01/12/2007AD - Touchdown

Date: 1 December 2007AD
Time: 9:40pm
Location: Ichikawa, Japan
Current Mood: Exhausted, but excited!

What happened:
The overnight flight was relatively uneventful. However, something in the meal they served didn't agree with me and made it's way back up. Not pleasant, but at least I felt better afterwards. Didn’t get much sleep either and was awoken around 4am for the QANTAS staff to serve breakfast. Attempted to watch ‘The Simpsons Movie’ but was cut short by about 30 minutes as the plane was 'preparing for landing'.

We landed at Narita Airport around 6am where we met Kenton Samuel for the first time. He looked remarkably different to the photo he sent via his ‘Japan Team’ email…probably because he no longer had small dreadlocks and also because he had glasses on. Kenton hails from Britain and has the same sense of humour as Aussies do, which means we get his jokes. We then met Steve Weemes who is an American and a little bit more forward in his comments, but I think that comes with the turf. Spent the next few moments waiting to meet the Sydney team who had lost themselves at the airport.

Packed our bags then took the train to our Ichikawa* residence. Train ride was approximately 1 hour long with some interesting scenery along the way – despite the windows fogging up 10 minutes into the ride.

Went through some basic orientation for the day including finance, emergency procedures, and general things about the OMF vision. Struggled to stay awake during the latter due to lack of energy and, as I found out later, the coffee I was having was decaf…

Highlight of the day was going on a Cultural Scavenger Hunt which lead us through the heart of Ichikawa’s district. It was a really great time to get to see the city for ourselves and make various observations.

Dinner was had at an Italian/Fusion restaurant chain which was pretty average, but cheap. Later that evening Brad, Jay and myself went looking for shoes for me (my boots were killing me all day) but this didn’t eventuate into anything unfortunately.

Looking forward to:

• Getting some good rest tonight
• Church service tomorrow morning
• Dinner tomorrow evening at a nice Japanese restaurant

Interesting thing I noticed today:

1. Not all Japanese look the same – I was genuinely surprised at this (though I shouldn’t have been!). Japanese come in all shapes and sizes and I was surprised to seem some look alikes throughout the day (Mark Wee, Andrew Young’s sister, Steve Chong…)
2. Hardly anyone uses their car horns despite all the traffic on the roads – apparently a sign of strong self-control/face
3. Lots of people ride bicycles – including very old women and women in their mid-40’s who seem to be done up so well
4. Engrish is real and common!
5. Lots of vending machines with little cans/bottles (150mls), apparently it’s considered rude and lacking in self-control to eat/drink on the go. So the vending machines have small bottles designed for people to drink on the spot and throw away before walking off.
6. Lots and lots of recycling – three specific bins for ‘plastics’, ‘burnable’, ‘non-burnable’

Interesting food I ate today:
Goyoza – Japanese dumplings which weren’t as tasty as ones I’ve had back home in Brisbane
Teriyaki Burger – which consisted of a burger bun and teriyaki flavoured patty
Hamburg steak with crumbed shrimp – very average as the ‘steak’ was actually just a burger patty

*Ichikawa is situated South-East of Tokyo City, approximately 20 minutes by train from the city centre.

02/12/2007AD - Chapel + More Orientation

Date: 2nd December 2007AD
Time: 10:15pm
Location: Ichikawa, OMF Guest House
Current Mood: Very tired

What happened:
So much happened today!
Breakfast in the guest house lounge was simple enough, coffee and toast. We then finished off our introductions from yesterday with prayers for each other then Kenton took us through some things regarding language and translation.

We then went to the 11:30am Chapel service which was interesting. The whole service was run in Japanese, but we had been provided with an English translation earlier. Service was quite conservative with the use of hymns and an organ. Lunch was served after the service.

We then went through some more orientation stuff – religions of Japan and language.

Dinner was at a local Japanese restaurant which was a little less traditional than we expected.


Back for more language and now here.

Looking forward to:
Seeing Sapporo, but have been informed that it will be very cold. Also looking forward to getting more good sleep tonight.

Interesting thing I noticed today:

1. Learnt a great deal of how Japanese have a very syncretistic culture/system of belief – pick and choose the best of each religion in a mish-mash of identity
2. The Japanese language does not have tones – it has expressions, but no tones as such – so it’s hard to tell when a sentence starts and when it finishes
3. The preacher was excellent, despite me not understanding a word he said – rarely used his notes and was quite energetic. The translation of the talk seemed solid, so solid biblical teaching is alive and well.
4. Church growth in Japan has been notoriously slow, and we got our explanation as to why:
   
   
   Christianity was introduced during the 1500’s by a Catholic priest and spread quickly. However, Buddhist monks became alarmed that the Christians were growing in number and were, in a lot of ways, taking revenue away from their services. They asked the powers to get rid of the Christians which they did. The Tokugowa government at the same time instilled a ‘state of fear’ and closed the country to all outside contact. This created a foundation for the country’s people to be generally closed to relationships and opening up – since the Tokugowa government set up each community member to spy on one another. Only has the more recent generation moved away from this inherited baggage and are we seeing growth in the church amongst the youth
   
   
   
5. I am now addicted to Japanese flavoured rice crackers!

Interesting food I ate today:
Lunch: sushi triangles/sesame rice, deep fried calamari, potato wedge and boiled egg – more filling than expected
Dinner: sashimi, quality of the fish was excellent

07/12/2007AD Engineers, English, Okonomiyaki

Date: 7th December 2007AD
Time: 9:00pm
Location: OMF Guest House, Sapporo
Current Mood: Chilling

What happened:
A somewhat less hectic day today, which was fine by most of us!

We started off with breakfast and devotion. I woke up early to finish some photos and newsletter stuff, which was sent out later that morning. I also had the first of my two noodle bowls for breakfast, which weren’t too bad. Your average 2min noodles, but slightly nicer noodles.

We then headed to the OMF HQ for some orientation stuff. Whilst Jay and Melina went off to do some prep for their Sunagawa trip (an overnight inland teaching excursion), the rest of us sat through a lecture on how to lead a Japanese person through bible study. It was quite insightful and prepared most of us better should we end up leading a bible study with a Japanese person in the future. I felt tired throughout the session and had droopy eyes, unfortunately (and I think I was busted a couple of times!).

Lunch was simple sandwiches and some cupcakes. Brad and I then left with Alaric to Hokkaido University for an English lesson with some Engineering students. This was a fun time teaching and going through basic conversational English with the students. I invited a number of them to the upcoming Australian Dinner and they eagerly agreed to come. I was told later, however, that we should have asked for RSVPs instead to ensure their attendance. Oh well.

Brad and I were dropped off later by Alaric to the guesthouse, where we rested for a short time before Richard came to take us to the JustCo shopping centre. We had dinner at a funky restaurant which was Teppanyaki style. We had Japanese ‘Omelette/Pancakes’ (Okonomiyaki) which we mixed ourselves and cooked ourselves. A very fun experience all around!

We then spent an hour doing some shopping and I got some extra thermal pants to replace the ones I had previously bought from the 100yen store as they were too tight.

Back home now for a restful evening.

Looking forward to:

• Tomorrow is a rather big day, so I’m looking forward to the events one by one. Also looking forward to hitting bed tonight!

Interesting thing I noticed today:

• All prepacked sandwiches have their crust cut off
• Japanese people are the most helpful and polite when it comes to service. I was purchasing a 'Mr Doghnut' and when the guy serving me understood that I couldn't speak Japanese he remained incredibly helpful whilst continuing his service. I never once got the impression that he was condescending at all.
  

Interesting food I ate today:
Dinner tonight – Okonomiyaki – do it yourself Japanese pancake. It was very yummy :) With fish flakes, ginger, BBQ sauce and yummy Japanese mayonnaise.