We have just arrived home from our first annual retreat with the other missionaries on the field.  Held each year for three or four days in October, it was once again located at a retreat center called Yuu Cho here in Yamaguchi Prefecture.  The weather was crisp and lovely and since the center was at the top of a mountain, we could see the ocean and other mountains in the distance.  We were there with five other couples and enjoyed the chance to get to know each of them better.

Part of our activities included a video and discussion study of Romans 12 and what it looks like to apply it to our lives.  The video contained a lot of good material and we usually had a lot to talk about when we broke up into our groups afterward.  There was plenty of time for games and chatting and everyone enjoyed themselves very much.  It was good to be away from our normal schedule for awhile and fellowship with the other missionaries in a relaxed setting.

Please pray for us and the other missionaries that as we go back to our regular schedules we would continue to think about the things we’ve learned at the retreat and seek ways to apply them.

Last night we had a “Youth Party” (the Japanese name for a youth fellowships) here at the church. They played the game “Upset the Fruit Basket,” and it was interesting that the term they use for the time when everyone has to switch is O-Arashi or The Storm. However, the real storm didn’t come until later that night when they announced “Minna-san, tabe masho.” (Okay, everyone, let’s eat.) and 24 hungry teenagers flooded the buffet table.

Chuck is thinking, "I wonder if there will be any food left for the adults?"

I guess that can be expected when you get youth groups together from two different prefectures. This youth party was different from the regular monthly events in that it was a joint endeavor between our church and another one in Hiroshima, about two hours north. Kids came from youth groups in two other cities in Yamaguchi prefecture as well. The Hiroshima church took care of the program leading worship and sharing the message and the Ube group provided the location and food.

One of the most interesting (and sadistic) games that was played was one where five members of each youth group were given item to eat, one of which was laced with something awful tasting (salted coffee, vinegar coke, a cream puff filled with mayonnaise, etc.). All five people had to eat at the same time and try not to react and then the opposing youth group has to guess which person had to eat the altered item. Even though I got lots of practice using the Japanese phrase for “I’ll just sit this one out.” I still got roped into playing, but was lucky and didn’t get the special item in my round.

After dinner, all the kids enjoyed playing in our newly renovated game room. This had previously been one of the storage buildings full of trash that you may remember reading about, but thanks to a lot of work on the part of our team leader and his wife, it has been totally transformed. They even outfitted it with some of the old construction zone lighting that had been left here by the previous occupants.

Pray for the various kids that attended last night. Because group identity is very important in Japanese culture, pray that events like these will help Christian kids to make friends and understand that they are part of the body of Christ. Pray that the unsaved kids who attended will be drawn to Christ by the positive example of the other kids.

As we continue to find out, the concept of the group is very important here in Japan.  Although we have only just begun to wrap our heads around this topic, I am able to see evidences of the importance of community to the Japanese in daily life.  I must admit this is such a foreign way of thinking to Colby and I since the West tends to value freedom and individuality.

One very prominent group aspect we have seen has been school uniforms worn by students.  Every day, kids and teenagers walk or ride their bikes to school; all wearing their school’s designated uniform.  This shows everyone what group they belong to.

Neighborhoods are also considered groups.  In Japan, houses and location are not demarcated by streets, but rather in increasingly smaller concentric circles. Every city is divided into districts. In Ube, they all have names. Ours is Nohara, which means open field. The districts are divided into neighborhoods or “chome”, each with a number. The neighborhoods are then further divided into numbered blocks. The ministry center is located in Nohara 1-7.

Today, we got a chance to see all the neighborhood groups in action as it was the biannual neighborhood cleaning day.  We received a notice in our mailbox a few weeks ago stating that today was the day to participate in “neighborhood beautification”.  Around 8 AM, donned in our work clothes with our weed sickles in hand, we headed out to the neighborhood meeting place (located in front of the neighborhood garbage receptacles) and joined our neighbors weeding alongside the road that runs through the center of our neighborhood.  An hour and many bags of weeds later, all was considered done, and we all bowed and thanked everyone for “tiring themselves out”.  Afterward, we paid our biannual dues (¥2,400 yen – about $24) to the block leader or “han-cho” (yes, this is where the word comes from). She gave us a small gift to thank us for our hard work and for being good participants in the system and we went home and got ready for church.

Theresa (kneeling center) helps weed alongside the road.

Yet another way I have noticed the importance of groups as of late is through how much time some groups seem to spend with each other.  There are 2 or 3 Bible studies throughout the week here at church and often the same people attend each of them.  What is surprising to me is how long they stay together afterward chatting with each other.  The Bible study may start around 2pm and go for an hour or so and the women will usually stay until around 5pm or so!  Most of these ladies are housewives and so they don’t have jobs they need to be at and so for them, this is their social time with the group they are a part of.  Another example of group social time in Japanese society is when business men eat and drink together after work.  These times, sometimes lasting until late at night, are often when Japanese men can “let down their hair” so to speak, and are very important for building relationships.

Please pray for Colby and I that we would continue to develop good relationships with the Japanese.  Pray that we would come understand the meaning and importance of the “group” here in Japan and that we would have wisdom as to how to participate.

Earlier this week, I got an email from one of the assistant scoutmasters for the Ube Boy Scout troop. I had gone to a meeting a few weeks ago and told them I would be interested in attending some of their activities to help where I could. The email invited me to participate in their “inekari.” In Japanese, “inekari” is the word for a rice harvest. Because it was written in quotes just as I have written in here, I figured they must be using it as a euphemism for some type of work day. I forgot I was living in the land where “meal” and “bowl of cooked rice” are the same word.

The scouts met at 9:00 and drove to a rural area about 20 min away. After we gathered our things from the car, we took a short walk up the road and sure enough, there was the rice field. A group of the leaders had arrived early and were already starting to prepare the field for the kids (scouting in Japan, like many other countries, is co-ed). Because this was just a small plot rented by the scout group, they didn’t use the big combines that would be used on industrial plots. Instead, they had a small walk-behind version that was similar in size to a snow blower. This machine would gather up the stalks, which had been planted in rows of clumps and chop them up and tie them in bundles. The kids would then carry the bundles over to the edge of the field where the adults were hanging them on bamboo poles to dry. From what I could tell, they would stay there for a week or two until they were ready to be taken to the machine that ground the shells off. After harvesting most of the field, they gave the kids small sickles and allowed them to finish cutting the remaining five or six rows by hand.

One of the scouts cutting the rice with a sickle.

See a video of the rice harvester in action
See a Google satellite image of the actual location

It was interesting to compare this rice harvest to the spiritual harvest here in Japan. At first, the thought of cutting all those plants seemed like a very difficult task. Indeed, rice cultivation is thought to be one of the most difficult types of farming in the world. But with the right technique and a lot of people to do it, it only took about two hours. The spiritual harvest here could be the same.

Pray for wisdom for many people (like Theresa and I) ministering here in Japan who want to strike out in new directions in order to find better ways of “harvesting”. Pray that we would have wisdom and discernment about the most effective ways to connect the message of the gospel to the Japanese culture. Pray also that God would send more people like this to the fields of Japan as well as raise up more Japanese people who share this vision.

Last week we had the rare opportunity to attend a Shinto wedding ceremony.  A Japanese couple that we are friends with invited us to join them at their son’s wedding in order to see a Shinto ceremony firsthand.  Because these ceremonies are usually only attended by family – and also because we didn’t realize that almost everyone wears black – we probably looked a bit out of place and were likely among some of the first foreigners inside the shrine.

Notice the dominant color. Supposedly only the bride wears white.

We got to the shrine at 10:30 in the morning just as the family was gathering for pictures. The bride was wearing a beautiful white kimono and specially styled and decorated wig for the occasion.  Around 11, we all entered in the shrine, the bride’s family sat on one side, and we and the groom’s family sat on the other.  The bride and groom sat in the middle and the priest stood in front of them.

As the ceremony began, the priest waved a pole in the air that had white paper streamers tied to it.  The purpose of this was to ritually cleanse the participants and attendees.  The priest then proceeded to the base of the altar and began to recite a prayer asking for blessing on the couple. To do this, he first clapped twice to signal the attention of the local spirit deity, then bowed, and began to recite the prayer.  The prayer was chanted in song, similarly to how Jewish people read the Old Testament.  We couldn’t follow all of it, but caught that he recited the full date, specific address of the shrine, and the bride and groom’s names.  In Japanese thought, the spirits are not totally omniscient and so this was presumably to make clear exactly which couple he was asking for blessing on.

The main part of the ceremony was the ritual of drinking sake, Japanese rice wine.  The bride and groom stood up and were given three special sake cups.  The two shrine attendants called “miko” (maiden) poured sake from a special pitcher that looked like a gold teapot on the end of a long stick.  Each time they poured, they would pour three small amounts of sake into the cup.  The groom then would drink the sake in three sips.  They repeated this two more times for groom and then did the same for the bride.  The number three is a symbolic number for the Japanese because it is indivisible and can represent unity in marriage.  The sipping ritual is repeated three times because three times three would be triple the happiness.  Afterward, the fathers of the bride and groom also repeat the ritual, the bride’s father drinking with the groom and vice-versa, showing that they were in agreement with blending the two families.  At the end of the ceremony, all of the family is given a sip of sake to drink together, showing unity and good will toward the couple.

The groom drinking from his cup.

Following the bride-groom sake exchange, the groom read a prayer of dedication to the sun god to which the bride added her name in agreement. They then presented a branch from a special tree as a ritualistic offering. Afterward the ceremony was officially closed and then the head of each family stood up and introduced the members of their family to everyone present.

It was very interesting to learn about this Japanese custom and we were very fortunate to be able to attend as many westerners living in Japan have never been to one. Please pray for the Japanese people that they would come to know the one true God who always hears, knows all things, and from whom come true blessings.