Today could have been a day for missing home and family but instead it was absolutely wonderful and we are just as happy and stuffed as if we’d sat down to a traditional Thanksgiving dinner! Though they had no idea that it was a special weekend for Canadians, our friends Koji and Etsuko had invited us to their home for dinner.

After our usual lunch at church, we accompanied them to their house where the feasting began almost at once. First, Etsuko served coffee and a delicious ‘western’ cake stuffed with fruit and cream. That was followed immediately by Japanese cake and green tea. Shortly after that they informed us that, rather than preparing supper at home, they’d decided to take us to a nearby restaurant for sushi so back into the vehicle we piled and off we went! The highlight of supper for Richard and I turned out to be the unagi! Who would ever have thought that eel would be part of our Thanksgiving dinner or that we would enjoy it so much! It was absolutely delicious. The eating wasn’t over yet though. Once we finished at the restaurant, we went back to the house where we were served a dessert of fresh grapes and Japanese sweets along with more green tea! Wow! As much as I love turkey and pumpkin pie, I didn’t miss it a bit!

Of course, Thanksgiving isn’t only about the food. The fellowship around the table is just as important and oh, did we enjoy that today too! Koji and Etsuko were two of the first people we met when we started attending Hope Church. They’re about our age with grown children and several young grandchildren. Koji speaks English fairly well but Etsuko knows only a few words. In spite of that, she and I hit it off right away and it’s amazing how often I can understand the gist of what she’s said before Koji even translates! It’s hard to explain but there’s an understanding and a bond there that seems to go beyond words. What a wonderful visit we had today, getting to know one another better as we shared some of the joys and heartaches of our lives.

We had anticipated that once the visit was over, Koji would drive us to the nearest station and we’d take the train back home but, in spite of the fact that it meant an hour’s round trip for them, they insisted on delivering us to our door. Chances are that we’ll visit them at home again but our big hope is that they’ll visit us someday, not here in Japan, but in Canada!

When we rode the crowded train home from Tokyo on Thursday evening we witnessed first hand large numbers of tired businessmen making their way home after a long day at work and I was once again reminded of a phenomenon known as the weekend father. When I taught a Japan unit in junior high Social Studies back in Canada, I remember asking the students what they thought this term meant. Based on their own cultural experience, they assumed that I was referring to divorced fathers who only saw their children on the weekends. In Japan, however, the term has a completely different meaning.

Many people living in our area work in Tokyo. They spend an hour or more on the train every morning and every evening. Their workday is a long one and when it’s officially over, the men are often expected to socialize with their coworkers before heading for home. These are the the weekend fathers; men who leave the house every morning before their children are awake and who get back home long after they’re in bed.

Toshikazu, one of my students from last term, is a perfect example. He has a six-year-old son that he adores. Hobbies are very important to the Japanese people. Everybody has at least one. When you ask Toshikazu what his hobby is, he tells you it’s playing with his son. If you ask him what he would most like to do if he had more time, he says he would spend more time talking with his son. He only sees him on Saturdays and Sundays. Somehow that seems very sad.

As I saw the tired men standing on the platform waiting for Thursday evening’s train, some with their eyes closed because they were so tired, I couldn’t imagine doing that every day year in, year out and I wondered how many children yearned to spend more time with them and how many lonely wives waited at home.

Richard certainly wouldn’t have thought that he might have the chance to help build a house while he was in Japan but that’s exactly how he spent his day off yesterday!

Pastor Steve and Shelley’s house is an amazing & exciting project to be involved in. The entire house package – precut lumber, windows, siding, even doorknobs – was put together in the US, loaded into a container & shipped to Japan. Apparently that’s more cost effective than buying the materials here. I understand that Shelley’s brother, who works in construction in the States, had a lot to do with putting the whole thing together. Not only did all the building materials arrive from overseas but two carpenters from the the US also arrived this week and under their very capable direction, the work is progressing rapidly. Apparently they’re very good at making use of the unskilled labour provided by volunteers from our church.

Perched on a hilltop, the building site itself is also an amazing story. Originally they were dealing on a different piece of land lower on the hillside but it was decided that building the retaining walls that would be needed to make it usable would be too expensive. For whatever reason (obviously a God reason) the landowner ended up offering them the lot on top of the hill for the same price as the lower land even though it’s actually worth a lot more. It’s bigger than most Japanese lots and looks out over the rooftops of an entire neighbourhood below.

Richard is delighted to have the opportunity to take part in this project and would happily be back there again next Thursday except that it’s our first weekday off together as well as our anniversary and I have other ideas!

A new term begins next week and with it comes a new schedule. We’re pretty happy with the changes. From now on both Richard and I will have Thursday and Sunday as our days off. That means being able to spend a weekday together sightseeing and enjoying more of this fascinating country.

In addition to being delighted with shared days off, we’re also pleased that there are less changes to our existing schedule than we had anticipated. For the most part, we’re keeping the same classes and students that we’ve had this term. That hasn’t always been the case with MIL. In fact, it appears that in the past a term change has usually meant a huge reshuffling of teachers. Of course, that hasn’t resulted in much continuity for the students. For example, I have one adult student who’s been studying at MIL for ten years and has had 18 different teachers! Needless to say, his English hasn’t progressed the way it ought to have.

There are several classes and individual students that I’m especially pleased to be able to continue working with. I’d have been quite heartbroken if I’d lost my Saturday morning playgroup – four adorable little preschoolers. Then there’s Rie, one of my Monday afternoon ladies. She and I have hit it off so well that she actually wrote a letter to the school owner requesting that I continue to be her teacher! Unfortunately, Richard is losing the adult student that he’s developed the best rapport with but overall, the changes are good and neither of us is picking up too many new classes.

Another concern was whether or not I’d be able to continue attending the ladies meetings at the church two Wednesday mornings a month if I didn’t have Wednesday as my day off anymore. Fortunately, I’m not scheduled to begin teaching until 4 o’clock that day so that won’t usually be a problem. It will mean that I’ll sometimes have to attend a staff meeting on our day off as they are held at noon most Wednesdays and Thursdays and I wouldn’t make it back from the church in time for the Wednesday meeting. I think we can manage to plan around that though.

When we came to Japan, it was to experience the culture by living and working here.  We want to see the tourist sights and enjoy the rich history, of course, but that can be done in a much shorter time.   Though we still have a list of places we want to see and things that must be experienced before we leave this fascinating land, in many ways, life has settled into the routines of going to work and keeping house much like it would anywhere else.

One of the pluses of living in a place for awhile is making friends.  Friends help one another and so it was that we got up early today and spent the morning with several others from our church unloading two truckloads of building materials at the site where our pastor’s new home will soon stand.

The call from the pulpit yesterday asked for men who were willing and able to lift and carry.  Though I knew that it might be difficult to put together a sizable crew on a Monday, I wasn’t sure how the Japanese men would respond if I volunteered to help.  When you’re living in a foreign culture, it’s very important to be sensitive to such things.  I talked to Pastor Steve’s wife, Shelley, who told me that she’d be helping and that I’d be welcome to join her.   It was no different from working with the men of my church at home.  At first, they were inclined to treat Shelley and I like china teacups that might break but they soon discovered that I’m stronger than I look and stubborn too!   The job was done much quicker than any of us would have anticipated and even though it was raining and we got thoroughly drenched, we all had fun.  Rich and I had to teach this afternoon so we weren’t able to wait around for the trucks to return with their second loads but we’ll likely be back out to help another day.

Pastor Steve and Shelley Kaylor

We woke with a jolt at exactly 7:17 this morning. It was yet another earthquake! Though this one was only 4.9 on the Richter scale, the epicentre was just 35 km ESE of Tokyo, much closer to us than the others have been. It didn’t last long but it gave us a couple of very good shakes!

I really wasn’t looking forward to today. Sunday is usually a day off but Richard and I were both scheduled to work. According to our contract, we’re obligated to work three of our regular days off during the year. Most MIL schools are closed on Sundays so there are usually very few teachers working that day. A new term begins on Oct. 1, however, and the school is actively recruiting new students this month. For this reason, all the schools are manned on Sundays in order to accommodate students who want trial lessons.

When we do work on Sunday, we’re usually required to be at the school from noon until 6:00 pm but the schedule at both of the main schools showed that I had a 2 hour private lesson beginning at 4:30. For that reason, I was told that I didn’t have to be there until 12:30. Since the school I was spending the day at is only 17 minutes by train from the station closest to our church, I decided I’d go for the first part of this morning’s service. Since there’s always a short break just before the sermon, it would be easy to slip out then and make it to school on time.

I am so thankful that I made the decision to go. When I got to church, I discovered that my wee Japanese “grandson” was being dedicated this morning! Fortunately, the ceremony took place shortly before I had to leave. It was truly a beautiful dedication. Before taking wee Ayumu from his father’s arms, Pastor Steve asked Atsuo to pray for his son. It was very moving to hear a young father publicly ask God’s blessing upon his son and say to his Lord, “I place him in your hands.”

When I arrived at school, I discovered that the 2 hour lesson was actually only an hour and a half, ending at 6:00 pm. Had I known that in advance, I would have felt obligated to be at the school by noon and likely would not have gone to church! I have no doubt that God intervened and allowed me to be there.

Though the day was to be a fairly easy one, I was concerned about the lesson mentioned above. All I knew about the student was that he’d had a few introductory level lessons about a year ago and that he had signed on for a one time lesson today because he’s going on an overseas business trip and wanted to learn “table manners and over-dinner conversation.” How does one plan for that? We do have a textbook that was designed specifically for Japanese students going abroad so I chose a number of things from it that I hoped would be useful. As it turns out, I had nothing to worry about. The student knew exactly what he wanted and came prepared and so it was that I taught a 38-year-old police officer who has never eaten with anything but hashi (chopsticks) how to eat with a knife, fork and spoon! He literally brought dishes, cutlery and food to class! He really wasn’t looking for English at all. He’s never travelled outside Japan and was terrified that he wouldn’t know what to do or how to behave appropriately at a foreign dinner table. We practiced everything from how to summon a waitress – in a Japanese restaurant you shout sumimasen! (excuse me) – to what to do with the napkin and where to put your silverware after you’ve used it. It was the most fun I’ve had in a classroom in a very long time and I definitely appreciated the table manners that my father drilled into me as a young child!