“Do you study Japanese history in American schools?” How do you answer that question graciously? In our schooling, we learned about Japanese history related to World War II and studied a bit of the events leading up to it, but that is about all I could remember. “Well, in Japan you study a lot of Japanese history and the history of other Asian countries that interacted more with Japan. In America, we primarily study American history and European history.” The conversation did make me think about history though.

When the Vikings first arrived in the Americas around 1000AD, Japan was in the Heian period, whose court developed culture and arts, including the first novel ever written. When Columbus first sailed to the Americas in 1492, Japan had given up a stronger central government and local leaders fought for power, which led to the Edo period. There is a rich history in Japan that spans centuries.

Slipped within Japanese history is a sadder story. Tucked between the 5th century fall of Rome and the 7th century beginning of Islam and (probable) English poetry, Buddhist monks carried Confucian and Buddhist beliefs over to Japan. About the time the Plymouth Colonies were founded in America, Japan was kicking out Christian missionaries and began persecuting believers. Just before the American Civil War, Protestant missionaries began arriving in Japan and the ban on Christianity was lifted a few years later.

Though the United States may still be in its childhood compared to Japan’s nearly two millennia of history, Christianity is still in its infancy in Japan. After over two hundred years of Christian prohibition and persecution, the mere 0.3% Japanese who claim to be Evangelical Christians makes some sense. Thankfully, we are not the ones who must overcome such odds. Though God grants and uses language ability, persuasiveness, and other human efforts for his glory, it is the power of the Holy Spirit working through the good news of Jesus Christ that will change hearts. Statistics and history may seem to make the task impossible, but God is at work in the hearts of Japanese people. As it says in Matthew 9:38, “Then [Jesus] said to His disciples, ‘The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore, pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.’” Knowledge of history is important for relating to a culture, but historical events do not stop God from working and changing hearts.

You know in the cartoons when a character’s jaw falls to the floor in shock? I am sure that happened to me as I gazed out our back window one day. I had noticed an elderly lady arrive home. The driver carefully helped her out of the car, handing her a bag and walker. She then crept over to a bench and sat down, as if to catch her breath. I thought, “Wow, she climbs five steps to get to her apartment? It must be hard.” Since the car drove away, I continued watching, partially out of curiosity, partially because I could dial 119 if she fell.
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After a brief rest, she slowly began to climb the stairs. She reached the first landing and I thought, “Glad she made it. Wait. Why did she not go in the door?” I then stared in disbelief as her head poked up on the stairs again. She must live on the second floor! Slowly, she worked her way up. Again, she ignored the door and shuffled towards the stairs. Sure enough, her head crested the wall of the stairs as she continued upwards.
 At every floor I told myself, “She’s home, right?” Every time, this elderly lady defied my logic and continued up the stairs. Her home is the fifth floor, the top of her apartment building.
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​In our area, many people have lived in their apartments for decades. They have raised their children, watched them leave home, and then continued living in the same apartment. That lady has likely lived in her fifth-floor home for decades, walking up and down them carrying groceries, children, birthday presents, letters from friends, and bills to pay. Climbing five flights of stairs became part of her life.
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For me it was a great reminder that doing something hard can become a habit. Struggling to do hard things when we are young (or younger) can provide the habits and strength to continue doing it later in life. 

Life often takes shocking turns and living abroad definitely has provided many surprises. God has faithfully enabled us to live in Tokyo for two years now. As we reflect on living in Japan, a few things have stood out.

• Various unknown grandmas on the train may give your children gifts because they talked to her. At times those gifts may include fireworks she pulls out of her purse.
• Not knowing how to properly end a phone call makes conversations with delivery people awkward.
• Realizing that from down the street you can hear your child throwing a fit inside your apartment, even when the windows are all closed, is horrifying.
• Learning Japanese is difficult, frustrating, and time-consuming, but realizing that God helped you have an entire conversation in Japanese with someone makes it worth it.
• At other times, making an agreeable or “I’m listening” noise goes a long way in helping you through a casual conversation when you are struggling to understand the current topic.
• Trying a new restaurant or shop can be very intimidating, especially when you realize you are the only ones there, but it can be a terrific opportunity for developing a relationship.
• Mold grows easily on walls that face north due to condensation. In the winter. Inside the house.
• Giving gifts or even speaking English with someone may result in receiving a bigger gift in return.
• Love is universal, but how that love is communicated to others is sometimes different in Japan.
• Using American inch-based dimensions on Japanese metric-based printers can cause problems.

• Double check that the arriving train is the train you want. A train that arrives “early” may be a different train that takes over an hour longer to reach where you want to go. The same is true for buses.
• If everyone else gets off a train and no one is getting on, you should too, because you missed an announcement.
• The train station employees use long gripping tools to pick up wallets, umbrellas, or tickets that fall by the tracks.
• The words for “graduation” (sotsugyoushiki) and for “funeral” (soushiki) should not be confused.
• Neither should “South Korea” (kankoku) and “prison” (kangoku).

• In some places, including some churches, people will think a couple has a troubled relationship if they sit together.
• On rare occasions you might be asked, “Oh, you are a missionary? What percentage of the Bible do you have memorized?” (For the record, even if you memorized the entire New Testament, that is only 25% of the verses in the Bible)
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We have been told that it takes learning from a million mistakes to acquire a new language, and we guess that it takes another million mistakes to learn the culture. Sometimes it feels like God is having us get those mistakes out of the way quickly. However, we have seen Him with us each step along the way, which gives us confidence that He will faithfully watch over us for the years to come as well. Along with that, we are thankful that His faithfulness to us is yet one more example of His faithfulness to you, even if you briefly lose sight of Him in times of deep darkness.

Glancing out the train window as we came to a stop, I noticed a man walking down the road while looking at his phone. Suddenly the man looked to his side, stopped, and turned. Following his gaze, I realized he was looking at a neighborhood Shinto shrine.  The man proceeded to bow his head towards the shrine, and then turned back to walking while looking down at his phone. Curious, I watched the shrine a bit longer and saw no one else around the area. He most likely prayed to the god(s) of the shrine.
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This scene struck me, because he was bowing his head the whole time, once to the shrine and twice to his phone. Sure, his motives differed between the shrine and looking at the game or emails on his phone, but from the train, I saw a man bowing his head towards two things in worship.

In this beautifully created country, we observe people praying regularly to physical, man-made idols, images with mouths that cannot speak and eyes that cannot see. We also see men and women who have made idols out of objects, careers, or people.
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Then the convicting through struck me: often I am focused on studying flashcards on my phone, coordinating my daily plans, or completing my to-do list, so I forget to contemplate the true God during my day. The walking man at least paused his activities on a busy weekend morning to say a prayer to the god of the shrine as he passed. Imagine what the living God could do with a heart completely dedicated to Him throughout the day.

​In America, political campaigns invade our homes during the election season. Phone calls, emails, television ads, and people going door-to-door all share the reasons why a specific candidate should, or even should not, receive your vote. Japan, however, has a slightly different approach.

This spring we noticed people with loudspeakers at the train stations, who were handing out fliers and broadcasting about politics. It seemed odd, but people routinely hand out fliers in front of the station.

We also saw billboard-sized signs with numbered boxes setting up near parks and walkways around the city. A few days later, posters for all sorts of political candidates appeared for people to look at, and some people did stop to glance. 

Around the same time, the politicians began holding rallies in the parks around the city. Armed with megaphones, they spoke about things such as fighting the sales tax hike scheduled for later this year. They also greeted people walking by the rally and walked around shaking the hands.

Continuing with their like of megaphones, they also drove around in cars equipped with speaker systems. They turned up the speakers loud enough for people to hear inside their homes, sometimes even stopping outside of apartment buildings. They also used this time to greet people walking by on the street. One time, one politician stopped to make sure a child was okay after witnessing him fall in a park. Unfortunately, they continued with their megaphone cars into the mid-evening when younger children have already gone to bed.
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Thankfully the election took place a week later, so the campaign cycle is short. We have decided that the political telephone calls and commercials are not too bad in comparison, though.

Earlier this week, abortion came to the media forefront again as people observed National Sanctity of Human Life Day. The fight to protect babies in the womb continues in America, but what about abortion in Japan?

Over two decades ago, the New York Times wrote this article detailing some of the ways people in Japan handle the sorrow and grief caused by abortions. This situation continues today. The Times observes:

Reading about the guilt and sorrow these women (and men) carry crushes our hearts. They do what they "must do" because of social and familial pressures, yet they carry that burden heavily. They hope for forgiveness, entrusting the spirits of the babies to the temples and carved statues. 

We want to share about the God who forgives. We want to share about the God who cares so much about them that He established a plan from before the beginning of time to crush His own Son. God did this that He might forgive them, pay for their guilt, and bestow on them honor that never diminishes.

The famous cherry blossoms, known as sakura, draw tourists to Japan, while newscasters report daily on the best places to see the flowers. The blossoms create a cultural event powerful enough to disrupt the everyday life. People enjoy picnics under the trees while indulging in public drinking which is usually taboo. Photographers swarm to capture the shades of white and pink, sharing their pride of beautiful trees and beautiful Japan. Sakura flavored teas and snacks are everywhere. Cherry blossoms permeate Japanese media and entertainment. One old cherry blossom tale weaves the story of two men and a dog.

Once upon a time, there was a man who lived with his wife and dog. The man was kind, but his neighbor was greedy. One day while the kind man was walking, his dog began to dig and unearthed a container full of gold. The kind man praised the dog and hurried home to show his wife. The greedy man, upon realizing the situation, demanded the use of the dog. The kind man consented, so the greedy man and the dog left. During the walk, the dog found another box, but the greedy man discovered garbage inside the container. Infuriated and disgusted, the man killed the dog. The kind man mournfully buried the dog’s body.

Soon after, a tree grew over the dog’s grave. The kind man remembered the dog’s love of rice, so he cut down the tree and formed a mortar for cooking rice. At lunchtime, he discovered that the mortar created gold rather than rice. The greedy man, peering through the window, saw what happened and requested the mortar. The kind man obliged, however the greedy man discovered that the mortar made neither rice nor gold, but instead created garbage. Infuriated and disgusted, the man burned the mortar. The kind man, not wanting to waste the ashes, spread some among his trees.

Soon after, the kind man and the greedy man gasped as cherry blossoms bloomed months early. The prince of the land heard the news and called for the kind man. The prince wanted his cherry blossoms to bloom early, so he requested the kind man’s help. The kind man climbed up the trees, spread the ashes, and then watched in amazement as the flowers bloomed. The prince rewarded the man with a new title, “Sir old man who makes trees blossom,” along with much gold. 

Like any story, the cultural assumptions and lessons inhabit the tale. Kindness, for example, remains the great virtue, while greediness, violence, and snooping are disdained. Overall, the story teaches the lesson “You reap what you sow,” yet this leads to further questions. What is the standard for good and evil? Is there any point of “no return?” Can someone break the chain of deeds? This is where the gospel conversation takes place.

How do you protect a castle? Armies, weapons, and strategy of course. Part of that strategy involves the town’s layout. While driving around Iwatsuki, a castle town, it became apparent that only a handful of roads were straight. The remaining roads curved, looped around, split into dead ends, and kept to a cardinal direction seemingly by accident. Despite sounding like poor design, the roads actually served as a defense strategy against invading armies. The maze slowed down and frustrated the opposing army (and future foreigners).
Iwatsuki castle no longer stands in Iwatsuki, because the castles represented the samurai. The Meiji government (1868-1912) desired to Westernize Japan and to update the country. Most of the samurai rebelled and fought against the changes, though ultimately losing. Since the castles held the rebellious groups, the Meiji government destroyed virtually all of the fortresses.

​Later, the government realized the historical and aesthetical value of the castles, so they restored the most famous ones. These castles became popular tourist attractions and created fun ways of learning Japanese history. Many of the castles also include signs with English translations, so that foreigners can enjoy the museums.
Inside those museums, the signs rarely emphasize one important detail. When the Meiji government took over, toppling the samurai and castles, they included freedom of religion within the constitution.  The persecution of Christians ended with the Meiji government, allowing the name of Christ to spread once again.

What do you do with twelve eggplants? The reason for the gift complicated the predicament: we said, “Hello!” A woman in her garden responded to our greeting by walking towards us. After a brief conversation, she grabbed a plastic bag and filled it with eggplants. We left baffled by the generous present.

Gift giving is rooted in the foundation of Japanese culture. Yes, they celebrate customary gift giving holidays, but that is only the beginning. When we moved into our apartment, the culture expected us to give presents to our neighbors and the proprietor. When traveling, people expect you to bring back small gifts (“omiyage”) for friends and family. Often these treats consist of ingredients famous in the area of travel. The presentation of the gift also matters.

Events such as weddings add further obligations. Wedding guests traditionally give money, which typically consists of hundreds of dollars of an odd amount (10,000 yen, 30,000 yen, etc). The catch is the expectation of returning half. Traditionally, when the couple honeymoons, they bring back a souvenir for each person that costs half the amount their gift. At some modern weddings, guests choose an item from a catalog as a return gift.

​This expectation of paying back for gifts permeates the whole culture. Periodically, we would bring souvenirs and baked goods to one of our neighbors, and she often returned with a gift of a greater amount. One Japanese person informed us that gift giving sometimes becomes a burden since each person feels obligated to give a gift after receiving one, even if the gift was in response to an initial gift.

Now, what does this mean for a Gift so incredible and costly that people cannot repay? When Japanese people hear that God has given them a gift, they understand the term differently than Americans. Yet they immediately understand that such a great gift requires an action in return. They may better understand Paul’s explanation that the purpose of the gift of salvation is accomplishing good works (Eph 2:8-10). The tricky part stems from doing the good works out of gratitude and love, rather than obligation.