This diary was written with my Japanese and American friends in mind.
SDA = Seventh-Day Adventist
10/7 We're headed for Seoul with a lay-over in Bangkok. The Japanese girl next to me has tears in her eyes as the plane gains altitude. I feel the same. Except mine are of happiness:)
She's been in Pune for 5 months living a relaxed life - going to a meditation center nearby and forgetting the stress of Japan. She works a few months in Japan and then trapsies off to different worlds for a few months. I ask a few questions about the meditation center. She's interested in spiritual things so I ask if she wants to hear my story. She listens quietly for about 10 minutes as I go thru the Great Controversy. It feels so good to:
10/8 It's a groggy Danny who drags himself out of bed (off the floor) at 1pm. I make my way to the SDA hospital complex. I meet a white lady who goes with me to the Adventist Book Center, gives me lots of good info, and invites me to her church on Sabbath:) The ABC has lots of goodies. First, I weigh myself. 49kilos in June has become 45 now. I used to be skin&bones but now i'm just bones&bones. They have LOTS of Ellen White books translated in Korean. My eyes grow big as I see what I thought I wouldn't get until I got to Japan - Seaweed! I buy a pack. That'll go good in my noodles tonite and maybe my hair won't fall out so fast now. And, whole wheat bread! WOW! They don't make it this good even in Japan! It's delicious!! An editor at the Korea Publishing House is helpful with info on the status of publishing Ellen White books in Korea. Doesn't seem to be any self-supporting people doing it tho.
I can't believe how clean Seoul is. When I first came 10 years ago, I remember thinking how dirty and fumy it was from all the buses. Now the buses are all air-conditioned and better than anything i've seen in the U.S., the subway is cleaner and roomier than Japan's, The people are dressed better (better sense) look happier, and just seem stronger than I remember the Japanese. Maybe it's partly my prejudice because of all the Christians. If anyone ever goes to Seoul, go to a high place (Seoul tower) at nite and look out. You'll see more red neon crosses than you can shake a stick at (why would you want to shake a stick - I don't know). Everyone talks about how terrible the economy is. I guess a lot of people made bad decisions at the top, and maybe lots of ordinary people lived beyond their means, but just by looking at Seoul and it's people, I have more hope for them coming out of this depression quickly than I do Japan.
I go to Hardee's for supper and spend an hour in a Christian bookstore reading about tent-making. It's interesting how many people are trying to do like what Paul did. That's kinda my idea too. The only thing is that I haven't been sent out by any group, and I don't report to any group. I think it might help my effectiveness if I had a group I have to report to. They could give me good advice, and I'd feel responsible to produce results. Win-win. 4 bananas bot from a Grandma on the sidewalk cost 80cents - pretty high.
10/9 I feel like checking my email so I find an internet cafe I remember seeing last time I was here. The girl at the counter is very friendly. She comments on the Japanese writing on my T-shirt so I start talking in Japanese. She majored in Japanese and spent some time translating Korean/Japanese! She wants to go to America to learn how to take care of unwanted pets. She's just sent her first email, but doesn't really know how Hotmail works so I send her her first message and put Hotmail thru its paces. The guy at the convenience store is probably sick of seeing me coming every nite to eat noodles and tofu or something:)
10/10
The SDA language school has around 4,000 students just at the Seoul campus alone! About 1,000 of them study Japanese with the rest doing English. I join a small Sabbath school class that is speaking in Japanese. The upper 60ish man doesn't seem at ease speaking to me in Japanese. I resent it but remember that people that age are like that. His pronunciation is a little funny. After the class, I ask him if he's Japanese. No, he learned it in China during the war. OK, that explains it. I go to a beautiful little chapel built at the tech school which is for kids who aren't book smart/don't want to go to college/come from poor homes etc. The person I met the other day invites me to their home for lunch. It just hits me - I went to church in Madras over 12 times, and nobody invited me to their house for anything.
I meet a man who's been introduced to me as someone who does self-supporting work. His parents live in Japan and he went to school for 5 years in Japan. He's the head of the tech school that just started and has about 40 students. He is really interested in doing something for Japan like me. He says it's possible to print Japanese books in Seoul for 1/4 the cost of what it would in Japan. He expresses how he felt when he saw his students working on the grounds without being told - until 9 or 10 at nite. It looks like he has a real good bunch of kids. They're singing songs in the chapel so we go in and he has me give a little talk in Japanese about India. I talk about how Satan works so openly there and yet, with God's power, some victories are being won, and that many people long for the good news that we already have.
I walk around 2 hours downtown in the evening, enjoying the sights and relative quiet. I came to Korea because I wanted to know the situation of Ellen White books in Korean and also because i'll get a 90-day visa when I land in Japan. Counting 90 days ahead, i'm afraid it'll be high season to get an airplane ticket/seat out. But by waiting 4 extra days, the holiday rush should be over. An unexpected benefit, is that I don't know anybody here, so it's easy to get re-accustomed to civilization. 47 hours of sleep in 4 days helps a lot too!
10/11 I get to the airport 55 minutes before flight time. When I get out of demmigration, almost everyone has already boarded - perfect. We're up, and then about 75 minutes later, back down. Two flights arrive at the same time so after the longest wait ever at immigration -
The customs officer gets interested after I tell him i've been in India and starts having me open stuff. He loses interest tho after I answer his questions about drugs with a No, and add that I don't do alcohol or tobacco either. I call a friend from Seoul about my flight time... guess she's busy. Take a look at the rate board before catching the train - Huh? It says 113/1$ It was 138/$ when I left India. Maybe it's a mistake. That's right, they don't make mistakes like that here. hmmm.
The 1 hour 10 minute train ride to Kyobashi costs $10. It's clean and noone begs or pees on the seats. I'm bushed but ecstatic too. The sign on the soba noodle shop says the big portions are cheap so I order that. They quote me a different price than the sign says. They say it's after 2o'clock. I tell them to keep their soba and take their sign down after 2 o'clock. Not a good way to start my life over here in Japan. Maybe i've just gotten used to having to argue with everyone to get any business done. A noodle shop 30 meters away provides a delicious, safe haven. I hang out for awhile, drawing a few stares. Noone tries to talk to me or beg tho.
I hang out about 5 hours total and then go to my friend's place and sit on his mansion's (apt.) doorstep until he comes home from teaching around 9pm. It's really great to see friends:):) He basically just opens up everything to me. I guess I did the same for him a couple of years ago so he could get on his feet. I spread the same cushion that used to be at my place, on the kitchen floor and go fast asleep with peaceful thoughts floating thru my brain. Interesting, the first dream i've had with family members in it since before I went to India.
10/12 Food shopping and TV watching are the agenda for today. The super-duper pears and apples that cost 500yen ($4.50) blow me away. I settle for a bag of mikans (mandarin oranges) for Y298. I didn't know where to find a grocery store so I asked an elderly woman walking near the station and she went out of her way for about 3 minutes showing me a nice store. The stuff on TV is about the same as I remember it. Bunch of crazy talking and beautiful commercials, but they are a little more straightforward than before.
10/13 I get a lot done on the computer today. I'm gonna get everything off this floppy that has some "dead" spots. The computer has a bunch of "hacked" programs on it. Oh well, it's here.
10/14 There's a Bible study at a place where I used to teach English. For some reason, I ride on past the stop that I got off at with no problem for 3 years... While running to the house from the station, a student who came to visit me in America picks me up just like a taxi driver. Just like she often did when I was the English teacher. Only 2 non-Christians show up (usually 5), to read a little Bible and hear a talk about being happy under whatever circumstances. It's not my idea of Bible study, but for getting your feet wet, it should have a good effect.
In the afternoon I see my old calligraphy teacher. She's the same-o-same-o. Full of life and busier than a one-armed paper hanger. Complaining about not enough money. She says she needs Y1,000,000/month to make her house go! And we have another discussion about why Jesus is/isn't God:) She gives me a jacket that noone needs there, but it looks great even if there are a few paint flecks on it.
10/15 I look for dhal mong beans but noone has them. A kind salesguy at Hankyuu dept. in the curry corner offers to order them for me for tomorrow.
10/16 I go with a friend to shop for stuff to go with our curry party tonite. The guy at Hankyuu says the shipment is late so we stumble around in a bookstore. It's there. I pay an unmentionable price for a kilo of beans and we buy some rice for Y500/kilo (almost unmentionable but without rocks or bugs:)) and get to cooking. Ut-oh. I put a little too much sambar spice in the curry. The bag says for 4 or 5 people. I put in about 1/4 of the bag and the curry loses taste - just fire - atomic. I pour off some of the liquid and put in some yogurt to cool it down, but still... at least everyone says they like spicy food.
An old friend who used to teach me Japanese meets me at the station with a friend and a bunch of flowers. Nice wild-like looking flowers:) I walk back to the mansion with them with a panda umbrella and a bunch of flowers. It must look tooooooo cute. They eat up their curry but don't say much. Maybe I burned no just their taste buds, maybe their vocal chords are gone too! After, we sing some spiritual songs and listen to my friend who's a genius on the piano play some. I've prepared a Bible talk about how sin come into the world, but for some reason, maybe it's the result of praying and the Holy Spirit working, I ask if anyone has anything on their minds that they want an answer from the Bible on. A friend says she can't sleep recently so we read from Matthew 6 where Jesus talks about how the sparrows don't worry but their Father in heaven watches over them and we are worth so much more than they. She seems a little relieved but also just a little nervous just to be discussing spiritual things so it's kept short. I've got a part to do in watering this seed.
10/17 Lots of people who shake my hand and show real pleasure at meeting me:)
10/18 The sun shows it's face for the first time in about a week so I go about the task of flushing Indian dirt down into the Yodogawa river. Sorry about that. I soaked the clothes and drained the water 3 times, rubbed a spot cleaning agent on, and finally got to where the water was clean enough to put detergent in and wash them. It feels really good to have clean, fresh smelling clothes! Most of the day is spent sitting at the computer and looking outside at the buildings. It's my first day in Japan I haven't gone outside. I was happy to be able to do that just a few weeks ago... but here I feel like I should be out meeting people.
I call the man that was recommended as the main person doing self-supporting evangelism in the Osaka area. He is totally in the dark as to my plans as he didn't get my letter I sent from India around the first week of September:( His activities don't include the need for any help just now so he gives me the phone# of some man who is hoping to start up something way down in Kyuushuu. I had put a lot of hope on being able to do evangelistic activities with this person so i'm quite disappointed. The best laid plans of mice and men... God has a plan for me and I need to make myself ready for whatever it is. I'm positive it's evangelism for the Japanese, but i'm not sure what form that activity is supposed to take. I'll keep praying and moving ahead with some other plans I had. It's easier to fall away tho working by yourself. Everyone needs that boost that comes from being with like-minded people.
The house of the grandma that I hoped to be able stay in is really not available i'm told. Grandma hasn't had any experience with other people sharing a room etc. (the idea of roommates is foreign to Japanese) so while she said "yes", she was hesitant which really means "no". I'll have to start collecting advertisements. A guy at church said he's seen ads for 0 deposit. Usually deposit is 5~6 months rent and only about 25-40% comes back to you when you move out. It's a weird system to me.
10/19 I work for money for the first time in 4 ½ months and teach English for the first time in over 15 months! 3 ladies ask me questions and keep me going easily for about an hour and a half. One woman even introduces me to a friend who wants me to teach their children! So many people are so nice to me here:) The idea that it could be any different is slowly fading from memory.
On the walls and poles around the train stations are lots of ads for apts. Being a foreigner might be a problem for some. I really have to get a regular visa to be sure that I can get a place. I meet a friend at Tennoji and we look for a place to eat. She doesn't mind eating outside so we go to a convenience store and get the goodies - rice balls, hot tofu, instant noodles, frenchfries, steamed sweet-bean bread, and soy milk. At Shitennoji temple we sit near the pond and watch the turtles, listen to the big bell, and have a delicious lunch. Then it's to the International House where I put up an ad to teach English in exchange for a room. Hey, it worked 9 years ago. Then we walked around Den-Den town (big discount electronics area) looking at notebook computers. We're much tireder, 2,000yen poorer (calculator), but filled with info on the high prices of notebooks in Japan when we call it a day around 7:30. I go home and finally finish off all that fiery curry I made last Friday.
10/24 Meet a friend and her friend who I know only thru emails. I'm still trying to find the cool little okonomiyaki (like a mix between pizza & pancake) restaurant that I couldn't find last May. It's still unfound. We find a nice little restaurant tho where the prices seem low but the volume is too. We have a good time talking (listening?) bemoaning the scarcity of good guys and too much overtime at the office. Saw an article in TIME where lots of Japanese women don't want to get married because guys don't help out at home. So the women are expected to work, have kids, and keep up the house. No wonder 50% of 29-year old women have never been married. They'd rather work and spend the money on hobbies, vacations, - themselves.
10/25 Spend a leisurely day with a friend after talking most of the nite. We take a walk to a nearby shrine where they are having a special day to pray to the gods to protect your car/driving. You pay some outrageous fee for them to write their voodoo on a little scrip of paper that you are supposed to hang over the rearview mirror or suck up the suction cup to the windshield. They say this is necessary every year. Do the gods only work for 1 year per payment???? They take last year's paper scrips and burn them up and wave some goofy thing that looks like white paper folded into lightning shapes and wave them over the crowd. I hid behind a pillar when they started the waving stuff. Other monks were chanting and beating drums. Pretty eerie. It seemed really out of place for a technologically advanced country like Japan to have stuff like this going on. Either they just don't get what the true God is or Christians haven't done a good job of getting the message across.
On the way home on the train I have a beautiful experience:) When I step in the door a little boy says in Japanese "an English-speaking person!". I smile real big at him and he starts talking (yelling) at his 9 or 10 little friends around him with their mothers. I start talking in Japanese to him and he acts crazy. The kids are between 3~8 and are on their way to some wedding. A quieter boy asks me some questions and I remember that I have some American money on me so if they say "please" in English I give them a coin. It's probably the first time most of them have ever held a foreign coin. The noisy kid doesn't get it at first but after he sees kids smaller than himself getting some he starts yelling "pleeeease, PLEEEEEEEEEAASE". He seems flustered that no matter how many times he says 'please', he only gets one coin. They all ask how much they're worth in Japanese money. The noisy one can't seem to understand that a dime can = 11yen. "Why would America have a coin with a funny value like 11 yen?" The quieter kid explains it wisely. A real little girl looks at me and asks why my eyes are blue. I say God made them that way and ask her why her eyes are brown. Her mental circuits shut down on that tough one. She asks me lots of questions like why i'm in Japan, where I live, etc. Really cute:) Probably her mom was thinking the same thoughts but 'grown-ups are supposed to be polite'. I guess I would get tired if everybody did me like this, but to see their smiley, happy faces and their innocence, liveliness, energy (maybe i'm a little jealous of all that energy?!) puts a lightness in my heart and my step:)
10/26 Today is computer day. A discount food shop beckons, so after spending Y943, i'm down to only Y127 left on me. I'd better figure out how to use that card to get cash out of the postal savings account that is drawing around 0.2% interest. (learned later that it's actually drawing an even worse 0.0% rate). But today is computer day. The telephone company (NTT) has a "experience the internet" corner. Even with the 64K speed of a ISDN line, it takes around a minute and a half to open the 83 messages in my hotmail in-box. I whittle and folderize them down to 30 some so they can be displayed in around 10 seconds. My home page and The Great Controversy I put on the internet give me a short rush when I see them come up on the screen:)
My friend graciously opens his mansion to me while he goes to work all day. Most of the day is spent typing and getting my home page looking nicer. I watch some TV that shows new aircraft in America that can detect where a person is by heat-sensor cameras "for rescue purposes". Maybe i'm the only one seeing this thinking: "wonderful in the right hands, but, what if you don't wanna get found?" The friend comes home and talks about going to the Ellen White site at:
http://www.egwestate.andrews.edu
and reading that Satan is the one who "brings fire down from heaven on earth in the sight of men" at the end. That makes sense. He's going to account for every miracle that Jesus did and even do "greater" things. The laser-cannon on the satellite they showed on TV tonite won't be the ultimate fulfillment of that prophecy. Or will it?????
My friend asks if i'm gonna invite people over for a curry rice/Bible study party again this Friday evening. I want to, but I don't really know how to approach the subject of the Holy Spirit not being able to bless anyone who's living with sin that they don't want to part from. It's better to not make any profession than to make a profession that dishonors God's name. I know i've made mistakes, and Satan knows my weaknesses, but how can I expect to meet Jesus if i'm clinging to something I know He hates? I'm afraid if I mention it again, that he'll not want to be friends anymore. Rather than have to explain to non-Christian friends that this thing is NOT acceptable to God, I think it's just better not to have them come in contact with it in the first place. We often talk deep spiritual things, and come up with good insights, and express a desire to save souls but... God wants to give us the victory over every sin. He knows we're dust. When we completely surrender to Him - power is poured out to accomplish His express purpose - MYP 101. I'll keep praying.
10/27 Finally wash the whites(?) that had Indian dirt in them. Now I just have to clean my pouch, and then take a good long soak in an onsen (hot springs) to feel totally clean again. The pickles brought from India sure taste good over Japanese rice - yum! I wanted to try them out before I sprung them on any friends. A former student works at a apartment hunter office so I go and check on what they have. Why is their service needed? - I don't know. In the U.S. don't you just look in the paper or just show up at the apt. manager's office? Why should I have to pay someone 1 month's rent just to tell me where a place is? Then of course you need the 1st month's rent money. And then you have to pay 5 month's deposit of which usually only 1 or 2 month's worth comes back when you move! Needless to say, it all combines to discourage moving around. She says the cheapo ads i've seen are "liar ads" just to entice me in their office for the "bait & switch". Hmm. There was a big catch with the place that advertised "0 deposit". That was only if I just wanted to stay there until next March. After that, i'd have to pay the full deposit if I wanted to stay. I show her my pics and talk about India. She had thought about a trip there, but says Europe sounds better after hearing my story. Smart woman.
At the bottom of the stairs of Matsuzakaya dept. store, a "homeless" woman that we used to give nice boxed lunches to from Country Life Restaurant is still there. Seems like she has a home but prefers to stand and rock back and forth, shouting once in a while, at the bottom of the stairs. She got to be pretty picky with the lunches we gave her. We didn't just cram in leftovers. No, she wanted them done a certain way. We did it her way. I look her in the eye and bow near her. She bows too and smiles showing her 2 or 3 teeth she has left. It's gotta be hard on the body - standing exposed all day. Not too sure what she does at nite. Heard one time that she has a house but doesn't like to live in it.
Junkudo, a large bookstore with American style tables and everything, is a magnet for me. They have my favorite magazine - The Economist - and some Japanese computer mags that make me unaware that 2 hours has quickly passed. The Economist talks about how The Soviet Union vs The U.S. in a nuclear arms race was handled mostly coolly with announced military exercises, joint inspections and separation by distance giving time to develop response decisions. The Pakistani/India conflict tho, lacks all of those safety measures. I smile when it says Pakistan & India lack the professionalism and cool heads that for the most part worked well in the Cold War. Bullseye!
An article in US News & World Report has me thinking on the way home in the rain. It was about "hot" jobs and how to get on the "fast track". Yeah, I remember being on that once. I also remember not being satisfied with it. All the petty politics, boring brains, and the idea of a minimum of 8 hours a day "for the company". To them it probably looks like i'm escaping something. From this angle, it looks like something is escaping them.
Life.
I'm so happy I came to Japan to be homeless instead:)
The little slope in front of Osaka castle makes me breathe hard. I don't remember getting this tired doing this before. Wondering if it's age or still Indian energy drain, I pedal thru the same streets like I did for 7 years. Nothing has, no, everything has, well, some things have - changed. Tomorrow'll be a new day. I better start getting serious about a plan. If I just had more energy...(and my own room).
10/28 The former English student that works at the apt. finder company said she could get me in a place where I would share with 2 other people - for just Y50,000/month. No deposit is needed, but I turned it down. If I wanted to live with 2 other Americans i'd go back to America.
The bicycle is my seat's best friend today. It conforms for at least 2 ½ hours to my bony contours. It's fun to see all the things here in Osaka. The exercise is something i've really been missing. It puts lots of iron (with some lead?) in my lungs and gives me energy. I used to think there were lots of people here but after India I wonder why I can ride sometimes 100m in the middle of the city and not pass or be passed or run over whatever by anybody!
So i'm not a woman. What's that got to do with anything? A handicapped couple has 5 completely private rooms with kitchens and everything upstairs from their living quarters. A friend set up an interview with them and when I showed up, the man's eyes got round as saucers. I guess he just assumed I was a woman since my introducer was. Maybe I could wear a dress and have another interview - gross. I also meet the guy I helped take care of a few times. He's as fun to be with as ever. He never complained even when I put his shorts on backwards etc. Strikes me as funny that he really enjoys watching pro wrestling. Maybe he can live a rough and tumble life vicariously.
I meet a friend in the evening and we walk around town to a Korean restaurant and then on down to the station so she can catch her plane to Thailand. She's got lots of guts - always going around SE Asia by herself, and not for shopping either. Her parents just got back from 2 weeks in Spain so maybe it's in her blood.
10/29 My first English student - found! The conditions aren't good - 3,000yen/lesson and only 2 lessons/month, but it gets me out of the house and puts a little money in my pocket instead of it always coming out:)
10/31 Go see a friend in Kyoto. We eat boiled tofu with some veggies etc. in a big pot. This could make me fat and lazy. We walk around the park and have a really nice conversation. It feels so relaxing to be around someone who is happy to just be around you.
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Sounds lovely. Back to read more about 1998
Go to earlysda.com to read original 1858 Great Controversy book