I recently read this…..

In Japan:

pastors aged 80 years and above : 11%

pastors aged 71 – 80 years old : 28%

pastors aged 61 – 70 years old : 25%

pastors aged 51 – 60 years old : 20%

pastors aged 41 – 50 years old : 12 %

pastors aged 40 years and below : 4%

In other words, 64% of Japanese pastors are aged 60 and above. 84% of them are over 50 years old. You can do the math…

A massive problem for the established churches in Japan, and a big problem for our WEC churches too!

Wonder what God’s solution for this one is?

Any thoughts?

Pretty Gokasho

A morning walk in Gokasho last month showed us so many beautiful sights…..

Across the ricefields near our house.

The temple bell and plum blossoms not far from our home, one of many temples. Please pray for the temples to fall down and the churches to rise up in Japan – so that the Japanese may give their hearts to the one true God who can save them.

Japanese radish (diakon) is finished for the winter and veggie gardens are being prepared for the spring.

The very large Cod swimming around the temple boundaries are definitely NOT for eating!

Festivals in Japan

Japan has so many festivals!

They are called ‘Matsuri’ in Japanese

Every year there are national same day festivals such as New Year Eve, Coming of Age Day, Doll Festival, Hanami (autumn leaf viewing), Tanabata (star festival) and Shich-go-san (for kids aged 3, 5 and 7).As well as many other festivals celebrated by different people on different days.

Also, each town and temple has several festivals a year. When we lived in Kustasu we went several times to the main shopping street to see the different parades.Also, since we have been in Gokasho, there have been a few festivals on in the major city, as well as a small one in our town.

Festivals in Japan remind me of ‘parades’ in Tasmania, there are floats, people dressed up, dancing, music etc paraded down the streets, and then lots of little food stalls and things for sale in the side if the road.Often the priests of the temple wander around playinf their flutes and drums and chanting and singing to their Gods.

The Festivals are pretty much all based, or put on by the major temple in whatever area the festival is held.

Several times I have just been out for the day with no paticular plan and run into a Japanese Festival taking place. The most beautiful one has been the Sakura Matsui, which is the cherry blossom festival in Kyoto city.

Last year in July I experienced the Tanabata (Star) Festival with some of my Japanese friends.

The story goes that 2 ‘stars’ called Vega and Altair were in love.

The two lovers got separated from each other by the Milkyway. On the 7th of the 7th each year, the lovers are able to meet provided there isn’t any rain to flood the Milkyway.

The biggest part of the festival – and one of the things I saw my friends and there children – doing was writing their wishes on pieces of thin paper and then hanging them from a specially placed bamboo free and praying that their wishes would come true.

I asked my friends to translate for me what they had written on their wish papers.

The kids wrote things like:

‘I want to meet ampanman’

‘I want a baby sister’

The adults wrote wishes like

‘I want to become rich’

‘I want my family to have good health’

The festival was named Tanabata after a weaving maiden who was believed to have made clothes for Gods – though there doesn’t seem to be a main reason why it was named after this maiden.

A time for FAITH growing!!

This is a graph showing how the Australian dollar has dropped in value compared with the Yen over the past 2 years.

This graph doesn’t look good does it…to be honest,  it even scares me a bit as I think about how our support getting through to Japan has dropped 50% in the last 3 months.

How will we live? How will we eat? Pay for language lessons?

I’ve prayed about this a fair bit.

Each time I pray I get the same message from God.

‘Nothings changed!  I still love you and care for your every need. I’m not controlled by what goes on in the world. I am a powerful and big God. Trust me. Trust me for all your needs. I will provide’.

A big challange, or an opportunity to draw closer to God?

I think both )

hmmmm…really?

raw horse meat is a popular food in japan (i havn’t tried it yet,,,i don’t think.)

japan’s literacy rate is 99.7% – a good effort

toilet seats in japan are heated during winter and play music while you do you business if you press the right buttons

there are around 1500 earthquakes in japan each year

men in japan sometimes shave their heads as a symbol of an apology. women in japan often cut their hair after a romance breakup as a symbol of starting fresh

when you move into an apertment you have to bring your own light fixtures

the streets in japan have no names

slurping noodles is polite, and also helps cool them down so you can eat faster

more than 60% of japanese adults smoke, and you can buy cigarettes from a vending machine

oh and a quick update on the bananas

We were able to buy some the other day as we went to the super market close to opening time! Even if they were a rip off.

Phew!

On the road again…

Next month Ben and I are moving.

We’re heading to a town about 1 hour away from where we are now.

Gokasho.

11,000 people, maybe 1 or 2 foreigners, tons of temples, no church, beautiful mountains, snow, rivers with big fat fish, tiny shops and supermarkets, and a train station not in walking distance, rumors of cheeky food stealing monkeys…..

We’re heading for big changes.

About 4 months ago we felt God say to us ‘GO! this is where I want you’. So we’re following.

Even though we don’t really know the future (scary)…or what our life will look like after this month. We are really excited about what God will do.

We will continue on each day with our language study until at least September next year!! Hopefully by then we’ll be able to hold a conversation in japanese without switching into panic mode!

We’ll be joining in with Higashi Omi church, and perhaps also being able to do things to help out there.

We are praying to meet people in our new town who are searching for Jesus!

Christianity in Japan?

I read a book this week. Written by a Japanese man, non-christian, about japanese people….

Most interesting thing for me was this

he writes:

‘I believe that religion helps people deal with their anxieties, which come mainly from the condition of poverty. Japan has become adequately wealthy. It seems to me in Japan, there is no longer fertile soil to support religion’.

Well….what do I think? I think that in the countries where the people are poorer and less wealthy, Christianity is more readily accepted and more people come to believe in Jesus. Yes, I do see this. Christianity, GOD, does help meet the need of poverty, and gives people hope to survive through it.

The reality here in Japan: Japanese arn’t coming to Christ quickly. The land, and hearts are tough and hard and rocky!

True.

But… I also look at Japan and see a people group in desperate need of a saviour. Who despite being wealthy, and having lots of ‘things’, still arn’t satisfied with life.

People who, in general, lack hope, have trouble understanding their purpose and find it difficult to look beyond themselves.

SO… the question running through my mind is this: what need CAN Christianity meet for these people…how can we present the gospel in a way that meets the need and touches the heart of people who have all they could ever want materially, but have empty hearts?

I still dont know the answer… But i see God revealing more and more to me about these lovely people each day as I understand more of the language and life here.

I have heaps of ideas for evangelism and ministry that come to me during my dreams at night. Will God use these ideas and will they become a reality?

My prayer is this: Oh Lord many your kingdom come in Japan. Use me in whatever way you see fit. I’m yours.

Skinny-Minny’s and No Banana’s.

I saw the most bizarre things while flicking through some magazines in our local convenience store.

There was a section on dieting. They had two women who had tried this specific diet for 2 months.Drinking milkshakes instead of eating real meals.

The womens STARTING weights were both around 44kg! (obviously they thought they were in need of a diet???)

The womens finishing weight after the two months diet were 35kg and 37kg! wow. I was so shocked I read it twice! They were tiny and looked about 12 years old after their diets.

These women were in their 20′s, beautiful and slim and had no reason to need to be any skinnier.

It really shows me the place and importance of image in Japanese society. It means a lot to look good, wear the right clothes and be the right size… this magazine was just one example, but often on TV there are diet shows with women losing weight who are already at a healthy BMI, and then they reach a non-healthy, underweight BMI and advertise this as ‘the way to go’ for all their viewers and readers.

Also recently Japan is having a banana drought… all because in September someone invented the ‘Morning Banana diet’ and on national TV claimed that be eating a banana only for breakfast and whatever else you want during the day you can lose a ton of weight.

Now there are no banana’s anywhere to buy (

I miss them! I wonder how long this fad will last?

Bring back the banana’s!

3 months? Really

Well, I’m ashamed to admit it’s been 3 whole months since I last posted on my blog – very bad of me! Sorry.

So how about I do a bit of a snap shot of life since July.

Basically, everyday is still language study, taking my private lessons 3 times a week as well as studying at home, and stabucks, and mcdonalds….etc!

We’ve been able to understand and join in more at church and different events, as well as meet with friends, take outings, visit fun places and basically enjoy living in Japan. Japan feels like home now, and though I miss family a lot, I know God wants me here, learning every day from Him how to serve him, how to reach Japanese people, make friends and love life in a foreign country.

We took a weeks holiday in July and enjoyed being near the lakeside and swimming during the very humid and hot days.

Summer Camps were great – I enjoyed them a lot, we had 4 different camps aimed at different age groups.

I have been enjoying teaching my mothers and toddlers english class 3 times a month. “Happy Bear’.

In November Ben and I will be moving from the city into the country (about 1 hours further drive from where we are now). We will be living at the Wec headquarters, continuing language study, and joining in with a nearby wec church that is led by a japanese pastor. This will mean big changes for us as we move and adjust to a new place, the country japanese life, and also being without our lovely missionary next door neighbours to run to for support and help when we need it. I hope our language can hold up to this challenge – but feel confident God wants us to go and live in this area.

so stay tuned for the news of what God does in the town of Gokasho!

Here’s some pics to enjoy.