2006 DEC 30 Last night, I finally connected with pastor Yuya Kuwahara and his wife Liz (from Misaki Church in Chiba, Japan) at the the evening session at the dome. We had a great time! This morning I had breakfast with them and some of the ISI folks (Leon, Asako, Yu Chen). Most of the folks at Urbana were fasting after breakfast until dinner. I definitely got hungry and was really looking forward to dinner. After our morning Bible study, I spent the rest of the day attending a variety of talks on Business As Ministry (BAM), including micro-finance start-ups, branding, and tentmaking. They were all really interesting and I had no idea this a relatively new movement that was started at Princeton University in 1999. I learned some interesting facts about micro-finance: 1] Half a billion people have participated in micro-finance loans; 2] 95-98 percent have repaid their loans; 3] the repayment rate is dramatically higher than the credit card industry percentages for payback.
After all the BAM sessions I went to another hotel and participated in a two hour Japanese and Korean worship event hosted by JCFN. It was really good! People were really energized to be there, especially so late in the night. I was really encouraged to see Japanese and Korean students worshiping together with such enthusiasm!
Saturday, December 30, 2006
Friday, December 29, 2006
Urbana 06 - Day Three
2006 DEC 29 I slowed down a bit today with the number of activities I was participating in here. I skipped breakfast to catch up on sleep and then went to the morning Bible study at my hotel with the other 1,200 people who are in the "Open for Business" track. I've really been enjoying the Ephesians studies. After the morning session, I met up with Leon and some folks from ISI and San Lorenzo Japanese Christian Church (SanLo) to attend the mid-morning general event at the America's Center (i.e., Edward Jones) dome. We gathered for lunch afterwards and I had the chance to finally see Chase and Yu from SanLo.
After lunch, I dropped by the Urbana bookstore and bought a t-shirt. I am a sucker for conference tees. Then I walked around the exhibitor hall and met with people representing two schools in the Tokyo area. I had a great discussion with Noryuri-san from Tokyo Christian University about the need for business professionals to do Business As Ministry (BAM) in Tokyo. Our discussion was very encouraging to me personally, as I am currently feeling drawn to this ministry. Then I had a nice conversation with Kathi and Scott over at the Christian Academy in Japan booth about their school in the Tokyo suburbs, which provides an International, English-language, education for grades K-12. I was really impressed with how the school is integrating modern technology into the curriculum via Apple Macintosh desktop, laptop, and Xerve computers.
Each day, we get a small newspaper called "URBANA TODAY" with news about the conference, which is produced by journalism students. I was really encouraged by the news that there were 49 people here from Japan! This was especially interesting, since I read there were 42 from the UK and 30 from Mexico.
Check out the latest webcasts or issues of "URBANA TODAY" on the Urbana website.
After lunch, I dropped by the Urbana bookstore and bought a t-shirt. I am a sucker for conference tees. Then I walked around the exhibitor hall and met with people representing two schools in the Tokyo area. I had a great discussion with Noryuri-san from Tokyo Christian University about the need for business professionals to do Business As Ministry (BAM) in Tokyo. Our discussion was very encouraging to me personally, as I am currently feeling drawn to this ministry. Then I had a nice conversation with Kathi and Scott over at the Christian Academy in Japan booth about their school in the Tokyo suburbs, which provides an International, English-language, education for grades K-12. I was really impressed with how the school is integrating modern technology into the curriculum via Apple Macintosh desktop, laptop, and Xerve computers.
Each day, we get a small newspaper called "URBANA TODAY" with news about the conference, which is produced by journalism students. I was really encouraged by the news that there were 49 people here from Japan! This was especially interesting, since I read there were 42 from the UK and 30 from Mexico.
Check out the latest webcasts or issues of "URBANA TODAY" on the Urbana website.
Thursday, December 28, 2006
Urbana 06 - Day Two
2006 DEC 28 Today was the first full day at Urbana 06. It was full of awesome presentations and sessions. I am totally EXHAUSTED from both the physical and the mental aspects of the day. I woke up at 7:00a after about six hours sleep and then ended my last session late and was back in my hotel room at 11:00p.
The morning Bible study in the Open for Business track continued with Ephesians and led into a good Q&A session with the 1,200 people in the track and more small group discussion with my new friends.
Mid morning, I walked over to the Dome (i.e., America Center) for another worship service with the other 22,000+ attendees here at Urbana. After more study of Ephesians in the general session, I met a Leon Harper and some others from ISI for lunch at Quiznos. Talk about total chaos! Imagine 22,000 people converging on a downtown area at one time for lunch. Lines at most restaurants were out the door and down the street! We had a good lunch outside in a park by the City Courthouse. It was a chilly day, but at least the sun was out.
After lunch, I walked back to the America Center and visited the Urbana bookstore and bought two new books: God is at work, Devotional Ventures.
I spent the rest of the day and evening attending Open for Business track sessions, which focused on the foundations of the concept of Business As Ministry (BAM). By the end of the day I was over saturated with information and ready to fall asleep. The highlight of the evening was hearing seven small ventures give their 5 minute pitch during a competition for a chance to win a $40,000 prize for the best business plan. Some of the ideas were so empowering! It will be interesting to see which venture wins on Saturday.
Another great highlight of the day was eating dinner with 5,000 people! More on official conference numbers tomorrow.
The morning Bible study in the Open for Business track continued with Ephesians and led into a good Q&A session with the 1,200 people in the track and more small group discussion with my new friends.
Mid morning, I walked over to the Dome (i.e., America Center) for another worship service with the other 22,000+ attendees here at Urbana. After more study of Ephesians in the general session, I met a Leon Harper and some others from ISI for lunch at Quiznos. Talk about total chaos! Imagine 22,000 people converging on a downtown area at one time for lunch. Lines at most restaurants were out the door and down the street! We had a good lunch outside in a park by the City Courthouse. It was a chilly day, but at least the sun was out.
After lunch, I walked back to the America Center and visited the Urbana bookstore and bought two new books: God is at work, Devotional Ventures.
I spent the rest of the day and evening attending Open for Business track sessions, which focused on the foundations of the concept of Business As Ministry (BAM). By the end of the day I was over saturated with information and ready to fall asleep. The highlight of the evening was hearing seven small ventures give their 5 minute pitch during a competition for a chance to win a $40,000 prize for the best business plan. Some of the ideas were so empowering! It will be interesting to see which venture wins on Saturday.
Another great highlight of the day was eating dinner with 5,000 people! More on official conference numbers tomorrow.
Urbana 06 - Day One
2006 DEC 27 Urbana 06 is in motion in St. Louis, Misouri, which is a first time for this new location. We had a good kickoff session tonight at the Edward Jones dome where the St Louis Rams play American football. There are 22,000+ people/Christians attending from 144 countries! Pretty amazing stuff!
I have a comfortable room at the Adam's Mark Hotel with a nice view of the City Courthouse and Busch stadium. The free DSL is a nice touch!
We were instructed to form small groups (based on people we meet at our hotels) and to get together daily during our time here and pray and talk about the scripture (Ephesians) we are studying as a larger group. So I met to two guys randomly in the elevator and we asked three more people we met randomly at the late night business mixer to join our group. There are also some people here from my church in SF and others from the Bay area in the "Open for Business" track that I met at the mixer.
So far a good first day. :)
I have a comfortable room at the Adam's Mark Hotel with a nice view of the City Courthouse and Busch stadium. The free DSL is a nice touch!
We were instructed to form small groups (based on people we meet at our hotels) and to get together daily during our time here and pray and talk about the scripture (Ephesians) we are studying as a larger group. So I met to two guys randomly in the elevator and we asked three more people we met randomly at the late night business mixer to join our group. There are also some people here from my church in SF and others from the Bay area in the "Open for Business" track that I met at the mixer.
So far a good first day. :)
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
Thursday, October 19, 2006
My third Japan adventure...
Here's a daily overview of my third and so far best trip to Japan, which lasted about 14 days. I posted almost 500 photos to my Flickr account of my adventures during this trip. In this blog entry, I've linked directly to some of the highlights of the trip. Enjoy!
An outline of the places I visited:
Chiba (Yatsumi): 31 Aug to 1-5 Sept (Brett/Bong Cocreham's home)
Tokyo: 6-7 Sept (Shinagawa Prince Hotel)
Yamanashi: 8-9 Sept (Hotel Regina Kawaguchiko)
Shizuoka/Nagoya: 10-11 Sept (Navigators/Joy House)
Chiba (Ichinomiya): 12-13 Sept (Tonoike's home)
WED - 30 AUG: I flew from San Francisco on United airlines first class down to Los Angeles airport (LAX) to catch my flight to Narita, Japan. After a brief layover in LAX, I boarded the first class cabin on Singapore Airlines, which was amazing! I decided to cash in all my United miles on this trip and enjoy my flights to and from Japan. I highly recommend it if you can swing it! All the yummy food and drinks and the 80+ on-demand movies really makes an 11 hour flight go by a lot faster.
THU - 31 AUG: I arrived in the evening of the next day (Japan is 16 hours ahead of California) at Narita's International terminal, which was recently renovated with a new, clean, and super modern design. Brett Cocreham met me at the terminal and drove me to Ichinomiya for a welcome dinner that was being held for Sarah, who recently moved to Japan from Arizona. We had a nice dinner and I met a lot of new people that night at the Bull Restaurant. I was awake for about 28 hours during the first day of my trip and was only able to sleep for about three hours that night before waking up!
FRI - 01 SEPT: I woke up several times during my first night in Japan and really had a hard time sleeping, even after being awake so long on the journey over. I was suppose to go to Disney Sea with my friends Cheryl and Daisuke (and a group of folks who came over from San Francisco), but the day's rain dampened my enthusiasm for the Japanese theme park. I am not a big fan of theme parks in the first place, so if conditions are not close to perfect (e.g., great weather, no crowds, etc.), I'd rather not go. So, I decided to relax in rural Chiba (Yatsumi, Chosei Mura, Chosei-gun) at Brett and Bong's home and get to know them better during my first, full day in Japan. It rained all day and it was super humid too, which I am not use to anymore after living in California. But not matter, because I had a really nice time hanging out with my new friends, learning Japanese, and going to some local stores. Another fun part of the day was driving for the first time in Japan. It was very interesting, especially driving on the other side of the road from the USA. I drove a little Mitsubishi Mini Pajero, which is a mini SUV...sort of like a Suzuki Samurai. The local roads in rural Chiba are really narrow too. I swear some are as wide as a golf cart path! People drive very slow too on local roads compared to the US, which helped make it less stressful as I tried to focus on staying left.
SAT - 02 SEPT: We woke up at 4:30a and I drove a Honda minivan to Misaki church by the beach to meet with the Christian Surfers of Japan group about 6:00a. We sang songs for about 20 minutes and socialized and then had solo prayer and meditation time until 7:00a. Then we drove to the Surfer's Paradse surf shop at Inchinomiya (beach) and picked up the surfboards we would use that day. The local Surftech distributor supplied all the boards we needed for the day. Domo arigato gozaimashita Surftech! You guys ROCK! We could pick from a large variety of boards, short to long. We walked from the parking lot at the surf shop to the beach at Ichinomiya and went surfing for four hours on a beautiful sunny day, without wetsuits too! A typhoon was a few days out from the east coast of Japan at that time. The waves were already getting big at 8 to 10 feet on the face. I surfed on the inside on the smaller waves, since the larger waves were a bit to big for me.
In the evening we went to Costco in Chiba City, which is way better than the Costco here in San Francisco. The reason that I think it is so good is that it has a good mix of American and Japanese products and overall I believe the brands are better than in the USA. We were in Ciba City for Cheryl and Daisuke's wedding party, which they threw for thier friends in Japan. It was a really fun event at a restaurant next to the train station. My friend Sanae joined me and we met many new people that night and had a great time. After the party, about ten of us went to an onsen or sento, which is like a spa or bath house. The bath areas are segregated (male/female) and they contain numerous hot and cold baths or pools. That experience was so relaxing that I fell asleep on this wooden porch area for about 20 minutes. I was exhausted from the hours of surfing and sun. Once I returned to Brett and Bong's home, it was the first night I slept straight through to morning without waking up every couple hours.
SUN - 03 SEPT: We went to New Hope church in Chiba City, which was over an hour drive from our house in rural Chiba where I was staying. The church service was in English and Japanese and very inspiring. My friend Sanae joined us via train from Tokyo. After the service, we all bought lunch from the local grocery store or from the street vendors (who were part of a local festival that day) and then went back to the church to eat together. Later that evening, Bong, Sarah, the kids, and I went to the evening service at Misaki (surfers' church). Again, the service was in Japanese (mainly) and English. After we sang many songs, a young Japanese woman gave her testimony (sort of a story about how God had been helping her in her life). It was really inspiring to hear her struggles and how God had been working in her life to bring about positive change. Afterwards, we sang some more and pastor Yuya introduce Sarah and me as honored guests from America. We enjoyed dinner (JP-style pasta and salad) together. On the way home we stopped to photograph these cool new apartment structures in Inchinomiya. The building look like giant Japanese lanterns and at night they are illuminated from the interior of each building. It was still VERY warm with humid weather in the 80s during the night too, but it was great to be able wear shorts all day.
MON - 04 SEPT: This day was full of eating....After scrambled eggs, cereal, Brett's famous cheese toast, and coffee, we drove Aya to the train station, so she could travel back to Nigata and her job at Nissan Motors. At this point in the week, the typhoon turned the ocean into a raging mess. The water was so rough it looked like it was boiling. Stefan and Seth still wanted to go surfing though, so we took them to Taito, where it is a bit sheltered compared to the exposed beaches. Then Bong and I went to visit a Japanese couple (Kimikazu and Akemi) who are starting a sports ministry that reaches out to young people. We had brunch with them at their new home and talked about their dream of creating a town in Japan that has many Christians. I really enjoyed meeting them! After picking up the Seth and Stefan at the beach, we went to an American-style sports bar/restaurant with a California theme and ate hamburgers and watched WWF wrestling! That was very interesting....I drove us around town the rest of the afternoon in a very boxy Honda minivan. We hungout at Brett and Bong's house that night and had a cookout with a bunch of people from various areas of Japan. It a great day in rural Chiba by the beach. I think I could live here!
TUE - 05 SEPT: Wow...another hot and humid day in rural Chiba (Yatsumi)! I lounged around the house with Brett all day and studied Japanese and did laundry. Most people in Japan have a clothes washer, but dryers are very rare so people generally hang their clothes to dry. I I took one of the Cocreham's dogs (a puppy) for a walk around the countryside through the rice fields by their home. Later in the afternoon, Brett and I went to a local public pool and bathhouse. He swam laps and I relaxed in the shallow pool with the underwater jets, cascading water spouts, and the water slide. Two young Japanese boys kept swimming by me and giggling. I think they were very curious to see a Westerner in their local pool. Then they introduced themselves to me in Japanese. They were both five years old. Within a few minutes we were pals. They keep following me around the pool, so I started to play some games with them. We raced underwater from side to side and played under the water spouts. I taught them how to land on a kickboard from the waterslide. They thought this was all so much fun and quite hilarious. They were laughing like crazy. We said goodbye when it was time to go. After Brett and I washed off from the pool in the men's shower area, we went to men's sento (bath house area) and we ran into my little friends. This time all the men were naked and using a series of hot and cool pools and a very hot sauna room. It's very quiet and quite relaxing. Once the little boys came into that area, which is connected to the men's locker room, they saw me in the hot tub and jumped in next to me (naked) and brought their little 3- or 4-year-old sister with them! I was glad there was a lot of bubbles in the pool from the underwater jets. Brett and I washed off again and went into the locker room to towel off and get dressed. Then the two little boys and their naked sister came running into that area and ran around the lockers giggling. Brett and I started cracking our towels at them to shoo them away so we could get dressed. That only seemed to energize them more. They started running faster in circles around the lockers, which were like islands in the room. We would run to the other side and say "Ahhhhh" or "Booooo!" to them. They just shrieked and giggled louder and ran the other way until we caught them as they came around the other side of the row of lockers. It was pretty loud and I think we created a bit of chaos at the bath house area. Finally the little kid's grandpa came in and scolded them. He smiled at us and shook his head. He probably thought we were crazy Americans stirring up trouble. ;) I was a little embarrassed for encouraging the kids to make so much noise as they ran around, but they were having so much fun and it was difficult not to enjoy their company. It was one of those VERY Japan moments, when Western and Japanese culture collides and two groups of people who could barely communicate with words had a wonderful time...until tradition required that the kids behave and quiet down as not to embarrass grandpa. It was a priceless moment!
WED - 06 SEPT: I arrived in Tokyo about midday by train from Yatsumi. I began my time with my friend Sanae, who I was planning to do some traveling around Japan with for about a week. I checked into the Shinagawa Price Hotel and then we went out for lunch at a new ramen shop near the train station. Afterwards, we walked around the newly redeveloped Shinagawa area and visited Hama Rikyuu Onshi-teien, one of Tokyo's finest gardens. That evening we went to a Comic & Internet Cafe with in Shibuya, since we had an hour or so until we were to meet up with friends for dinner. That place was so cool! You pay by the hour to hangout there, which affords one the opportunity to use the Internet, read comic books/novels (Manga), play video games, read most current magazines, and enjoy complementary coffee, tea, sodas, ice cream. So it's sort of like a cafe and a pop culture library combined where you pay by the hour to be there enjoying all the various media. We met my friends Kazuyo (who studied English in SF) and Momoe (from my Cisco days) at an Izakaya (Sake house or cafe) called EN (i.e., Yen) in Shibuya for dinner and drinks. It was raining at that point of the trip as the front edge of the typhoon passed by as it headed up the coast towards Hokaido. We had a great time that night and later visited a theme bar called The Buddha Bar, which contained many different types of Buddha statues. It was an odd place for sure.
THU - 07 SEPT: Sanae and I traveled around Ropongi Hills in the insanely hot and humid weather. We had lunch at a nice AIR CONDITIONED cafe before I went over to the Motorola office to pay a social call to some colleagues. That evening we went to our friend Kazu's brother's restaurant. The food was VERY Japanese and quite exotic for me, but very delicious! Afterwards, we met Kazuyo and Momoe in Harajuku and went to a little pub that specializes in Belgian beers. There's nothing like a cold beer on a hot Tokyo evening! :)
FRI - 08 SEPT: Sanae and I boarded a bus in Shijuku early that morning and traveled about 1.5 hours outside Tokyo to her home town of Fujiyoshida, which is at the base of Mt. Fuji. After dropping our stuff off at her parent's home and picking up her mom's car, we met her friend Hitoshi at his apartment. We decided to go to a local udon shop for lunch. The restaurant is famous locally for their homemade noodles. I passed on the meat-style (i.e., horse meat) and chose the tempura version. It was OISHII! This was probably the best bowl of udon soup I've ever had in my life! After lunch we went to Sengen Jinja, which is the ornate shrine to the kama (god) of Fuji. It's also the starting point for many hikers who climb Mt. Fuji starting in July each summer. The window for climbing to the top of Mt. Fuji is only about two months. We also visited an area that had very traditional style Japanese homes and these eight pools full of trout. Then we went to the local modern art museum and saw an interesting exhibit of kimonos. There was also a nice exhibit of photographs and paintings of Mt. Fuji... Do you see the theme that runs through this town? After the museum, we went fly fishing for a little while at a local trout stream until it was very dark. Then we were really hungry, so we went out for an awesome dinner with some real fresh (inexpensive) sushi. It was only about US$9 for dinner each! Japan has a reputation of being super expensive, which it can be at times. It's also quite affordable if you know where to shop. After dinner I went back to my hotel and enjoyed my third onsen/sento or spa/sauna experience within a week. What a way to relax before going to sleep.
SAT - 09 SEPT: Fujiyoshida is nice town that is close to many beautiful lakes and mountains. The area sort of reminds me of a Japanese version of Germany's Bavaria or the Swiss alps. Sanae and I picked up a take-out breakfast from MOS Burger via the drive-through window and then enjoyed our breakfast while relaxing on the grass by a huge lake. Then we walked around the shore of the lake and took pictures. The whole area seems like a magnet for automotive and motorcycle enthusiasts during the weekends. We saw a lot of cool cars and bikes.
In the early afternoon, we had lunch at an okinamiyaki restaurant with Sanae's parents and her older sister. They showed us how to cook okinamiyaki (seafood pancake) at our table. It was a lot of fun to make and oh so yummy! Then Sanae and I said goodbye and started out for Shizuoka, which is where she was finishing her university studies. Along the way, we stopped to explore a bat cave, hiked down to a series of beautiful water falls, and then ate at Denny's (featuring very different Japanese menu) in Shizuoka, and met Sanae's American roommate Aileen. I stayed at the "Joy House" (owned by the Navigators Christian group) and slept in my second tatami room of the trip, which I love to do! Most Japanese homes have at least one traditional tatami room.
SUN - 10 SEPT: I had such a blessed time in Shizuoka, despite the heat and humidity (like Texas or DC in the summer). We worshipped at a small Christian church. After the service, the pastor invited us to his home for lunch with his family. It was such a fun experience as we talked about America and Japan. Once again, everyone was so courteous and gracious in Japan. People are very curious about American, and they love to talk about all sorts of things related to the USA. I am continuously surprised at how many Japanese I met had been to the US, all over Asia, and Europe. They are a very well travelled group of people. I spent most of the day hanging out with Sanae and her roommate Aileen, who is here in Shizuoka for a year from the Los Angeles area of California. It was so hot and humid we cancelled our plans to go hiking and just stayed local. We finally saw Mt Fuji after the humid haze lifted in the late afternoon. We went shopping at Don Quixote, which is an interesting retail chain. There are 22 branches of this store in Japan, all selling an enormous selection of goods ranging from small accessories and cosmetics to electrical appliances. The Shibuya store in Tokyo alone claims to stock over 35,000 different items. There appears to be no criteria as to what is for sale. Don Quixote quite happily sells moisturizer in one section, video cameras in another and Korean food in the next. Brand names include Gucci, Hermes, Sony, Sanrio and many more. Prices naturally vary depending on type and name of product, but generally they are quite good. After some shopping, we ate dinner at MOS BURGER and then drove up to the top of a local mountain at night and looked down on the bay and then drove along the ocean. Sanae and Aileen live about a mile from the beach. At 10:00p on Sunday night in Shizuoka the temperature was about 80 degrees (F) with 90+ percent humdity... =:o Super muggy, hot, and humid.
MON - 11 SEPT: In the morning, Sanae and I boarded the shinkansen (bullet train) for Nagoya. We met Tomomi and Amanda (our new friends) at the Starbucks on the 13th floor of the JR station building. Then traveled on a series of local trains to Nagoya Castle, which was rebuilt into its present form after WWII. After the castle grounds closed, we went to this interesting building that had a fountain and pool on the roof of the structure. We walked around downtown Nagoya and rode a giant ferris wheel that was attached to a new shopping mall. Then we walked around the downtown shopping area and wandered into the local Apple Store and discovered the brand new 24" iMacs. I would love to get one with a Japanese/Western keyboard! Then we had dinner at a little cafe and Sanae and I said goodbye to Tomomi and Amanda and caught the Shinkansen back to Shizuoka. It was a long day, but a lot of fun! I really enjoyed Nagoya.
TUE - 12 SEPT: After breakfast, Sanae gave me a quick tour of her university and we went to the train station so I could go back to Chiba. We parked in the underground garage. This process was fascinating too. A man directed us to one of three parking bays. Then we left her car with another man, but she kept her keys. There's no need to drive it to a parking space with this system. The garage is sort of like a reverse vending machine. The man gave Sanae a ticket and then the car was whisked off into its parking space somewhere in the garage by a computerized platform. Once Sanae is ready to leave, she would pay her ticket and the computer directed platform would retrieve her car and bring it to her. Really amazing! I wonder how many times the system brings back the wrong car? After doing a little gift shopping, I said goodbye to Sanae and I boarded the shinkansen for rural Yatsumi. I was really sad to leave my travel buddy, but happy that I had the chance to hangout with my little JP sister for almost a week! It took about 3.5 hours and several transfers to make it out to the Chiba countryside. The train system in Japan is really the way to travel. Much like the rail system in western Europe, it goes most places and is really convenient. Bong met me at the little train station in Yatsumi. Within an hour after getting back to Brett and Bong's home I was back in the minivan with a crew of people and we drove over to Surftech's Japanese office to pickup Aki after work. Then we drove over to a mall (I forgot the name of the town) and met up with a bunch of the Young Life staff and volunteers at a restaurant. We had a fun time at dinner, while they planned their fall events. Bill Maston from Nexus Vivus talked about ways to encourage and mentor young people, who are the future of Japan. It was a very inspiring discussion. Later that night, I went to Kimikazu and Akemi's home and slept in a regular Western bed. I slept like a log that night.
WED - 13 SEPT: I woke up to the sound of people speaking French and Japanese. I wandered downstairs and joined everyone at breakfast. I learned that Claude and Miki were also staying here with their young son Kai. They were on vacation from their home in Paris, France. We had a nice time over breakfast getting to know each other and then Kimikazu drove us out to a local nashi (pear) orchard in the countryside. We met the owner, who explained to us about the four different varieties of nashi his family grows. At this time, they were harvesting a variety called the "20th Century Nashi". It was invented at early part of the 20th Century and in order to keep the nashi in perfect condition, each fruit is covered with a protective wrapper while it grows on the tree. This particular type of nashi is prized for its smooth skin and uniform shape and size. Some of the nashi trees were over ninety years old at the orchard! After we sampled the delicious nashi, we went out for lunch at the American sports cafe again. Then Daisuke and Cheryl drove me to Narita airport. It was great to spend my last moments with my friends as we drove towards crowded Tokyo, but sad to leave them and think that my adventure was about over. I tried to relax in the ANA first class lounge in Narita airport before my 6:00p flight to LAX. As I watched sumo wrestling on a huge display in the lounge, I reflected on how amazing this trip had been to Japan and how blessed I felt to have met so many wonderful people. The lounge had a very clean and modern design and also offered free wireless Internet, so I checked my email via my Nokia 770 Internet tablet. My first class flight back to the US was very relaxing. The flight attendant poured me a glass of Dom Perignon champaign when I sat down into my seat, and it only got better from then on. I tried to sleep as much as I could (about 4-5 hours) during the 9.5 hour flight.
Final Thoughts: Overall, this trip was my third and best Japan adventure yet (sorry Matto-san...wish you could have joined me bro! No monkeys on this trip though.). The level of service in Japan is amazing and people were so courteous everywhere we went. If you haven't visited Japan but are curious to try it, I would encourage you to try it ASAP! I'll be going back as soon as I can make it back. And yes, the sushi was awesome! :)
An outline of the places I visited:
Chiba (Yatsumi): 31 Aug to 1-5 Sept (Brett/Bong Cocreham's home)
Tokyo: 6-7 Sept (Shinagawa Prince Hotel)
Yamanashi: 8-9 Sept (Hotel Regina Kawaguchiko)
Shizuoka/Nagoya: 10-11 Sept (Navigators/Joy House)
Chiba (Ichinomiya): 12-13 Sept (Tonoike's home)
WED - 30 AUG: I flew from San Francisco on United airlines first class down to Los Angeles airport (LAX) to catch my flight to Narita, Japan. After a brief layover in LAX, I boarded the first class cabin on Singapore Airlines, which was amazing! I decided to cash in all my United miles on this trip and enjoy my flights to and from Japan. I highly recommend it if you can swing it! All the yummy food and drinks and the 80+ on-demand movies really makes an 11 hour flight go by a lot faster.
THU - 31 AUG: I arrived in the evening of the next day (Japan is 16 hours ahead of California) at Narita's International terminal, which was recently renovated with a new, clean, and super modern design. Brett Cocreham met me at the terminal and drove me to Ichinomiya for a welcome dinner that was being held for Sarah, who recently moved to Japan from Arizona. We had a nice dinner and I met a lot of new people that night at the Bull Restaurant. I was awake for about 28 hours during the first day of my trip and was only able to sleep for about three hours that night before waking up!
FRI - 01 SEPT: I woke up several times during my first night in Japan and really had a hard time sleeping, even after being awake so long on the journey over. I was suppose to go to Disney Sea with my friends Cheryl and Daisuke (and a group of folks who came over from San Francisco), but the day's rain dampened my enthusiasm for the Japanese theme park. I am not a big fan of theme parks in the first place, so if conditions are not close to perfect (e.g., great weather, no crowds, etc.), I'd rather not go. So, I decided to relax in rural Chiba (Yatsumi, Chosei Mura, Chosei-gun) at Brett and Bong's home and get to know them better during my first, full day in Japan. It rained all day and it was super humid too, which I am not use to anymore after living in California. But not matter, because I had a really nice time hanging out with my new friends, learning Japanese, and going to some local stores. Another fun part of the day was driving for the first time in Japan. It was very interesting, especially driving on the other side of the road from the USA. I drove a little Mitsubishi Mini Pajero, which is a mini SUV...sort of like a Suzuki Samurai. The local roads in rural Chiba are really narrow too. I swear some are as wide as a golf cart path! People drive very slow too on local roads compared to the US, which helped make it less stressful as I tried to focus on staying left.
SAT - 02 SEPT: We woke up at 4:30a and I drove a Honda minivan to Misaki church by the beach to meet with the Christian Surfers of Japan group about 6:00a. We sang songs for about 20 minutes and socialized and then had solo prayer and meditation time until 7:00a. Then we drove to the Surfer's Paradse surf shop at Inchinomiya (beach) and picked up the surfboards we would use that day. The local Surftech distributor supplied all the boards we needed for the day. Domo arigato gozaimashita Surftech! You guys ROCK! We could pick from a large variety of boards, short to long. We walked from the parking lot at the surf shop to the beach at Ichinomiya and went surfing for four hours on a beautiful sunny day, without wetsuits too! A typhoon was a few days out from the east coast of Japan at that time. The waves were already getting big at 8 to 10 feet on the face. I surfed on the inside on the smaller waves, since the larger waves were a bit to big for me.
In the evening we went to Costco in Chiba City, which is way better than the Costco here in San Francisco. The reason that I think it is so good is that it has a good mix of American and Japanese products and overall I believe the brands are better than in the USA. We were in Ciba City for Cheryl and Daisuke's wedding party, which they threw for thier friends in Japan. It was a really fun event at a restaurant next to the train station. My friend Sanae joined me and we met many new people that night and had a great time. After the party, about ten of us went to an onsen or sento, which is like a spa or bath house. The bath areas are segregated (male/female) and they contain numerous hot and cold baths or pools. That experience was so relaxing that I fell asleep on this wooden porch area for about 20 minutes. I was exhausted from the hours of surfing and sun. Once I returned to Brett and Bong's home, it was the first night I slept straight through to morning without waking up every couple hours.
SUN - 03 SEPT: We went to New Hope church in Chiba City, which was over an hour drive from our house in rural Chiba where I was staying. The church service was in English and Japanese and very inspiring. My friend Sanae joined us via train from Tokyo. After the service, we all bought lunch from the local grocery store or from the street vendors (who were part of a local festival that day) and then went back to the church to eat together. Later that evening, Bong, Sarah, the kids, and I went to the evening service at Misaki (surfers' church). Again, the service was in Japanese (mainly) and English. After we sang many songs, a young Japanese woman gave her testimony (sort of a story about how God had been helping her in her life). It was really inspiring to hear her struggles and how God had been working in her life to bring about positive change. Afterwards, we sang some more and pastor Yuya introduce Sarah and me as honored guests from America. We enjoyed dinner (JP-style pasta and salad) together. On the way home we stopped to photograph these cool new apartment structures in Inchinomiya. The building look like giant Japanese lanterns and at night they are illuminated from the interior of each building. It was still VERY warm with humid weather in the 80s during the night too, but it was great to be able wear shorts all day.
MON - 04 SEPT: This day was full of eating....After scrambled eggs, cereal, Brett's famous cheese toast, and coffee, we drove Aya to the train station, so she could travel back to Nigata and her job at Nissan Motors. At this point in the week, the typhoon turned the ocean into a raging mess. The water was so rough it looked like it was boiling. Stefan and Seth still wanted to go surfing though, so we took them to Taito, where it is a bit sheltered compared to the exposed beaches. Then Bong and I went to visit a Japanese couple (Kimikazu and Akemi) who are starting a sports ministry that reaches out to young people. We had brunch with them at their new home and talked about their dream of creating a town in Japan that has many Christians. I really enjoyed meeting them! After picking up the Seth and Stefan at the beach, we went to an American-style sports bar/restaurant with a California theme and ate hamburgers and watched WWF wrestling! That was very interesting....I drove us around town the rest of the afternoon in a very boxy Honda minivan. We hungout at Brett and Bong's house that night and had a cookout with a bunch of people from various areas of Japan. It a great day in rural Chiba by the beach. I think I could live here!
TUE - 05 SEPT: Wow...another hot and humid day in rural Chiba (Yatsumi)! I lounged around the house with Brett all day and studied Japanese and did laundry. Most people in Japan have a clothes washer, but dryers are very rare so people generally hang their clothes to dry. I I took one of the Cocreham's dogs (a puppy) for a walk around the countryside through the rice fields by their home. Later in the afternoon, Brett and I went to a local public pool and bathhouse. He swam laps and I relaxed in the shallow pool with the underwater jets, cascading water spouts, and the water slide. Two young Japanese boys kept swimming by me and giggling. I think they were very curious to see a Westerner in their local pool. Then they introduced themselves to me in Japanese. They were both five years old. Within a few minutes we were pals. They keep following me around the pool, so I started to play some games with them. We raced underwater from side to side and played under the water spouts. I taught them how to land on a kickboard from the waterslide. They thought this was all so much fun and quite hilarious. They were laughing like crazy. We said goodbye when it was time to go. After Brett and I washed off from the pool in the men's shower area, we went to men's sento (bath house area) and we ran into my little friends. This time all the men were naked and using a series of hot and cool pools and a very hot sauna room. It's very quiet and quite relaxing. Once the little boys came into that area, which is connected to the men's locker room, they saw me in the hot tub and jumped in next to me (naked) and brought their little 3- or 4-year-old sister with them! I was glad there was a lot of bubbles in the pool from the underwater jets. Brett and I washed off again and went into the locker room to towel off and get dressed. Then the two little boys and their naked sister came running into that area and ran around the lockers giggling. Brett and I started cracking our towels at them to shoo them away so we could get dressed. That only seemed to energize them more. They started running faster in circles around the lockers, which were like islands in the room. We would run to the other side and say "Ahhhhh" or "Booooo!" to them. They just shrieked and giggled louder and ran the other way until we caught them as they came around the other side of the row of lockers. It was pretty loud and I think we created a bit of chaos at the bath house area. Finally the little kid's grandpa came in and scolded them. He smiled at us and shook his head. He probably thought we were crazy Americans stirring up trouble. ;) I was a little embarrassed for encouraging the kids to make so much noise as they ran around, but they were having so much fun and it was difficult not to enjoy their company. It was one of those VERY Japan moments, when Western and Japanese culture collides and two groups of people who could barely communicate with words had a wonderful time...until tradition required that the kids behave and quiet down as not to embarrass grandpa. It was a priceless moment!
WED - 06 SEPT: I arrived in Tokyo about midday by train from Yatsumi. I began my time with my friend Sanae, who I was planning to do some traveling around Japan with for about a week. I checked into the Shinagawa Price Hotel and then we went out for lunch at a new ramen shop near the train station. Afterwards, we walked around the newly redeveloped Shinagawa area and visited Hama Rikyuu Onshi-teien, one of Tokyo's finest gardens. That evening we went to a Comic & Internet Cafe with in Shibuya, since we had an hour or so until we were to meet up with friends for dinner. That place was so cool! You pay by the hour to hangout there, which affords one the opportunity to use the Internet, read comic books/novels (Manga), play video games, read most current magazines, and enjoy complementary coffee, tea, sodas, ice cream. So it's sort of like a cafe and a pop culture library combined where you pay by the hour to be there enjoying all the various media. We met my friends Kazuyo (who studied English in SF) and Momoe (from my Cisco days) at an Izakaya (Sake house or cafe) called EN (i.e., Yen) in Shibuya for dinner and drinks. It was raining at that point of the trip as the front edge of the typhoon passed by as it headed up the coast towards Hokaido. We had a great time that night and later visited a theme bar called The Buddha Bar, which contained many different types of Buddha statues. It was an odd place for sure.
THU - 07 SEPT: Sanae and I traveled around Ropongi Hills in the insanely hot and humid weather. We had lunch at a nice AIR CONDITIONED cafe before I went over to the Motorola office to pay a social call to some colleagues. That evening we went to our friend Kazu's brother's restaurant. The food was VERY Japanese and quite exotic for me, but very delicious! Afterwards, we met Kazuyo and Momoe in Harajuku and went to a little pub that specializes in Belgian beers. There's nothing like a cold beer on a hot Tokyo evening! :)
FRI - 08 SEPT: Sanae and I boarded a bus in Shijuku early that morning and traveled about 1.5 hours outside Tokyo to her home town of Fujiyoshida, which is at the base of Mt. Fuji. After dropping our stuff off at her parent's home and picking up her mom's car, we met her friend Hitoshi at his apartment. We decided to go to a local udon shop for lunch. The restaurant is famous locally for their homemade noodles. I passed on the meat-style (i.e., horse meat) and chose the tempura version. It was OISHII! This was probably the best bowl of udon soup I've ever had in my life! After lunch we went to Sengen Jinja, which is the ornate shrine to the kama (god) of Fuji. It's also the starting point for many hikers who climb Mt. Fuji starting in July each summer. The window for climbing to the top of Mt. Fuji is only about two months. We also visited an area that had very traditional style Japanese homes and these eight pools full of trout. Then we went to the local modern art museum and saw an interesting exhibit of kimonos. There was also a nice exhibit of photographs and paintings of Mt. Fuji... Do you see the theme that runs through this town? After the museum, we went fly fishing for a little while at a local trout stream until it was very dark. Then we were really hungry, so we went out for an awesome dinner with some real fresh (inexpensive) sushi. It was only about US$9 for dinner each! Japan has a reputation of being super expensive, which it can be at times. It's also quite affordable if you know where to shop. After dinner I went back to my hotel and enjoyed my third onsen/sento or spa/sauna experience within a week. What a way to relax before going to sleep.
SAT - 09 SEPT: Fujiyoshida is nice town that is close to many beautiful lakes and mountains. The area sort of reminds me of a Japanese version of Germany's Bavaria or the Swiss alps. Sanae and I picked up a take-out breakfast from MOS Burger via the drive-through window and then enjoyed our breakfast while relaxing on the grass by a huge lake. Then we walked around the shore of the lake and took pictures. The whole area seems like a magnet for automotive and motorcycle enthusiasts during the weekends. We saw a lot of cool cars and bikes.
In the early afternoon, we had lunch at an okinamiyaki restaurant with Sanae's parents and her older sister. They showed us how to cook okinamiyaki (seafood pancake) at our table. It was a lot of fun to make and oh so yummy! Then Sanae and I said goodbye and started out for Shizuoka, which is where she was finishing her university studies. Along the way, we stopped to explore a bat cave, hiked down to a series of beautiful water falls, and then ate at Denny's (featuring very different Japanese menu) in Shizuoka, and met Sanae's American roommate Aileen. I stayed at the "Joy House" (owned by the Navigators Christian group) and slept in my second tatami room of the trip, which I love to do! Most Japanese homes have at least one traditional tatami room.
SUN - 10 SEPT: I had such a blessed time in Shizuoka, despite the heat and humidity (like Texas or DC in the summer). We worshipped at a small Christian church. After the service, the pastor invited us to his home for lunch with his family. It was such a fun experience as we talked about America and Japan. Once again, everyone was so courteous and gracious in Japan. People are very curious about American, and they love to talk about all sorts of things related to the USA. I am continuously surprised at how many Japanese I met had been to the US, all over Asia, and Europe. They are a very well travelled group of people. I spent most of the day hanging out with Sanae and her roommate Aileen, who is here in Shizuoka for a year from the Los Angeles area of California. It was so hot and humid we cancelled our plans to go hiking and just stayed local. We finally saw Mt Fuji after the humid haze lifted in the late afternoon. We went shopping at Don Quixote, which is an interesting retail chain. There are 22 branches of this store in Japan, all selling an enormous selection of goods ranging from small accessories and cosmetics to electrical appliances. The Shibuya store in Tokyo alone claims to stock over 35,000 different items. There appears to be no criteria as to what is for sale. Don Quixote quite happily sells moisturizer in one section, video cameras in another and Korean food in the next. Brand names include Gucci, Hermes, Sony, Sanrio and many more. Prices naturally vary depending on type and name of product, but generally they are quite good. After some shopping, we ate dinner at MOS BURGER and then drove up to the top of a local mountain at night and looked down on the bay and then drove along the ocean. Sanae and Aileen live about a mile from the beach. At 10:00p on Sunday night in Shizuoka the temperature was about 80 degrees (F) with 90+ percent humdity... =:o Super muggy, hot, and humid.
MON - 11 SEPT: In the morning, Sanae and I boarded the shinkansen (bullet train) for Nagoya. We met Tomomi and Amanda (our new friends) at the Starbucks on the 13th floor of the JR station building. Then traveled on a series of local trains to Nagoya Castle, which was rebuilt into its present form after WWII. After the castle grounds closed, we went to this interesting building that had a fountain and pool on the roof of the structure. We walked around downtown Nagoya and rode a giant ferris wheel that was attached to a new shopping mall. Then we walked around the downtown shopping area and wandered into the local Apple Store and discovered the brand new 24" iMacs. I would love to get one with a Japanese/Western keyboard! Then we had dinner at a little cafe and Sanae and I said goodbye to Tomomi and Amanda and caught the Shinkansen back to Shizuoka. It was a long day, but a lot of fun! I really enjoyed Nagoya.
TUE - 12 SEPT: After breakfast, Sanae gave me a quick tour of her university and we went to the train station so I could go back to Chiba. We parked in the underground garage. This process was fascinating too. A man directed us to one of three parking bays. Then we left her car with another man, but she kept her keys. There's no need to drive it to a parking space with this system. The garage is sort of like a reverse vending machine. The man gave Sanae a ticket and then the car was whisked off into its parking space somewhere in the garage by a computerized platform. Once Sanae is ready to leave, she would pay her ticket and the computer directed platform would retrieve her car and bring it to her. Really amazing! I wonder how many times the system brings back the wrong car? After doing a little gift shopping, I said goodbye to Sanae and I boarded the shinkansen for rural Yatsumi. I was really sad to leave my travel buddy, but happy that I had the chance to hangout with my little JP sister for almost a week! It took about 3.5 hours and several transfers to make it out to the Chiba countryside. The train system in Japan is really the way to travel. Much like the rail system in western Europe, it goes most places and is really convenient. Bong met me at the little train station in Yatsumi. Within an hour after getting back to Brett and Bong's home I was back in the minivan with a crew of people and we drove over to Surftech's Japanese office to pickup Aki after work. Then we drove over to a mall (I forgot the name of the town) and met up with a bunch of the Young Life staff and volunteers at a restaurant. We had a fun time at dinner, while they planned their fall events. Bill Maston from Nexus Vivus talked about ways to encourage and mentor young people, who are the future of Japan. It was a very inspiring discussion. Later that night, I went to Kimikazu and Akemi's home and slept in a regular Western bed. I slept like a log that night.
WED - 13 SEPT: I woke up to the sound of people speaking French and Japanese. I wandered downstairs and joined everyone at breakfast. I learned that Claude and Miki were also staying here with their young son Kai. They were on vacation from their home in Paris, France. We had a nice time over breakfast getting to know each other and then Kimikazu drove us out to a local nashi (pear) orchard in the countryside. We met the owner, who explained to us about the four different varieties of nashi his family grows. At this time, they were harvesting a variety called the "20th Century Nashi". It was invented at early part of the 20th Century and in order to keep the nashi in perfect condition, each fruit is covered with a protective wrapper while it grows on the tree. This particular type of nashi is prized for its smooth skin and uniform shape and size. Some of the nashi trees were over ninety years old at the orchard! After we sampled the delicious nashi, we went out for lunch at the American sports cafe again. Then Daisuke and Cheryl drove me to Narita airport. It was great to spend my last moments with my friends as we drove towards crowded Tokyo, but sad to leave them and think that my adventure was about over. I tried to relax in the ANA first class lounge in Narita airport before my 6:00p flight to LAX. As I watched sumo wrestling on a huge display in the lounge, I reflected on how amazing this trip had been to Japan and how blessed I felt to have met so many wonderful people. The lounge had a very clean and modern design and also offered free wireless Internet, so I checked my email via my Nokia 770 Internet tablet. My first class flight back to the US was very relaxing. The flight attendant poured me a glass of Dom Perignon champaign when I sat down into my seat, and it only got better from then on. I tried to sleep as much as I could (about 4-5 hours) during the 9.5 hour flight.
Final Thoughts: Overall, this trip was my third and best Japan adventure yet (sorry Matto-san...wish you could have joined me bro! No monkeys on this trip though.). The level of service in Japan is amazing and people were so courteous everywhere we went. If you haven't visited Japan but are curious to try it, I would encourage you to try it ASAP! I'll be going back as soon as I can make it back. And yes, the sushi was awesome! :)
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
What does "Koramu Deo" mean?
The Latin phrase Coram Deo literally means "before the face of God". It carries the notion of our living in the presence of God, under the authority of God and to the honor and glory of God. Koramu Deo is the Katakanaization Coram Deo in Romanji.
First post...
I am starting a new blog (on Blogger Beta) to document information relating to two of my passions: Christianity and Japanese culture. Here goes.... :)
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