kamakura one

Ayumu, a college student from my church, took me on a sightseeing trip to Kamakura, an area famous for its numerous and beautiful shrines (Shinto) and temples (Buddhist). A shogun - whose name escapes me - once made Kamakura his capital, accounting for the concentration cultural buildings in this now relatively quiet prefecture.


I'm always impressed with how well Japanese architecture and aesthetic harmonize with nature. I felt very peaceful walking through the valley.









(spring flags, to hazard a guess - my friends couldn't read the kanji. Kamakura.)







(detail of a wooden gate, approx. 7x10 cm. Kamakura.)

geisha

McSweeny's just gets weirder and weirder. Find out about real geisha here.

tokyo outing

I took a solo walking trip around downtown Tokyo last Monday, on which I walked past interesting stores like this one.

And this one. You always find interesting stores off the main drag. Tintin books, Tintin TV shows, but most awesomely, Tintin and Snowy figurines, two of which I bought.

Also happening in my life: I've suffered from tea poisoning - oolong, more specifically - during the last 72 hours. Thankfully it's clearing up, but yeah, apparently oolong has a nasty tendancy to flush out important oils and whatnot from one's stomach. I'm stickin' with green.

typhoon

Sorry about the lack of updates recently. I have become very entrenched in my daily routines of teaching, sleeping, eating, grading, etc. Japanese university students have been on vacation for the last month, so all of my college-level classes and activities have temporarily ceased. I have been using my extra time to coach my American students, especially in trig, algebra, and Latin. Tomorrow I'm meeting with Soichiro, a university student, for lunch and possibly a Bible study. More Chiba updates coming.

It's midnight right now. We have been expecting typhoon-level winds, and they just hit by the sound of what they're doing to the house :-) The weather's fierceness makes my workspace all the more cozy. Now just add a dash of indie internet radio...

snow camp

Yokohama and Chiba college outreach teams arose with the sun Wednesday morning. They headed north - by van or by train - to Nagano prefecture for a three day snow camp. I entrusted my life – what choice did I have? - to Nagata's ancient Toyota mini-van for the four hour trip. In my car were Yuko, Hajime, Nagata, and myself. None of them spoke fluent English, so I thrust my beginner Japanese on the lot of them.

Me: Where are we going?

Nagata: We are going to Nagano.

Me: What are we going to do?

Yuko: We are going to ski.

Me: Is that so? How many children do you have? (etc, etc)

The Japanese countryside was very beautiful, even through a dirty van window. It's interesting how a few places in Japan, like Tokyo and Nagoya, can be so crowded, while vast stretches of green in other parts of the country only boast a few houses and farms. Location, location, location.

~

I get carsick in Japanese vans, I'm not sure why.

~

Snow Camp was a very memorable experience. I was the only person there who spoke fluent English. This proved initially frustrating, but by the end I felt exhilarated because of all the Japanese I had learned. The ski resort didn't have snowboard boots in my size (they stopped about 7 cm shorter) so I tried skis for the first time. By the end of the day I was poling my way around with relative ease, although I wished I had learned more Japanese curse words when I attempted a mogul run.

~

Here is a picture of Shinya leading worship in the evening. Next is a snapshot of the group before we went our separate ways. I made a lot of friends that week, had many interesting conversations with people even with my limited vocabulary.

my morning view

I drink at least one pot of green tea (matcha, Japanese) every day. Two pots if my math students aren't paying attention. I drink at least two pots of green tea every day...

jinja

I was able to recover a few photos from the smouldering remains of my CompactFlash card. The first is a shot of my neighborhood's jinja - Shinto shrine - after the 30-year snow. I don't know exactly how it works, but I think that, unlike Buddhist temples, Shinto shrines aren't social places. I've never seen monks live near them. Jinja literally blend into the countryside, growing alongside the grass and bamboo trees. Many of them are very beautiful and reflect the Japanese' skill in working with and complementing natural surroundings in their architecture.

The word "Shinto" is made up of two Japanese kanji. The first one is pronounced "kami," and can mean "sacred spirits which take the form of things and concepts important to life, such as wind, rain, mountains, trees, rivers and fertility." (Wikipedia: "Shinto") However, we Christians use the word "kami" to describe the Christian God. It is obviously very easy to confuse the concept of God the Father with the animistic spirits in the collective consciousness of Japan. I wanted to highlight just one example of the difficulties missionaries face when communicating with a people that has no memory of Christianity.



Tokyo's busiest train station, Shinjuku Eki services approx. 750,000 passengers per day, although Wikipedia ("shinjuku") sets the number at two million. Shinjuku is a business, government, and entertainment hub of Tokyo, especially for the younger generation. Sushi, Karaoke, Gucci, you name it.

-- -- -- --

My teaching life is changing quite a bit this month. I have now taken on two additional English classes on Thursdays. The age groups are 8-10 and 40-50, respectively. Teaching such diverse age groups keeps me on my toes with respect to presentation and technique. I have found that younger children respond far better when I use varying tones of voice, over-emphasizing almost every point I make. Dynamic and visual presentation is essential for teaching Japanese children. In this respect, they don't differ from American children very much.

The 40-50 English class is supposed to finish by 9pm, but if everyone participates heavily it may finish as late as 10. My 40-50 year olds (ha!) speak conversational English, so it is my job to smooth out their grammar, pronunciation, and syntax. Although I loosely follow a textbook, my primary goal is get my students to hold interesting English conversations with each other. We talk about Japan, Japanese food, America, American food... Actually, politics and economics are pet topics as well. I sometimes learn as much about Japanese culture as my students learn English.

I also started a 2 hour/week speech class today for my MK students in the Keiyo Christian school where I teach. Although I will have to be flexible and open minded because I am dealing with students of all ages - between 8 and 16 years of age (!!!) - I hope that it will one day resemble Nate Wilson's rhetoric class which I attended at New Saint Andrews College (Moscow, ID) a few years ago. My goal is 1) to provide a positive opportunity for the younger kids to speak to an audience, and 2) to provide further practice and accountability for my English-speaking high school students in persuasive speaking/writing. The speech class will be fully integrated with the HS students' other studies, providing a place for them to read their essays and research papers from their other classes. I'm really excited about speech class - please pray that it will be a positive experience for all the students.

I'm sorry for the lack of photos recently, but most of my photos got deleted by accident, which is really lame, because my Prefecture had a 30-year-snow recently (like, a foot), and Chiba looked really beautiful covered with snow.

i'm back!

just as you all were beginning to give up hope, lo! at last, a belated update!

Ginza, Tokyo

I've just returned to Chiba after spending the holidays with my family. I am now beginning to teach two new English classes, pictures forthcoming. It's very cold here in January, but it still manages to rain constantly.

a typical fun-packed friday

This is Uchi-san cooking a mean sukiyaki for the weekly college outreach dinner. oishisou


























Here is my Friday English conversation class for Chiba University students. We conducted another pass-along story, but this week I gave each student two words (those little white slips of paper) to use in their contribution. Words ranged from "dolphin" to "sinister" to "Michael Jackson." Of course, most students first consulted their English-Japanese dictionaries which they always carry around. I need to get one too, if I ever hope to learn kanji.



Left to right: Uchida-san, a prospective pastor on my team. I always get into interesting conversations about music with him - the cultural and religious roots of jazz and rock, for instance. James, my "mentor." Neither of us have quite figured out what a "mentor" is yet. Regardless, we share a lot of projects together. James is teaching the class in this picture. Or at least touching his face. Hisa is a high school sannensei. Sannensei = senior in the U.S. The two of us met while barbecueing at a social function - we took turns pointing to the various charred vegetables we were grilling and naming them in our respective languages. I'm a beginner in Japanese and he's a beginner in English, so we make it a point to swap vocab words whenever we see each other.

asleep at the shutter

(Please click on the pictures if you want a close-up)
On Fridays I spend all day in or around Chiba University (11a-11p). I eat lunch with college students at a cafeteria and afterwards socialize in the sunshine (see picture). Takashi is pretending to skateboard. At right is Nagata-san, the college outreach leader and guitar virtuoso, and the fat middle shadow is me.

At 4:30 I give a small, informal English conversation class at a nearby church. We discuss sports, travel, and the ups and downs of college life. I often let the conversation take its own course as long as everyone is involved. Last week, however, I started a pass-a-long story around the room. Each student added an additional sentence to a cliffhanger story about Leonard the Egyptologist - an instant hit with everyone. Will our hero escape the mummy's curse and find his way out of the pyramid to safety? To be continued...


here is Soneda-san, my Japanese teacher. ah, ee, u, eh, oh.








my Monday lunch: rice, nori, tofu, and soybeans. Very simple, super quick, but quite tasty and very filling.








The Iversons (my next door neighbors/boarding family) are having new floors installed, so everyone camped out in my little house for dinner tonight. The cast, starting left, continuing clockwise:

Dave Abear: an ex-Chiba team member who now works with MTW in the US. He's visiting on a short term trip and is helping the team with some construction work. As soon as you meet this guy you wish he was your uncle.
Kimiko: a very nice Japanese lady who came for dinner.
Dan Iverson: team leader, pastor... all of the above
Steve: a short termer from Boseman who arrived with Dave.
Carol Iverson: Dan's wife, KCS teacher, a very hospitable lady who helped me settle in and is always happy to give me tips on Japanese cooking
Micah Iverson: one of my 6th grade students with a melodramatic flair - always fun to hang around with
Hannah Iverson: 9th grade student, enjoying my kotatsu table
Mark Iverson: 11th grade student, cool, collected, addicted to Starcraft
Seth Iverson: the youngest Iverson, concealed by the kotatsu blanket in this picture

sui-yobi

Soneda-san gave me my first official Japanese class today! I'm very excited - previously I've just been learning hiragana and picking up phrases from my peers. I really appreciate Soneda-san's style: she teaches Japanese in Japanese. It keeps me on my toes.

I had coffee at a Starbucks near the Chiba train station today. I don't normally frequent Starbucks in the US, but today it reminded me a little of the Pacific Northwest. Except I don't remember Starbucks providing complimentary ashtrays in Seattle. And there's also a towering, hot pink Christmas tree covered with strobe lights.

the glove compartment is inaccurately named

Monday is my day off. I have been sleeping intermittently.

For the second week in a row I will be the sole teacher of my American students in the Keiyo Christian School - the other teacher is currently in the States. This is an exciting challenge, but it's also very difficult keeping track of 5 kids in grades 6-11. My respect for school teachers has increased over the past month - I would never have thought that they do more homework than they assign! Good times...

As of today I can sort of read hiragana. Yay. Driving by a restaurant, I read the letters "ra...me...n." Click. Hey, it's a ramen shop! Now I just need to learn katakana and oh...2,000 or so kanji.

an excursion into udon

This simple udon noodle soup was my first home cooked meal in Japan. My culinary skills are pretty much nonexistent (cup noodles and cold cereal), but I've recently discovered that I enjoy cooking things and plan to take advantage of the exciting Japanese seafood and produce during my stay here.

fresh salmon and a shot of downtown chiba

I really need to buy some of this.

















Vending machines are everywhere - shopping malls, small neighborhoods, even backcountry roads! They're filled with Coke, espresso, Pocari Sweat, green tea (hot and cold), beer, and cigarettes.

a neighborhood view

My neighborhood, although technically within Chiba city limits, has not been built up like the areas immediately surrounding it. Traditional Japanese houses still exist, although there are also more modern apartments like the ones behind this small farm. If I had taken the snapshot 45 degrees to the right, you would have seen a horizon peppered with highrises and billboards. I would have thought that such different lifestyles could not coexist; Japan surprises me every day.

Hello

Hi Everybody,

This is my blog while I'm in Japan. As you can see, it's still under construction, and prolly will be for awhile. This is my first blog ever, and any web publishing skills I ever had have long atrophied - please be patient. I'll hopefully post some cool pics sometime soon.