Having been in Japan for about half a year now, we have found many things to be interesting and different from the US.  Some things have been easily apparent – everyone having dark hair and brown eyes, bowing often, smaller meal portions, cars driving slower, etc.   Some things, however, have surfaced only after a lot of interaction and some intentional reflection.  One such thing has been who decides the best course of action for people in a given situation.  You might assume that it is similar to the west. Everyone here has the same basic freedoms that are the bedrock of western society. So everyone probably just makes their own decisions, right? While that is true, people here in Japan have a lot more rules and / or expectations influencing or precluding their decision making process. Let me give you a few examples from our experiences here thus far.

The first occurred on the last day of our craft class.  The ladies of the class decided that they were all going to order obento (box lunches, but much nicer than the typical American ham sandwich and chips).  They passed around a menu so we could choose what kind of obento we wanted to order.  We noticed this thing which was a rice patty topped with meat and wrapped in nori seaweed. I think the menu called it a rice sandwich. I was something we hadn’t tried yet (we’ve tried a lot of things) and was reasonably priced to boot and so we decided to order it. After everyone decided what they wanted, two of the ladies went to pick up the meals and bring them back to the class.  When the food was passed out, different obentos were put in front of us than what we ordered.  We got a clue that this wasn’t a mistake when we were told that the ladies in the class had decided to pay for our lunch and then noticed our two rice sandwiches being eaten by a couple of the other ladies.  Our teacher explained to us that even though we hadn’t ordered these obentos, the ladies in the group felt that we should try them because they contained samples of traditional Japanese foods. Since we were new in Japan, they reasoned, we ought to experience what they were like.  We smiled and thanked her and the other ladies for their thoughtfulness. We didn’t have the heart to tell them that we already knew we liked them because we had already eaten them before.

The second experience was when Colby and a fellow Christar worker who was visiting from Russia went swimming at the local pool.  They had been swimming for a little while when they heard an announcement over the loud speaker and saw everyone get out of the pool.  They wisely figured they ought to do the same. (Even if you don’t completely understand what is said, it is usually safe to just follow along with everyone else.) While they were sitting there, our friend from Russia started trying to talk with one of the lifeguards. He wanted to know why everyone had to get out.  Between the lifeguard’s basic English and Colby’s basic Japanese, they were able to figure out that there was a rule that, for ten minutes every hour, everyone needed to get out of the pool and sit on the side in order to rest.  Otherwise, the lifeguard explained, you run the risk of becoming fatigued from swimming too much and could drown.  Therefore, it was reasoned that it was best for everyone to get out for a certain amount of time and rest for their own protection. Our friend from Russia (who swims for 30 minutes continuously each day) ended up having to plan to arrive at the pool between 5 and 25 minutes after the hour each day if he wanted to have a solid 30 minutes of swimming.

The last example of this comes from a fan we bought recently for our bedroom.  The first night we had it, we turned it on before we went to bed.  The next morning when we got up, we were perplexed to find that it was turned off. We concluded that we had unintentionally put it on timer mode instead of on continuous run. That night, we made sure not to turn the timer on, but still somehow the next morning the fan was off.  We were at a loss and immediately began to blame each other for getting up, half asleep, in the middle of the night and turning it off. One day, two weeks later, Colby was sitting at the kitchen table doing his Japanese homework and noticed a sticker on the fan that up until now we had both ignored. After a little translation exercise, we came to understand why the fan was turning itself off.  The manufacturer decided that, in order to protect consumers from accidentally leaving the fan on for too long, they were going program the fan to shut itself off after six hours regardless of what setting you had it on. As far as we can tell, there is no way to turn this feature off.  Even though we appreciate their concern, waking up all sweaty in the middle of the night because the fan turned itself off was not fun and so we decided to put this one in the living room and use an older one we were given (which stays on indefinitely) in the bedroom.

Here in Japan, people are not so concerned with their freedoms and their own right to choose and are often happy to have someone who would seem to know better make a choice that is in their best interest. In none of the situations above was our right to choose being usurped (contrary to what we Americans might think), but rather the people involved were genuinely trying to make a choice in our best interest. It has been fascinating to learn about the thought patterns and perspectives of the Japanese.  It does take some getting used to, but we are learning to adjust.

This is one reason why church planting can be difficult here. The Japanese are often reticent to get involved in the decision making process, preferring to let the American missionary or the Japanese pastor (who, they reason, have all the training) make the decisions. Please continue to pray for us as we process through the differences here and seek to live and minister in a way that is appropriate and effective.

For a while now we have sensed the need to take a mini-vacation of sorts to get away and relax.  Because we’re new here and don’t speak the language very well yet, it was a source of stress to try to figure out where to go, what to do, and how to go about doing it.  Thankfully our team leaders told us of a neat island they had gone to and gave us some information on it.  After doing some research, it was decided, we would go away for a long weekend in the middle of September to this island about an hour and a half away.

Next came the tricky part – making the cabin reservation.  Now, I have done this plenty of times in English and really it’s not all that difficult…that is, if it’s in English.  However, I had never done it in Japanese before and knew that I had my work cut out for me.  After spending some time figuring out the necessary vocabulary (i.e. “I’d like to make a reservation, please”, “2 nights please”, “from the 25^th–27^th please”, etc.), I wrote out everything I needed to say, rehearsed it in my head, gathered up my nerves, and made the call.  I had our computer dictionary open, Colby next to me ready to help, and so I was as ready as I was going to be.  The conversation went as follows (note: some details possibly exaggerated due to increased tension at the time and forgetfulness afterward):

Office Lady: “Good afternoon, this is Oumijima (the name of the island) Visitor Center.”  (That last part I’m not sure about, but I know she definitely said ‘Good afternoon’.)

Me: “Good afternoon.  I’d like to make a reservation please.”

Office Lady: “Okay, from what day to what day please?”

Me: “From September 25^th until the 27^th please.  2 nights please.”

Office Lady: “Okay, how many nights will you come for?”

Me: “2 nights please.”

Office Lady: “Okay, how many people will be coming?”

Me: “2 years.”

Office Lady: “Excuse me?”

Me: “Oh, I’m sorry, 2 people.” (silently laughing)

Office Lady: “Which cabin would you like?”

Me: “We would like number 7 or . . .”

Office Lady: “Number 7?  Okay, what is (blah, blah). . .?”

Me: “Excuse me, could you say that one more time?”

Office Lady: “Yes, what is your name?”

Me: “Oh, I see.  It is Weinhofer.  That’s Wa-in-ho-fer.” (sounding it out)

Office Lady: “Did you say Wah-iin-gu-hoo-fuu?”

Me: (figuring the spelling was a non-issue, comparatively) “Yes, that’s correct.”

Office Lady: “Okay, and how did (blah, blah). . .?”

Me: (feeling a need to explain) “I’m sorry, my Japanese is poor, could you please say that one more time?”

Office Lady: “Okay, how did you (blah, blah) look up (blah, blah)?”

Me: (trying to make an educated guess) “Oh, I got the information from the internet.”

Office Lady: “I see.  (blah, blah, blah). . .(blah, blah, blah). . .”

Me: “I understand.” (I didn’t really, but since the sentence didn’t end with the question particle, I didn’t feel the need to have her explain again).

Office Lady: “. . .and (blah, blah, blah). . .(blah, blah, blah).”

Me: “I understand.”

Office Lady: “Okay, thank you very much!”

Me: (breathing a sigh of relief) “Ah, and thank you!”

And thus, we made our first reservation in Japanese!  Even though I had the phone lodged in my ear trying to hear correctly, and even though I couldn’t understand everything, I feel good knowing that I effectively made a reservation in Japanese.  We thought you folks would enjoy hearing a story of us using the language in a practical way.

Please pray for Colby and Theresa for safety as they go on their vacation in September.  Pray for a truly rejuvenating time and that they would be able to understand the office lady when they arrive.

This week is Obon here in Japan, and it marks a very special time for the Japanese people.  In many places, from August 13^th-16^th they celebrate this Buddhist custom of honoring their ancestors.  Some places in Japan actually celebrate in July, but where we are it is celebrated during August.

During these celebrations, many Japanese take off from work and travel back to their home towns to spend time with their families.  Many people take this opportunity to visit and clean their ancestors’ graves.  The Japanese believe that during this time, their ancestors’ spirits come back to their homes and are reunited with their families.  Sometimes special lanterns are lit at the entrances of homes in order to guide the spirits.  Sometimes fruits and vegetables are offered to the ancestors’ spirits.  In many places people dance together in their summer kimonos in order to welcome the spirits.  Toward the end of the time of celebration, many people will light special lanterns and send them floating to the ocean to guide the way for their loved ones’ departure.

It has been a quiet week here at the church with all this in mind.  The normal activities were canceled and, while the church people don’t worship their ancestors, many took the opportunity to do some traveling and visit their relatives.  Last night, we ourselves did some traveling and went with some of the other missionaries to the largest city in the prefecture for their fireworks.  We rode the train down, ate our boxed lunches, and found a spot amongst all the people for the best viewing.  We were afraid it would rain like the fireworks we went to a few weeks ago, but it didn’t during the display.  Because this city is right on the edge of the main island of Honshu, we could see the southern island of Kyushu from where we sat.  Each year this city and one of the ones on Kyushu time it so that they shoot off their fireworks together from various places.  Lasting almost an hour, it was literally breathtaking to see!  The Japanese are experts when it comes to putting together a fireworks display!  Our trip home was quite crowded as many other people also took the train home.

Please pray for Colby and I that we can continue to be a witness for Christ here amongst the Japanese.  Please pray that we would effectively be able to show them how much God cares for them.

Here is the video and photo tour of the Nohara Ministry Center (home of the Lighthouse Church) & our apartment:

The Nohara Ministry Center | Our Apartment

This past week, we have been learning how to make and use passive sentences in Japanese. For those of you who aren’t grammarians, an active sentence talks about an action that you do. A passive sentence talks about an action happening to you. Compare “I threw the ball.” vs. “The ball was thrown to me.” It’s another nuance of Japanese grammar (and English too) that can sometimes be important.

Unlike many people, I actually like grammar and one of the reasons I know it as well as I do is because of Mrs. Rospendowski (or “Mrs. R”), my high school English teacher. When I first started high school, I heard students talking about her and thought they were calling her “Mrs. Czar,” which wouldn’t have been too far from the truth since she took her classroom very seriously. By the end of high school though, she had become probably my favorite teacher and opened up the worlds of composition, literature, and public speaking in ways that I might not have otherwise explored. One of the composition rules I remember was that passive sentences were not as good as active ones and thus were supposed to be used as little as possible.

In Japanese, that’s not the case. Passive sentences have a number of uses and (as our Japanese teacher explained to us) should be used often. However, this goes beyond grammar. The Japanese look at the world much more fatalistically than we do in America. In American culture, we revere people who won’t live with the status quo and instead fight to improve their place in life. In Japanese culture, when a person encounters difficult circumstances, it is more virtuous to accept that it is part of your fate and patiently persevere. Thus, in the Japanese mind, it makes more sense to talk about the world as it happens to you (passive) than the world as you act upon it (active).

On another language note, today we leave for three days of Friendship English Camp put on collaboratively every year by Christar folks here in Japan. Please pray for many of the students who are not Christians. Pray also for the four Japanese pastors who will be giving Bible lessons over the three days, that they would really impact the hearts of the students.