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JandJinJapan
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Name: Jason
Gender: Male
Interests: Weight Lifting, Poetry, Theatre, Bible Study, TEACHING, Biking, Hiking and Camping, Languages, Culture, History, Cooking, Reading
Expertise: Teaching English as a Foreign Language and English Bible
Occupation: Tentmaker Missionary; Teacher
Industry: Education
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Member Since:
1/10/2007
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| On President Obama and Bowing to Foreign Royalty Since When Does the President of the United States of America Bow to a King or an Emperor?  
President Barack Hussein Obama, on two overseas tours in the course of this past year, has bowed before two personages of royalty. Many have defended the President for merely showing "respect" to the heads of state of two separate countries in which he was a guest. While I am all for showing due and proper respect to those in authority, especially in their own home countries, is it really right for the President of the United States of America to bow before a foreign dignitary? In 1775, Thirteen North American Colonies of the British Crown rose up in revolt against the Empire of Great Britain and Ireland. We Americans had had enough of King George III, his taxes, and is demands for subservience to the crown without question. In 1776, these Thirteen Crown Colonies declared themselves independent of Great Britian, and free from delivering obeisence to the British Crown and His Royal Majesty's Person. It was in these two years, 1775 and 1776, that Americans made the decision to never bow again to a foreign king, namely the King of Great Britain. After a long and bloody war, the United States of America came into being, and by 1789, had ratified a Constitution, and elected its first President, George Washington. Never again were we, as a people and a Nation, subject to a king, and ordered to bow before him. Fast forward to 2009, and our 44th President of the United States of America. On two occasions, while meeting foreign royalty on foreign shores, President Obama bowed: first to Saudi King Abdullah, and secondly to the Emperor of Japan. No President has bowed in such a fashion to a foreign dignitary, especially royalty, in the history of the USA. Not since 1775 has any North American within the boundaries of the US of A bowed to any king, queen, or emperor. (and for those of you liberals, leftists, and Democrats who want to take issue with Nixon and Ike bowing to foreign dignitaries as some sort of "proof" that American presidents bow, take a good look at the photos in question: the sole occasion where the other party isn't bowing is Ike with DeGaulle, and we don't know if DeGaulle bowed first or in response, do we? Sorry, no "smoking gun", and bowing to religious leaders, such as Ike bowing to an Orthodox Patriarch [and Ike bowing to Pope Benedict XIII? Look again: the Pope is also bowing to Ike att he same time], and Bush bowing to Pope Benedict XIV really don't count either, as they are bowing to the God to whom these two religious leaders represent [both Ike and Bush claomed Christ as their Saviour). I find it quite disconcerting that we have a President of the USA who will so willing subserviate himself to foreign royalty. I know from personal experience (seeing how I live outside of Tokyo) that the Japanese are lauging their heads off that an American President would bow in such a way to their beloved Emperor. I further find it setting a bad example in that a Presidnet of the USA woudl literally stoop to such a low, and bow in such a fashion to a Saudi King, and to a Japanese Emperor. Americans have fought and died over the last two centuries plus to keep the American People subservient to God, and god alone. For a President to go abroad and bow to a foreign king and emperor is a slap in the face of all those who gave their lives to keep us from being subservient to anyone. The President of the United States of America should never subjugate himself as President Obama has done. Not only does it make the President look foolish, but it also passes the US of A off as weak. God help us! | | |
| If Vice-President Quayle'd Had Fox News The Mainstream Media Made Vice-President Quayle look like a buffoon and succeeded because there was no foil. They're trying to do it again with Gov. Sarah Palin and failing because of Conservative Blogs and Fox News... I was in High School when President George H. W. Bush was elected President, following the eight years of President Reagan. President Bush's choice of then-little known Senator James Danforth "Dan" Quayle was seen as a surprise; the mainstream media made light of his relative youth, and later one of his gaffes, in which he misspelled the word "potato" on camera. They also attacked Vice-President Quayle on his statements against the ideology of Murphy Brown (Candace Bergan, the lead actress on Murphy Brown interestingly enough, stated later in a Barbara Walters' interview that she agreed with Vice-President Quayle when he made his statement). In the `92 Election, and in the run-up to the `96 Election, the media hammered the Vice-President. In his Vice-Presidential Debate (as President Bush did later with all three of the Presidential Debates) against Al Gore, Quayle hammered Gore on policy, Mr. Gore's stances and platforms, and future-President Clinton's policy plans. Yet, all the while, Vice-President Quayle was tarred and feathered as a buffoon of the most boorish kind. The fact of the matter is that Vice-President Quayle was never given a chance to tell his side of things. The Left, liberal mainstream media (who, just as they were in the tank for President Obama this time around, were whole hog for President Clinton back then) never bothered to interview him, to talk to him, or to give him his "day in court" of the public opinion. They simply passed him off as a buffoon, as a dimwitted hick from Indiana, and a politician who was more likely to put his foot in his mouth than say anything noteworthy. Yet, the glaring truth is that Vice-President Quayle was and is a highly educated man. He graduated form DePauw University with a degree in political science, later moving on to Indiana University where he then earned a Juris Doctor. In his early political career, he upset a veteran representative and veteran Senator to become the youngest representative from Indiana and later youngest Senator in Indiana State History. The fact of the matter is, Vice-President Quayle never had an outlet in which to clarify himself, and to clear up any of his misstatements. It is interesting to note that, as Vice-President Al Gore made even greater and more colossal verbal blunders than Vice-President Quayle, yet nothing was ever mentioned of these during the 2000 election process. In fact, if anything, the mainstream media covered up the fact that Al Gore, as Vice-President, had made such colossal blunders (and, to a degree, continues to make them via his global warming activism). After watching former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin interview with Bill O'Reilly on FOX News, I have been wondering, "What if Dan Quayle'd had Fox News back in 1991 or 1992?" I think about this because the mainstream media in the United states is trying to paint Gov. Palin in the same or similar shade as they did Vice-President Quayle: as an uneducated, young, naive woman who is more likely to put her foot in her mouth than say anything intelligent (of course, listening to Gov. Palin's most recent interview, and having heard her in the Vice-Presidential debates has proven otherwise). What if Vice-President Quayle had had Fox News in 1991 or 1992? Would it have made a difference? After hearing and watching Veep Quayle tear apart then-former-Senator Gore in the 1992 Veep Debates, I seriously believed that Vice-President Quayle would be the man to beat in the GOP Nomination in 1996. I knew this also because my parents have been residents of Indiana (my Mother was born and raised there), and on vacation times from College, I went there to be with them. While I was there in n 1992 and 1993, I had the chance to hear local and regional news stations interview Vice-President Quayle both before and after the 1992 elections. I'd read his commentaries and his interviews in Indiana Newspapers. When giving interviews, Vice-President Quayle was anything but a buffoon, uneducated, or contradictory in his statements. By contrast, his words were eloquent, his reasoning clear, his high quality intelligence very easy to see, his political insight and prowess invigorating, and his platform, beliefs, and stances easily understood and easily defined (such akin to Gov. Palin now). In 1995, he announced in Indiana that he was going to run for the presidency against then-President Clinton in 1996....but then came the mainstream media and their attacks on his intelligence. Still there was no Fox News. The only media that dared to defend Mr. Quayle were the newspapers and local and regional television and radio outlets in Indiana. Combined, these weren't enough to stem the flow of misinformation, nor strong enough to effectively counter the negative and boorish image that the mainstream giants - ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS, and CNN - were throwing at him; he had no outlet that was at least maringally favorable in order to counter that image bestowed upon him. He ran again in 2000, but by that time, even Fox News couldn't erase the negative spin he'd received from the rest. Knowing as much as I do about Vice-President Quayle, having heard and watched him debate Mr. Gore, and knowing his political history, I truly believe that if he'd been allowed to clear up his record, his missteps (true, alleged, and slanderously labeled) on the record with a news outlet like Fox News, he would have soundly defeated President Clinton in 1996. I believe this because a network like Fox News, which is fair and balanced to both sides, would have allowed Mr. Quayle to have been able to clear the air. As I watched Bill O'Reilly interview Gov. Palin, I couldn't help but be amazed at how Mr. O'Reilly asked sharp, penetrating questions of Gov. Palin, and how no other media outlet (save Fox News) has done the same with President Obama (with the slight exception of George Stephanopoulos of ABC's This Week with George Stephanopoulos). Had Mr. Quayle been given the kind of opportunities that basically every politician or candidate that has dared to go on Fox News has, Mr. Quayle likely would have been able to clear his name, erase the slander against his reputation, and have the chance to defeat President Clinton at the polls. I know liberals and Democrats may laugh at the notion I am laying out here today, but the fact that Mr. Clinton's campaign in 1992 and in early `96 went out of their way to smear and re-smear Mr. Quayle by way of the mainstream media, and knowing the kind of solid leader that Mr. Quayle was as a representative, Senator, and later Vice-President, tells me that the man could have been a serious threat had he been given the chance. This is what makes outlets, and now, conservative blogging, so necessary to the survival of the USA and its political processes. Just as Mr. Quayle could have been in 1996, Gov. Sarah Palin is the threat that the Obama Administration and the mainstream media would like to bury and have go away. The reason is, she is a real threat, and they know it (otherwise, they'd leave her alone). The sad reality is, this could have been the case for Vice-President Quayle had Fox News (or its equivalent) had existed in 1992... | | |
| On Going Home, Part IX Japan has been my home for more than eleven years. There is much that I will miss… In On Going Home, Part VIII, I listed some thins that I won’t miss. This time, I want to list some things that I will miss form Japan. I’ve lived here for more than eleven years (it’ll be twelve by the time we leave), and I have come to love a lot of things in Japan. My Family in Japan – This’ll be a pretty good part of the pie, so let me subdivide… l J-Mom (Sachiko Tanaka): Sachiko has been my friend ever since I first came. I met her within a week or two of arriving in Japan, and we have had a great relationship since that time. She was my first Japanese friend in Japan, and over the years she has become like another Mom to me. When Jihye and I were first an item, Sachiko, like Mom and Dad in the States, was worried about whether or not we were rushing into things. However, during Jihye and Oma’s first visit to Japan back in October of 2005, Sachiko was convinced that God had led us both into this relationship. She was the first to tell me, “Jason, you don’t need to worry: your Mom and Dad will LOVE her!” And she was right. I have taught for Sachiko on Monday Nights for nine years (it'll be ten in March), and have also substitute taught for her classes in Ichikawa City and at her home when she has been sick, gone on trips with her students, or just needed a break from teaching. She has also been there for us when we have been in times of need, as well as her students, and has prayed for us, worshipped with us, and helped us in ways too numerous to describe. Sachiko spent a dozen or so years in England, and is more English than Japanese, in my mind. She has always welcomed us and our family with open arms, offering to take care of us and invite us to stay with her in any event of being cut free from our housing. When we told her about this decision to go home (the hardest thing I've ever had to do, I think, in all of my time here in Japan), Sachiko, in English style, took it with a stiff upper lip, but deep down Jihye and I both know that she isn’t taking this well nor easily. It will be tough to say “Good bye” to her when it comes time to go… l Aunt Chizuko Smith – Aunt Chizuko and J-Mom are very similar: Aunt Chizuko, like J-Mom, lived in England for quite some time and was married to an English man for more than thirteen years. I met Aunt Chizuko about ten years ago, perhaps six to eight months after I’d arrived. We became friends pretty fast, and though I lost touch with her for awhile when I was in Hokkaido, we struck up a good friendship after I’d come back, as she was attending an English Saturday Night Bible Study that I’d started attending. As with J-Mom, Aunt Chizuko welcomed Jihye with open arms, and has invited us over to her place many times. Aunt Chizuko openly wept when we told her of our plans to leave. It was a difficult thing to do, telling her that we are planning to leave (please pray for Aunt Chizuko as she is in desperate need of the Saviour, and is close to making a decision for him)… l Our Saturday Night Bible Study Teacher and Members – Perhaps the most gifted Bible Teacher I have ever known is Mr. Scot Hill, who was a predecessor of mine at JCJC (he left in July before I came in September of 1998). He is a teacher who knows how to simply, succinctly, and eloquently get the point across without losing any of the ability to help his students understand the Word of God and English. I have had the privilege to substitute for him on numerous occasions, and try as I may I am just not up to his level yet in Bible teaching. Not only has Scot been a great teacher to Jihye and me, but he’s also been a great friend, mentor, confidant, and adviser for us in various ways. Scot has been a good ear to listen to and try my problems and difficulties, and I have tried to be the same for him. He’s been in Japan almost thirty years, and as he has stayed, the Saturday Night English Bible Study he has led has grown. We will miss all of the members of this study. l Nozomi, Rebekah, and Noyuri Sugitani - The relationship we have had with Nozomi and his family has been broken, thanks to the haste with which we left Japan Christian Junior College’s housing back in December last year. Nozomi and his elder sister, Noyuri, have blamed us for leaving so abruptly, but the fact of the matter is, JCJC and its administration gave us little time, little choice to move, and we ended up moving a further hour away from his church and Day Care School. Despite this, I will (and already have) miss Nozomi, his sister, and his wife, Rebekah. Nozomi was my second Japanese friend in Japan after J-Mom; I met Nozomi about three or four months after I’d moved here during a Japan NYI event held at JCJC in the gym. He thought I’d left in 2001 when JCJC cut me free but after finding out that I was still here, he, and his late father, Kennichi, asked me to teach once a week at the Day Care School that is run out of their church. I did this for six years, up until this past April. Jihye and I hope to at least rekindle the relationship with him when we go and take back his electric piano that he has loaned us. We plan to take it back after Christmas Vacation begins for me, and we pray that we can mend fences before we go back. If I ever had anyone that I consider a brother with a different father and mother, it would have to be Nozomi. Please pray for us as we head South to return his piano to him. l Rev. Shimpei “Mark” Matsumoto – Matsumoto-sensei was the president of JCJC from 200 to 2008, resigning after the decision was made to close. He, too, out of his church in Ichihara City, runs a kindergarten, and in 2004, he asked me to teach for him twice a month. Though I didn’t much know him in the beginning of my time at JCJC, and I felt he wasn’t the best choice for President of the College at the time of his appointment, over the years that I’ve taught for him, I have gotten to know him and his wife so much better. Instead of my first impression of him – a lackey for the chief administrator of JCJC, I now see him as a man who really didn’t want to be a part of all the politics and the drama surrounding JCJC and its eventual closing, but who merely wanted to pastor and lead his church, and make a difference in his kindergarten. Despite my initial misgivings, he turned out to not only be a good president for the college, but a popular one, as the students came to respect and love him, as did most of the teachers. We have yet to let him know of our plans, but we will let him know in December during my last class there before Christmas Vacation. l Dr. Makoto “Mark” Sakamoto – Sakamoto-sensei was the Vice-President of JCJC for a number of years, and for about a year following out marriage, Jihye and I attended his church in Koiwa, Tokyo. He was always fair with me, and was the contact who asked me to come back to JCJC following my time in Hokkaido. He was great to work with and for, and to be a part of his congregation for the short time that we were. He, like me, didn’t want JCJC to go under, but just as I, he had no power to stop what had been decided. We plan to go and tell Sakamoto-sensei personally of our plans to go home probably in March. l Dr. Hitoshi “Paul” Fukue – We already miss Dr. Fukue. I have never known a more educated man and Pastor in all of my life, and he and his wife were very good to me during his sole year that he was president of JCJC. If Dr. Fukue ever asked us to, we would come and work with him again in a cold minute. l Dr. Nobuhiro Kobayashi – I have been teaching him for almost four years now on Thursday Nights, and he has become a good friend (along with his wife who’s also a medical doctor), and, essentially, our family physician. We have good lessons together on Thursdays, and his daughter, Fukune, is a doll, and also has been fun to teach in recent days. We’ve not broken the news to him yet, but plan to in a few weeks… l Many Friends – Too many to list, really, but a few, such as Kanime-san, one of the members of Lydia Club, a Bible Club at JCJC which, when we had Lydia Meetings, drew current students and graduates. Kanime-san was one of them. There’s also Motoko Soga, the Office Chief of JCJC. She became a good, good friend over my time of working there. I will miss all of my friends and former students who have become such. There was also a number of Japanese friends I made with the help of Denise Morris and the Pond Family. I cannot for the life of me remember their names, but their faces and the memories we have of them will live on. The church people that we are currently involved with, namely Chun Chuyong, and Pastor, his wife, and son, will be missed, along with Murata-san, who helped us find the apartment where we are currently living. l My Students – I will sorely miss all of the students I have ever had in class and ever taught anywhere, form the babies and toddlers of Nozomi’s Day Care School to J-Mom’s 70- and 80-year-old ladies; from my eikaiwa (eikaiwa is “English School” in Japanese) elementary-aged students to JCJC’s grads to my students now at Takinogawa Private Girls’ school in Tokyo, I will sorely miss my classes and my students, and being with them. Though a few are and have been a bit troublesome, most of them are sweet as sugar, and generally leave me with a smile on my face and a load of laughter in my heart. My Junior-Senior High students, in particular, are all – to a student – very beautiful and sweet. It will be hard to leave them when we go. This also includes all the Sri Lankan students that we had at JCJC throughout the years. I still have two Singhala Bibles that I hope someone can teach me how to read when we go back to the USA. l The People of Korakuen English Centre – This is the agency that I am employed through. They are good, good people, have been a pleasure to work for and with, and have helped me greatly in finding employment. The two people with whom I have worked most closely are wonderful, the gentleman in particular, like a Japanese Grandpa or Uncle to me in many ways. l Rev. Yoshiaki Aoki – He is the man responsible for closing JCJC, and for, basically, all the trouble that has happened to the college since he took over as Rijicho in 1996. Yet, I’ll still miss him, mostly because he was the one through whom Father brought me to Japan in the first place and was instrumental in allowing me to come back in 2001 after spending a year in Hokkaido. He had a stroke last April (2008), and it is my hope and prayer that he will get things straight with the Lord before it is too late, and that he is totally recovered from his stroke. I’ll miss him, not because of his dealings with the school and Japan Nazarene District, but because there have been instances where this man has been very, very good and very, very kind, both to me, to my wife, and to my parents when they came for a visit in 2007. When I told Rev. Aoki of Jihye, and had asked permission and blessing from him and from the college to marry (this may sound like a crazy thing to do, but in Japan, it is customary and part of the deep, rich culture that an employee ask permission of his or her employer to marry; I did this because, despite his faults, Rev. Aoki was my superior at the time, and it was right to ask his permission and blessing), he not only agreed, but offered to pay for all of the costs of a reception at JCJC, allowing us to use one of the main halls to do so. I love this man for those things, and because I want him to be in heaven. I’ll miss Rev. Aoki. l Mr. Shogo Furubayashi – He was the English Department Chair my first semester at JCJC. He left after 1998, but returned in the same capacity after I’d returned form Hokkaido and the Lathrops had returned to the US. Though we didn7t have much of a relationship in the beginning, by the time we both left due to JCJC’s closing, we had become closer, and his feelings, hopes, and dreams for JCJC echoed mine. l Japanese People In General – They are sweet, courteous, helpful, beautiful people who will go out of their ways, quite literally, to help someone in need. Just Saturday (11*21) a man asked me if I needed help with directions without me even asking him. Funabashi Immanuel General Mission Church, Rev. and Sister Saoshiro, Mr. Ohashi, and Dr. Inaba – This is the one church that I am sorry to have ever left. It was and is a rock-solid church with rock-solid Biblical teaching, and for the two years that I attended there, I learned much and gave to them as much as I could. Rev. and Sister Saoshiro were wonderful pastors there (they are now in Shizuoka), and his messages were always enriching to my soul and spirit. Mr. Ohashi, with whom I worked at JCJC is a member here, and he, too, gave me much and great encouragement over the years. Dr. Inaba also helped me much. Riding the Train – Call me shallow on this one if you wish, but I will greatly miss riding the train to and from Tokyo, and other places that are too far to ride by bicycle. I am a train person; I love trains. The first Christmas Gift I ever remember receiving was an Electric Train Set when I was five years old. Dad helped put it together, and he actually played with it more than I did on that Christmas Day in 1976. Since that time, I have loved trains, and coming to Japan and being able to ride the train just about anytime I wanted was better than a dream come true! In fact, in many ways, I think riding the train in Japan is better than driving, especially in Tokyo. Crowded roads are like parking lots, with waits being in the hours; crowded trains – no matter how crowded they are – are always moving. This past year, I have been given the privilege of riding the train to and from work five days a week, and it has never ceased to be enjoyable. I hope, before we leave, to be able to ride the Shinkansen – Japan’s high speed “Bullet” Train – at least once. The USA has nothing like the commuter trains that Japan has, and runs quite efficiently. Tokyo – If you’ve never seen it, you really have no idea what Tokyo is all about. Though I consider myself to be a Country Bumpkin from the State of Kentucky, I have grown to love the Tokyo area, especially Downtown Tokyo. This may sound crazy, but there really is no better stress reliever – save prayer – than for me to have a day when I can go to Tokyo Central Station, and just walk to my heart’s desire, looking at all the buildings and the people or holing up in a second story coffee shop and just watching people walk by. I know that people get tired of a concrete jungle, but to me, it is never tiresome to go to Shibuya, Shinjuku, Shinagawa, Tokyo Station, or anywhere else that has major skyscrapers. It will be hard to leave Tokyo. Anywhere else – even New York City – will almost be a let-down by comparison. Chiba City – It was my home for ten years, and is still very close by. When you think of Chiba City, think of Kansas City, only more compact, and with a beach and bayside. I love to go to Chiba City for the same reasons I love to go to Tokyo. Hokkaido – I’ll probably get into a lot of hot water form my friends in Kentucky for this one, but if there is a place that is closest to being like heaven and home for me, it would be Hokkaido, and more specifically, Asahikawa City. This area of Japan looks just like Kentucky, near about to Morehead State U. or Richmond to the South of Lexington: lots of nature, lots of hills, and the mountains are VERY close by. On top of the land looking like Kentucky, the Winters are usually snow filled and cold. The year that I spent in Hokkaido, Asahikawa City received probably nine feet of snow for the entire Winter. In fact, between the day after Thanksgiving and the day before Christmas Eve (about four weeks) it snowed (quite literally) every day. Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, the snowfall let up, but from December 26th until about January 16th, it, again, snowed every day. It was the most WONDERFUL Winter I have ever encountered. Again, this may sound crazy to a lot of people – especially considering the work situation I had up there – but if there was a place where I could literally see myself living out the rest of my days, it would have to be Hokkaido, preferably Biei, Furano, or Nayoro…or even Asahikawa (Asahikawa reminded me of Lexington, Kentucky, minus the Wildcats, but with better mountains, better snow, and less heat and humidity). I had no allergy problems in the entirety of my time in Asahikawa, and never had a mosquito or cockroach problem either. Further, there was absolutely no need for an air conditioner in Asahikawa. I miss Hokkaido already! And despite my troubles up there with my employer, Seiji Ikeda and English Communication Services (ECS), and Rev. Hideo Goto and Asahikawa Nazarene Church, I will still miss everyone I ever worked with and taught. I will always remember Seiko Domae and her classmates, along with the other class I taught at the Nazarene Coffee Shop there in Asahikawa City, because of the great encouragement they gave to me, and the acceptance. Japanese Baseball Games – To be quite honest? American baseball fans stink! They have nothing on Japanese Baseball Fans! Most Japanese baseball teams have a dedicated crowd who chant, cheer, and make a lot of noise during a game. Think of Friday night high school football or basketball, and the student section. Japanese Baseball teams have basically the same thing. They can be loud, obnoxious, but they altogether make a game at the stadium or on TV more fun to watch. If Japanese people know anything, they know how to have fun during a baseball game (or a soccer match, for that matter: they are as raucous at Soccer Games as any European or Latin American nation). Japan Christian Junior College (JCJC) – JCJC was my first employer after college, and was my place of work (if it could be called that: I think I far more fun as a professor at JCJC than any kind of “work”, if there really was any) here in Japan for ten years (1998-2001, 2002-2009). There are so many good and wonderful memories of JCJC, of the people I taught with, of the students that were in each and every one of my classes, and of the school and property in general. When the administration found out that I’d been a Campus Police Officer at MidAmerica Nazarene, they asked me to hang out there at the school late at night during holidays, and patrol as much as I could. All of the speech contests, spelling bees, cook-outs, sports days, open campus days, chapel services, school festivals, Christmas parties, Thanksgiving dinners…I cold go on and on. My time at Japan Christian Junior College was wonderful! I’d not trade a minute of my time there for all the money in the world! I miss JCJC already… Takinogawa Joshi Gakuen Private Girls’ Junior-Senior High School (TJ) – Though I’ve worked here for just under a year, my time at TJ has been awesome! When things started going under for JCJC, I prayed that the Lord would put me in a high school or junior high setting….and he did both, and put me in a very good school, with very good students, and very good teachers. “Working” here (again, I use the word “work” very loosely, as it has seemed – as JCJC did – more like a working vacation) has been such a balm following the closure of JCJC, and a boon for me in that I have gained much knowledge and understanding about Japanese teens, in far greater detail than I learned at JCJC (by the time students reached us at JCJC, they were usually on their way out of their teenage years). I never knew I could teach Junior High or Senior High full-time, but this experience and time at TJ has really helped me to see that I love teaching any and every age of student, and any and every level of ability. My students are wonderful, beautiful, full of life and energy, and – especially the Junior High Students – very eager to learn and try English…and this past couple of weeks’ seeing them embrace Christmas has also been comforting to me and to my soul. These students are so hungry for the Gospel, for the truth, and for Jesus Christ, and most of them don’t even realize it! It is still my hope and prayer to be able to talk to them as a whole about the Love of the Lord Jesus Christ, most of whom, I’m convinced, have never heard of Him, but are thirsting for him as if they were poor, lost souls in an endless desert desperately seeking an Oasis. Sushi, Takoyaki, Yakisoba, Ramen, Okonomiyaki, and other Japanese Dishes – I didn’t like Sushi in the beginning, but now both Jihye and I love it. My thoughts on trying Sushi in the US of A are akin to my thoughts of eating Mexican Food in the USA after having lived there: there just is no substitute for the real thing in-country (this is especially so for ramen: instant ramen in Japan is such a higher and loftier plane than anything anyone in the USA could even begin to imagine….and ramen in a ramen restaurant…words just cannot explain adequately…). Ditto for the rest of the Japanese foods I’ve listed… Japanese Hand-Brewed Coffee and Mom-and-Pop Coffee Shops – In Japan, you can go to a coffee shop, take a good book, buy a cup, and quite literally spend the rest of the day there, without so much as a sideways glance form the establishment owner and employees. My favorite coffee shop in all of Japan (Doll Coffee in Ichihara City, near Goi Station, and something I blogged about in another publication) has already closed, and I already miss it, but there are other coffee shops in Japan that have a similar atmosphere and air to them as Doll Coffee did. One is named Coffee Poem in Ichikawa City, near Tokyo, and it, too, is a good, good place with excellent coffee. Even chain places, like Starbuck’s and Doutour, have good coffee and an excellent air about them. I’ve been to a few coffee places in the States during visits home for Christmas, and they just haven’t the same feel or air about them, not even Starbuck’s (though, I will admit, I’ve only been in, like, two Starbuck’s Coffees in America since coming to Japan, and from my brother’s in-depth description of them during a sermon some years ago, they sound pretty similar to Japan). As far as coffee in general, I thought that my time in Brazil, Holland, and Mexico had ruined me concerning coffee drinking, but Japan – again, especially so in the smaller, out-of-the-way, Mom-and-Dad places – does coffee very well. While I hope that great improvement in the quality of coffee has taken place in the USA, I’m not holding out much hope. Saizeriya – For those of you who don’t know Japan, and have never been here, there is an Italian Restaurant Chain called Saizeriya. This restaurant has very inexpensive cuisine (I won’t use the word “cheap” because, when it comes to restaurants and their menus, there is a huge, canyon-like gap between what is “cheap” and what is inexpensive) but the quality and taste are EXCELLENT! It is possible to go into Saizeriya with less than $5 and have a good meal (trust me on this one, because I’ve done it). While I hope that Saizeriya has spread to the USA, I doubt it has, and will, therefore, miss being able to go here for lunch or dinner (and their coffee is also very, very good). Goi Church of the Nazarene Kindergarten and Showamachi Church of the Nazarene Day Care School – I used to have a freezing fear of teaching children (and to this day have a great fear of teaching them, insomuch that I have to literally pray before each class), but in my time teaching for Matsumoto-Sensei at Goi Church Kindergarten, and my buddy Nozomi’s Showamachi Day Care School, I have come to enjoy teaching toddlers and kindergarten-aged children. I love picking them up, I love showing them the pictures I’ve drawn and using them in a lesson, I love horsing around with them after class, I love putting into practice everything my good friend Jay Kea taught and all that I learned through being a part of Gospel Station at MidAmerica Nazarene. It is a joy, and a great break from the routine to teach the children at the kindergartens. While this isn’t the case for all Japanese families, most Japanese fathers have little to no physical contact with their children, rarely if ever picking them up after they have reached age two or three (and very likely not much before then). It is always a joy to my heart and soul to hear a squeal form a two- or three-year-old as I hoist them up on my shoulders, or to hear a five- or six-year old laugh uncontrollably as I pick them up in their chair to use them as a lesson visual aid. I’ll sorely miss this when I’m in the States, though picking up my nephews and niece Samantha will assuage this to a great degree… Indian Restaurants and Indian Cuisine – In particular, Lumbini Indian Restaurant, and Vicky’s Indian Restaurant, both in Chiba City (the former in downtown Chiba, which is another reason I’m going to miss Chiba City [see above]). I don’t know where to get good Indian Food in the USA, and have only ever seen one Indian Restaurant there, that being in the Kansas City Area. Both of the restaurants mentioned here have very, very good food, and the quality is wonderful. There’s also a smaller Indian Restaurant in Tokyo which I occasionally visit on Thursday Nights before one of my private lessons that I’ll also miss. I’m hoping that I can find a good place in the USA when we move back. Doing Foreign Missionary Work – This is Father’s Call on my life, and while I agree that the USA is also now a huge and major mission field, and that there is much work to be done there, I will miss doing Missionary Work in a Foreign Country (though my wife and I may have the chance to go on a work and witness trip to Panama with our Home church in Olathe, Kansas). I’ve lived and worked as a Tentmaker here in Japan for the entirety of my time here, and though it has been difficult, seemingly bearing little to no fruit (that I can see), and the opposition strong and unbending, it has been a joy to work here, and do what the Lord asked me to do so long ago when I was a High School Senior (but initially rejected). I never knew the joy and the burden that would be Missionary Work. My initial views and ideas of doing Tentmaker Missions work were so jaded, so naïve; I literally thought to come to Japan and change everything, be a voice for those who had little to no voice, and make people sit up and take notice. While I do feel like a lot of that has been done, it didn’t happen the way I thought it would. I have sincerely enjoyed doing Father’s work, working out Father’s call, and living Father’s way during my time here in Japan, and would not trade a single second of it for all the gold in the world, or all the money in Bill Gates’, Ted Turner’s, and Donald Trump’s bank accounts combined. I truly praise the Lord and Father in heaven for taking me, an ignorant buffoon of a Kentucky Hillbilly Hick, and not only bringing me to a place I only dreamed of in my wildest and foggiest of dreams, but allowing me to “pick up the sticks” and “hold the nail bucket” for him in this so lost, very dark, and entirely thirsty-and-hungry-for-the-water-of-life-and-bread-of-heaven place that Japan is. It is my prayer and hope to come back someday, and continue the work that the Lord let me start here… While there are many, many more I could name here that I’ll miss, this posting is long enough. I think of the friends I have that are not listed here, and want them to know, too, if they ever read this, that they will be missed as well. Thank you for taking the time to read this! We hope and pray that this series has blessed you and encouraged you, whomever comes and reads this and these. We also pray Father’s special blessings on you and yours today! | | |
| On Going Home, Part VIII There's a lot to love about Japan, but these things I will not miss when we've gone... In the 1970's The Bill Gaither Trio produced a Children's Album titled "I'm a Promise", and one of the tracks was called, "Won't Be's in Heaven." In this song, the trio and the children with them sing about things that will not be in heaven, from Bills and Taxes, to Runny Noses. The following is sorta' my "Won't Be's" in America, or, things I won't really miss after my wife and I return to the USA. In my just-over eleven years here in Japan, I've come to love a lot about the Land of the Rising Sun. However, there are a few things that I will NOT miss when I've returned to the States. Here is the list of things I won't miss about Japan: Racism - In my life in the US of A, I have encountered a few areas o' racism. However, racism in Japan is a whole 'nother ballgame altogether. In the United States of America, discriminating because of race can land someone in court, as there are racial laws in place to protect those who are other than white. And while there is a great deal of racism that still exists in the USA, the fact of the matter is that racism as it is in The States is NOTHING compared to how it is in Japan. I have, on occasions too numerous to count, encountered out-and-out racism in its basest and ugliest forms. In Hokkaido, I was denied being allowed to move into an apartment simply because I was foreign, and the Apartment owner had "a thing" against leasing to a foreigner. Had this happened in the States, I could have hauled this apartment owner before a judge and cleaned him clear out of business. During my time in Hokkaido, when I was involved in the church that I was a part of up there, several times I was told "J-Sensei, you just don't understand, because you are American." I have also had children point and yell "Gaijin!" at the tops of their voices in a crowded place (in case anyone doesn't know, the word Gaijin is akin to the Spanish word Gringo, which means Stupid Foreigner, though, in Japan, the use of the word Gaijin is more akin to calling a black person N****r); sometimes the parents have scolded their children; sometimes the parents or grandparents told the offending child to apologize (on very rare occasions); quite often the parent would laugh and say, "Kawaii!" (kawaii means cute); most often the parents took his or her child and just walked away without so much as a "kiss my foot". There have been incidences, too, of people on the train staring at me with the evil eye, and sometimes muttering an epithet or two under their breaths. Perhaps the worst, racism, however, has been reserved for my wife. As most people who read this may know, my wife is from Korea. There is a LOT of bad blood between Korea and Japan, especially on the Koreans' side of things (more on that in a minute). Japanese people can be very, very bigoted towards Koreans and Chinese in particular, and my wife has been no exception. Though most of those who are closest to me here in Japan have embraced Jihye with love and open arms, there have been those in our lives who have treated her worse than a dog when out of my presence, and my wife hasn't been alone in this. The problem is, there is, again, neither legal satisfaction nor recourse with regards to how my wife has been treated. An example of this is the YMCA in Tokyo, Japan. My wife is a certified Music Theory and Piano instructor. She has taught both for more than sixteen years in Korea, the USA, and here in Japan. After working at the YMCA in Tokyo for more than a year, she was told, in no uncertain terms, in 2007 that she would not be asked back. The reason she was given by the Japanese Principal of the International School through which she was employed was that she was not a certified teacher and that the YMCA International School needed teachers who were licensed and or certified. My wife, after explaining to the principal and myself that she was indeed certified and possessed a Korean Teaching License was subsequently released anyway. Later, I discovered on the YMCA International School's web page that Jihye's Korean license and certification was, indeed, valid for instruction there. We later learned that several other unlicensed teachers, many of them Japanese, were retained for the following school year. Being incensed at this news, I was intending to write a letter to both the YMCA Headquarters in the USA and here in Japan, but my wife, wanting to just forget the whole thing, asked me not to pursue the situation. These are the sorts of racist things that regularly happen to foreigners living and working in Japan. Most Japanese people who do this get away with it because of the laws here: there are no protections for those who suffer injustice because of race. The sad thing is Japan's racism even reaches to her own people. In the past, I have had students at Japan Christian Junior College who - before coming to JCJC - dealt with Japanese racism...and they were Japanese. One girl had spent a year as a high school student in Warner Robbins, Georgia. When she returned for her senior year, her formerly close friends called her gaijin, saying to her face that she was now "tainted" because she'd spent such a long time abroad, implying that she was really no longer truly Japanese. Another friend in Hokkaido, who'd studied for the entirety of her Senior High School career in the US, was similarly ostracized by her friends and many in her family, simply because she dared to go to another country and study. Possibly another tragic fact of Japanese racial arrogance has to do with foreigners who DO come to Japan and are accepted. Generally, foreigners, and those of mixed foreign-Japanese parentage are accepted only if (1.) they are famous and have a serious following, and (2.) basically reject the foreign half of their heritage. There are several instances of this happening, and even truly foreigners are only accepted if they give up their "former" foreign nationality. Yet all the while, stars and starlets who are racially mixed and DO hold on to their foreign heritage are rejected...even if their heritage is Japanese, but they are born and raised abroad. It is this sort of thing that I will not miss when I've returned to the USA... The White Washing of Japan's Past - Japan is always so very quick to point out the sins of Germany in World War Two. They readily join in the chorus which resoundingly condemns Adolf Hitler for his massacre and Holocaust of 6 million Jews, and as many as 6 million other untermenschen (untermenschen is German for subhuman). They also are quick to point out how bad Josef Stalin was for his purges and collectivization proceedings which cost the lives of as many as 40 million Russians. The sad reality is that everything the Germans did to the Jews and other Untermenschen in Europe, the Japanese did to the Chinese before and during the Pacific War. While the Japanese point fingers at the 6 million Jews the Nazi German regime slaughtered, they are famously absentminded and have selective amnesia about the 9 million Chinese they themselves slaughtered in like fashion to the Germans between 1937 and 1945. While they proclaim the wrongs of Germany and the Soviet Union when they invaded their neighbors, the Japanese are strangely silent about their own invasions of the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Wake, Guam, Samoa, Mainland China, and their assaults on India, Hawaii, Alaska, Sri Lanka, and Australia. The Japanese are also quick to condemn the German-Soviet repression of Poland (not to mention every other country both invaded) and her people at the beginning of the Second World War in Europe, yet the silence is deafening from Tokyo concerning Japan's own invasion, repression, and fifty-year occupation of Korea and Manchuria (in which the Imperial Government took active steps to wipe out the Korean Culture, heritage, and language from the Choson Peninsula). The Japanese also join in with the rest of the world in rejoicing when the German Chancellor places a wreath at the Auschwitz memorial, yet regularly ostracize their own history teachers who dare to take their students to the Nanking War memorial in Nanking, China, or the Independence Center in Cheonan City, South Korea. The Japanese always seem to take the moral high ground when it comes to talk concerning Hiroshima and (on rare occasions) Nagasaki and dropping of the Atomic Bombs on both cities, ending World War Two, yet they regularly decry verified and resourced information concerning their own Imperial Army's Rape of Nanking in 1937 (in which more Chinese were killed [oft in brutal, inhuman, grisly fashion] than the A-bombs killed in Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined). The Japanese are also always ready to agree that the treatment of Nisei Japanese living in the USA during World War Two and their subsequent internment was wrong, yet are curiously dumb when it comes to how Allied POWs were regularly placed aboard Japanese freighters in order for them to be lost when those ships were sunk by US Submarines; the treatment of the Filipinos and the Allied POWs on the Bataan Death March; and every other incident of Japanese military maltreatment of POWs in the Pacific War. It is this sort of thing that makes living in Japan pretty difficult. Most Japanese who were born after 1943 have very little knowledge of what happened in the war, why the United States fought against Japan, other than the fact that the US Navy sank the Imperial Fleet at Midway, and that US Army Air Forces dropped atomic weapons on Hiroshima and (again, rarely mentioned) Nagasaki. Practically all Japanese have no knowledge of the fact that, in 1941, 68% of Americans wanted war with nobody, let alone Japan. Tragically few Japanese do not realize that their military commanders in World War Two did not foresee victory against the United States, and that they expressed to the Emperor that instigation of such a war would be a tragic miscalculation (as it was; these military leaders include the Supreme Commander of the Japanese Navy in 1941, Fleet Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, and Iwo Jima Commander General Tadamichi Kuribayashi). The further tragedy is that any Japanese Teacher who knows the truth and dares to teach it concerning the Pacific War, the Imperial Japanese Occupation of the Korean Peninsula and Manchuria, and her brutality towards conquered peoples is regularly given "paid leave" (at best) or is summarily fired receiving ostracism from public life, and being encouraged to either move out of Japan or "honorably" commit suicide. Probably the worst tragedy is, however, that succeeding generations - while, again, receiving the full education how Hiroshima was obliterated by a nuclear device at the hands of the Americans - have absolutely no clue why the Chinese on Taiwan or the Mainland, both Koreas, and to a lesser extent, the Filipinos, Thais, Vietnamese, and other Asian Nations who felt the boot of the Imperial Army, have such rabid hatred and resentment towards Japan in any internationally competitive arena. When any kind of talk about Japan receiving a permanent seat on the UN Security Council rises, Red China is always quick to denounce it. In sports, when South Korea and Japan meet - especially in Soccer or Baseball - Koreans turn out en masse to cheer against Japan. Quite often in such events between Japan and South Korea or Japan and Mainland China, there are anti-Japanese protests by the Chinese and Koreans...much to the ignorant dismay of the Japanese. And while the Japanese regularly call for an apology by the he USA for the atomic bomb drop on Hiroshima (again, usually no mention of Nagasaki, primarily because of the nature of Nagasaki being a heavily militarized zone during the Second World War; Hiroshima, while having a couple of military installations, including an important Imperial Navy facility, was largely residential), they are eerily silent when demands for apologies for Pearl Harbor, Nanking, Bataan, Manila, Sydney, and other places where Japanese bombs, bullets, and bayonets were felt. To this day, there has never been a Government Apology issued by the Imperial Government of Japan. Yes, singular Japanese officials have often offered their apologies for Japan's instigation of the Pacific War, however to a person, those officials have backtracked from those statements when returning to Japan, and the government itself has always distanced itself from said government officials when such apologies are made. Unlike the German Government, which has continued to apologize, both in voice, in print, and in official documentation to her invaded-and-occupied neighbors since 1945, the Imperial Government of Japan has never uttered a word about her instigation of the War, and calls to do so from individuals, corporations, and nations are always met with silence. Much could be assuaged between Japan and her neighbors - particularly the Republic of China on Taiwan, The People's Republic of China on the mainland, the Republic of Korea (South) and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North) - if her government would merely offer a document of apology containing the Imperial Seal and signatures from her government. Until she does such, Japan will always be the target of animosity, and I fear, worse is in the reckoning from those whom she formerly occupied. Manmade Global Warming - It's a religion here in Japan. It seems that everywhere one looks in Japan, there is always some mention of how people need to cut back on greenhouse gasses and fight against so-called and scientifically-lacking Global Warming. There is a reason the Kyoto Accords are named such, and it has very little to do with the location of the accords being drafted and signed. The Japanese are "eco" everything to a fault, and they are quick to showcase themselves as a "green" country, despite the fact that there is little scientific evidence pointing towards people being able to affect the climate of the Earth n any way, shape or form. The Japanese Media's (Not-So-) Veiled Animosity Towards the United States of America and US Military Presence in Japan - Read enough of Japanese news magazines, newspapers and informative journals; listen to enough Japanese radio; and watch enough Japanese television news, and it becomes very easy to see that the Japanese Media has a thinly veiled animosity towards anything American, particularly anything having to do with the Military Bases, and specifically those bases on Okinawa. The Governor of Tokyo, Shintaro Ishihara - a blatant, bigoted racist who blames Tokyo's ills on foreigners, rather than his own corrupt leadership (he pushed hard for a Government bailout of one of his pet project banks in Tokyo, and got it, costing taxpayers in Japan millions) - is one that has no love for anything Western, particularly American, as was former Okinawa Governor Keiichi Inamine. These two, when working together, did much to spread hate towards the United States, and during his tenure as Governor of Okinawa, Inamine - despite popular support for the US Military Bases in Okinawa (which make up 80% of the economy in Okinawa [the US Military pays rent on land they occupy in any country, and as Okinawa has a very large number of US Military installations, much of Okinawa's revenue comes from this rent) - did much to tear through the fabric of the relationships between the US Military and the Government of Japan. In fact, the current tossup between the United States and Japan concerning one of the Marine Bases on Okinawa can be directly attributed to not only former Governor Inamine, but also through the complicity of the Japanese Media. Case in point: in a special news program on the 30th Anniversary of the US Handover of Okinawa to Japan, an NHK (NHK is Japan's National News Agency, similar to PBS in the USA and the BBC in Great Britain) Reporter was sent to Okinawa to gather opinions of Okinawans concerning the US bases. After interviewing dozens of people, both old and young, he was amazed to find that not a single person had anything negative to say about the bases, and, in fact, praised the bases' opportunities for employment and cultural exchange. This reporter finally found one homeless man who disagreed with the bases, and based much of his report on this lone interview. The Near-Absolute Lack of Morals - In Japan, there is very little to do with morals and moral standing in much of society. Though business and the economic sector tend to be fairly honest in their dealings (possibly because of the influence of foreigners and foreign investment and international participation), much of the rest of Japanese life is seemingly devoid of morals and moral values. Sex is freely taken and given, and taken for granted. Violent crime is treated as a sickness rather than a conscious choice, with two murderers - both guilty of murder and dismemberment of their victims (one of which murdered his own sister) - in recent cases given 7- and 10-year sentences in mental institutions respectively. Pornography is as easily accessed as the daily Sports Page (literally!), and viewed on free aerial television. Embezzlement, Graft, Theft, and corporate bailouts have been taking place in Japan with great regularity, long before they were even an idea in the USA. Television programs and movies produced here in Japan regularly make light of traditional values and morals, laughing off any consequences (a startling and tragic example of this is the number of AIDS patients and people infected with HIV: in Japan, it is a total unknown, and businessmen regularly take sexcapades and sex trips to Southeast Asia and Mainland China, indulge in their sexual desires, then come home to their wives [if they are married] or to any number of girlfriends [if they are single]; there are literally no estimates from the Ministry of Health and Wellness concerning AIDS patients or those infected with HIV; many consider this to be the next pandemic here in Japan). The practice of Enjo Kosai - basically deflowering of junior high and high school aged girls - though thought long dead, is still a thriving and regular practice in Japan, with businessmen of varying ages sleeping with girls as young as 12 or 13, paying them handsomely for the chance. Parents regularly are uninvolved with their children’s' lives, especially when their children reach school ages. Mom and Dad generally do their own thing, turning a blind or uncaring eye to the exploits and activities of their children. Children that I have taught in English Schools and the Junior-Senior High School I currently teach in are more and more becoming undisciplined and disobedient towards any authority. Moral values are eroding here so fast; it makes problems in the USA tame by comparison. Trashy, Slutty, Whorish Fashion Trends at Younger and Younger Ages - What passes for women’s' and girls' fashion over here would likely be shunned anywhere else. One Japanese starlet who visited New York complained that she couldn't dress in typical, Japanese "girly" fashion for fear of being mistaken as a whore or prostitute. Such is the fashion over here in Japan, with women and girls dressing more and more skimpily - even in Winter - at younger and younger ages. Even High Schools allow their students to hike up their school uniform skirts making them into miniskirts (for girls) and allowing them to wear their pants low, allowing for underwear exposure (for the boys). Needless to say, Late-Spring through to Early-Fall can be quite revealing concerning fashion in Japan. The sad thing about this is that girls of younger and younger ages are not only being allowed to dress this way, but are encouraged to do so. I've personally seen girls as young as 10 and 11 years old dressing in ways in which "provocative" and "revealing" are light words. Even further, though reports of the Falling Economic Situation of Playboy in the States are encouraging for those of us who oppose porn, the sad news is that Playboy is gaining a lot of money in Japan via fashion and clothing (girls in Japan think the bunny looks "cute", not knowing that wearing Hefner's Bunny image passes one off as being uber-loose in their sexual morals everywhere else in the Civilized World). The Bunny is selling like hotcakes here in Japan, with the Playboy Bunny being emblazoned on socks, T-Shirts, coats, sweaters, sweatshirts, and even on men's dress shirts. So along with looking like a slut or a whore here in Japan, you can advertise yourself as one as well. I definitely won't miss this... "The Small Shoe" - Of all the things in Japan that I've listed in this post, all are pretty much tolerable and bearable to a degree. "The Small Shoe", however, is one of those things that I hope to never deal with again, even if I live to be a thousand. I blogged a bit about "The Small Shoe" some time ago, so if anyone wants a deeper explanation, please click here (anyone who has lived in Asia in general, Northern Asia more specifically, and Japan in particular, knows exactly what I'm writing about here). I've gone through "The Small Shoe" several times since coming to Japan in 1998, specifically and most glaringly before my move to Hokkaido in 2001, in Hokkaido before my return to Chiba in 2002, just prior to JCJC's closing between September of last year and March of this year, and now via the church we are serving (set to finish at the end of December). Let me rephrase things a bit: I can handle "The Small Shoe", but it grieves me deeply and stokes the furnace of my ire greatly to see my wife go through it and what affect it is having on her. One of the more particular ways that we've been getting "The Small Shoe" has been by way of our Pastor criticizing my wife without my presence. He did it most recently about three weeks ago, driving my wife to tears in the process, and it was only the Holy Ghost Himself and His Presence in my life and heart that kept me from going into the Pastor's Office and teaching him some manners, up close and real personal-like. I won't miss "The Small Shoe". The Shallow, Stuntedness of the Church - In all of the churches that I have ever been a part of, there is only one that comes to mind that have been rock-solid in their beliefs, their message, and their manner of doing things. Immanuel General Mission Church in Funabashi - the Home Church for the Immanuel General Mission Denomination (an intrinsic Japanese Holiness Denomination formed a year after the end of the Second World War) - is the lone church that I have ever attended that was a church that was unapologetic about its stances on the Bible, its message of Holiness of Heart and Life, and the clarity with which it preaches against sin and about sin's dangers. Every other church in Japan that I've ever been a part of danced around the truth, drifted into areas of heresy (such as having a remembrance service for deceased members, insomuch as laying flowers before their photos and praying before them, as the Buddhist and Shinto Faiths practice), and watered down the Gospel until it was of little or no effect. Many of the Churches of the Nazarene in Japan - yea, the entire denomination in Japan - are dying. The church I was involved in when living and working in Hokkaido, while being very large (by Japanese standards) was fractured, divided and divisive, and disjointed. Such was the fracture that in the kitchen area, I once found six different cans and jars of coffee creamer; one for each of the different sections of the church (except the youth and young adults - they were out of coffee cream that week). Pastors in the Nazarene Denomination are becoming very rare, and good pastors are rarer still. The lone Nazarene College for undergraduate studies - Japan Christian Junior College (JCJC) - closed down last year, with the Seminary - an institution that has been around for nearly a century - likely to close soon for lack of students and lack of a feeder school. A lot of Nazarenes in the upper echelons of the Denomination may not like to read this, and like less to hear it, but the Church of the Nazarene in Japan is almost gone: youth are disinterested, there is infighting between churches and pastors, most churches consist of elderly members, and the current shortage of pastors to churches is in the double digits, and from what I've understood and studied, it is the same for every denomination, save Immanuel General Mission (again, a testament to their foundation on the core values and principles as found in the Bible). Though I have personally seen new churches spring up in new areas as I've traveled to and from Tokyo over the last five or so years, but from what I have encountered of every other church, save Funabashi Church, has been lamentable at best, and heretically deceptive at worst (my wife and I were victims of a Churchly Bait-and-switch; an ad trumpeted Bill Hybels' 2009 Leadership Conference coming to Tokyo for two days' of sessions, alluding to a live event; what my wife and I found instead was a presentation of a DVD from last year's conference: needless to say, we didn't go back for the afternoon presentations [we got there around 10:15], nor for the second day, and were both totally disgusted with the church that presented it). While I realize that there are shallow, stunted churches in the USA, such are the exception, not the rule. Moral values, as well, are eroding in the church, with sexual immorality all but encouraged, alcoholism and other forms of carnality not just tolerated, but accepted and embraced. Again, I realize this is happening in the USA, but here in Japan, it has been a literal nightmare. Please, again, will you pray for us, as we prepare to leave? Thank you for taking the time to read this, and we pray God's blessings on you today. | | |
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