesus, called a fumie (踏み絵), that the Japanese were forced to step on.

Anyone who did not step on the carvings, or even hesitated to, was assumed to be a Christian or a sympathizer with Christianity and was sent to a place called Nagasaki to be prodded to change their beliefs. If they chose not to renounce Christianity, they were tortured and killed. Even a Christian person’s parents, siblings, grandparents, children, and grandchildren could all face potential persecution for someone in their family being a Christian. Thus, there was great societal and family pressure on a person if they chose to follow Christ. It is said that many people renounced their faith, and it is also said that the Hidden Christian movement began at this time.

When Emperor Meiji began his reign in 1868, because he wanted to open Japan to foreign influences, Christianity was once again allowed and has been ever since. Even though it is gaining in interest these days, the idea of Christianity being a foreign religion and one that is risky in that it can turn families against each other is still a deeply rooted idea. While Japanese people are free to worship whomever they desire, societal pressures are still strong in encouraging people to conform to traditional Buddhist and Shinto beliefs. This, combined with the Japanese tendency toward busyness and accumulation of material things, are a few of the reasons why it is hard for a Japanese person to become a Christian.

Please continue to pray for Colby and me as we minister here in Japan. Pray for God’s wisdom to know how best to convey the truths of the Gospel and the Japanese people’s need for the Gospel. Please pray that God would be mightily at work in Japan.

The southern gospel music choir that practices here at the church is preparing for a performance in August. The event is being advertised under the title “This is The Gospel.” Having just returned from a conference where the true nature of the gospel message (a topic I think is quite important) was discussed at length, I have to admit that every time I see the poster for this event, I cringe. In their defense, I think their intended meaning was “This is Gospel” (as in the music); but because Japanese doesn’t have articles (a, an, & the), it is difficult for them to understand the different nuance.

On the heels of those musings, was a ladies’ event we had this past Tuesday. A trio call “Grace Gospel Singers” came up from the island south of us to do a ladies’ concert. While they share the same southern gospel style, this group is markedly different from the one in Ube in that the members of the trio are all strong Christians and wholeheartedly believe the message they are singing. One of the implications of this is that our local group performs most of their songs in English – simply imitating the performances of American groups they see on the internet – this trio performed most of their songs in Japanese – singing out of deep conviction. I don’t know how many of the non-Christian women that attended the concert appreciated having the message of the songs communicated clearly and how many would have rather the message obscured by English so they could just enjoy the music, but the message was clear nonetheless.

One of the members of "Grace Gospel Singers" share some thoughts on the meaning of a song.

The contrast between these two gospel performances got me thinking about how the gospel is communicated here in Japan. Both singing groups were verbally communicating the essence of the gospel message in their songs. The one, however, did so in a way that made that message much clearer to their audience. As westerners that are constantly bumping into aspects of how Japanese people process life differently from us, we need to be conscious that we are communicating the gospel message in a way that enhances its understandability rather than obscures it.

Unfortunately, sometimes when the gospel message is communicated, it is done without concern for how easily is can be received and understood. The promise from Isaiah 55, that God’s Word will accomplish all that he intends, is true. The Scripture and the message of the gospel that it conveys are active and powerful. But that fact does not give us license to simply “put the Word of God out there,” taking no responsibility for how it is heard. Making sure we get the message right is no more important than making sure we communicate the message in a way that it is able to be received and understood.

Pray for Theresa and me, as we continue to learn about Japanese culture and continue to become proficient in how to express deep concepts in Japanese. Pray that the relationships we make will enable us to understand the Japanese and be able to connect with them on a deep level.

This past Friday morning, Colby and I had a very Japanese experience.  One of our English students had recommended a local fish market in another part of the city that sold fish direct from the fishermen at very reasonable prices.  We decided we would meet up with her there, see all of the interesting types of seafood being sold, and get something fresh fish for dinner.

We made sure to get there promptly at 8:30am, just as she recommended.  Bustling with activity already, the market was filled with people selling all kinds of seafood and produce.  We tried to look for our friend, but since we stick out much more obviously than a Japanese person does  in a crowd, we decided it would probably be easier to just let her find us.

Finally we met up and were amazed as she told us the names of all the many kinds of fish.  People who had only ever shopped at a US grocery store would never know there were so many different types!  In addition to the variety, you couldn’t beat the freshness. Each vendor had their baskets of seafood on the floor and many of the bins were filled with water as the fish were still alive.  One poor vendor selling a small breed of octopus continually had to wrangle them back into the basket as they tried to escape!

An octopus trying to make a run for it.

The center of the market was the vendor auction.  One person from each vendor stood around the platform as crates and baskets of all kinds of sea creatures were passed around. For those of you who are interested in auctions, the filler in the auctioneers chant includes the word “kaou, kaou” or “Let’s buy! Let’s buy!”

Colby and I ended up buying a whole “chinu” (black porgy in English) that we brought home and had for dinner the next night.  We cleaned it ourselves by scraping off the scales and taking out the insides.  Half an hour in the oven and it was ready to eat – delicious!

We praise the Lord that we are able to enjoy most Japanese food, including the wide variety of seafood they eat.  Please pray for our English friend we met up with as she does not know the Lord as her savior.

This past Saturday, Theresa and I spent the morning tending to our garden. The plot we have available to use here on the Nohara property has soil with a fairly high percentage of clay and sand (i.e. bad for most things). Not being much of an expert on gardening and not having had much time last year to attend to it, last year’s yield was pretty pitiful. This year we have been trying to be more intentional and so spent the morning tilling the dirt into mounds (in what may prove to be a futile attempt) to overcome the hardness. We’ll see…

Our garden with the mounds, ready for rainy season.

Japanese people love to garden, and most houses have some sort of small vegetable patch or bunches of potted plants. Because of the cramped space, there are very few lawns; and potted plants and/or miniaturized gardens seem to be the preferable methods for filling the space around one’s house with greenery.

Speaking of greenery, the word for green in Japanese is an interesting foray into linguistics. Japanese (like some other languages) did not historically differentiate between blue and green. Although the word for green (midori) has been around for a while, it was only after WWII that it began to be taught to children as a separate color and not a shade of blue. (If you want to read more about the linguistic phenomenon, check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue-green_across_cultures). In modern usage, the word traditionally translated as blue – ao – is associated with vibrancy. Whereas things colored green are often labeled as such, some natural things such as plants (and subsequently landscapes) and unripe fruits and vegetables are described with ao. Youth is also designated by this color. Interestingly, stoplights also use this designation, which, at first, can make discussions about driving a little confusing.

Pray for Theresa and me as we continue to be a little “green” in our understanding of the Japanese language and culture. Pray that we would navigate situations as gracefully as possible, that we would learn well from our blunders, and that overall the love of Christ would shine through us.

Some of you may have noticed that it has been a few weeks since our last post.  Two weeks ago, we had the opportunity to fly to the US for a week-long conference for young, up and coming cross-cultural workers.  One of the contrasts that caught my attention was how imposing some things in America are.

As soon as we landed at the airport, we rented a car to head off to our destination.  Because I’m not so good with a map, I ended up doing the driving.  I was a bit nervous about driving on the other side of the road after a year and a half away, but what I came to find more nerve-racking was how fast cars go in America!   Because the roads in Japan are narrow, the speed limit is much lower, even on highways.  Around town, the speed is usually 30 or 40 kph (that’s around 20 mph); while on the expressways anything over 90 kph (55 mph) can be considered speeding.  I know, it’s slow, but you get used to it.

The second marvel was the huge trees in America.  Of course not all trees in America are huge, but the ones that are huge are HUGE!  Many of the trees in built-up areas in Japan are trimmed to be no taller than a two story building, but even the ones in the forest of species that don’t get nearly as tall or thick as the big deciduous these in the US.  Unfortunately, the same conditions that make these Japanese species of trees thrive also prevent a real significant change of colors in the fall and winter.

A garden with some typical Japanese trees.

As I ponder this, I am again reminded how small and finite I am as a human being.  As I craned my neck to look at the tops of the trees towering over me, it was a great reminder of how God’s presence overshadows me.  And now, though we are back in Japan where the trees are shorter, it is good to know that God is still infinite and present everywhere.  Although we don’t necessarily need trees to tell us that, they are good reminders.

We are grateful for a safe, good trip.  Please pray for us that we would continue to seek and experience God’s presence over us each day.

As we have been learning Japanese, one of the funny things Colby and I have noticed are the many words used to count different objects.  Most nouns in Japanese are mass nouns, which are nouns that are not able to be counted by themselves but need a special counting word.  For example, rice is a mass noun.  We can’t say “1 rice”, but instead must say “1 bowl of rice” or “1 grain of rice”.  Because the majority of nouns in Japanese need counting words, there are thus a great number of counting words.  These days a number are unknown and unused, but there are still many that are in use.  Listed below are some common ones, some not so common ones, and some just plain funny ones.

hiki – small animals
kai – occurrences, baseball innings
nin – people
satsu – books
chaku – suits of clothing
jou – tatami mats
i – ghosts
tsuuwa – telephone calls
fuku – doses of medicine, gulps of tea, drags of a cigarette
ban – nights
gu – armor, sets of furniture
ho – folded maps
tawara – bags
jou – tablets, pills
hashira – buddhas, gods, nobles
hon – long, cylindrical things
fune – boat-shaped containers
zen – bowlfuls of rice
hatsu – gunshots
shin – received messages
hara – hard roe (whatever that is…)
moto – blades of grass, tree trunks
wa – birds, rabbits

Fascinating, huh?!  Usually when used, the number comes first and then the counting word.  So, for example, “obake ga 1 i desu” means “there is one ghost”.

Truly, this is not unique to Japanese as English itself has many counter words, some of which are used above.  It is a tricky thing to count something in Japanese because you always have to attach the appropriate counting word.  Thankfully, there are ones like “ko” for small, general items, and ones like “tsu” for various intangible items, that can be used in a broad way.  However, the more accurate and fluent you want to be, the more you need to use the correct counting word!

The next time you count blades of grass, suits of clothing, or gulps of tea, please remember us and pray that we would learn to incorporate this tricky aspect of Japanese into our normal conversation.

Recently, after a year of letting my hair grow, I bit the bullet and went to the hairdresser for the first time here in Japan.  Compared to the budget cuts I was used to in the US, this was quite an experience!

Because the Japanese are very time-conscious people, I assumed that everything would be done in an efficient way.  And since in the US you are able to do some things yourself (wash, style, etc.) and save some money, I assumed that would be the case here as well. With this in mind, I arrived promptly at the salon having washed my hair, ready for this new cultural experience.

The hairdresser I was going to was a woman who has come to our church occasionally and is involved in a seeker Bible study with Pastor Uchida, so it was nice to already know the person.  I had already taken some time with one of my language helpers to go over different things related to hair cuts. To be safe though, I brought along a picture of the style I wanted, along with a list of words and phrases I could use to describe it.  Armed and ready, I sat down in the chair and proceeded to explain my desired style.  The hairdresser asked a few questions, and I muddled through the answers.  “Interesting.” I thought…

The first thing I found was that (like a lot of other things in Japan) a haircut in Japan is a full service experience. The hairdresser said that the next time I should leave washing my hair to her as she had her own custom shampoo and it was included as a service. Partway through the cut, another woman came in for her appointment.  She and my hairdresser must have been old friends because they began chatting away.  Japanese people are usually friendly, and this hairdresser particularly so, but I didn’t realize how much until I began to notice that she would actually stop cutting my hair for a few minutes every so often because she got so caught up in the conversation.  “Interesting.” I thought…

After the cut, she then put the special shampoo on my hair (here they wash  before and after the cut) and then wrapped this loop of cord around my head and plugged it into a machine. I sat for about 20 minutes while she began to cut the other lady’s hair.  Although I asked her what the loop was for, I didn’t understand her answer and wasn’t sure how to clarify.  None of the people I have asked since seems to know (Colby gave some sort of smart alec remark about it improving more than my hair, but conceded it was probably some sort of ionizer to work with the shampoo).  “Interesting.” I thought…

After, she rinsed out my hair, she led me back to my earlier seat to begin the drying process.  She brought out this machine that was about shoulder height and looked like a person with outstretched arms.  Built into the neck and arms of the machine were several fans.  The hairdresser put the arms on either side of my head and turned the machine on.  She then proceeded to use a hand-held hair dryer to simultaneously blow dry my hair.  While all of this was going on — mind you — she continued her conversation with the other lady.  Blow-drying, pausing, chatting.  Blow-drying, pausing, chatting. This went on for a number of minutes, and then all of the sudden she pressed a button on the machine and steam began to shoot out of the fans!  “Very interesting.” I thought…

Two hours after I arrived, it was finally complete. I paid, thanked her very much, bowed, and was on my way.

I have since found out (after relaying this story to my other Japanese friends) that it is very common for women to go to the salon and spend the morning there while the hairdresser washes, cuts, styles, massages , etc.  I will say, I do like the cut I received, especially since the humid air here (or maybe the cord device) has put a pleasant wave in my otherwise straight hair.

Please pray for the hairdresser as she continues to meet with Pastor Uchida and his wife for Bible study.  Pray that faith would grow and that in the future she would agree to be baptized and become a member of the church.

Quick – How many citrus fruits can you name? Probably not more than five. (And, no California Orange and Florida Orange don’t count as two separate ones.)

The citrus section at our local supermarket.

I have always enjoyed cooking and knew a little bit about different foods. citrus fruits, flavors, and scents have been longtime favorites; and so it was interesting to see how coming to Japan has opened up a whole new world of citrus fruits. I look back now and smile at thinking that the kumquat tree in our yard was just and orange tree in need of pruning and fertilizer or that the people in our neighborhood were so odd for not instantly gathering the “oranges” off their tree as soon as they were ripe.

From what we can see down here in the south of Japan, the Japanese seem to love eating and growing citrus fruits. Almost every other person seems to have some type of tree in their yard. Because of Yamaguchi Prefecture’s mild climate, things can be grown year-round here. Most of the varieties of citrus mature in the winter or early spring. (My suspicion is that they blossom in summer and take a long time to mature.) The only problem with all these new citrus fruits is that many of them are sour.

After buying so many sour oranges last spring, I decided to make a chart to take with me to the grocery store. Outside of the five commonly known in the US (oranges, tangerines, grapefruits, lemons, and limes) it lists 20 varieties. Seven of these can be eaten directly and another 4 eaten if you peel away the bitter white part and the casing around the individual sections. The others are used for their sour juice or their rinds are used for zest.

Speaking of sour juice, one of my new favorite condiments is something called ponzu. “Pon” (like a number of other borrowed food word in Japanese) has some connection to Portuguese and means citrus and “zu” is the word for vinegar. This sauce is a combination of traditional Japanese soup stock, sour citrus juice, and soy sauce. While my Japanese friends all think it’s weird that I dip pastries in tea and coffee, they often dip savory food in soy sauce based sauces. This one makes a great dip for grilled meats as well as boiled slices of mushroom and cabbage.

Me and my favorite sauce.

Praise God that our enjoyment of Japanese food has allowed us to share many meals with Japanese friends. Pray for continued opportunities in this area as well conversations that will help us get to know them on a deeper level.

Spring is truly a wonderful time here in Japan.  The weather is warm, the breeze refreshing, the birds are out and about, but most of all, the cherry trees come into bloom.

There is nothing that signals the beginning of a new season quite like the cherry trees and everyone, it seems, tries to get as much “Hanami” (flower viewing) in as they can.  There is a large (and absolutely wonderful) park in our town that is the most popular place to go when spending time amongst the cherry blossoms.  Many people bring their blankets and grills and set up a picnic for themselves right under the trees.

Colby and I got the chance to enjoy this custom this past Saturday as we took some time to stroll through the park.  While enjoying the flowers, we got the chance to observe the Japanese in a different from normal setting.  Usually, Japanese people are so busy, particularly the men, that it is odd to see them leisurely spending time at a park.  However, it was a pleasure on Saturday to see families out together throwing frisbees, chatting, eating, and of course, admiring the blossoms.

Please pray that as the Japanese see the beauty of creation surrounding them, they would come to understand the beautiful God who made it.