Visitor from Japan!

Having taught English in Japan for two years, I was delighted that a former student came to visit me in Oklahoma. It struck me how brave she was, this seventeen-year-old high school senior who had never left her birth country, to come alone to a foreign place where she barely spoke the language and knew only one person. But Yuri has always been a go-getter. As the English Club President at her school and with the dream of working for an international airline, it was an incredible experience for Yuri, and for me. Having been hosted by numerous Japanese, I enjoyed being on the “the other side,” guiding a Japanese person through my culture and community.

Wednesday, December 14th I picked Yuri up at the airport. With little English, I’d been so afraid she wouldn’t make her connecting flight in the United States. But a Japanese man helped her out in Chicago, so she made it right on time. She said the hardest transfer was in Tokyo. (I can totally relate!) Unfortunately, her cell phone didn’t work as the Japanese Softbank people promised, so we went home to Skype her parents to let them know she was OK. (The Japanese usually assume their phones will work in the U.S. Well, Oklahoma ain’t California or New York!)

Next we went to the zoo. Most things were closed, but she was more interested in the wandering geese and squirrels anyway. She couldn’t imagine rodents running wild through the city. I felt the same about Japan’s native monkeys!

About 6:00 I took her to Tulsa Community College’s Japanese club, where we had a welcome party for her. She actually burst into tears when she found it was for her! She enjoyed a game of Sorry, then we went to a Christmas concert at my church. It was a pretty packed first day, and Yuri collapsed into bed as soon as we got home.

Thursday morning we took a tour of Owasso High School with the vice principal. She kept exclaiming over how huge everything was, especially the new band and choir rooms, not to mention the livestock barn and sports facilities. In between classes, she gawked at the tall boys.

“Only sixteen?” she asked. “Sugoi. Yabai!”

“Why does she keep saying those words?” the vice principal asked.

“Because they mean, “amazing,” and “incredible!” I translated.

We had our picture taken in front of the mascot, Rambo:



Next we toured Oral Roberts University. The guide and I tried to explain how it was founded and it’s purpose, but it was hard for her to understand. She did marvel at the giant praying hands and eternal flame atop the golden prayer tower, but she spent most of the time pointing out squirrels and strange plants, and complaining about the cold. I’d told her to pack warm clothes, but she had nothing but shorts and skirts, not to mention high heels! What the Japanese do for fashion…

Speaking of that, I thought Yuri would love Woodland Hills Mall and Utica Square that evening, all lit up for Christmas, but that didn’t seem to interest her much, since there are all kinds of malls in Japan. But man, the next day, she went totally nuts over Wal-Mart! During the two weeks of her stay, we went there at least five times, once three times in one day! She spent hours going up and down the aisles, gawking at the size and variety of the merchandise, not to mention the price tags, especially in the after Christmas sales. She loaded up on gifts and cosmetics. By the time she left, she almost needed another suitcase.

That first time, though, we were just there for an hour or so to get gifts for the Burmese refugees. Then it was off to the Phillips mansion for an interesting historical tour, then Woolorock nature preserve and museum. Here’s a stately deer at sunset:



This is my favorite statue in the museum, entitled, “pioneer woman.” I like it because it tells a story, but I can see why it didn’t win the pioneer woman contest. It pitted the pioneer woman against the Native Americans, which isn’t really a good thing:



About 6:00, Woolorock’s festival of lights began. So beautiful. We took a hayride around the perimeter to see over 100,000 twinkling, sparkling lights wrapped around every structure, tree and rock. My favorite was the Native American on a horse all lit up, but it was so dark we couldn’t get any good pictures or videos.

Saturday morning we wrapped the gifts for our refugee families and made cheesecake for the evening’s choir party. Then we went to Safari’s animal park in Broken Arrow. Yuri loved it! First, we got to feed the big cats chicken:




Here's a big tiger in a tub:



And the adult kangaroos:



Then we got to hold a lot of cute animals. Skunk:



“That’s what you smelled on the road last night,” I told Yuri. She made a face and shoved the animal into my arms. No skunks in Japan!

Baby alligator:



Fennec fox:



And a baby kangaroo!



Yuri in her wildest dreams never imagined getting to do that! “I see Australia in America!” she told me.

Here’s a close up of the kangaroo:



The lady who keeps the kangaroo “mob” used to have her own land and zoo, but some factory poisoned her well water, so she got cancer and most of her animals died. The manager of Safari’s invited her to come out and live with them, so now she keeps the kangaroos and other animals at Safari’s. The kangaroos eat old bread, fruits and vegetables donated by the local grocery store.

In the afternoon, we saw the huge Tulsa Driller statue:



Then we went to my friend Ching’s house to deliver gifts to the Burmese refugees. Here’s a little girl we bought for opening her gifts:



After that we went to the John Knox church choir party, ate a lot of good food, and sang songs. Yuri had a great time and recorded it all on her camera.

Sunday morning, in lue of church, we visited my friends the Powel’s who had been missionaries in Japan for four years. They had a wonderful turkey lunch for us, then Bethany showed us her spinning, their family band performed some Christian songs, we held 3-day-old puppies, visited a local chicken and sheep farm, and saw a quilting demonstration. In the evening, we visited Boston Ave. Methodist (a giant Cathedral in downtown Tulsa) for the annual Messiah performance. That wasn’t so fun. Apart from the tenor (who I knew in college), the singers were just…not good. Their vibrato was all over the place; you couldn’t even tell what pitch they were singing. The choir was okay, but you couldn’t hear the organ at all. Yuri almost fell asleep. Oh, well, I guess it’s just one of those things, like Noh Theater, that you have to do once to get your cultural points. (Though honestly I’ve seen much better performances of the Messiah that were actually enjoyable.)

Monday morning, Yuri had a chance to speak with one of my Japanese students, Saki-chan (AKA Hadassah Hendrickson). Yuri spoke English, and Hadassah spoke Japanese, for a full hour! It was great practice for both of them. I had an interview with the Broken Arrow Ledger newspaper for their religion position (which I ended up not getting, but they almost picked me and really liked me so that’s good). Then we had lunch at the giant QuickTrip near Broken Arrow. I wanted to show her what an “American combini” (American convenience store) is like. So many drinks, so many choices. Then I showed her she could mix them. That almost blew her mind! Bass pro shop was another big surprise to her.

“All this, just for fishing and hunting?” she asked. The huge racks of rifles freaked her out (guns are illegal in Japan). I took her on a short tour of the University of Tulsa where I went to school, especially the new music building, then we went home.

Tuesday, Dec 20th in the morning I took Yuri around town: library, post office, bank. Then we went to Dry Gulch, Oklahoma (near Adair), an Old West theme village all decorated for Christmas and run by Church on the Move in Tulsa. Boy, did we get lost on the way there! The roads and signs are so confusing, especially in the dark, so it took us about three!

Yuri woke up every twenty minutes or so and asked, “Still Oklahoma?”

“Still Oklahoma,” I’d say. “It’s a big state; we’re not leaving it.” Then she’d sigh and fall asleep again.

Once we got to Dry Gulch, though, it was worth it. We rode the steam engine Christmas train, which took us through a series of giant murals and live scenes that told the whole story of the Bible, highlighting Christmas. Yuri didn’t understand much of it, but she still liked it and the wagon wide. I enjoyed the giant turkey legs most of all!

Wednesday, we visited the famous huge churches downtown: Trinity Episcopal, First Methodist, First Baptist, and First Christian. Yuri marveled at the massive stained glass windows, booming organs, and huge facilities. But more than anything, coming from a largely non-religious society, it surprised her how much people’s faith meant to them, and how that faith resulted in so much love. “You treat people in church like family,” she observed.

Then we went to a concert called Celebrate with Family at Church on The Move. As we stood in line waiting, I asked Yuri what she thought of all the churches we had seen so far. She thought about it for a moment, then said,

“I like church, and I like Christian people, but I don’t like religion.”

“Ah, but Christianity is more than religion,” I told her. “It’s faith.”

“What is faith?” she asked, giving me a puzzled look.

I thought really hard about how to explain it in simple English she could understand, with a few Japanese words thrown in. “Religion is part of culture, bunka, ne? Sometimes people do religion because they think they have to go to church, have to pray— kiyokai ni ikenakya, inorenakya , ne? But faith is ‘I want to go, I want to pray.’ Kiyokai ni ikitai, inoritai. Kamisama wa watashitachi o aimasu to watashitachi wa kamisama o aimasu kara. Because God loves us and we love God.”

Yuri nodded her understanding, but said nothing. The ushers started to file us into the auditorium. We had front row seats, and it was the best Christmas concert either Yuri or I had ever seen! And it was free! Here’s a link:

http://celebratewithfamily.tv/

My favorite was the “Little Drummer Boy,” number. That’s usually one of my least favorite Christmas songs because it’s so sappy. But this rendition was really cool!

Thursday, Dec 22nd, we went to Tahlequah to see the Cherokee Native American Heritage Center. First, we met with Dr. Salmon, a professor at Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, a very intelligent man of Japanese decent who lived in Japan for ten years and married a Japanese woman. He came along because he’d never seen the Cherokee village before, and he wanted to meet Yuri and translate for her. That was really kind of him, because I sure didn’t do a very good job explaining the stories or tribal government! (Japanese word for “matrilineal,” anyone?)

We went through the museum and the two villages, one traditional and the other after “civilization” by the colonists. Rather than marveling at the rich culture, beautiful pottery, or fascinating folk tales, she spent more time chasing ducks and geese than looking inside the houses. At the end, she had to thoroughly examine our Cherokee male guide’s long braided hair. She wanted to touch it, smell it, and do the same with his homespun clothes. Here we are together:




It’s so funny how it was the little things that interested her so much. I guess it was the same for me in Japan, sometimes.

After the tours, we had lunch at a local restaurant to try Tahlequah’s famous “Indian taco”:



Then we went to Dr. Salmon’s house. Yuri was very happy to finally get to speak nothing but Japanese again. We watched a video called God’s Fingerprints in Japan linking ancient Japanese culture to Christianity, then we talked about it. She thought it was interesting. That’s about all she said.

Friday, December 23rd, we went horseback riding at my sister-in-law’s ranch:



Yuri loved it and all the other farm animals! In the evening, we visited Maskogee’s
Garden of Lights. It was too dark to get many good pictures or videos, but here is the tunnel of light near the beginning:



Christmas Castle with Mom. Lots of lights, giant inflatable ornaments, petting zoo, and characters in costume. Here’s mom with the Grinch:



Yuri bought a souvenir there for her boyfriend, custom made matching rings.

Saturday, December 24th, we had a big turkey dinner and opened presents with the family (it was the only time we could all get together). Here’s our tree:



Dad bought the Star of David on top, to symbolize that Jesus is King of the Jews. At 6:00 we went to church for Christmas Eve service. Yuri seemed to find it rather confusing and boring, but she agreed to go again the next morning. Originally I was going to take her to the Japanese church in Oklahoma City, but Yuri didn’t want to drive that far. So we went to John Knox again to be part of the family. That was nice.

In the afternoon, we watched the Jesus film in Japanese, so she could finally understand the whole story of Christ. She sat through the whole thing, then I nervously asked, “So what did you think?”

“Interesting,” she said. “I hungry. Let’s eat pizza.” So much for that conversation.

Monday, December 26th, I asked Yuri where she wanted to go.

“Los Angeles,” she proclaimed.

“Um…chotto toi desu ne…” I muttered. (That’s a little far.)

Yuri thought about it, then said, “Okay. You drive, I sleep. Wake me when arrive.”

I once again explained just how big the States where, and that Oklahoma was right in between California and New York. It would take at least three days driving to get to either one.

Yuri thought some more. “Dallas?”

“Four hours, one way, no stop,” I replied.

Yuri finally decided to spend most of the day packing and playing with our dogs instead. In the evening, we went to the Chinese Super Buffet (where Yuri really chowed down!) and the famous Rema Bible College lights. Some pictures:

Noah's Ark:



American flag:



Train:



Gazebo:



Tuesday, Yuri got some last minute shopping in. That was the day we went to Wal-Mart three times! She also got her nails done cheap at a Vietnamese nail salon. That was hilarious! The whole time the lady was trying to talk to her with a thick accent and Yuri couldn’t understand a word. So much for English being the new Lingua Franka of the world!

I almost forgot to mention how much Yuri loved American food. Spaghetti, pizza, hamburgers, meatloaf, barbeque ribs, Brahms ice cream, she devoured it all. Her favorite was probably Mexican. Mom nearly died laughing when she told Yuri we would be having “tacos,” and Yuri exclaimed, “Good, I love octopus!”

By the time I took Yuri to the airport early Wednesday morning, she and I both had a new appreciation for Oklahoma. While it may not be what most internationals think of when they plan a trip to the United States, I’d say we had a lot of fun. She cried as we said goodbye, and promised to come visit me again sometime. Soon she’ll be going to school in Osaka to study English and how to be part of “grand staff” for a hotel or airline. We both hope she gets a chance to study abroad. We still Skype.

More recently, here are some pictures of me with my niece and nephew Hayden and Selene:







This is their great nanny, Jeff:



Prayer Requests: Please pray that Yuri will meet more Christians and come to know Christ well. She’s a sweet girl and I hope our friendship can continue.

Until next time, keep praying and loving,
L.J. Popp

Kansas Zoo and Tall Grass Prarie

Let’s finally catch up with November! Life’s been so crazy! I’m going to India and I have a book coming out…but more on that later!

Oklahoma abounds in gorgeous scenery. During Thanksgiving Break, Mom and I visited the tall grass prairie and buffalo preserve near Pawhuska, about one hour and fifteen minutes northwest of Owasso. The huge herd of buffalo was corralled for the winter, but we still saw some of the males fighting, preparing for mating season. (No fighting in the picture, though.)



Around them the sea of golden grass came as high as my stomach, rippling in the wind like waves on the ocean, stretching farther than we could see:



The same day, we drove a bit further to Caney, Kansas, to the Safari Zoological Park, about an hour and a half due north of Owasso. We took their “creation tour,” which explained the science of Biblical creationism. Even though I’ve studied the subject extensively, I still found the information interesting and thought provoking. Here’s us with one of the owners, Tom:



This privately owned zoo was famous about two years ago for its “tiger pups,” three white tiger cubs that were abandoned by their mother and nursed by the family dog! Owners Tom and Allie Harvey appeared on many news and talk shows, including Oprah and Animal Planet.

Here’s the dog:



And here are some pictures of the grown tigers:





They’re not so little anymore! Can you believe one of them actually sprayed Mom and me? Gross!

Some other pictures. Feeding a ring-tailed lemur:



Barbary lion making a funny face:



One of the volunteers petting an old mountain lion:



Kissing a bear (bear gets a cookie after):



Same bear at feeding time:



Little alligator. The volunteer giving us the tour said that he was an adult, but alligators only grow to the size of their cage. At another zoo, I saw one kept in a fish tank and it was only as long as my arm. Others have told me they're only that little because the zoos starve them and they NEED a bigger cage. I don't know. Whatever the reason, he was pretty small:



Tom said they always have babies on display. Here’s a tiger cub and black panther cub.




Of course we wanted to touch them, but because a girl was mauled and killed by a tiger somewhere in Kansas, state laws have changed. Now we have to be at least five feet away from the cage at all times.

By far my favorite thing was the hyenas. Tom got right inside the cage with them:



Then he fed them chicken. Those hyenas must have thought their food was pretty hilarious! They sounded like humans laughing, but that’s just the noise they make when they get excited.



That was worth the price of admission right there! They also have the strongest jaw power of any mammal, 1,000 pounds per square inch. That’s a lot of bite! Some trainers say they'd rather be in a lion or tiger cage any day than in with those!

Despite all the wonderful things they have there, few people came to the zoo during this past record hot summer, so Tom and Allie are afraid they might have to close for good. That would be a shame, because they offer many things you can’t see at regular city owned zoos, such as trainers in the cages interacting with the animals. They also do school tours, events and camps. They’re trusting God for another miracle, like the tiger pups. Otherwise they won’t be able to reopen in the spring. To contact them, you can call (620) 515-2885 or visit their website at http://www.safaripark.org.

That same month, my little niece Selene, Tony and Emily's daughter, was born! Here I am holding her at the hospital:



And here's me holding her big brother Hayden and Mom holding Selene:



Well that's all for November! Now I got to catch up on the rest of the year...

Prayer Requests: Please pray that business will pick up for Safari Zoological Park so Tom and Allie can continue their education and conservation efforts. Also pray for my little niece and nephew, that they will grow up healthy with strong faith!

Until next time, keep praying and loving,
L.J.Popp

Texas State Fair and Gardens!

After traveling throughout Asia for two years, one of my biggest fears coming back to the States was that I’d be bored silly. Fortunately, I’ve discovered that Oklahoma and the surrounding areas have some excellent sightseeing destinations, only a few hours away.

During fall break, Mom and I took a road trip to visit my brother in the Austin area. On the way, we stopped by the Dallas State Fair. While my hometown Tulsa State Fair is famous for food, livestock, rides, and animal shows, the Dallas version also features international performances. We got there about noon, and first enjoyed the Kenya acrobats.

Here’s a human pyramid:



Balancing on a bunch of chairs:



Crazy low limbo (he actually went even lower than that):



Flipping while jumping rope:



Next we saw the Shanghai circus with its delicate dances and body bending beauty, every bit as good as I’d seen in China.



A couple did an interesting ballet rendition of swan lake where the girl stood on the guy’s head. But this was my favorite act:



Circ du Sole has a similar dance, only with a guy and girl. I don’t know why I like it so much, only that I think it’s a very beautiful expression of love. This is how my Terrian characters dance in one of the novels I’m writing now, An Honest Assassin.

After that we took a break for food. Turkey leg for me, nachos for Mom, cotton candy, caramel popcorn and nutty ice cream to share. Man, it was so bad for us, but so good.

I’ve got an acute interest in birds, thanks to my novel series Bird Girl, so after that we went to a bird show. Here’s an albino hawk. Don’t see them everyday.




Mom had never watched a pig race, and squealed right along with the little hogs as they ran around the track. The night ended with the spectacular Illumination Sensation, a multi-media presentation of lasers, water, pyrotechnics, and fireworks, lighting up the night sky with images and songs of American pride.

The next day, the Dallas Arboretum came alive with colorful mums, fall foliage, and cascading streams:












Our favorite attraction was the Cinderella pumpkin village. Over twenty varieties of 50,000 pumpkins and gourds had been donated by farmers to create cottages, coaches, and transform the entire park into an autumn fairytale. Sadly, I only got a picture of the arboretum entrance with pumpkins, then I ran out of battery power.



Finally on Thursday evening, we got to Benjamin and Raina’s (my brother and sister-in-law’s) house. Here’s a picture of us all together, taken by a neighbor:



We played games most of the time (settlers of Catan, dominion, and Benjamin’s card game that he invented, swords and soldiers, based on the video game). Ben had to go to work on Friday and showed us his cubical and all the cool stuff in his new company, National Instruments. He says he’s “arrived.” I’m a bit jealous, since my chances as an artist of “arriving” are very slim, but then, I would probably die in a “cubical.” I always have to be doing something new and fresh to keep from getting bored. Saturday morning we had breakfast at I-hop, then Mom and I had to go home so she could be at work (church, to play the organ) on Sunday. But it was a great trip, and I look forward to many more!

Until next time, keep loving and praying,

L.J. Popp

Home Sweet Home

After two years of teaching and missionary work in Japan and exciting adventures there as well as in China, India, South Korea, Singapore, and Thailand, it’s good to be home! But life in the U.S. has taken some readjustment. When I landed in Minneapolis, I ordered mouth-watering pot roast, but I couldn’t eat it! After consuming mostly rice, fish, and seaweed for so long, American meat seemed too greasy and dessert too sweet. I’m still confused when someone addresses me as “ya’ll” when I’m by myself, and sometimes answer the phone “moshi moshi” only to hear stunned silence. But the benefits of old friends, family, and Oklahoma food (now that I’m used to it again) far outweigh the frustrations of trying to remember certain English phrases and how to drive a car.

I’ve had several pleasant surprises since returning. Tulsa, my hometown, seems more “green friendly,” with added recycling programs, oil made partly from plants, and some homes with solar paneling. The price of gas hasn’t gone up as much as I feared and the economy seems to be improving (though not enough to help me get a job).

One thing I knew for sure was that I wanted to stay in touch with other cultures and keep teaching, even if just as a volunteer. So I went to a missions luncheon at Christ Presbyterian and announced that I wanted to help. Immediately afterward, a small woman from India ran up to me, speaking so fast I barely understood her. She said there were some refugees in Tulsa, Oklahoma who just lost their instructor and they desperately needed a new one. It didn’t take me long to say yes, and the following week I found myself before a handful of Burmese teaching them how to introduce themselves in English.

Here they are:



From the left: Tung Pi, Nelly, me, Lulu, and John.

Over the past few months, I’ve had the privilege to get to know many of these gentle people and their amazing stories. They are all Christians, many from the Zomi or Chin tribe in Myanmar (former Burma), escaping genocide from the corrupt military government. The dominant Buddhist and ethnic group has decided the country must be “purified” of all minorities. Some of the refugees were smuggled into Thailand in crates. Many died during the passage. A few told me their entire family was shot before their eyes. One man described how he tried to sneak Bibles across the boarder into India, was caught, and nearly beaten to death by a soldier.

There are about 2,000 Burmese refugees in Tulsa, and more coming. “Why here?” I asked them. They said Chingdo Kham, a Burmese doctor, paved the way and helped with their United Nations refugee status VISAs. Also, since they are Christian, they wanted to come to the Bible Belt to study scripture. I’m so thankful God called me back to the United States to help these people begin their new lives in a safe, free country. Many of them work at the Aaon factory making air conditioners. Others are still looking for jobs. Every Monday and Tuesday we study English and the Bible together.

Besides volunteering to teach English, I also tutor Japanese. I’m always looking for more pupils. If you are interested in learning Japanese, you can call me at 918-272-1433, or email laurapopp@ymail.com. I even do lessons over skype!

So people are asking me, do you plan on staying in Tulsa? Well, for now. I’m taking a class called “Perspectives in World Missions” starting tomorrow that will run until May. After that, who knows? Honestly, I would like to get involved in world missions, particularly children. I feel called in many ways to return to Malawi, Africa, where I worked before to work with Ministry of Hope or a similar organization there to help AIDs orphans.

Prayers: Please pray for the Burmese refugees coming to Tulsa, that they will adjust well to their new life. Please pray for those who are still coming to arrive safely and that the persecution and genocide in Myanmar will stop. Finally, please pray for God’s guidance in my life and that all the pieces will fall in place!

My final week in Japan

Following our three-week escapade in Thailand, Mom and I returned to Japan in the middle of August to finish some business and final sightseeing. The girl who’s taking over for me as native English teacher at the school, Thapelo, graciously allowed Mom and me to stay with her.

On the fourteenth we met my host mother Kazuko (from the weekend I spent in Komono) at the Nagoya night zoo around 2:30. Mom was starved from not eating much on the plane or for breakfast that morning, but we couldn’t find an open restaurant! The famous sky tower café only served “tea” in the afternoon, and they said there were no other restaurants in the zoo. We were afraid we’d have to leave the zoo and come back, but fortunately we found some snacks like popcorn and chicken on a stick to hold Mom over until the super buffet in the evening. Man, that was good, but expensive! Japanese buffets, called “Vikingu,” after the original Viking themed buffet in Tokyo, are upwards of $30 per person! But we had a gorgeous view of most of downtown Nagoya as we ate, including the harbor and lit-up Ferris wheel.

Here are some pictures from the zoo. Me with Kazuko in the cactus room:



The cactus room itself (the roots look cool to me):



And a Mickey mouse flower:



The arboretums were very nice, though Mom was annoyed by the Japanese pop music playing on the nearby stage with Japanese girls prancing around with their chests and rears sticking out (not really dancing). You get used to that after awhile. If you ask them about it, they say it’s “cute.” Disturbing…

It was interesting getting to see all the animals out at night, (I’m not talking about the girls now), but it was too dark to get good pictures. We left about 7:30, since it takes about two and a half hours to get from there back to my apartment.

Monday morning we went over the my friend Kae’s house to do laundry and for me to apply online for a job at Tulsa Community College teaching English as a Second Language. (The application was due the next day and it was my first chance to get to a computer after leaving for Thailand.) We invited Kae to come with us to Akame Taki 48 waterfalls the next day, and she accepted. (I couldn’t leave Japan without seeing my favorite place one last time.)

Here are some pictures:









Rice fields on the car ride back:



Wednesday, Mom and I took the four-hour train journey to the world-famous Kumano hanabi takai, one of the largest fireworks displays in all Japan. (I had to get train reservations a month in advance, and even then only the earliest train out was available.) On the way we had to change trains in Matsusaka, where Mom wanted to sample the famous Matsusaka beef. It came in a cow-head container that mooed at us when we opened it! Underneath the lid we found about a pound of rice, some pickled radish, and two tablespoons of beef. We kept the container as a souvenir.

We got into Kumano about 2:00 and the fireworks didn’t start until 7:00, so we decided to spend the first few hours on the gorgeous Kumano beach. Only most of it was blocked off for the fireworks! We spent an hour winding our way through the streets until we ran into a pair of Japanese girls.

“Excuse me,” I asked them in Japanese. “Do you know how to get to the beach?”

“We’re going there too,” one said. “Why don’t you come with us?”

“By the way, where are you from?” the other asked.

“Nabari city in Mie,” I replied, thinking they had probably never heard of it.

“Oh, we’re from Iga!” they exclaimed, which is just the next town over. “Come meet our friends!”

Much to my surprise, several of my students and my students' parents were there! They gave us water and offered to watch our stuff while we went swimming. How nice!

Here’s a view of the beautiful beach:



Just before the fireworks we followed the huge crowd back to the display beach, where we found the other JETs who had staked out one of the best spots with a big blue tarp. We spent the next two hours in total awe as over 10,000 explosions lit up the night sky. Here are some videos. Please ignore the rude language of the other JETs. Some of them were very drunk by this time.





Spectacular, huh? There were other even better ones, like fireworks that turned into mushrooms and flowers and umbrellas, but my camera battery ran dead.

We spent the night with my writer buddy Melissa, who has a huge house (by Japanese standards) and a very cute cat. The next morning she took us to breakfast overlooking lion rock. Here’s Mom and me in front of it:



Then Melissa drove us to onigajo, demon castle rock. Here’s me inside the “castle:”



Melissa had stuff to do after that, and Mom and I were at a loss for what to do. (I should have planned better.) We ended up walking to the rundown train station, which exhausted us, and when we got there, we weren’t even sure it was a train station. It was just a platform, like something you might see in an old Wild West movie. There was no place to buy a ticket. We saw a man standing on the platform, so I asked him in Japanese, “Is this a train station?”

He muttered something in a dialect I couldn’t understand.

“Sorry, slowly please?” I asked.

He muttered something else, chewing on his cigarette.

“I don’t think he’s…normal,” Mom whispered to me. “I think you’re wasting your time trying to talk to him.”

But I was determined to communicate. I told him we wanted to go to the longest waterfall on Honshu Island. I finally got out of him that the train would come about 4:15. But when we tried to get on the train, he yelled at us and waved his arms as if it were the wrong train.

“Whatever,” I told Mom. “Let’s just stay on.”

Turns out the guy was right. It would have been the right train, as Melissa had told us, only being after 4:00, the train no longer went to the waterfall. So Mom and I gave up, called Melissa, and told her we were going home to Nabari. We might have stayed another night, but it was just so blasted hot. Kumano is considered the “south” of Japan, and really more subtropical than temperate.

Friday we ran my final errands in Japan, like closing my bank account, closing my cell phone account (which took four hours for some reason) and other such things. Unfortunately, I got kicked out of Thapelo’s apartment (not her fault, the school insisted), but my friend Shino took us in for the night. (She and her boyfriend Daiki are so nice, and they also have a really cute cat.)

Saturday morning we left around 7:00am on the shinkansen (bullet train) for Hiroshima. This requires some explanation. In 1971, a man named Kazuo visited my grandparents in Michigan on a cultural tour with his company, Mazda, to study car manufacturing in the United States. Now, forty years later, he returned the favor to Mom and me. He greeted us at Hiroshima station around 10:00 and took us in a taxi to the quaint little apartment he shares with his wife Hiroko (who speaks no English). We rested a bit, then Kazuo took us to Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park and Museum, built to commemorate the dropping of the first atomic bomb.

To say it was horrifying would be an immense understatement. Displays revealed charred remains of children’s lunch boxes, torn and burned clothes, and smashed watches, all stopped at 8:15am. Plastic mannequins and photographs showed skin melting from bones, shards of shattered glass slicing through flesh, and curtains permanently stained from nuclear fallout called “black rain.” We stood before the A-Bomb Dome, the former Hiroshima city hall, which was directly under the epicenter of the blast. Because it was made of steel, it was the only building left standing for two miles. Only its shell remained:



On the morning of August 6, 1945, thousands of students were demolishing old buildings to create fire lanes in case of conventional bombing. They had no warning and no idea what hit them. The bomb exploded like a small sun, about 4,500,000 Fahrenheit at the detonation a quarter mile high, and 5,500 to 7,250 degrees on the ground. Survivors who staggered home were so thirsty that many died from drinking the “black rain.” Others died of cancer a few years later. The total deaths were about 200,000, mostly civilians.

Far from blaming the U.S., the museum had an entire section on Japan’s war atrocities, as well as information about current nuclear warfare. Since that day, Hiroshima has dedicated itself to the cause of peace and end of nuclear weapons. Every time a nuclear weapons test is conducted anywhere in the world, the mayor of Hiroshima and many citizens write letters pleading for that country to stop.

Seeing all this of course sparked many conversations about our personal feelings towards that particular historic decision to drop the bomb on Hiroshima. It’s hard to say how I feel aside from being appalled at the sheer number of lives lost. I honestly think I don’t have the right to judge. War is war. I wasn’t alive then and even if I was could I critique fairly? All I can say is I’m sure glad I wasn’t President Harry Truman in 1945. It’s not like he could stand by and accurately compare numbers of casualties or predict the future. (“Let’s see, if I drop the bomb, this many people will probably die. If I don’t drop the bomb, this many people or more will probably die anyway in the long, drawn out battles and conventional bombings. Will the dropping of this bomb ensure that the war will stay ended, frightening any future war-makers into peace, or will it spur them on to also desire this weapon of massive destruction and power?”) Any statistics or future projections he had were purely guess work. It’s hardly relevant what I think anyway because there’s nothing I can do to change the past even if I wanted to. There is only one true Fair Judge of the Universe, and that’s God. Only He has an accurate depiction of all that has happened, both in reality and in the hearts and minds of men.

Though I must say, for a nation that had two cities blown to bits by nuclear energy, you'd think they would be far more wary of nuclear power. Why do they keep insisting nuclear reactors are safe, even after the earthquake and meltdown and disaster? Why weren't people evacuated sooner and faster? Why did the government lie? Why are they still selling crops from the affected area? Why hasn't Tokyo electric been sued and put out of business for obviously cutting corners and safety? Stupid, stupid, stupid...

After the museum, we went back to Kazuo’s house for dinner, where our conversation included Hiroko, and transitioned to general feelings toward war and peace. Kazuo and his wife, of course, stated simply and emphatically that everyone should seek world peace above all else, and questioned us (politely) as to why the United States does not do this. This is what I said, in not so many words (and far less articulately, since I was struggling to speak in broken Japanese or have Kazuo with his good but imperfect English at least understand me).

World peace is beautiful to think and talk about, but it gets messy in the real world. This is something Japan does not always understand, for Japan has no military and no one at war with them, essentially because the United States protects them now. (That seems only fair, after all.) But America has many enemies. So we build up troops and weapons to detour war. Does it work? Sometimes it does, sometimes not. The fear, of course, is that the minute we destroy all our weapons and send our troops home, someone will attack us again. Various countries have even sworn that they would. The problem with being the biggest kid on the block is you kind of have to stay the biggest kid on the block because there’s always someone else who will take that spot by blowing you to smithereens if you let them. You’re also expected, from time to time, to protect the littelest kids. If you don’t, people hate you for that. Thus, the biggest kid is always the most hated kid, no matter what he (or she, as the United States is usually personified) does. So perhaps the solution is simply to never let yourself be the biggest kid, to be one of those small, unassuming European countries that rarely anyone picks on. They don’t really need a military these days. But it’s a bit too late for the United States on this issue, perhaps. We’re already big and assuming. To change that, we’d have to break up all the states and destroy our economy, which is also not a smart move.

This all bugs me very much as a Christian, because you honestly wonder what Christ would want the United States to do. Does “turn the other cheek” apply to nations as well as individuals? Should we just trust in God to protect us and become a one hundred percent pacifist nation? Or should we follow the biblical example of Israel and continue as we are, fighting all our enemies and even conquering them? The Bible is not clear on this issue, so again I must defer judgment on all of my country’s military exploits and expenditures. Boy, am I glad I’m not a politician!

Finally, we discussed the only way there ever could be peace on Earth. Mom and I shared our faith in the Prince of Peace. Our hosts were fascinated by the Christian concept that humans are tainted by sin and incapable of complete peace on our own, and that we need Jesus to save us and the Holy Spirit to help us. One day, we told them, there will be peace, but it won’t be on this world, and it won’t be by our doing. At first they thought our faith sounded “just like Buddhism,” but when I explained grace and God becoming human and dying for us, Kazuo nodded, eyes wide. “Yes,” he said, “that is different, and very beautiful.”

The following day was not so weighty. Rain fell torrentially, but didn’t dissuade us from taking the ferry to the famous torii gate and shrine of Miyajima island. It’s ranked one of the top three scenic spots in Japan, and it’s easy to see why!



The 52.5-foot red gate seemed to float in the ocean, shrouded in mist and forested mountains. In ancient times, pilgrims passed their boats through the gate before entering the shrine to “leave the profane and enter the sacred.” The shrine’s main structure is also built on stilts over the water. Wild deer followed us, hoping to nibble our maps or clothes as we enjoyed the gorgeous vistas. We saw some raccoon dogs that belonged to the priests or something, very cute animals that look just like their name, some of them albino. We ended with a lovely aquarium featuring life from the Seto Inland Sea.

Monday we caught the bus for Osaka, saw one of the largest aquariums in the world (the Kaiyukan) and finally got our plane for America on Tuesday, August 23rd. Sadly, my Asian adventure is over. For now…

Prayers Requests: That God direct the next path in my life concerning a job, relationships, writing, and further missions!