The Little Things That Make it Home

It’s the little things here in Japan that are slowly starting to make this place feel like home. Small things that one often takes for granted can help to make a place feel like home instead of “that place I’m currently sleeping in” (I refrain from using the word house when referring to Japan). My apartment finally has some groceries on the shelves, towels around the kitchen, things hanging in my bedroom, pictures of friends, and a coffee-ish table filled with my collection of notes and mail since I’ve been here…starting to look like someone actually lives here. I’m also becoming acclimated into my neighborhood more. I know exactly how much a Red Bull costs, found the local ATM, picked up my alien registration card, I have my nightly running route, have a membership to the local grocery store and my favorite local vegetable stand; trivial items but you’d be surprised at how much they can make a difference in a foreign land. This neighborhood is finally starting to feel like home. After a long day of school or a day at church I often think to myself how nice is will be to be ‘home’, and now my home is Adachi-ku. It strikes me as odd to think that I’ve only been here for a month, but at the same time how much I’ve already started to adjust to my new life in Japan, and how much of the language I really have learned.

The weather is finally starting to turn to autumn which makes me excited and anxious at the same time. Fall is often reminiscent of pumpkin carvings, football, Halloween, hot apple cider, and watching the beautiful trees turn colors, (whether it is in the Ozarks or outside Huegli Hall). I’m excited to see what Tokyo looks like with autumn leaves turning bright colors. This weekend I have a retreat in Nagano, and the next weekend I also have a retreat in a more remote area of Tokyo so hopefully I’ll be able to take pictures of the beautiful trees which I’m hoping will have turned by then!



Before arriving in Japan I was expecting to miss out on Halloween completely since that is an American Holiday…or so I thought. Halloween decorations are everywhere in Tokyo! My church this past Sunday even had a Halloween themed Sunday School for the kids. The teachers and Pastor dressed up in costumes and hid around the church while the kids tried to find them. Once they found them they had to solve a puzzle or recite the Lord’s Prayer or something else they had learned from Children’s Service in order to get their candy. It was really entertaining to watch, and made me think that maybe our traditions aren’t so unique after all. Sunday really made me stop and think that I have more in common with the people of Japan than I thought and am constantly being reminding of that on a daily basis.





That is all for now. I’ll be sure to write after the J3 retreat this weekend and share that experience with you!