What are the patterns of social gathering in Japan….. from what I have seen so far:

Why do people gather? Japanese are very group orientated people… yet they are also very lonely people? Everyone belongs to a club, a group, a workplace etc…. this becomes the group in which they gather and socialize. Even on weekends children will go to school to do things with their ‘group’.

Who gathers them? You are gathered into a group depending on what social status you have – what job you hold, what school you attend or how much money you have. Japanese people don’t socialize much outside these groups.

What do they do when they gather? Usually something that is learning or work orientated. For example, a sports group would train, discuss ways of winning, being healthier etc. A work group might meet for a beer after work and talk about their next big contract. A group of mothers may meet and talk about which school they are trying to get their children into. Meeting for coffee is very common – in a public place. It is not common for a Japanese person to have visitors to their house. Perhaps this is somewhat due to size of the house, but also to do with privacy too.

How often do they gather? Most clubs, groups, teams etc will gather every day of the week, or at least a few times a week – during break times at school you will find children in their ‘group rooms’, after work most people will have a drink together, or a meeting over lunch etc.

Who leads them once they are gathered? The person who is the highest rank within the group will be the leader – e.g. the boss of the company, the team captain etc.

How is the gathered group led? Each time a group meets they will most likely do the same thing and follow the same routine and format – there is not usually any surprises – everyone knows what to expect.

No i’m not talking about the mosquito’s! (though there are MANY of those here too)

I’m talking about bugs / viruses!

This last 6 weeks or so both Ben and I have had our fair share of japanese bugs…flu bugs, ear infection bugs, sinus infection bugs, tummy bugs…..

(Hence why I havn’t written for a while!)

It’s hot here now, rainy season is in full force – a perfect breeding ground for all the little nasties.

We’ve been told as new missionaries to a different climate country that it is very common to get sick heaps in the first few years as we get exposed to different strains of viruses than we had in Australia! Doesn’t that just make you jump for joy!

BUT…anyway enough about that… Language study is still plodding (and I mean big heavy plodding!) along.

I am seeing a big jump in improvement in my speaking ability which is cool…

My listening is still needing more work – I tend to go into panic mode as soon as someone talks to me in ‘real speed’ japanese – and then I can’t understand anything at all – I need to relax and let it flow over me and take in what I can. After all, I am a baby! Babies don’t even really try and speak for the first year and a half or so, they just listen, lay back and absorb absorb absorb!!!

I’m enjoying doing my private lessons 3 times week – it’s much better than going to school every day like last semester and spending 3 hours traveling – I still feel tired, but not so exhausted that I cant function – just tired )

Soon it will be summer holidays. We’re taking a weeks break near the beach and then it’s into WEC Japan Camp season – will post more about those when they happen though – but it sounds exciting to me!

Did you know that in Japan, for every 13 people there is one vending machine!

That’s a lot of machines.

In fact there are 5 machines only 15m from our front door!

My first obsevation would have to be that Japanese Pastors WORK HARD! I admire there dedication to God and their call to serve him.

At least 6 or 7 days of the week they are on the go.

Every week they go to or do:  prayer meetings, pastors meetings, gospel music workshops, ladies meetings, bible studies, childrens groups, counseling, visitation, Sunday school, service preparations, etc, etc, etc….

There are a lot of meetings in Japan – a group based society means that the Pastor is not on his ‘own’ but meets weekly with a group of pastors to discuss matters and make decisions. They have support from other in the same position.

One other difference that I have noticed from Australia is that in Japan the pastor must be at everything and be involved in everything. Even ladies meeting for example, of the the pastor will lead or be at these. This is very demanding upon the pastor and often doesn’t allow for people in the church to grow into leadership roles.

Sermons usually go for at least 40 minutes (unlike our 20 or 30 minute ones from Australia) so this also keeps the pastors busy in preparation.

Many church activities don’t start until after 8pm due to people retuning home from work at a later time. This means many nights of the week the Pastor is out away from his family.

It must be diffcult for the pastor to be able to model good family relatinships to the other church members when there are so many demands upon his schedule.

I see many good aspects about the way a Japanese pastor conducts his daily life – he is dedicated, motivated and strong in faith – but there are also some areas that concern me – and I see a problems with ‘burnout’ and exhaustion, and an isolation from family life.

This is Ben at Lake Biwa with two of our church members.

They were seeing who could ’skip’ their stones the furthest.

These are two photos from a 3 day Retreat that we went on with the SFDD Japanese Pastors that WEC Japan works with. There is one of the view from our bedroom window (stunning countryside!), and also a picture from one of the services we had in the hotel chapel.

(the hotel had a chapel because it is owned by the VIP club – who are christian business men in Japan who want to make a difference in their workplaces).

The blossoms were really beautiful after the grey and cold winter.

But they just lasted a few weeks.

Now they are gone and the tulips are out – and they are just as stunning.

The cherry blossom is only in full bloom for about 2 days.

The Japanese love this time of year so much. People are out everywhere having picnics, walking around together as families and riding bikes in the parks and on the river bank paths.

Interestingly, My husband and I thought the cherry blossom symbolized ‘new life’ to the Japanese, like many of the ’spring things’ do to us in Australia (baby animals, daffodils etc).

We were recently told that in fact the cherry blossom symolizes ‘the fleetingness of life’ to the japanese, due to the full bloom only lasting a few days.

Here’s a few pictures from this spring.

BIG generalization from my observations here in Japan so far.

A salary man would wake up around 6.ooam. He would eat the breakfast that his wife has prepared for him, put on his dark blue suit (not black – that’s for funerals) that his wife has had dry cleaned for him and ride his bike to the train station.

Once on the train a salary man would either sleep, or, if he had a meeting first up, would read over his notes/graphs etc in preparation for representing his company. He doesn’t want to embarrass his boss – company loyalty is everything. The salary man must be prepared.

There would be no eye contact while on the train with other salary men.

Once off the train, the salary man checks his mobile and answers any calls that came through while on the train (it is a no-no to talk on your phone while on the silent Japanese train).

Work… meetings….work…meetings.

Lunch time – the salary man will eat the beautifully prepared lunch from his wife, or, head to the stand-and-eat-as-fast-as-you-can restaurant around the corner form the workplace. (if he has time).

Work..meetings….work…meetings.

Around 9.oopm the salary man will either head home for dinner. He will eat dinner by himself as the wife and children have eaten earlier. The children will be in bed – and in fact haven’t seen their father all day.

Or

The salary man will head out to the bar to drink with his workmates. But one drink only is not acceptable, he must keep drinking as long as his workmates do – doesn’t want to look like a weakling. Perhaps after this the salary man may head home….or he may not bother as work is only a few hours away again any way. Perhaps he will sleep in a capsule hotel for the night, get some new underwear from the vending machine and head off to work in the morning.

This will happen for at least 6 days a week, if not 7.

Japan has a population of 127 million people. 98.6% of people in Japan are pure Japanese. The population is declining due to low birth rates and an aging population

In Japan there are many Europeans. Chinese, Latin American and Filipino populations are also quite high, In Kusatsu, the city where I live there are many Latin Americans and Filipinos but hardly any Europeans or Australians. Most Europeans and Australians tend to head towards bigger cities like Tokyo and Osaka.

Literacy levels are extremely high, especially among the younger generations – education is considered to be of utmost importance to Japan – it brings with it status and wealth.

Many people view Japan as a wealthy nation – and in some ways they are. Materialism is an obsession, shopping and fashion are obsessions – having the newest mobile phone is an obsession……but does this obsession with materialism really mean Japanese are rich and have money to spend?
The following site has great information on what the economy is really like in Japan…. Read the whole article to know more, but following are a few quotes from the WebPage.

http://www.jref.com/society/socio-economic_situation.shtml

‘Japanese living standard are much lower than Western ones, as cheaply built, uninsulated, cramped flat/apartment blocks show. Sometimes Japanese look rich when they travel abroad or buy luxury goods like Louis Vuitton bags or Rolex watches so casually. They are indeed rich when the yen is high (this can be achieved easily by financial manipulations by the Bank of Japan). But few Japanese enjoy the same (or even a third) of the holiday length most Westerners have. Everything being so much more expensive in Japan (especially transports and real estate), they spend a proportionally higher part of their salaries to do the same things as Westerners. Prices are so artificially high that a normal domestic flight in Japan cost around 40.000 to 60.000yen, as much as a flight to Europe or North America !

Another important point to explain artificially high Japanese salaries, is that tax levels are quite low – by European standard. This is also true of the USA, and in both cases people have to pay a huge amount of money for their education (esp. university/college), for medical care, and I could say for motorways/expressways. In contrast, most Europeans enjoy free education since pre-school to university, free or very cheap medical care and highways are all free (except in France and Italy). In the end, once their house, education and daily transport are paid (i.e. the major expenses in a lifetime), Japanese don’t make much use of their money. What they can really get for their money’s worth is food and clothing (though alcohol is again prohibitively expensive).’

In Tokyo the average salary would be around $50 000AU but in other cities and most country areas the salaries are much much lower. For example, in Osaka, a major city in Japan salaries level out around $28,000AU average. In the country areas salaries are much lower again and people often live off their farming incomes.

There are poor people in Japan. People make homes under bridges, or live in tents and on the streets. Many of these people would have jobs, some even work as salary men, but can’t afford to pay the price of rent in Japan. Unemployment rates are quite low – there are a lot of badly paying jobs available for those who will work.

A significant event for Japan within the past 30 years was the burst of the economic bubble… before this they had masses of money with which to build buildings, airports, schools….everything… Since the burst, there are not so many new things….Japan is beginning to look a bit shabby and not so shiny.

Ichigo Yama…

YUM! They grow wild in the bush / forest / hills…. you can just pick and eat them with no fear of poisonous sprays being on them. They’re a cross between a raspberry and a strawberry, but they’re tiny in size… If you want to make some jam you’d have to pick them all day to get enough for a good batch.

Here’s Ben with some in his hand on a recent (christmas day) hike near Lake Biwa.

Something that has blown my mind lately as I have been learning Japanese, is their counting system…In English when we count, it’s 3 banana’s, 3 trucks, 3 people – no matter what the object is, we count it in pretty much the same way.

But… In Japanese there are many different ways of counting things according to their size or group.

English:

How many are there?     3

Japanese:

Things – ikutsu desu ka?    mi-tsu

People – Nan nin desu ka?    san nin

Order – Nan ban desu ka?     san ban

Thin and Flat things – Nan mai desu ka?    san mai

Machines and Vehicles – Nan dai desu ka?     san dai

Age – Nan sai desu ka?    san sai

Books – Nan satsu desu ka?   san satsu

Clothes – Nan chyuku desu ka?     san chyuku

Floors of a building – Nan gai desu ka?     san gai

Thin and long things – Nan bon desu ka?     san bon

Drinks – Nan pai desu ka?     san pai

Small animals, fish and insects – Nan biki desu ka?     san biki

Houses – Nan gen desu ka?     san gen

Shoes and Socks – Nan zoku desu ka?     san zoku

Small things – Nan ko desu ka?     san ko

Frequency – Nan kai desu ka?   san kai

So…. there you have it!! Confusing huh? But also interesting….the question n my head is ‘WHY?’ and when I ask my japanese teachers that question they say ‘…because… that’s Japanese language….’

So I guess I’ll have to be satisfied with that. Language is language and I can’t change that, I just need to keep plugging away until it starts to make sense to me.