So we just had our first dentist experience here in Japan this past Friday.  It was both interesting and insightful for us foreigners who are mindful of culture.  First let me say that thankfully no cavities were found and that Colby and my brushing habits need little improvement.

We had been warned by our teammates to try to get an early morning appointment since later appointments mean waiting longer beforehand.  We arrived promptly at ten of nine and were given paperwork to fill out.  Here was the first cultural note: the receptionist handed us a pencil with which to write our information.  A pencil!  In America, it’s always with a black pen that we fill out forms so that years from now the information will still be legible.  Ah well, maybe they’ll just ask us for the information again if it ever becomes hard to read.

Very soon we were both taken to separate rooms for our cleaning.  As I sat down on the chair, the hygienist asked, “Kenshin desuka?”, which I thought sounded an awful lot like “Genkin desuka?”, which would mean, “Are you paying by cash?”.  I happily replied that I was, but then as I sat back in the chair I realized that the question was different than what I thought.  Quickly getting my dictionary, I looked up “kenshin”, which turns out to mean (at least this particular entry in my dictionary) “devotion”.  “That’s odd,” I thought, but I still decided that I had given an appropriate answer because, after all, I do feel very devoted to cleaning my teeth.

Finally, I worked up the nerve to ask her what “kenshin” actually was (because unfortunately, my dictionary is not an exhaustive one), and after she looked in my dictionary herself, we realized that the word she was using wasn’t there.  She giggled and then explained that it meant cleaning.  “Oh, phew,” I thought, “I guess ‘yes’ was correct then!”

She then set out to clean my teeth.  Here came the next two cultural notes: Instead of the paper throw-away bib that American dentists put on their patients, she put a cloth bib on me!  Not at all that I mind, but it seems like it would take them more work to wash them than it would to just throw them away.  Who knows, maybe the paper ones in Japan are too expensive.  Also, in Japanese, store clerks and company employees seem to have set phrases that they use often in various situations.  For example, as the hygienist lowered the chair, she said, “I’m lowering the chair,” and she did the same thing when she raised the chair.  When she started to clean my teeth, she said “I’m going to begin cleaning now.”  Maybe they have these set phrases in America as well, but here it seems like these phrases replace any conversational chatter that American employees sometimes strike up with customers.  At any rate, it’s easy to follow because they are usually short and simple sentences.

In Japan, people usually close their eyes while the dentist cleans their teeth.  Knowing this beforehand, I purposely tried to do so myself, as I am a typical American who likes to know what’s going on.  I could hear the dentist talking to Colby in the next room.  Another cultural thing about the Japanese is that they often say things like “yes,” “uh huh”, and so on to affirm that they are listening.  The dentist must have had his hands in Colby’s mouth while he was talking because Colby’s responses came through the wall sounding all warped and garbled.

Next, the dentist came in to take a look at my teeth.  Thankfully I didn’t need to try to respond when he was peering into my mouth.  He said that it looked like I didn’t have any calculus.  “Calculus?” I thought, wondering if it was an English word he was trying to say.  I quickly tried to look in my dictionary for the word but to no avail.  Then the dentist took my dictionary and started to look for it himself (I love it when the Japanese use our dictionary to find words!).  At last, when he could find it, I heard Colby shout over, “It’s calcified plaque, Theresa.”  The dentist and I both looked at each other as if to say, “Now how did he figure that out?”

All in all, it was a gratifying experience as we found that we were able to go to the Japanese dentist by ourselves.  It was the first time I have ever sat in the dentist’s chair with a dictionary on my lap though!

Praise the Lord that we are continually able to conquer more and more tasks in Japanese.  While we are sad at the Burwell’s departure, pray that it will help continue to push us “out of the nest.”

This past Sunday was both a happy and sad time here at the church.  The church turned 10 years old in January, and this past Sunday held their birthday service.  Like they do every year, they had a giant cake which everyone got to add a candle to.  However, it was also the farewell party for our teammates, the Burwells, as it was their last Sunday with us before they went back to America.  As you can imagine, we had a big crowd and the normal tradition of having everyone share something was reduced to one person from each group represented sharing a little.

Please pray for the church as they continue to adjust to not having a missionary to help them out full-time.  There will be a number of responsibilities that will have to be absorbed by a small number of people. This year, also, will be the end of some grants that have helped to support the church as it has grown.  They continue to trust the Lord for additional growth so the church can cover its own expenses and would appreciate your prayers on their behalf.

The Japanese have a unique and fascinating culture that goes back almost 2000 years. But what is equally as fascinating is the way the Japanese process foreign trends and cultures. Yesterday was a good example.

Since 2004, Chuck & Jan Burwell (our teammates here in Ube) have participated in a gospel musical group that meets here in Ube. The interesting part is the connection the members of the group have to gospel music. All of the people in the group are Japanese. Most are not Christians and a few speak English, but none fluently. They discovered gospel mostly through recordings and videos on the internet and were attracted to the upbeat tempo and all-around energy in the performance. The group is part of a network in the region run by a Japanese woman. They meet every week for practice and perform at various events in the area. Other than the fact that their pronunciation of English songs (around 75% of their repertoire) can sometimes be hard to understand, they are really pretty good. The catch is that, unlike the spontaneous outpouring that gospel music usually is, their performance is largely scripted. They have rehearsed when and how to sway back and forth and do various motions; when to give little God shout-outs and do the occasional rap; and many of the details of the solos that might otherwise be free-form. They watch videos of performances and try to copy as best as they can to the original.

You can see as the choir performs two songs, first in Japanese and then in English.

This particular performance had an interesting second dimension as well. It was held at “Kaze no Mieru Oka – Feliz” which roughly translates “Feliz (the Spanish word for happy): the Hill Where You Can See the Breeze” It is a Spanish-themed wedding spot complete with restaurant and wedding chapel that looks like it was pulled out of the Catalonian hillside. It has a faux alter, stained glass windows, and Latin inscriptions painted on the walls. For a while now, it has been trendy in Japan to have a Christian (i.e. “Western Style”) wedding. Because of the obvious absence of churches, businesses catering to wedding parties complete with elaborate churches have sprung up all over Japan.

The Japanese have two dueling attitudes. On the one hand, they are a very tight cultural group. They have great reverence for their own culture, which they see as unique in the world. But they also have a great openness to foreign cultures and readily adopt elements of them. They generally seem to enjoy traveling overseas and trying foreign foods. The Japanese language uses many words borrowed directly from other languages. It was interesting to learn the words for hair clipper (barikan from French) and sleeping bag (shurafu from German).

Pray for the members of the gospel choir. Over the last few years, they have been exposed to the message of the gospel many times. As Chuck & Jan return to America, one of their greatest burdens is to see many of these people, who have become some of their closest friends, become true followers of Christ. The Burwells’ departure has given them the opportunity to have some good conversations. Pray that as they depart, what the Burwells’ have shared with the choir members will ring in their ears.

At this point, many of the Japanese are headed back to their homes after being away for the New Year’s holiday. (Yes, I said New Years.  In Asia, it’s much more important than Christmas.)  Although we didn’t travel anywhere ourselves, we heard reports of a lot of traffic which was compounded by the freeway being closed on New Year’s Eve due to snow (very light, but the Japanese are very cautious).

Amidst the celebrations, Colby and I had the chance to visit with one of our English student’s family, the Hiraishis.  The owner of a small take out restaurant, Mr. Hiraishi invited us for dinner at his house with his wife and daughter.  We had known that Japanese people like to make a variety of foods for their guests, but we were still taken aback when we arrived.  We were served avocado, oden (various egg, tofu, and fish items simmered in soy sauce) two kinds of sushi, noodle soup with shrimp patties, chicken wings, pizza, and a sweet potato soufflé for dessert.  Thankfully they were all small portions. They even had prepared a second pizza just in case and gave it to us to take home!  Everything was delicious and they were wonderful hosts.  We enjoyed getting to know the Hiraishi family better as we practiced our Japanese and they their English.  A highlight of the evening was when Mr. Hiraishi showed us his heirloom samurai sword that had been in his family since the 1800s. Because it is the real thing capable of causing severe injury, he is actually required to have a permit for it.

We kind of look like pirates, huh?

On Christmas Day we had dinner with our teammates, another missionary family, and the Japanese pastor and his family.  Because whole turkeys and hams are hard to come by in Japan, we decided to have Mexican food for dinner.  Colby and I also celebrated our 5^th Christmas together with our pentannual Lord of the Rings movie marathon.  It made for a long day, but we thoroughly enjoyed our trip to middle earth.

On New Year’s Eve night we gathered with all of the other missionaries for the annual appetizer and BUNKO night.  As it was our first New Year’s Eve on the field, we soon found out exactly what BUNKO is.  Not a game for the strategist – BUNKO is played by quickly and aggressively rolling dice to get the right numbers and patterns. Even though our luck wasn’t the best, Colby and I were amongst those who received prizes for various categories.  Mine for the most losses and Colby’s for winning at “Rock, Paper, Scissors” amongst all the other people who didn’t qualify to compete for a prize in any other category.  It was an interesting game.

All kinds of goodies.

Please pray for us as we adjust from vacation mode back into our normal routine.  Pray that we would start afresh with Japanese study and English classes with renewed energy and purpose.