October Recap: Part 2/2

Picking up where I left off in my last blog…

I have mentioned in a previous blog entry how my interest in Asia all began. It started when I lived in Milwaukee and went to an Asian emersion school and partially because of my friend Mariko. (Please read my blog entry from last December “Why Japan” for more back ground information) Mariko and I had lost touch, and shortly after I wrote a blog about that, I mentioned it to my students in one of my classes at Hongo. I then had an amazing student who helped me find and get in touch with her dad, and subsequently I was finally able to FIND HER!!!

So the day after Oktoberfest, my friend Scott and I went to go meet Mariko and her family in the Hamarikyu Gardens in Tokyo. Mariko’s current job has to do with designing space for events and graphic designing, and was hired to be in charge of the event at the gardens. The Tokyo Grand Tea Ceremony was being held that weekend and she was in charge of all of their graphics, so she invited us to meet her there and participate in the event. I was so nervous! It was weird to think that I was going to be seeing my friend whom I hadn’t seen in over 13 years. I’m glad I had Scott with me that day because I was a nervous wreck! He would ask me, “what does she look like?” and I thought to myself…I have no idea! But after a few phone calls and trying to figure out where we were suppose to meet, I saw girl running, and Scott asked me if that was her, and I replied YES! Mariko looked the same, and she said that I did too! How crazy is that?! It was such a great feeling to finally be able to see her again after all these years! I had always told her one day I’d live in Tokyo…and now I do. Crazy.

This was a rather eventful day in itself. I was reunited with Mariko; we participated in a tea ceremony, saw a Geisha performance, listened to a traditional Japanese instrument performance, walked around the garden, and then finally had dinner with part of the Mizumura family. Kyoko, Tsuneo, Mariko, and Ana joined Scott and me for dinner that night. It was great to catch up with old friends who have known me for such a long time. I haven’t kept in touch with too many friends from Milwaukee because I was only 10 when we moved, but Mariko and I managed to stay pen pals and have been reunited after such a long time. It was really a great day!




The following Saturday I had signed up to go on a retreat with another ministry site in Japan called the Lighthouse. The Lighthouse is a ministry that focuses on out reach to men in the Navy down on the Navy base in Yokosuka, about 2 hours south of Tokyo. I highly enjoy the people there as well as being able to be in an English ministry setting where I can finally be filled as well. The group was going on a tour around the Kanto area. We started off in Yokosuka, drove to Fuji, a beautiful lake in the area, Matsumoto Castle, and then drove up to Nagano where we saw many beautiful places and learned all about the history of Japan and Christianity in Japan. I had a blast with my new friends riding in the car for hours. We had some great conversations, and it was really nice to be around friends again; whether they have been friends for over a year, a few months or a few moments. It was also really fascinating to learn more about the Japanese context, history, traditions and it shed great light onto why some things happen and why some things within the church remain stagnant. Very educational.

After we returned to Tokyo from Nagano, I quickly made my way to the airport to pick up my friend Laura who was visiting from Hong Kong. Laura was my college roommate in Valpo; it was quite nice to have her staying with me again even if it was only for a few days. It was just like old times at VU. A friend to talk with, watch movies with, lay around and do nothing with, and of course we went shopping. Laura’s time was brief in Tokyo but it was enough to get a lot of sightseeing in and to give her the real Japanese experience, last trains and all. We went shopping in several different areas of Tokyo, took purikura pictures and of course played the Taiko game at the arcades…I think we did pretty well. Overall we had a blast. Most of all it was nice to have a friend visit who really knows me, and someone who I don’t have to act different around or speak slowly with. I’m really glad she was able to visit. Its funny how after I moved to Japan, it seems a lot of my friends from college are also migrating to this side of the world….a welcomed move. After six days of rommie reunion it was time for Laura to head back to Hong Kong and for me to get back to work.



That was the majority of my month of October, I might have left a few things out but with so much going on this fall its hard to write about everything that’s happening. These next two weekends I will be on retreats and after I return to Tokyo I will try to catch you all up on how those went!

October Recap: Part 1 of 2

I closed my eyes for a minute and when I opened them it was November! Where in the world did October go?! The days are beginning to get colder here in Tokyo which is welcomed at this point, it was a long and hot summer and I am glad to finally be able to pull out my sweaters and cozy up underneath a blanket... or four, while drinking some hot chocolate! The leaves in Tokyo haven't turned color yet, but I think within the next few weeks they should start! October was definitely a busy month and keep me quite occupied. My classes at Katerina resumed on the 1st of the month, so my nights filled up again really fast, which means my sleeping took another hit, but that's okay. As I learned in college, one doesn't need sleep when you have Red Bull and coffee at your disposal. Allow me to recap my month for you:

The Tokyo J3's have Mondays off of work, to recoup from the work we do on Sundays. So the first Monday of the month, my co-worker, Matthew, and I along with a student (an adult student) decided to go sailing on Tokyo Bay. One of the joys of having older students is that they like to include us in their hobbies. Maruoka san enjoys sailing a lot and goes probably once a week. Matthew has been out sailing with him several times, but this was my first time to ever go sailing, and I must admit, I had a blast! Maruoka san highly enjoys having students come sailing with him as well because he doesn't have to do much. Matthew took care of all of the sails and tying them off while I manned the helm. I learned a few things about sailing but will be really excited to get back on the water again!



The following Saturday I participated in a Lutheran "youth" retreat in Nagasaki on the southern most island of Japan, Kyushu. The word youth here has a very loose meaning, and tends to mean, those who are marrying age, but remain single. The majority of the participants were college or graduate students, with a few older participants as well. The theme of this gathering was "We are the Peace Makers" and the gathering focused on peace, what this means to us, what it means living in the Japanese context and how we as Christians should apply that to our lives. It was a very interesting conference, partially because the entire event was in Japanese. I strained my brain trying to understand everything, but luckily for me many people did speak English so I had some help with interpreting some of the harder conversations.

Nagasaki was a great location to have this retreat because of the historical events that have happened there. We, of course, went to the Atomic Bomb museum and visited the historical sites from the war, the bomb epicenter, relics that have survived the war, a museum about the Japanese-Korean conflict and the China-Japan conflict, as well as the Nagasaki Peace Park. Going through the museum was a very interesting experience for me, although there were a few other Americans or at least Westerners in the museum, I was amongst a sea of Japanese people. On my day to day living, this is no problem...but being in this museum it seemed to carry a little more weight on me than it usually does. It was weird to think that my country was responsible for this, and at that particular time, in that museum I seemed to represent everyone from American history...funny how that happens, huh. I have learned the history from the America perspective, but have not really heard it from the Japanese perspective, until now. It was fascinating to watch videos of survivors and hear their stories about what happened that dreadful day. After walking through the majority of the exhibits, on the way out of the museum there is a final exhibit about nuclear weapons now. It showed what countries had bombs, who had used them in war, and who has been practicing and testing these bombs; it was interesting because of course America was number 1 in all these categories. We have the most bombs and we have tested these bombs the most (be it above or below ground). It was interesting for me to see this and to think about what Peace means for me, being a Christian, living in Japan, and being an American…now roll all those up into one A Christian American living in Japan.





Needless to say the entire retreat was very entertaining and I made a lot of new friends as well! Not all the topics were so heavy, we had free time at night where we stayed up and chatted about boys and the usual things girls chat about late at night.  We also enjoyed onsen and the beautiful scenery Nagasaki has to offer. I rode the shinkansen down there by myself and rode back to Tokyo with a new friend, so overall the weekend was a great success and I’m glad I was able to go!

As some of you may remember, back in May I attended Oktoberfest in Tokyo. Well considering this month is actually October, there was another Oktoberfest celebration, this time in Yokohama. A group of us from Tokyo decided to head down to Yokohama and take part in the festivities once again. This venue was much smaller than the one held in Tokyo, and subsequently we all consumed much less beer. But that is okay, beers can range in price from $20 to $35 depending on the size and which brand of beer you buy. Most of the beer on tap is imported from Germany which means its great quality compared to Japanese beer, but therefore is also five times the price. All for the sake of culture, right? After we had our share of beer and sausages, we headed to Yokohama’s Chinatown to catch a quick snack/dinner before heading home on the trains. It was a very successful night, always a good time with the missionary crowd!



Well this is about half way through my adventures for the month of October but I’m going to cut this entry off here since it has gotten rather lengthy already, and I will finish wrapping up the second half of October in my next entry!

Cambodia

This blog is long overdue and for that I apologize. I have recounted most of my summer adventures but have yet to recount my experience in Cambodia. Cambodia has been a country that I have been interested in since 2004 when I attended Arkansas Governor’s School. I heard a guest speaker who used to be a child solider under the Pol Pot regime. Her name was Loung Ung, and she has written two books about her experience as a child solider; First They Killed My Father was the book that I chose to read, and highly suggest you give it a read!

Describing this trip will be hard because if you do not have a good grasp on Cambodia’s history, most of the significant cultural sites we visited will not mean too much to you. I will try to give a brief recap of their country’s history, as it is important to why we went.

History

The Khmer Rogue reached Phnom Penh and took power in 1975. The regime led by Pol Pot, changed the official name of the country to Democratic Kampuchea. They immediately evacuated the cities and sent the entire population on forced marches to rural work projects. They attempted to rebuild the country’s agriculture on the model of the 11th century, discarded Western medicine, and destroyed temples, libraries, and anything considered Western. Over a million Cambodians out of a total population of 8 million, died from executions, overwork, starvation and disease. (www.wikipedia.org)

Cambodia used to be a thriving Kingdom in Asia and had the some of the top education and the most beautiful temples in all of Southeast Asia. The country was used as a “neutral” zone for the United States during the Vietnam war, and due to this we invaded and fought on a lot of their land despite not actually being at war with them. Millions of landmines were planted in the countryside, which still remain today, and have become a large problem for the people of Cambodia. Many children think they look like candy or toys and try to pick them up, which you can imagine does not end well. Due to this Cambodia has a large population of amputates. UNICEF has designated that Cambodia is the 3rd most land mined country in the world, and their health care is not of the best quality to deal with all of the ramifications of this statistic. In addition to their facilities not being adequate, 50% of the population is under the age of 20, putting a rather large strain on the adults and elderly to continue working in order to provide for their families. Needless to say Cambodia has more than their share of large problems. Cambodia's monetary system is also a bit messed up due to high inflation of their currency. This problem stems from a corrupt government, banking system, and corrupt police officials. Therefore they actually use U.S. currency over there, which made buying things very convenient for me. There is so much more to their history and I could go on forever, but I don’t want to bore you!

Although Cambodia does have its fair share of problems, the country is BEAUTIFUL and full of a rich culture, amazing people, delicious food, and beautiful temples. I hope you do not get the impression that Cambodia is a desolate country because it is filled with so much hope and a general joy for life. It was a great trip and I highly intend on returning their one day! More than likely to work….

My Trip

I went to Cambodia with a fellow missionary, Christie. Our trip lasted a total of 11 days, and 3 cities; Phnom Penh, Siem Reap and Kep. We took off early from Tokyo and flew to Bangkok where we had a layover. We were able to enjoy mango and sticky rice while waiting at the airport for our next flight, very relaxing and gorgeous airport if I do say so myself.



Upon arrival in Cambodia we found our hotel in Phnom Penh for the night. It was rather late when we finally got there so we decided to just stay in the hotel and sleep for the night. The next morning we boarded a bus and headed up to Siem Reap where we would do the temple site seeing tours. The bus ride to Siem Reap was….bumpy to say the least. The road conditions in Cambodia are not the best, although I found the ride to be very fascinating. While driving from one city to another we were able to see a lot of the country side of Cambodia, and to see how people actually live their lives, and what real houses in the majority of the country look like. It was really interesting for me.

Upon arrival in Siem Reap we checked into our hotel, The Kool Hotel. The staff there was absolutely fantastic! We were greeted with cool towels, tea, and a friendly staff member to welcome us and to go over a map of the town. Our rooms were great, clean, and spacious. We had all the accommodations you could ask for. The hotel also had a great place to eat and a pool out back!


The next day in Siem Reap we toured Angkor Wat and many other temples in the general vicinity. They were beautiful! Due to the Khmer Rogue the majority of the Buddha statues were decapitated, which was rather unfortunate. These temples are very old so the mere fact that they are in the decent condition they are in was impressive to me. While touring Angkor Wat, we did hire a tour guide because I was very curious to know the actual history of the temple. Angkor Wat for example for built in the early 12th century for their King Suryavarman. This temple was originally built as a Hindu temple and dedicated to the god Vishnu. Then as the country progressed and changed the temple became a Buddhist temple, which it remains to this day. The temples were beautiful beyond compare and these pictures do not do them justice.















The next day unfortunately I got sick, probably from not being as careful with the water I consumed as I should have been…oh well. So I rested for a day and hung out at the hotel. We also did our fair share of souvenir shopping and I purchased some beautiful paintings, which I think were grossly under priced. But I attribute my shopping there as helping stimulate their economy, so if you think about it, I was really just trying to help them out. (Pretty good justification, right?)

After Siem Reap we boarded yet another bus and headed to Kep via Phnom Penh. This travel was a bit more difficult than we had expected. We were under the impression we could get a bus or a shared taxi…which proved to be false. We had a bit of trouble trying to find a bus going down there. But after awhile of searching and talking with several companies, and consulting my handy dandy Lonely Planet Book we found a bus that had open seats. This bus ride was B-U-M-P-Y and caused my stomach to turn a few times, which is a rather hard thing to do. Granted, we were the last ones to buy tickets so we were seated at the back of the bus which probably didn’t help either.

We did not have accommodations in Kep, which I was a little worried about because I am very much a planner and type A personality so I was a little concerned. However there were two other foreigners on the bus who we quickly befriended and they gave us advice on where to stay and we ended up at a rather nice bungalow! It was great. God was taking care of us! This portion of our trip was rather relaxing, we swam, walked around the island, watched the crab farmers, and overall just relaxed pool side. It was a mini vacation within our larger trip.





After a few days in Kep we ventured back to Phnom Penh. While in Phnom Penh we spent out last 4 days there and toured more of the depressing history of the country. We started our tour by touring the Killing Fields. The Killing Fields was the location where the majority of the people in the city were killed. It was rather depressing; I will include some pictures but am leaving out the more graphic ones as I do not think this forum is the best place to share those images. If you wish to know more about the history of this location, please ask. One things that makes this site so depressing is that the majority of the graves have not been excavated, and therefore during rainy season remains from the graves make their way to the surface. This was a very somber experience for me, one that surpasses all other horrific locations I have been (Nagasaki, concentration camps, etc.)





After touring the Killing Fields we moved to S.21 or Tuol Sleng. This is the former high school in Phnom Penh which was used as a prison/ torture facility before people were moved to the Killing Fields. Yet another sombering experience. Seeing all these places and knowing the history about Cambodia left me with many questions about my life, their history and the state of their country. With the vast majority of their adult population have been killed, they are lacking many educated, doctors and teachers. Without these important people it makes it rather hard to develop a country.




Cambodia was a very eye opening experience, and very humbling. I realized how many things I have taken for granted, and how lucky I am to have what I do. God has blessed me in so many ways I never thought about before. The country of Cambodia is beautiful country, with beautiful people and full of life. Their history would make anyone depressed yet they have tried to move past it and rebuild their country the best way they know how. I could write easily 5 more pages about Cambodia, but considering how long this entry already is, I think I’ll end it here. I highly encourage everyone to research and learn more about Cambodia and learn what you can do to help! If you have any questions regarding my trip or the country, or anything at all PLEASE do not hesitate to ask! I love talking about Cambodia!!!

Summa Summa Summatiiiiiiiiiiime!

The school year is back in full swing here in Japan, so I thought I’d take the time and recap how I spent my summer vacation. The calendar may read Fall but the weather here in Tokyo still feels like summer. Things have begun to cool off a little bit these past few days, but I’m not sure how long that will last. As many of you know, I was a bit worried about this summer and having so much free time, (what a horrible thing to worry about, huh?) I was sure I was going to go insane from boredom. However, to my pleasant surprise this was not the case. I managed to have quite a full summer with people visiting, traveling to several places, and catching up with friends; this summer was rather enjoyable. Granted this summer was also the hottest on record here in Japan, so quite a few days were also spent inside in the air conditioning.

The school year ended with our traditional end of the year party and many of our classes going out to nice lunches. My co-worker Matt, had a friend in town for a week so the three of us were dined rather nicely the last week of our classes. I then spent the next week hanging out with Matt and his friend, and doing some touristy things in Tokyo. Most of the time we just hung out and stayed in doors since the weather was extremely hot during this part of the summer. One day we also ventured down to Yokohama. Yokohama was having their annual summer fireworks, which was about an hour long and quite impressive. There were millions of people there, well that might be a bit exaggerated but probably not by much. The fireworks were beautiful and then we wandered around China town for a little while, and grabbed some food before we headed back to Tokyo. It was nice to have another American around that we could hang out with, and joke around with. Visitors are always welcome in Tokyo!

Next two of my friends from college, Luis and Matt were on their way here. They both accepted jobs with the JET program, teaching English in Japan, and had a 3 day orientation in Tokyo. While there were here, we mainly hung out at night because they were busy during the day, so they got to see the night life of Shinjuku. It was rather refreshing having more friends from home around here in Japan, people who actually know me, it’s quite nice. The three days they were here seemed to go by pretty fast and then they were off to their new locations in Japan.

After Luis and Matt left, another missionary Carolyn came up to stay with me in Tokyo for a few days. The first night Carolyn arrived we went to a club in the Roppongi part of town with another friend of mine from church. It was a very nice club with a roof top garden, and big plush couches to sit on outside. Rather nice if I do say so myself. We had a lot of fun at Feria and made some new American friends there as well. The clubbing atmosphere is totally different in Tokyo than anywhere else I’ve been, and makes for some long nights once you take the trains into consideration…. But overall we had a great time!

The next day Carolyn’s friend Sarah from college flew into Tokyo and also stayed at my place. So many Valparaiso Alumni in Tokyo! I loved it, I feel I had my share of Valpo talk that I haven’t been able to have for awhile. While Carolyn and Sarah were here we explored around Tokyo, and also spent a few nights in Shinjuku. We managed to “get lost” one night, but happened to stumble upon a festival in the Golden District of Shinjuku. There were streets with tons of little bars, with many enough for 10 people to sit comfortably. We made small chit chat in Japanese with the bar owners, and they were impressed we spoke Japanese. At times, I’m rather confident with my Japanese and while Carolyn’s friend was here, I managed to do quite well. We had a great time at this summer festival, and just happened to stumble upon it, sometimes the best adventures come about when you’re not trying.



During the time Carolyn and her friend were here, I also went to another fireworks show in Tokyo with some other friends. This fireworks show I’ve been told is the largest one in Tokyo, and is located in the Asakusa part of town. This fireworks show was CRAZY!!! I have NEVER seen so many people in one location in my entire life. To say there were a million people here would probably be an understatement. Police had to control the trains as far as 5 stations away in order to control the hoards of people that were coming in town. I met up with 3 of my friends there and we began a 30 minute walk to just try and find seats for the fireworks. This show however, was by FAR the best fireworks show I have ever seen and lasted a little over 2 hours. I’m not sure fireworks in America are going to cut it for me anymore… Tokyo has this down pretty well.

Then sadly, all my visitors departed and I was able to spend the next week, just hanging out with some new friends in Tokyo and decompressing from all the business associated with having guests in town. This week also happened to be rather hot, so I was glad to stay in doors for a little while. After a week of rest, I was ready for some adventures again, and then departed for Cambodia. I took a trip with a friend to Cambodia and was there for a total of 12 days. It seems like a long trip, but realistically I could have stayed there for a few more weeks. I have wanted to go to Cambodia for a loooooooong time and it finally happened! I was so excited. I would write more about that but Cambodia deserves an entry of its own, so I will write more about that later!

The day AFTER I returned from Cambodia I immediately took another trip with a friend from a different church and ventured down to Osaka and Kyoto. Maike, her baby Leo and I traveled around the Kansai area for 4 days. It was still quite hot there, but we managed to get in some good site seeing. We went to several temples and walked around the famous shop streets in Osaka. I really enjoyed this part of Japan. Tokyo tends to be rather strict and conservative in their culture, where Kansai tends to remind me more of America. I rather enjoyed being in this type of atmosphere where I didn’t have to worry about talking on the trains and other trivial things I have to worry about in Tokyo. It was a quick trip, but one that definitely made me want to explore Japan more!




After returning from Kansai I had one more week off before our special interest classes began at Hongo. These are classes, or activities, offered to returning or new students as a way to get to know their teachers better. Whether its making pancakes, a game day or a trip bowling, we had several students come for these activities and enjoyed ourselves very much. That was basically my summer. A lot of traveling, a lot of friends, and a lot of fun. And to think I was worried about not having anything to do! I am sure there is stuff that I left out, but it was a rather busy summer so there is no way I could have possibly mentioned everything. I promise to post a new blog soon about my trip in Cambodia!