Sorry for the long absence! I’ve been busy. You might remember at the end of my last post that I mentioned I was getting to travel and stay with Akihiro’s family for a couple days. That happened, and it was awesome.
We had to take a bus on a three hour trip to Sakaide. Japanese long-distance buses are quite nice! Comfortable seats, plenty of storage space, and a lavatory. We got off the bus in Manae’s town, Takamatsu, and took a train fifteen minutes to near Akihiro’s home in Sakaide. His mother picked us up and brought us back to their home. Akihiro’s mother, Mrs. Tanimoto, was an extremely kind woman, who always had a smile on her face. Their home was absolutely pristine. Sparkling clean, with everything in its place. Didn’t have too long to gawk though, because it was lunch-time. The in-joke of this whole trip was the fact that I have never had Japanese udon before, and Sakaide is famous for the stuff—Akihiro and Manae were intent on getting me some. So we headed out to one of their favorite udon shops in the area. For those of you who don’t know, udon are thick and doughy Japanese noodles served in a delicious broth—Often topped with various other tasty things like peppers, onions, or fish. I definitely found out that day that udon is insanely delicious that day. We had it for lunch all three days I was there—Try some if you ever get the chance!
After lunch, Akihiro, Manae, and I went to a place called Golden Tower. We need these in the states. About $13 per person for essentially all the ping-pong, bowling, billiards, darts, and arcade games you can play—Karaoke is also included. And this place wasn’t a hole in the wall—Check out the view from our humble karaoke room.
Yeah, Manae also made Akihiro and I do one of those photo booths that make your eyes all “pretty.” Results were mildly horrifying. Observe at your own risk.
I returned to Akihiro’s home for my first, real dinner in a Japanese home. It was quite something. Food. So much food. Rice, salad, two kinds of fish, octopus, tofu, beans, slabs of beef, etc. — Some of it wasn’t quite my taste, but most of it was delicious. And the food just kept coming. If something on the table got low, Mrs. Tanimoto was there to put more food on the table. She essentially spent the whole entire meal serving, and didn’t eat until the meal was almost over. It made me feel bad, but I’m told this is simply par for the course here. Mr. Tanimoto, a pediatrician, was present as well and also very kind to me. Their English wasn’t the strongest, but it was enough for me to get across what I needed to say when my limited Japanese abilities failed me. Akihiro and I compliment each other well in that area. Because we each study the other’s native languages fervently, we often help each other out. Akihiro helps me more, though—His language ability is amazing. Still, being at a table surrounded by Japanese people puts you in a great position to speak Japanese, and I really enjoyed having the opportunity. It was also good to be able to tell the family of my Christianity, and explain my missionary work.
The following day, Sunday, our group was made a group of four—An American fellow named Devon, who was a friend of Akihiro’s currently living in Japan, was invited by Akihiro to join us. He claimed to be a Christian, and seemed quite nice, but was also extremely quiet. Didn’t really get a good read on him at all. Not that it matters all that much. We all met Manae once again in Takamatsu and went to her home church. It was a wonderful thing, that I’m glad I was able to experience. The spiritual emptiness of the Japanese is evident every day you step out the door. To see this small church of 30 or so members praising God and preaching the Word in the middle of a spiritual desert was just so encouraging to me. After the service, I got to have udon with the congregation. Everyone was, as expected at this point, extremely kind. The Pastor was a very upbeat fellow, with a genuine personality and a good sense of humor. Talking with Japanese Christians is phenomenal. Being able to experience Japanese kindness and love, and at the same time knowing the person you’re talking to has been pardoned in Christ is indescribable amazing. Spending time with the kind and loving Tanimoto family knowing that their souls have yet to experience Christ can be indescribably suffocating in comparison. Still, Akihiro was with us, and it was great that he got to be exposed to this oasis.
After church, Manae’s mother (a Christian like Manae), drove us to the top of beautiful mountain. The name of the particular mountain escapes me at the time of this writing, but the views were absolutely incredible. Take a look.
That evening, dinner at the Tanimoto home was even more delicious. Yakiniku was the order of the evening—Essentially, Japanese barbecue. A large grill was placed in the middle of the table full of sizzling meat, fish, squid, and vegetables. When the piece of food you wanted was done cooking, you picked that sucker straight off the grill with your chopsticks, dipped it in some soy sauce, and enjoyed. Crazy good. And once again, Mrs. Tanimoto was hard at work. Beef running low? Another package of beef gets cracked open. Japanese hospitality is something I wish everyone could experience at least once. Truly humbling. That day, Akihiro’s 20-year-old brother, Naoyuki, had also returned from university. A shy dude, but very kind. So, Devon, Akihiro, Naoyuki, and I spent the whole rest of the evening playing Smash Brothers. My kind of night, for sure!
On the final day, we got to go see a site where an old Japanese castle had once stood—After that, a large Japanese walking park full of wonderful scenery. There’s not really much I can say about these locations—I’ll show you them instead.
To end the weekend, we returned to Manae’s house for dinner—I can only describe the dinner as essentially Japanese taco night: Roll your own sushi night! I’m not very good at it, but it was certainly fun and tasty. After dinner, Akihiro and I hopped on a bus home. The return trip was good, just as the first, and I even got to talk to Akihiro about some spiritual things—Obviously a great opportunity. I hope everyone who reads the blog is praying for every soul in Japan, but Akihiro is definitely one of the specific individuals you could certainly single out in your prayers if you’d like.
So now, it’s essentially back to the grind. I actually did have a cool opportunity today, though. Mrs. Miyoshi, one of the Christian ladies from Agape, invited me to play ping-pong with her an a non-Christian gentleman named Kiyoshi. Afterwards, we went to Mr. Kiyoshi’s home and joined his wife for tea. It was a wonderful time! Apparently, Mr. Kiyoshi’s wife is a Christian, but he is not. However, he is interested in learning English from me, and also insists that I should homestay with them at some point. I hope God will make me even a bit useful.
That’s all I’ve got for now. Sorry again for the long delay, and hopefully the next one won’t be quite that long. Everyone stay frosty.
つづく。見ていますか？ この偽光。
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