The other day I was treated to a special kimono party by some of the ladies in my English class.  A month or so ago, we read through an article about how when Japanese women become adults at 20 years old they dress up in fancy kimonos and have a celebration.  One of the ladies in my class owns a number of beautiful kimonos and decided to invite me and everyone else in the class over for a “dress up the teacher” party.

The day of the party arrived and we gathered at this lady’s house.  I was told to wear something easy to take off and to come with my hair up since Japanese women usually put their hair up when they wear kimonos.  First I put on an undergarment, which itself was quite lovely.

Wearing the undergarment while the kimono is being prepared.

Next, the lady in charge, along with a helper or two, proceeded to wrap a number of towels around my waist in an effort to make from my chest down the same width.  When wearing kimonos, a woman’s natural curviness is not desired – instead, having the kimono straight from the chest down is the ideal.  Once the towels were in place, held on by both tape and rope, the kimono itself was next.  One wonderful thing about kimonos, the ladies said, is that they are made to fit almost anyone of various sizes and heights (provided that you fall within the normal size range).  However, what that meant was that as soon as the kimono was tied on, the kimono lady in charge was on her hands and knees crawling around me to make sure that the kimono was the same length on all sides.

Next came a lovely red belt, called an obi, that the ladies tied around my waste.  Obis are meant to both decoratively hold up the kimono as well as enhance some of the colors in the design.  Since the kimono I was wearing was white with a number of red and green leaves on it, a red obi was chosen and a green cord was put around it at the end.  The style of kimono that I wore was called 振袖 (furisode), which means that the sleeves had long pieces that hung down.  This is quite a formal type of kimono and was the type that our English class article mentioned as being worn by Japanese women when they become adults at 20 years of age.

The red obi belt being put on.

By the time they were done dressing me up, about 45 minutes had passed and I felt as if I was wearing a corset!  Because putting on a kimono is such a time consuming and detailed process, many people have at least one or two other people to help them put it on.  The lady whose kimono I was wearing had actually attended classes on how to correctly put kimonos on!  She and the helpers did a lovely job and I felt beautiful.  Poses and pictures were next as we all crowded together in front of the 床の間 (tokonoma), which is a small Japanese-style decorated alcove that many houses have.

Me posing in the lovely kimono!

As lunch was the next activity, I decided to take off the kimono when we were ready to eat so that I wouldn’t accidentally spill something on it.  Fancy kimonos are usually made of silk and often there are parts of it that are hand-stitched.  I wouldn’t have wanted to spill something on her lovely kimono and so off it came.  Not surprisingly, it took a lot less time to take it off than to put it on.  We had a lovely time together afterward chatting and having lunch.

The ladies from my English class and I pose for a picture.

I was grateful for a chance to wear this beautiful kimono.  Please pray for these ladies that they would come to know the One who has created all beauty.

Can you guess what this is?

Contrary to what most of you will guess, this is not a peppermint candy. It is beautifully colored Japanese Fu. What is “fu” you might ask. It is the Japanese name for wheat gluten – yes, the wheat gluten that people with celiac disease try so hard to avoid. In some Asian countries, wheat gluten is eaten as a vegetarian source of protein or as an interesting addition to soups and other dishes. You can read all about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheat_gluten_(food)

This particular piece looks like it’s ready for Christmas simply because the Japanese like their food to be pretty. They are turned off by some of the bright artificial colors that are used in western foods, but often make very beautifully colored foods using various plant extracts. This particular fu was served in a clear broth with some very thin onion and mushroom as part of the dinner we had this past Friday night with the Koikawa family. Mrs. Koikawa (who is a deaconess at the Lighthouse Church) and her daughter are both Christians, but her son and husband are not.

The Koikawa family along with us and our friend Megumi.

Speaking of things that look like candy, today was a candy holiday in Japan called White Day. Due to a mix-up (that I will have to save for another post), White Day became the day in Japan for men to give the women in their lives candy. In Japan, White Day and Valentine’s Day are celebrated similarly to how children in America do, giving something to various friends as opposed to romantic interests.

Pray for many of the women at the Lighthouse Church (and across Japan) who have unsaved husbands and other family members. Pray that they would be able to live out their faith while being a good example to their husbands.

It would seem that everyone has their own way of making decisions.  Some people proactively weigh all their options and determine the best solution, while others passively sit back and let fate take its course.  Having been in Japan for over a year now, I have had the interesting opportunity to witness how the Japanese settle matters of their own.

I have found what seems to possibly be a country-wide way of deciding relatively trivial, group-related matters, and I must say I was a bit surprised at first.  Do you remember the childhood game you would play just for fun – Rock, Paper, Scissors?  Well, did you know that half-way around the world, grown men and women play this game to determine the outcome of various situations?  Yes, they do!  And they seem to love it too!

Now, mind you, they only play this when deciding simple and unimportant matters – bigger issues like who to marry, where to live, what job to look for, they probably decide in the same way anyone else would.  However, small things, such as who goes first in a game, who gets first choice of a particular item, etc. seem to get decided using Rock, Paper, Scissors.  Here in Japan it is known by a different name – Janken, which to me sounds like John Ken.  It is played the same way as in America, but the Japanese have a little mantra they like to say while throwing their hands in the circle.  It is played fast and somehow (maybe from years of experience) once all the hands have been “thrown in”, everyone seems to know immediately who has won, lost, or needs a redo.  Cries of joy and disappointment can be heard as everyone resigns themselves to what fate has decided.

One of our first times witnessing such an event (and at times it certainly is an event) was last year during one of our craft classes.  The group was getting ready to choose what kind of material they wanted for their craft and all the materials were laid on the table.  Of course, because we were the foreigners, they had us pick our material first, and then afterward commenced with their Janken routine.  Being that there were a number of women (the youngest of whom was probably in her late 50’s) the game lasted several minutes and finally each woman was granted her turn to pick her material.  While it was such an astonishing sight to see a group of elderly Japanese women Janken for something, it seemed like a perfectly natural process to them.

Janken is often used in kids’ games as all the kids have to throw their hands in against the leader and that often determines if they’ve won a particular game.  I’ve heard one missionary say that when he attends a pastors’ meeting, they do Janken when it is time to decide who will pray with whom.  I guess it can get quite intense and complex as over and over again they throw in their hands to try to figure out who will pair up!  Can you imagine your pastor doing this?

As Colby and I have speculated on this practice, we’ve come to realize that a significant reason why the Japanese make decisions in this way is likely because they feel it is better to let fate decide.  If the teacher of the craft class were to choose who got to pick their material first, it might offend the others and might not be fair.  Better to let a game decide who will go first because then no one is responsible for the outcome.  Decision making, which can sometimes be a touchy thing, becomes safe and even fun when done in this non-threatening way.  What an interesting way of looking at making decisions!

Please pray for us as we continue to adjust to living in the Japanese culture.  Pray that we would continually try to understand and adapt to the Japanese thought process.