Undokai

Welcome to fall in Japan. A season for school undokai, that is, athletic competitions.

When I was invited to the undokai for the child of a church member, I anticipated something of a smallish scale. My experience with undokais had been 50~60 people or so gathered in a park to watch and cheer on their kids as they run relays, jump hoops, pull tug-a-war ropes, and so on. Imagine my surprise when the undokai I had been invited to involved 3000 adults and some 300 kids.

With this many involved, it's pretty hard to include everyone without injury. Yet the kids marched in formation, danced in rhythm, and did various group-oriented athletic activities that could only be possible in group-oriented Asia. The day was a great cultural study. Take a look at this short video of the kids dancing in formation to the music. You have to see it to understand.

From Gangs to God

I was moved by this article of a former member of a Japanese mafia gang, Tatsuya Shindo. From a history of drug abuse, crime, and prison time, God saved him. He's attended seminary and now begun a church here in the Tokyo area, called Friend of Sinners Christ Church. Church attendees include former gang members or the parents of current prisoners. He still sports the tattoos and cut pinky as a sign of his organized crime days, but God has redeemed him to work among Japan's worst dropouts. What a what of change God can do in the human heart.

Ready?

I'd been putting it off. Although I knew it was important, taking inventory of our earthquake and disaster gear just wasn't getting done. Japan rests along the "ring of fire" in the Pacific ocean, a stretch of area that is particularly vulnerable to earthquake activity. And so having a backpack of essentials by your door to grab on the way out is, well, essential. But mild earthquakes in Tokyo have become such a rather regular part of our lives that we've let our guard down a bit. We weren't ready for an earthquake to come.

When I finally got around to assessing our earthquake readiness, I realized how unready we were. Wiping the dust off the backpack in the carport, I unzipped it to find a horror story inside. The batteries had attempted an escape, leaking acid all over the contents of the bag. To make matters worse, the acid had actually bored a hole through one of the canned items, which oozed its contents out and into the bag as well. It was not pretty (and now I know why all those stray cats were hanging around outside for awhile). The remainder of the canned food seemed intact, but the expiration date was 5 years ago. The bottled water also looked a bit suspicious. The short of it is: we weren't ready for an earthquake to come.

As I replaced and organized new gear for us, my thoughts turned toward the "parables of readiness" in Matthew 25. Five bridesmaids wisely carried extra oil. Two servants carefully used their entrusted resources. A wise and faithful servant works to the best of his or her ability to use what he has been given, and prepares himself for the Master's return and inspection. With God's help, I want to be ready in my life and work for my Master to come. How ready are you?

Food "or" Thought

"Anyone seen my swimming buddy lately?" There was something about this scene that struck me as sobering, yet almost comical. When I saw what was becoming of these poor fish, I had to stop to record the moment - see this video. Seize the Day, indeed. One moment swimming carefree together with friends, and the next shishkabobbed in front of a fire.

Yes, this fried fish-on-a-stick is actually a popular treat throughout Japan. I am sure there is a sermon illustration in here about the fragility of life and uncertainty of the future. I could almost hear the fish in the tank whispering in agreement with David, "Teach us to number our days aright." Ps. 90:12

The Reason Justen's Growing Taller

I finally figured it out today. I figured out why my son is growing taller so quickly. He might not be as tall as some 14-year-olds. But he's be going through shoes and pants sizes like there's no bottom to dad's wallet. See for yourself in the photo at left. Now I know why:

Today we stepped aboard the same Tokyo-bound commuter train. Justen was on his way to a few days of summer camp. I went along to help carry all his stuff (you'd think MK's would know how to pack lighter). This wasn't just ANY Tokyo commuter train. This was the Denentoshi line by our house, voted the most crowded of all. It's already outgrown the added capacity they spent 4 years building. And we were in the thick of rush hour, on a day many were returning to work from Obon vacation time. It was a banner day for crowded trains. I have NEVER been this tightly packed in on a train before. I thought I had seen the worst until today. WOW! Having a big suitcase with me only made matters worse. And it did little to engender Christian attitudes from those squeezed in nose to nose around me.

As the train lurched out of the station, I instinctively reached up to find something to hang onto. A hand reached PAST mine to the empty space on the metal rail over my head. It was Justen's hand. I was amazed. It was a day of record temperatures, and at least 98.6 in that train car with bodies crammed around us. I craned my head upward to catch even a bit of breeze coming from the ceiling air conditioning. A head craned PAST mine to do the same. It was Justen's head. I was doubly amazed.

Now I know why Justen's growing. Justen makes this commute every morning to school in Tokyo. His body seems to have adapted itself to this environment. It has to in order to survive this battle of the fittest on Tokyo trains. And all this time I thought it was all the white rice! Go figure.

English Teaching Good for Your Health!

This probably won't turn into a diet fad, but it turns out that English Teaching can actually help you lose weight. It's true. I lost 2 lbs. last week with the six Kids English classes, setup, breakdown, prep, etc during our Tokyo heatwave.

Our annual "Kids English Bee," or kids English classes, help develop some new relationships in the neighborhood. We had about 20 kids altogether. The style of English teaching that I use is hardly the traditional method here in Japan: sit with open book and fill in written exercises. The style I use involves exercises, but in the physical and aerobic sense of the word. I adapted the Genki English curriculum, adding and taking away some things. You can take a look at it here. It's very active. Lots of games. Lots of singing. Kids eat it up. It was great fun, but a challenge for this new 40-year-old to keep up with the little kids. However, I highly recommend the curriculum to anyone looking to shed a little weight.