Tsukuba-Dooba-Doo

Waking up was hard to do after our insanely busy Saturday, but everyone was in high spirits for our 10:30 church service at Agape International Chapel.  Our close, intimate church family was one of the best things about Tsukuba, and we LOVED showing the church off to all of our guests. The people there are especially warm and inviting.  You feel at home right away.  This particular Sunday was special for two reasons:

In fact, we passed the Haines family riding their bikes that way.  After seeing us, Reagan exclaimed "My people!!!"  It was, of course, a lot of fun watching our friends out of their element here.  Some cultural differences really show when comparing Agape to the churches we are used to in America. When it was time to stand up and greet one another, Amanda, Jill, and Leon got bombarded with curious/excited Agape members.  Seth and I enjoyed watching these people pour out their love to total strangers.

After the service, we had our usual lunch at the church and enjoyed the conversations between our American friends and our Japanese friends. We were like proud parents showing off our children!  The food was AMAZING!  So much so that almost all of us had seconds (and...maybe...thirds...?).

After church we we were mountain-bound to do some good 'ol fashioned ume viewing.  Mt. Tsukuba has a fantastic ume (plum) blossom grove and it was supposed to be about time for some bloomin'.  Well...not quite yet... There were some pretty sections, but we could tell that the prime time was still a couple weeks away.




We walked around Mt. Tsukuba for a couple hours, visited some shops, and were properly pooped.  Luckily, there was an onsen (naked hot bath) just around the corner!  We were planning on meeting the Haines' at the onsen around 5:30, so we killed some time by enjoying a beer and the smoggy Tokyo skyline. Unfortunately, it was so smoggy that we weren't able to see much of that skyline.  That being said, it was hard to deny the still gorgeous view from the mountain side. After our beers, we strolled over to take a dip in the only true onsen in the Tsukuba area.   Ahhh, there is nothing like the relaxation and bonding that comes from an onsen... Truly, there isn't anything like it in the USA.

Unfortunately the Haines' couldn't make it to the bathhouse, but at least they met us for dinner that night.


What an incredible day!  ANNNND this week was only going to get better.  That night we all headed to bed early because tomorrow we were starting our three day adventure in Tokyo!

~Kate

It was day three with the Aztec crew.  Seth and I were extremely excited about this day because we were going to take them to our Japanese Church, which has become our saving grace to living in Japan.  On our way to church we stopped by a thick bamboo forest.  I could see the twinkle in Louis' eyes as he replayed countless Japanese stories that take place in a place like this.  In a similar fashion, Sam's gears were turning as he analyzed the inner workings of bamboo.  All of the "boys" had so much fun in there while Mary and I waited patiently for them to finish to climbing around and dissecting the tree to see what they looked like inside.

We did our 30 minute bike ride and arrived for the Christmas service at Agape International Chapel. 


One of the blessings of belonging to this church is that we get to see how Japanese Christians celebrate Christmas.  In Japan, only 1% of the country's population are Christians, which means that the real reason for this holiday (i.e. Jesus' birth) is a mystery to the other 99% of Japan.  The service was quite similar to what we are used to in America, but this was much more interactive.  There was choreographed songs as well as Christmas skits.  Louis especially enjoyed the energetic atmosphere. 

After the service there was a Christmas potluck where everyone from the church got to meet Sam, Mary and Louis.  This was fun for everyone, but especially fun for Seth and I to have his family meet all of our new friends.  Once we were done with church, everyone needed to finish up on some last minute Christmas shopping at Seth and I's favorite recycle store, Wonder Rex!  This store is three stories tall and has EVERYTHING from shoes to furniture to old cameras to musical instruments.   

Once we were done, we all headed to Tsukuba Center to catch the TX (Tsukuba Express) bound for Tokyo. On our way we came upon Japan's "luminarias" which were made of reused plastic bottles with decorated paper draped around the exterior.  There where hundreds of these luminarias scattered throughout the area.  Some where from school children and others from participating families.  While Sam, Mary, Louis and I walked around, Seth did a quick dash home on a bike that we borrowed from Matt because we forgot to pack our travel book for this evenings shenanigans.



Seth made it back to the station in record time as we headed to the Asakusa district in Tokyo. We wanted to visit one of the oldest temples in Japan when we were met with a pleasant surprise: a special New Years festival!  The temple was lined with countless vendors selling some paddles for RIDICULOUS amounts of yen! 


The paddles originated from a game similar to badminton that girls would play on New Years Eve.  If a girl missed a shot, she would get ink smeared on her face.  The game would continue until one girl's face was completely covered....there are some traditions that I'm glad are dead!   


Our next adventure for the night was Tokyo Tower!  Seriously, at this point, Tokyo Tower should be paying us for all of the business/publicity we give them.  So we got back on the train and headed deeper into Tokyo.  On the 1/2 mile walk from the station to the tower our jet lagged visitors began to emanate exhaustion, we needed to hurry up while everyone was in good spirits.  Once we got to the top of the tower the beautiful sea of lights of took our guests breath away.



It was a great night with everything going smoothly, but it was time to wrap up our fun night in Tokyo.  The last train to Tsukuba left around 11:30 and we were cutting it way too close.  On our brisk walk back to the station we passed a McDonald's which had several Santa's hanging out and drinking coffee.  Sam couldn't pass up the opportunity to ask them for a photo. 

We caught the last train back and we were all so, so, soooo tired.  Seth said he knew that it was a long day when he looked at his dad trying to catch some ZZZ's on the train.  By 12:30am we made it back to the the Tsukuba Center to jump on our bikes for our mile ride home.  Mary and I got on our bikes as Louis started circling around everyone (that kid = endless energy).  I looked over to see a very distinct look of frustration on Seth's face.  He said "I can't find my bike..." which was actually Matt and Chelsae's bike that we had borrowed.

If you know Seth and I, then you probably are already giggling at this because Seth misplaces stuff ALL OF THE TIME which I usually find within a few seconds.  Unfortunately that wasn't the case for this night.  Seth's bike, or rather Matt's bike, got stolen!  This is a first for us in Japan, it's usually such a trustworthy place.  We couldn't believe it and continued to look for about 30 minutes...sadly we never found it. We decided that we would give it another try in the morning so Seth rode my bike and I just jumped on behind him.  Yet another hick-up for HEROW-Japan...

~Katie

Christianity in Japan
Less than 1% of Japan's population adheres to the Christian worldview.  Of those estimated 2 million Christians, the majority live on the west coast of the main island, Honshu.  This is credited to the 16th century European missionaries from Portugal.  However, before it could really gain a foothold in the area, Christians started being persecuted in the late 16th century.

The most notable event was the execution of 26 Franciscans by crucifixion on crosses outside Nagasaki.  Then in 1638, the Japanese government became strictly intolerant of Christian teaching which all but eliminated it.  This was an effort to further control the Japanese people as the emperor became their one and only god.  The silver lining came in 1853 when Japan became more open to Christianity.  One may argue, though, that true acceptance and growth began after WWII.  You can learn more here and here.


Katie and I had made several half-hearted attempts to find an English speaking church in Tsukuba.  After 5 months of Sunday day trips, listening to sermons via the internet, and lame excuses, we finally committed to attending the 10:30 church service at Agape International Chapel.  As with most of our Japanese 'firsts' this proved to be memorable in its own special way.

Another chapter in the 'Captain Heat Chronicles'
"Its our first Sunday and we're already running late!?" I said to myself as I rushed around the apartment and caught the time out of the corner of my eye.  The bike ride would take about 30 minutes and it was a viciously hot day in the middle of Japan's 'hottest summer in 100 years.'  No. Joke.  This fact necessitated packing sweat towels and hand fans with our bibles.  We would later find out this was not nearly enough ammunition to battle the overwhelming heat.  
 
The ride to church was hot.  I'm pretty sure Satan cranked up the heat and said "If you really want to get to church, you gotta ride through hell first! Wha hahahahaha!!!" ...or something like that.  What made matters worse was that we were trying to make up for lost time, which lead to riding faster.  Riding faster lead to riding harder.  Riding harder lead to becoming even hotter.  By the time we got to church we were pieces of sweaty, heat-radiating, flustered flesh.  Needless to say, my little dinky sweat rag got saturated before we even stepped in the door.


As soon as we walked in, worship music filled our ears and we were inundated with people handing us programs, visitor forms, and radios for the real time Japanese --> English translation. All the while our sweat dripped on everyone and everything we came into contact with.

Just as we sat down and tried to get our perspiration under control, it was time to stand up and say good morning to everyone. Seriously!?  I strived to maintain my composure as I perpetually gave out sweaty handshakes and hugs.  Of course, everyone was very kind and acted like they were talking to a normal looking couple.  This is despite the fact we looked like we took a quick dip in the river on the way to church.  However, every once in a while I could detect a slight hesitation when someone would place their hand on my damp shoulder...sorry man. 

More worship music followed the morning greeting.  Their music is quite similar to the modern Presbyterian music style I'm familiar with.  They have two projectors displaying the lyrics in Japanese characters, Romaji (alphabet letters so you can sing along), and an English translation of what the song is about.  You can view a video of them singing a song below.






A message followed the worship, which is where the real time translation comes into play.  We were given small radios with ear plugs.  A man sits in a 2nd floor booth and translates the sermons into English for the non-Japanese speaking members.  In fact, I would say that almost half of the church body consists of foreigners.  Most of these people are from places like Africa and Papua New Guinea.  The translation itself is an invaluable tool for us, since we obviously would have no idea what was being said otherwise.  

During the announcements at the end of the service, we were introduced to the whole church.  Katie and I were finally sweat free so we welcomed this opportunity to stand up and show the drier side of ourselves.  Speaking of dry, we wanted to stay that way a little while longer so we opted to stay and eat lunch with everyone at the church.

The calm after the storm
Lunch was amazing.  Not only was the food delicious, but we were able to truly meet people.  We talked with both the translator and his wife, Junichi and Kaolu.  We found out that Junichi got his MS from Columbia University and Kaoru might be the nicest person I've ever met.  We also met our good friend, Akira.  He and I connected instantaneously.  So much so that he invited Katie and I over to his house that night to have dinner and meet his wife.  

After lunch we rode through Satan's inferno once more to get back to the Ninomiya House.  At least this time we were able to go slower and cool off when we got home.