Spring finally found its way… If you were wondering, yes, life has continued after Tokyo. Just as busy as ever, of course. School is back in swing, this time with new teachers and new students. I have three new teachers at my school: Kyoto sensei (vice principle) whom I know by the same name as the last one…and that is: Kyoto sensei. At least that one’s easy. There’s also a new “office” lady (we all have the same office except the principle, so, is it technically the same name? I don’t know…) named Hayashii sensei. She’s a petite little thing with a genuine smile that wrinkles her eyes into tiny slots when she smiles. There’s also a new science teacher, Nakamura sensei, who replaced the one teacher here that spoke English. I found out last week, however, that she is actually the mother of one of the students that has been coming to the high school Bible study. I ate lunch with her today, and she is very kind. In a non-task-oriented way. I could tell that she’s a mother and knows how to connect with people on a sincere level. She told me her daughter Sakiko really enjoys “learning the Bible.” God is good. Really. I was so worried about that science teacher leaving. He orchestrates everything in our lives, though. Which brings me to high school Bible study itself. We’ve started up again, and in the past month or so, we’ve been giving some background on the life and death of Jesus so that on Easter we could watch The Passion. Since Easter was the first Sunday that high school was back in session (a new school year for them, too), we also expected to have some new 10th graders join us for the video-viewing. Well, “some” we did have. In fact, about 25 people crammed themselves into Carrie and Jeni’s living room last Sunday for this event. It was wall-to-wall packed in there. We were very excited…until we put the movie in and (drum roll please) it didn’t work. Well it worked. But, it didn’t have subtitles. At all. No English. No Japanese. Our only option if we wanted to watch that movie was to watch it in Aramaic. What is so puzzling about this situation is that the movie itself was made with subtitles. There’s no such thing (as far as I know) as this movie made without subtitles. We were stumped (and so were the 20 kids who so kindly offered to help us by playing with the remote for a half hour). I’ll admit it, I was disappointed – in fact, nearly devastated. I just couldn’t understand how if Christ had the power to rise from the dead, how he couldn’t make a movie pop up its subtitles. But those titles, despite our efforts, refused to make themselves seen, so we were forced to pop in the less-thrilling, slightly “old” Jesus film (Kate and I both had it in Japanese). I was not happy about this, but I plopped myself down, trying, honestly, to stifle tears, as we resigned ourselves to movie-viewing fate. The outcome, though, was actually quite surprising. Yes, the kids were playing with their cell phones the whole time. Yeah, they were talking. But as Kate and I discussed afterwards, it seems as if these seeming acts of boredom were really more of a security blanket than anything else. In fact, most of the kids were pretty glued to the TV. Especially at the end. After the film, someone explains (as far as I could tell…it was, as I said, in Japanese) the salvation message. I’m so thankful that these kids got to hear it. Please pray for them as they come into a new knowledge of the savior of the world. If they are to choose His Way, their decisions will be far from easy to make. Pray for strength and courage for these kids. In a mostly-Buddhist nation, they must reject much of their heritage in order to identify themselves with Christ. In other “kid” news, spring has definitely arrived at school. The new 1 nen sei kids are a blast (only 15 of them). Special favorites already are: Yuma, Ryo, and Shunpei. Yuma is the younger brother of a favorite 9th grade student, and his infectious, jolly spirit just makes me want to squeeze him every time I see him. Ryo is also quite charismatic, and LOUD. He expresses every emotion with all his heart – and voice, and makes me want to chuckle all the time at lunch. Shunpei is the class leader, and does everything he can to please you. He does his best in class, and treats everyone with the utmost respect including, as I’ve heard (though I’ve not experienced it yet), telling his female teachers that they’re “lovely.” They are certainly precious. However, “precious” can turn into “crazy” when lunch time rolls around. Since spring is in the air, during lunch break, lately the kids have taken it upon themselves to act as nutso as possible. The wonderful thing about Segawa is that, since there are so few kids (68 this year), the students (well, the boys, anyway) of different grades often play together. Not a common occurrence for any other school that I know of. Last week they decided to play “hide and seek.” Since there are several buildings “on campus,” it can actually be a pretty fun game, as I found out. I wandered into the gym (a separate building from the classrooms) on Tuesday, to check out what some of the students were up to. One 8th grade boy was playing piano, some girls were trying their hands at badminton, and I saw some boys duck quickly behind the stage, concealing themselves from their immanent predator. I watched their heads pop up, then back behind the stage, grinning all the time. After a while, though, I stopped seeing the heads pop up, and I started to hear squeals coming from behind the stage. I looked over, curious to see what was happening, and beheld an 8th grader emerging, carrying a pair of shoes (his own were still on his feet). He left the gym, donning an ornery grin. A few minutes later, he returned, placed the shoes in the middle of the gym, and went back behind the stage. Soon more squeals were heard, and this time, the 8th grader returned with a jacket, inside out, with a shirt (the kind the kids wear under all their other clothes), wrapped up inside. This made my eyes widen a little, especially after a few more boys emerged from behind the stage, wearing the same devious smile. By that time, it was time to go back to class, so as they were leaving, the boys looked at each other as if to say, “well, what should we do?” and all dropped the clothing articles in the middle of the gym, heading back to their classes. By this time the gym was almost empty, but I had an inkling that there was still a body somewhere back behind that stage. It turns out I was right. A few seconds later, one of my favorite 9th grade boys (the 8th grader’s senior) peeped only his head out. Then, cautiously, with a sheepish look on his face, he picked up a sitting mat that lay near him, placed it across his chest, and slowly stood up, exposing his uncovered, scrawny arms as he inched forward toward the pile of clothing in the middle of the gym. Poor kid. I couldn’t hold it. I burst out laughing. This was no consolation to him, but definitely made him blush and smile as he screamed “I don’t understand!” flopping back down on the pillow, trying to cover his naked chest. I kept on laughing, and didn’t know whether to retrieve his clothes for him or let him make the half-naked trek across the gym to get them. Fortunately, his scheming friends returned and carried his clothes to him. But not without scads of snickering. That story, involving my favorite goofy boys, gives some perspective on something that happened at dinner Friday night. We finally were able to eat with family (the Makis) again for the first time since spring break. Since we don’t eat with them often, we usually end up celebrating at least one birthday during this time. This time we celebrated several birthdays in the group, including Encho sensei’s himself. We were teasing him about what his most memorable birthday was, when he told us that he would show us his “cutest” birthday (he was what he described as “the cutest baby in the world”), and receded into the bowels of his house (the upper part of the English school) to retrieve some photographs of his younger years. I had to agree with him – he was the cutest baby in the world. Ooos and Aaaahs escaped from my delighted (all-female) teammates as he passed around the pictures. When they had all circled the table, though, from the head of the table, he addressed the group again. This time in a different tone. “This picture is a little bit sad,” he said. “It was taken in 1945. A few months before the atomic bombs were dropped.” I wasn’t sure exactly what he was referring to in the picture, so I was a little surprised to see, when the photo came to me, a group of small boys in military dress, arranged in formation. “This was when I was in 7th grade,” He announced. “All boys at that time were trained in school to be in the military. Every student would enter either the army, the air force, or the navy in junior high school.” “Active duty?” Cristy asked. “Yes,” he replied. I found him right away amidst the slew of uniformed boys. His kind eyes haven’t changed over the years. But his face has. In the picture, he had no wrinkles. No age spots. No reseeding hairline. Except for the emotionless expression required for formal photographs, he showed no signs of maturity at all. Just a look of young, boyish innocence and, maybe, a trace of fear. Holding the yellowing picture in my hands, my mind began putting it all into perspective. Seventh grade. That’s the same as my new first-year students in junior high school. The same as Yuma; the same as Ryo; the same as Shunpei…two years younger than Kazuma – my favorite scrawny half-naked hide-and-seek player. These were the kids known as “the enemy.” These were the boys required to give their lives – in loyalty to their country, to their superiors – in kamikaze missions. I see that loyalty today. In a different context, of course, but I began to understand a little. These kids weren’t fighting because they hated the people they were fighting against. They were fighting because they were told to. Because they were loyal. Because they had to. They had no choice. Passing the picture on and glancing at Encho sensei’s smile-wrinkled face, I was struck with the irony that this man so often reminds me of my fun-loving, God-fearing grandfather. My grandfather who fought in the same war. On the other side. It makes you think…

Tokyo ni ikimashita! So, I’m back. Back to the country (as in pastoral, not nation). Away from the people. Away from the largest city on the face of the earth. Yes, folks, I spent my spring break in Tokyo. Something that I can safely say, I never really dreamed I would do. Whether because I lacked the desire or just never thought it possible is up for debate, but either way I did it, and I survived. Spring Break officially began for us junior high teachers on March 28, but since I had a doctor’s appointment on the 30th, I had to stick around for a few more days. During this time, by the way, we had what I would classify as a small blizzard in Funehiki. Not exactly ideal weather. But anyway, I went to the doctor in the afternoon, and after waiting for three hours to talk to the man (who actually spoke fluent English and seemed to know what was going on), ordered some blood tests. Now, if you know me well, you know my needle-phobia, so I made sure to tell the nurse doing the poking that “hari wa muzukashii desu” (needles are difficult [for me]). The only reason I knew the first word, is because that’s how I originally pronounced my name here (though now I’m a “canal” not a “needle”.) I didn’t know the knowledge would come in so handy. The blood-taking, though, made me appreciate Japan and its detail-oriented culture on a new level. I had zero traces of the three-vial blood sucking activity the next day. And I didn’t keel over on the floor afterward (almost, but I did make it). So, that evening I headed to Shinkjuku (in Tokyo) with Patty by bus to meet Tammy, her college roommate, her cousin Tiffany, and her cousin’s fiancé Keith. I was stressing out the whole time, because I was warned by multiple people that the station was crazy. They were right. When we finally found the entrance (the bus stop was a little bit away from the actual station), I just stood there and wanted to cry. I’ve never seen so many people rushing in so many directions. The trains alone had like 16 different lines going. I felt very lost. Luckily, after about an hour of wandering around, some Americans took pity on us and explained where we needed to go. Praise God for kind foreigners who have also felt that stupid, lost feeling. They’re extremely compassionate. So, after we figured out where we needed to be, we hopped on the train. It was crowded when we got on, but there were still a few inches between us and the next people. (standing only left, of course). But as we continued on the line, more and more people got on. Eventually I just couldn’t see how we could get any more people on the train. But, somehow, with the aid of a lot of awkward maneuvering and rearranging, we managed to. I can no longer say I’ve never been on a train where pushing was required. With my suitcase, I felt like I was playing a huge game of twister, the goal being not to fall over on all the business men around me. It was an experience. We stayed in Kamata that night (a bit south of actual Tokyo), and got up somewhat early the next day to head to Tokyo Disneyland. It being the first time for most of us in Tokyo station, we had a slight moment of tension about where and when to buy tickets, but it all worked out in the end, and we were on our way to the most popular attraction in the Land of the Rising Sun. It was crowded. I’m talking, thousands upon thousands of people crowded. Cedar Point was like a drop in a bucket compared to this. It was like Disneyland was a sandwich left from a picnic lunch, and all the little ants in the area heard about it and flocked. The kids were on break, so they apparently got a discount. Needless to say, we didn’t ride many rides (and one of the three that we did try to ride broke in the middle, so we had to walk off…). But, I did get a lot of time with Patty and Tammy’s friend Erin from college. It was nice to talk to those girls for the day (since that’s about all we did besides wander around, use the bathroom, and eat). When we got back to Kamata, though, Erin, Patty and I ate at our first stand-up Udon (fat noodles in a broth) shop. There was a lot of sniffling… The next day I got up a little later and headed with Patty (the others had gone to Ueno) to a flee market in Kamata. It was a longer walk than we expected, but we eventually found the few souls trying to dispose of their unwanted items. And you thought an American flee market was random…there was anything from old Hello Kitty stuff to beautiful kimono fabric and traditional wooden shoes. Not being satisfied with the range of junk at this smaller Tokyo suburb, though, we decided to head to Shinjuku to their flee market. I was pleasantly surprised by what we found. Laid-back people. It was amazing. I strolled around the market for over an hour NOT IN A HURRY. Wow. And I even bought a ring and paper lantern. Aaaaaah. Lazy shopping. After Shinjuku we decided to meet the other group in Ueno. Unfortunately, we left the lazy meandering behind when we stepped on the train (well, actually, it was a subway this time). What we found in Ueno was another mad house. Worse than the train. Worse than Disneyland. It was nutso. Cherry blossom viewing, or “Hanami” (literally “flowerviewing”) is the most popular spring activity in Japan (before this I thought it was going to Disneyland…). There is one particular row in Ueno park where cherry blossoms line both sides. This path that day was, literally, a river of people, with picnics and drunken carrying-on taking place on its banks. It was great = ). It was like a huge fair, but better. It was a huge party, and everyone was invited. Definitely a dose of culture I hadn’t experienced before. We didn’t stay in Ueno long, though, because both groups were dog-tired, so Patty and I got Subway (woohoo for American food!) and collapsed in our hotel room. Let’s see, what day are we on…April 2nd. We sent Tiffany and Keith on their way (back home) that morning, and headed to Asakusa (an area with a bunch of tourist-trap shops and traditional temple-y kinds of things. It was interesting, but again, very crowded, so after we had our fill of marketed culture, we went back to Kamata to meet Patty and head for church – Tammy’s first service in English since SEPTEMBER. The train to Noborito (the station where the church was) took longer than we thought, and when we got there, we had an unexpected fan (a very drunk man who followed us around for a while, we’ll just say, who thought we were “pretty”). But, thankfully, though we were late, Christine Huber met us at the station, and led us to the church. The service was so refreshing, probably largely because it was in English. Afterward, the Hubers took us out for some yummy Chinese, and we were inspired by talking with them about ministry in Japan. Yay for vision! Without it the people perish (in the words of my brother, a thousand malted milkballs, well, I’ll say jellybeans this time, to the person who can identify where that comes from). Monday, April 3rd: Tired, but refreshed, we hopped on a train back to Ueno to finish our shopping. This time the park was less crowded and we got to really enjoy the cherry blossoms…and a traditional ramen shop. It was really interesting, and actually a little stressful since we didn’t know what we were doing. You pay just inside the door at a sort of “vending machine”, which spits out a ticket for you. The hostess gives you a sheet of paper (what looked to me like a questionnaire), and sends you to your own “booth” (it looked like a study booth in a library), where you fill out the sheet with how strong you want your ramen flavor, how much meat you want, how many noodles, etc. and hand it to the guy on the other side of the booth through a little window. A few minutes later, he hands you your ramen, then drops a bamboo screen between you and him (the kitchen), and you’re free to eat in “peace.” (with the sound of sniffing noses and slurping mouths attacking you from both sides). Another cultural experience: check! We didn’t do much more than shop the rest of the day, but we found another market deeper into the park, and had a lot of fun looking at all of the interesting pottery and jewelry, etc. In the afternoon, we said goodbye to Patty and she left for home, and a few hours later, Tammy got a call on her “keitai” (cell phone) from Lis, saying she was waiting for us in Tokyo station. So, we connected with her there, and enjoyed more Japanese food, including “shoe cream” (cream puffs) and “katsudon” (fried pork cutlet). Again whooped, we drug ourselves back to the hotel, laughing hysterically in the overcrowded train as Lis obliviously (and repeatedly) leaned her head on the shoulder/chest of the well-dressed businessman behind her. I don’t think he minded too much = ). And the last day: April 4, Tuesday: We sent Lis off in the morning, went back to Tokyo station to see Erin off to America, and after some trouble, met up with Jeni and Adriane in Tokyo station. Since their trip to Kyoto had been cold and rainy and had offered limited cherry blossom viewing, we once more hopped on a train to Ueno (this time with all our bags), and strolled around the park. This time we decided to actually partake in the “hanami” experience, so Tammy and Adriane split “yakisoba” (fried noodles), and Jeni and I shared a shrimp-filled serving of “okonomiyaki” (literally: fried things you like, but is like a pancake with random things mixed in). It was yummy, but I could have done without so much (whole, non-shelled, baby) shrimp. Other events that filled the day before heading back to Funehiki: spending an hour picking out beads for a necklace for me, Adriane buying a kimono and obi, and me kicking over a guy’s coffee on him at Starbucks. Yeah, that was embarrassing. Woops. Well, we made it back, and I definitely fulfilled my main goal of the trip: seeing cherry blossoms. Our three trips to Ueno park did it for me. Next year: hopefully more Southwestern Japan, accompanied by those I love. Oh, yes, and during our re-uniting meeting with the rest of the team, we passed out “omiage” (food souvenirs from wherever we went). Cristy brought Reese’s pieces. We decided Jeni had been in Japan to long, when after tasting them, she exclaimed, “These things are amazing!!! I never knew they existed!!”

Patty and Erin in front of the castle at Disneyland...there really were crowds, honest. I just found the only 5 square feet without any people from which to take the picture, I guess.

From Shinkjuku Koen (park)

In the temple in Asakusa

A temple in Asakusa

Ueno no hanami (cherry blossom viewing in Ueno)

Our friends in Ueno Park

In Ueno Park...after the crowds

Pink cherry blossoms - some of the only ones we saw in Tokyo