New Year's Traditions

Another New Years eve has come and gone. We can't watch the ball drop on TV out here in Japan (It happens the next morning for us anyway), but we have begun taking part in some of the Japanese traditions for the New Year. One tradition that we have made part of our family is watching the first sunrise of the new year.  The last two years the boys have really looked forward to our morning outings to see the sunrise. 

Christy had a hard time with deciding to do this tradition this year. It was the one year anniversary of her fathers death. In fact, it was while we were out for the sunrise last year that she found out her father had passed away.  The night before we decided to do it but choose another location.  Her dad, like a typical grandparent was always one for letting the boys do what they wanted to do, especially it it involved adventure. She could hear him say, "Aww Chris, don't be all emotional, just go." So this year it was even more of an adventure because we didn't have a specific destination. The next morning we all bundled up, got on our bikes and headed east, down a road we had never ridden before. We quickly found an overpass from which to watch the sunrise this year.  Then we rode our bikes to a restaurant that featured a breakfast buffet to warm up. We decided to  the long way home exploring as we went. 

The boys have even planned out what they want to do next year. As we rode home we passed a temple nestled in the woods on the side of the hill we live on. Some workers there invited us to come next New Years Eve so we could see the fireworks they shoot off. These are the fireworks Christy and Terence have seen from their bedroom window the last two years. So the boys have planned to go to bed at 5:00pm on New Years Eve, wake up at 11:00, go to the temple watch the fireworks and the bell ringing (temples ring their big bell 108 times at midnight on New Years Eve), go home for a nap or ride our bikes around until the sunrise, then go to the local public bath before we head home. Not sure if all of that is going to happen but it is fun to hear them plan.

Another New Years tradition is the eating of osechiryori.  New years is a 3 day celebration, when people spend time relaxing with family.  Since they do not want to cook, they prepare (or nowadays also buy) special lacquered boxes of prepared foods that last several days without refrigeration. This year on New Years Eve we had some Japanese and American friends over for an interesting fusion meal. We made turkey, dressing, and mashed potatoes and our Japanese friends brought osechiryori and special rice with beans.

On New Years day we enjoyed spending some time with some old friends.  The kids had fun playing together and making cookies.  

In Japan, our life is anything but traditional, however, we like the chance to choose our own, new traditions.

Worship in the Woods

It's not easy having a small church. But one advantage is that it isn't hard for the whole congregation to go on a trip together.

We had the chance to do this just 

this past weekend. We took a trip up to a mountain resort area called Kiyosato, about 3 hours north of Tokyo. The daughter of one of the families in the church works at a place called KEEP, the Kiyosato Educational Experiment Project. 

This is a facility that provides nature experiences for people of all ages. We stayed in a beautiful lodge and had the chance to go out for hikes in the woods, and made crafts from things we picked up. At night, the stars were more brilliant than I had ever seen before.

On Sunday we hiked into the woods to a fire pit. We lit a fire and as we sat around it to have our church service. On a nearby stump we set up our advent candles, and on another we built a small nativity scene with snow, leaves and branches.

The children performed a song on hand bells and we enjoyed a time of worship. After the service we ate lunch – cream stew, rice, cheese and sausages cooked over the fire. We also roasted marshmallows, mushrooms and dried squid.

The children had a great time playing in the snow. Everyone made snow angels and the older children pulled the younger ones on a sled.

It was a wonderful experience to worship surrounded by the beauty of God's creation.

Mochi Pounding

Petan, Petan, Petan. That is the sound of mochi pounding (as any Japanese from preschool age on could tell you). Mochi is pounded sweet rice, and is as much a part of the end of the year and new year in Japan as turkey is part of Thanksgiving in the US.

Most of the preschools we work at have mochi pounding events at this time of year. The school I was at yesterday brought out their big wood mortar and mallets so all the kids could have a swing at it.

After the principal and I had done the initial mashing and pounding of the steamed rice, each of the kids got to swing the mallet for a few times, which can be pretty hard as the mallets are heavy and the rice is very sticky. But all the kids had a great time watching and cheering on the teachers and classmates as they pounded.

Later, for lunch, the kids got to taste the results of their labor with mochi in a special winter soup called ozoni and mochi wrapped around sweet bean paste.

Throwing Beans and eating in silence.

Today, February 3, is Setsubun in Japan. It is also known as bean throwing day since traditionally families throw roasted soybeans at one family member dressed as an oni (demon) and shout "Oni wa soto, fuku wa uchi," which means "Demons out, good luck in." This is a way to drive the bad luck out of your house and bring in the good luck. In addition to throwing the roasted

soybeans, each member of the family is supposed to eat one soy bean for each year of their age.

This is a popular festival and most temples will have special guests come to throw beans and small gifts to the crowds who come. This is also a popular celebration for children, and many children will make oni masks and origami boxes to hold their beans.

Recently, however, we learned about a new aspect to this festival. This is something that traditionally is done in western Japan, but recently has been making its way throughout the country (mostly thanks to heavy marketing by grocery and convenience stores). A special rolled sushi, called a Eho-maki is served on Setsubun. Each person is supposed to face toward a particular compass point, depending on the Chinese zodiac, make a wish, and eat the entire, uncut sushi roll in silence.

We got some sushi rolls from Xavier's preschool and decided to try it. Can you see how fun it looks? Our verdict- It definitely seems to be a tradition that would be promoted by a store that specializes in meals for the single person. I think the more exciting tradition is the bean throwing, which the children seem to enjoy.

Family Fun - Japan Style

It's the day after Christmas. The boys are on Christmas break from school, so what do you do to have fun as a family here in Japan? Well, a five minute walk from our apartment is an onsen, a hot spring resort. Usually when we have gone, we just go for the bath, but this time we decided to take our time there and take in some of the other amenities.

When you come in, you put your shoes in a little locker, hand the key to the front desk, and they hand you a little bracelet with a bar code on it. From then on, anything you like you can charge by scanning the bar code. Our first stop was the baths. This onsen has a great selection of baths. After washing, you can enjoy the regular hot baths, the various jet baths, mineral baths, and even a variety of outdoor baths (which are great fun to get to when its cold out). Outside, in addition to the large, natural rock pool, there are individual bowl shaped tubs, and even a large flat stone with a thin film of hot water running down it that you lay on (with a stone pillow for your head). Personally, I like to get in a bath and just sit for a while, but Xavier wants to experience them all, so I spend a lot of time travelling from bath to bath.

Some of the other amenities include a cold bath (I'm not a big fan), a sauna, and even massage services.

After the bath, we donned our "onsen wear," a kind of cross between pajamas and kimono that they provide, and headed down to the restaurant where we enjoyed a delicious Japanese dinner.

Christy, Willem and Terence all needed haircuts, so we headed up to the hair salon next. While we waited for our names to be called, we all relaxed in lounge chairs and either watched the big screen TV or read books. Once we were neatly trimmed, we headed back to the baths for another soak.

When we were done we tossed our onsen wear into the laundry bins at the exit and headed down for a last ice cream cone before we walked back to our apartment, clean, coiffed, and relaxed.

In spite of all that we did, there still are a lot of things available to do at the onsen that we didn't try. For an extra charge you can get a different set of onsen wear that gives you access to some other areas with extra baths and amenities. Also available are various massage options and some traditional medicine.

God's Sense of Humor

Our schedule can get quite busy with our teaching responsibilities at several preschools and our responsibilities at church. On top of the regular activities we have special events that we are invited to by the pre-schools. We try to go when we are invited and our schedule allows to show our support.

We were invited to a sports festival on Sunday. We figured as it was within walking distance of the church we could squeeze it in. On Thursday night I received a call from one of the teachers apologizing that she had forgotten to give my my official invitation with the map. I wasn't worried as it was at the same park it was at before.

So our plan was to stop by the sports festival before church then return after for the rest of the activities. Getting out of the house with three boys, a Sunday school lesson, a sermon and a computer for the children's message took longer than expected so we missed the train we wanted to take. Not a problem, the next train would still get us to the festival just 10 minutes later. So we headed to the park, where the festival was before. “Before” was almost nine years ago. We could not find that park. We walked and walked, dragging the boys along.

Finally we phoned a church member who could give us the name of the park. We asked around and found someone who knew where the park was. They sent us in the wrong direction. Someone else sent us back. After about 45 minutes of walking and searching we were close. We could hear the kids just around the next corner. That is when we heard a thud and Willem turned around to Tai and said “Hey!, what was that.” A bird decided to relieve its self right above us. It got Willem and Terence and Christy in one shot.

We stopped and took some time to clean up and then headed to the sports festival. We arrived in time for Terence and the boys to stay about 5 minutes before they had to leave for Sunday School. Christy and Xavier stayed a bit longer before she had to go and preach the sermon she had prepared, which began with Philippians 4:4. 4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Oh the irony. Nothing like a fresh sermon illustration.

Typhoon Damage

We were at work yesterday when a typhoon came through. On our way home the upper level walkway at the station was closed because the wind had blown down the railing (as you can see by this picture).

All the trains were stopped when we arrived. Fortunately, we were able to walk to one of the other daycares we work at. There were still a few teachers there who were also stranded. The head of the daycare was kind enough to let us wait there until the trains came. They even got us some food for supper and then the assistant principal offered to drive us and another stranded teacher home. We arrived home a little later than we had planned, but not overly late.