After church yesterday we stayed and ate lunch with many of the people there then headed into Tokyo to see Ginza, one of the city’s famed shopping areas. It was an interesting place to browse but Ginza appears to me to be Japan meets downtown Manhattan or any of the world’s other snobbish and opulent shopping areas. It reminded me of walking Chicago’s Magnificent Mile when I attended a conference in that city some twenty years ago. The streets are lined with swanky stores like Gucci, Prada, Christian Dior, Tiffany’s and Chanel. Customers are greeted by uniformed doormen as they enter. We went into only one such store, a place where watches sell for upwards of $3000 and purses for over $1300! Needless to say, we didn’t open our wallets or stay long. It actually felt quite obscene to me!

On Sunday afternoons, many of the streets of Ginza are blocked to traffic. Seats are even set out in the middle of the street for those who want to take a break from walking or shopping. Interestingly, I noticed that, in spite of the wide open streets, the Japanese tended to stay to the sidewalks. Perhaps they feel more comfortable in a crowd!

Ginza had a much more international flavour than most of the places we’ve visited and many who were there were clearly tourists. I hope they see more of Japan than that or they really won’t have seen Japan at all!

Just before nightfall, we stopped at a luxurious little coffee shop where I enjoyed a cafe mocha and Richard sipped a maple milk latte while the sun went down. Starbuck’s seemed to be around every corner but this was a Tully’s and, with the exception of the Japanese signage, it could have been tucked into any North American city. Unlike everywhere else we’ve been recently, McDonald’s was conspicuously absent from Ginza!

Ginza was definitely a place to see lit up at night. In fact, the entire side of one tall building was an ever changing light show!

At 7:02 p.m. yesterday we experienced what one news report called a moderate earthquake.  Apparently it registered a magnitude of 5.0 and was centered about 60 km north of Tokyo, so not too far from here.

Richard and I were between classes at our respective schools so there was no one around except us and the Japanese receptionists.  In both cases, they seemed considerably more frightened than we did.  Perhaps we’re too naive to be afraid!  The buildings definitely rattled and shook but it wasn’t nearly violent enough to cause any damage or serious concern.

In spite of our somewhat relaxed attitude, earthquakes definitely are something to take seriously here.  Every school has a disaster response notice posted showing where we should evacuate to in the case of a serious quake.  A couple of weeks ago, we received by mail from the City of Funabashi a 62 page multilingual disaster prevention guide complete with maps of the area and information on safety precautions as well as evacuation areas and shelters.  It is provided specifically for the use of foreigners living within the city.  Hopefully we never have to use it!

I especially love watching the little lady who lives in the corner house across from us. Whenever the weather allows, she’s outside in the mornings working on her planters and it’s been a delight to watch her flowers bloom. Like many elderly Japanese women, she is very stooped over, probably the result of malnutrition during wartime. She can hardly move around but she tends her plants with great care and keeps her yard looking absolutely clean and tidy. She appears to live alone but several women drop by on a regular basis. One, perhaps a daughter, is there most days.

Across from the elderly lady, an old man is often observed out working in his yard. One day I noticed that he was taking a break from gardening and practicing his golf swing. He didn’t have a club in hand but a fellow golfer recognizes that motion! I’m a little worried about him right now though as he has a terrible cough. Walls are thin here and I can hear him from here!

We also love watching the tiny children who gather with their mothers at the corner just down from us each morning to wait for the bright yellow bus that picks them up to take them to preschool. They look absolutely adorable in their little uniforms!

In addition to being able to watch life unfolding around us, there is a definite bonus to living where we do. On a very clear morning, we can see Mt. Fuji from our window!

We love our neighbourhood, a quiet residential area made up of small apartment buildings and private homes. Streets are narrow and buildings are close together but people do have small yards that they tend with great care. The area is safe, peaceful and very clean. Yesterday was a good example. On Tuesdays people put out recyclable cans and bottles for pick up. Sacks are provided for this purpose. Yesterday was extremely windy, however, and the sacks kept blowing over and emptying themselves. As pop cans rattled their way down the street, neighbours scurried out of their homes to pick them up! It was almost comical to watch. I’ve also seen people out sweeping the edge of the street in front of their property, cleaning up leaves and debris that have fallen from their trees. I can’t imagine such a thing happening back home.

Many of the homes in our area appear to be three generational with children, parents and grandparents living together. There are lots of kids in the neighbourhood. In fact, most mornings they’re our alarm clock as they pass beneath our window on their way to the nearby elementary school at about 7:45 every morning laughing and calling to one another. We’ve missed that this week as the school year ended recently. It’s basically year round schooling here, however, so they’ll be back in school next week.

Though our immediate surroundings are very peaceful, there are two train stations, one of our main schools and a busy commercial area all within easy walking distance. There are also two department stores each with a large grocery section less than a kilometer away. We’re fortunate in that two train lines intersect at one of our nearest stations so it’s easy to go in any direction from here.

Last week we acquired a bike from a teaching couple who were leaving to go back to the States. They sold it to us for 2000 yen, approximately $20! We also bought computer speakers from them for 300 yen and they threw in a folding canvas chair, a couple of cushions and a kitchen clock for nothing! I went for my first bike ride today and discovered a great park, also within easy walking distance from here. In fact, it’s right across the street from the post office. We’d seen the ball diamonds before but didn’t realize that they are at one end of the park which also contains tennis courts, gardens, a big playground area and many cherry trees! The park was crowded with people this afternoon and as is the custom at this time of year, many of them were picnicking under the cherry blossoms.

I wasn’t sure how well I’d navigate the bike up some of the hills around here but apparently all the walking this past month has been good preparation. Like most of the bikes here, ours is very basic with no gears but I cruised up the hills with little difficulty!

We went to church this morning and what an awesome experience it was! Knowing that the service was at 10:30 but not knowing how long it would take us to get there, we left home early and arrived about half an hour before the service started which was great because a time of prayer and praise started about 10 minutes after we arrived and, though we didn’t understand a word of it, we enjoyed being there. Hope Church is definitely a place where God is present. We felt it the minute we entered.

The service itself was looong! The first hour was praise and worship and we learned that we could sing in Japanese! The words were projected on the wall in both Japanese characters and the Roman alphabet. As Japanese is an easy language to read and pronounce, we were able to join in even though we had no idea what we were saying. It was wonderful! After the announcements were made and the offering was taken, everyone greeted one another and then settled in for the sermon which also lasted about an hour. Headsets provide English translation of the announcements, the reading of scripture and the sermon. Following the sermon, there was another time of prayer before the service came to a close.

We estimated the congregation to be about 200 to 250 people and we were made to feel very welcome. All ages appeared to be represented except for teenagers and that’s only because the large youth group are presently on a trip to Seattle! People come from a long distance to worship together at Hope. Many bring their lunches and eat together in the fellowship hall/foyer after the service. We didn’t know this but in the future, we’ll join them. As all good Nazarene’s know, breaking bread together is a great way to get to know one another.

Hope Church is found in a very unusual location. It occupies one floor of a five storey building and is sandwiched between a bowling alley above and a pachinko parlour below. Pachinko, a pinball type game, is an extremely popular pastime in Japan and a pachinko parlour is basically a Japanese casino.

Following the service, we headed off by train to Narita. Wouldn’t you know it, it started to rain as soon as we got there! Fortunately, it was a light rain and we had our umbrellas in our daypack. We visited Narita-san Shinsho-ji, a huge Buddhist temple and enjoyed strolling through the beautiful park that surrounds it. Apparently the temple is one of the most visited ones in Japan, second only to those in the Kyoto area. It is dedicated to Fudo Myouou, the god of fire, and one of the buildings houses a huge and rather frightening looking figure, presumably Fudo Myouou himself. I couldn’t help but wonder how such a thing could inspire anyone to worship and was saddened to think that the world is full of people putting their hope in things like that. What a contrast from a morning spent with people who so clearly know and worship a living God!

We finally have our teaching schedules for the new term which begins on Tuesday.  There’s good news and bad.  The good news is that we’re both off on Sundays and will be able to start attending church!  This Sunday we’re going to try Hope Church which was recommended by another teaching couple working for MIL.  When I looked up the church online to find out what time services are held, I discovered that it’s affiliated with something called the Japan Evangelical Missionary Association Church Planting Institute.  Apparently, the pastor is a gaijin (foreigner, like us) but he preaches in Japanese and headsets are provided for English translation.

The bad news concerning our schedules is the fact that we don’t share a second day off as we had hoped we might.  I’m off on Wednesdays and Richard is off on Thursdays.  We are, however, entitled to five “yukyu” days which can be used at almost anytime during the year as either sick days or personal leave days.  Since we’ve made it through our first month of being exposed to foreign viruses and bugs without either of us succumbing to illness of any sort, we’re hopeful that we won’t need to use them as sick days.  At least once or twice during the term we may request each other’s day off as a yukyu day which would give us a two day break together.  That would allow us to take overnight trips and venture a little further afield than we can do on a single day.  At the end of the six month term we can make requests concerning our days off for the second term and at that point, we’ll definitely request common days off for the remainder of our time here.

I’m also disappointed that my new schedule doesn’t include teaching a couple of classes that I’ve had for the past few weeks and enjoyed immensely.  One is a class of eight junior high boys who are full of energy but lots of fun.  Imagine the time I’ve had trying to teach them to make the “th” sound which doesn’t exist in Japanese!  The other is a class of four adults; two retired gentlemen, a recently retired lady and a younger lady.  They are absolutely delightful; definitely my favourite class so far.  Hopefully some of my new classes will be just as much fun.

This is Spring Week at school, a break between terms.  For the past three days we’ve been teaching spring courses which are marketed as “English intensive” programs.  The purpose of these courses is to give regular students, who usually have English class just once a week, a chance to practice their English more intensively and to allow prospective students to see what our teachers and classes are like.  Mine were all children’s classes and it was fun to have the same kids three days in a row.  The next couple of days will be spent doing project work around the schools which consists of everything from organizing teaching resources to repairing books to cleaning.  For some of us, Monday also includes our modeling debut!

We had an awesome day yesterday! Shared days off are like mini holidays as that’s when we get to play tourist and really enjoy the sights and sounds of Japan. We had planned to go into Tokyo to Ueno Park, the city’s biggest park, to view the cherry blossoms on Sunday afternoon but yesterday was so warm and sunny that we decided not to wait. There’s been quite a bit of rain lately and we would have been terribly disappointed if we’d waited until Sunday and the weather hadn’t cooperated.

We set off for Tokyo right after lunch. The trip into the city took longer than it should have because we made the mistake of getting on a local train that stopped at every stop along the way. We won’t do that again!

Once we finally arrived in Tokyo, finding the park was no trouble at all. The Ueno station is literally underneath the park! Ueno is definitely a place we’ll go back to again as it houses the highest concentration of museums and galleries anywhere in Japan. Yesterday we were there for hanami (blossom viewing), however, so we spent a couple of hours simply strolling through the park. After that, while we waited for darkness to fall, we explored Ameya-yokocho Arcade, a lively shopping area of tiny shops and crowded alleyways directly across from the station. We enjoyed supper in one of the tiny restaurants there. Once it was dark, we returned to the park as parts of it are lit up at night during cherry blossom season.  What an amazing sight!

We made our way home via a much quicker train and hadn’t been back in the apartment for an hour when a tremendous thunderstorm blew in and it began to pour rain again!

Here’s a closer look at our mini appliances. Above you can see the stove as well as the fridge with the microwave sitting on top of it and the washing machine beside it. To give you perspective, the fridge is about 44 inches tall, 19 inches wide and 20 inches from front to back. In our family, I’ve always been known as the person who could pack the most into an already full fridge. That’s definitely a valuable skill here! Of course, when you have to carry all the groceries home from the store by hand, it limits the amount of food that you have in the house at any one time!

I brought our little travel iron with us but I haven’t had to use it because, unlike many of the MIL apartments, ours is furnished with an ironing board and iron. I can’t read the instructions on the iron but the brand name is Press Love! Isn’t that cute? It’s also very typical Japanese English.

I really think the vacuum cleaner is our cutest appliance though. It’s so little! Since the apartment is also so small, I can vacuum the whole place in a matter of minutes. The last time I did that I realized that one reason I love this apartment so much is that using all these mini appliances make me feel like a little girl playing house!

It seems odd to be in a non-Christian country where Easter is not celebrated. On the other hand, since its real meaning would be entirely lost and it would simply be the Easter bunny thing, I’m glad it’s ignored here. That’s one of my pet peeves – the way world steals our sacred days and turns them into commercial events. Apparently that’s happened to Christmas here but they haven’t got hold of Easter yet.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m still the girl who thinks that chocolate is an essential food group and I did manage to sneak a one pound Easter bunny into our luggage and bring it all the way from Canada! When the children were young, and even as they got older, hiding chocolate eggs was always a fun part of our Easter celebration but they always knew that that wasn’t really what it was all about.

I’m especially going to miss being in church today and celebrating with my church family. Unfortunately, we’re both working today so we haven’t been able to seek out a church to celebrate with. Hymns have been playing on the computer since we got up, however. Right now I’m listening to “Christ the Lord Has Risen Today”. Now that’s what Easter’s all about!

Happy Easter! He has risen!

Well I’m still working on adding photos so here are a few. The first one is taken from the kotatsu room looking into the kitchen and the second shows the sink, stove, cupboards and counter space – all of it! The door on the right is our entrance from outside.

No description of the apartment would be complete without telling you that I can touch the ceiling in every room. Doors are also much smaller than we are accustomed to. For example, the door separating the tatami room from the kitchen is 5 feet 9 inches tall and less than 23 inches wide! We have lots of friends and family members who would have difficulty squeezing though! Wide sliding doors separate the other rooms, however. These take up no room and when they’re open, the place seems quite spacious.

the tatami room during the daytime

the kotatsu